PAC-MAN never had a great story. Yellow circle runs from ghosts, then eats them when they turn blue. Project Yellow Sphere elucidates the issue. – – – In the last 10 years or so, the internet has lit up with fan-made takes on the PAC-MAN mythos, casting him as everything from a motorcycle-riding vi
Adventure games from the 1990s have a certain aesthetic that draws on comic art. Uno Moralez’s GIFs evoke a gothic horror videogame that never existed. The floating head probably needs you to fetch her an eyeball before she’ll tell you where the secret society’s hideout is. – – –
There are a lot of gut reactions going on when a scantily-clad lady appears in a videogame. Things like “she’s hot!” and also “she must be cold in that.” Some of us might sigh in exasperation and wonder if there will be any real ladies in the game. An essay at J. Shea’s blog urges us to reconsider
Many good multiplayer games require expensive things like four controllers for a PS3 or a high-end PC. But for those of us with old computers, there are still multiplayer, non-Facebook games available. Pixel Prospector celebrates their fourth anniversary with a video of 44 free, multiplayer indie g
If your posessions were found in fifty years, what story would they tell? For one house in Japan, the ruins tell the story of a Western man with ties to the Queen of England who married into a Japanese family. Someone in the family didn’t like him, as he was cut out of some of the photos. Why did th
The slow food movement has been gaining popularity in the USA. Hip restaurants boast that their food is locally sourced and completely organic. Purchasing food locally can reduce gas consumption and supports the local economy. Purchasing videogames locally might not reduce gas consumption, but it p
Sesame Street has a history of creating parody music videos (like Cookie Monster’s “Share It Maybe“). Videogames are prevalent enough in popular culture that they’re deserving of Sesame Street parodies as well. After all, the target audience of Sesame Street today has always had access to things li
The Super Friendship Club, a forum for casual videogame creators, encouraged participation in a “slowjam” to make a game about rituals in two weeks. One of the resulting games by Michael Brough is called VESPER.5. In this game, you may take one step each day, and then you must wait for the next day
Academic journals are often awful about accessibility. If you don’t have access to a university library, it’s almost impossible to know what’s going on in the academic community. Fortunately, “open-source” or free, online academic journals are gaining in popularity. Mediascape, UCLA’s journal of cin
Kickstarter makes it looks easy to get funded for a project. Just put together a good enough video and people are dying to give out money! While it’s easy to see all the successfully funded projects on Kickstarter, it’s harder to find the failed projects. It makes sense not to show them to consumers
Japanese games are frequently criticized for sticking to a formula. Games evolve rather than innovate; even the latest Zelda game started out with three starter dungeons, as did many of its predecessors. For those of us eager to see radical new ideas out of Japan, indie games might be a good place t
We’re fans of combining music and games, as you can tell from our Soundplay project. Tabor Robak, who we interviewed last year at the New Museum, made a music game set to an entire 35-minute album. David Kanaga describes the game on his blog: Exo brings us face to face with tensions that have the p
New environmental sensors for the iPhone let consumers take stock of their surroundings. The nitrate sensor can tell if food is really organic, or if your garden needs more fertilizer. Three other sensors for radioactivity, humidity, and electromagnetic fields will increase the quantification and di
At Snarky Little Sticher’s Etsy shop, these cross-stitched videogame characters are available for pixel art with a warmer touch.
The Other Brothers sees the Mario Brothers as Italian auto mechanics in the 1960s who need to rescue their princess from the Mafia. The retro-styling in art and plot provide a great setting for more videogame homages and plenty of running and jumping. The Unity-based game is slated for release in No
Vegan soaps in the form of game cartridges. Their motto: “Lather Up, Level Up.” – – –
Over at Nightmare Mode, Alois Wittwer notices how the gameplay in Etrian Odyssey mirrors colonialism, down to murdering the local people. The Forest Folk are the native people of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth and the first humanoid enemies you face in the game. They don’t want you here. And, much like the
Generally, bronze medalists in the Olympics are happier than silver medalists. It might seem a little counter-intuitive at first, but thinking of “how things could have been” it seems logical: bronze medalists are happy they medaled at all, while silver medalists are ruminating about how they could
Chatting to a bot is a fairly amusing game: see how it reacts to different keywords; discern if it can recognize the subjunctive. Watching two chatbots have a conversation can also be pretty funny, and some human constraints on topics can turn a mechanical conversation into a topical, algorithmic pl
Open-source communities have been helping each other print parts for 3D printers with 3D printers. But what can you do with a 3D printer once you have it? One family found a way to print a kind of exoskeleton for their daughter. This super-sweet toddler, whose name is Emma, has a congenital disorde
Fans at Mane6 are working on a fighting game called My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic. Using 2D Fighter Maker 2002, the game will feature 17 ponies, all with their own special moves. It’s reminiscient of the Sailor Moon fighting games, with plenty of cute punches and heart-filled special moves to kn
Chris Whitman’s Run combines several experimental minigames to tell a story where you, the ludologist, help capture sunshine to enable villagers to survive three years without light. Selections where you read text as you platform across it recall Danielewski’s word design play in House of Leaves. Th
Not every Gamestop trade-in remains in the store where you sold it. Many consoles end up in a Texas facility where they are cleaned and tested. Kotaku has an interesting set of photos that show much of the process, which should assuage any anxieties about buying germ-ridden controllers.
Gaijin Games has a sequel to Bit.Trip.Runner in the works and recently released this trailer. The trailer asks us to “Imagine a world where everything is 8-bit… where your greatest retro dreams come true. Well f*ck that place.” The Bit.Trip games are where some players’ retro dreams come true; Gaiji
Trees, rocks, logs, and bushes make for a great playground. An elementary school in Vancouver, Canada, installed a lovely garden of playtime delights for under $9,000. The children seem to enjoy it as well: As the garden has grown over the last two years, its play value has increased. Kids play hide
