Digital Eel

A couple of years ago, I had a chance to play this wonderful demo of Strange Adventures in Infinite Space. Yesterday I got my hands on a demo of its sequel Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space. These games were developed by Digital Eel. While my experiences are based on the demos, they were thoroughly enjoyable. The game has a bit of everything, perils of outer space, trade, diplomacy, space warfare and most importantly loads of humour. The user interface was menu driven, pretty and mostly convenient. The sequel sets you on a course to gather goods from different sectors in space & return to your employer within a specified time. The warfare is real time, pretty intense & the demo didn't actually let me get into the thick of things partly because my space craft was ill equipped for warfare. Check it out!

Somethings to look forward to

Three games to look out for:

Bioshock
This is yet another FPS but with a ROM full of quirks to interest the easily bored gamer. As much as I hate Ayn Rand's writing, marrying some of her concepts to an FPS (as is evident from this article) is something I'm extremely interested in. Judging from the screenshots, gameplay video its gorgeously Art Deco.

Fallout 3
A teaser video

Project Offset
These guys have created a game engine from scratch. From the tech demos on the site, it looks impressive. A reason why this game interests me is its phenomenal Art Director - Khang Le

UPDATE: More Khang Le

Gamma Bros.

Gamma Bros. is an old school style shmup by pixeljam games. You'll require flash player innstalled and Its available as a free download for both Mac & PC here.

A 'shmup' is short for Shoot 'em up. The unique bit about this shmup is in the little details. Right from the 'Thunderbirds are GO!' style intro to the small animations when you change ships. The game has the right pace before things get pretty hectic and some amazing Bosses. Also your vehicle can shoot in 4 directions. Some times the frame rate stagger when there are a lot of ships & pyrotechnics on the screen.

Bring on the Revolution

If you don't like the Revolution controller, you are fundamentally part of the problem and killing the fucking art form.

-Game journalist Kieron Gillen

The Next Big Thing

I believe this will be the next BIG thing (as far gaming is concerned), if its executed right.
Spore
And a couple of Pics

Old School Blues

Offlate I've been nostalgic. It began as I was going through my stash of old games. Retrogaming is something I've alway wanted to dabble in & to an extent I have. By retrogamming I mean playing of old games, repairing relic consoles, coding emulators to capture the spirits of old hardware. To an extent I've accomplished this:

Playing- check
Repairing (read as open cabinet, clean cobwebs, resolder bits & bobs)- check
Coding Emulators - buhahahaha, I can't code for peanuts (for now atleast!)

One game that reminds me of the good old days was 'Another World'. It was & still is a classic. Minimal vector graphics & a tough gameplay. Very little music & PC speaker sound effects. The game has a very cool narrative technique & it was one tough mother of a game too.

Another World Reviewed & its creator Interviewed for those interested. Download it

Atmosphere is something that stands out in any game that Eric Chahi is involved in.

Suprisingly a new game Alien Hominid also harks back to those '80s 16-bit games. Reminiscent of Capcom's Megaman series. Everything is handrawn in this game, its very cartoony, frentic like the violent rabbit in Lucas Arts's Sam & Max Hit the Road.

Lemmings

Way after 80s acid-trippy Pacman, an awesome game landed on earth sometime around '91. Lemmings by DMA Design is one of those games that still shines today. DMA Design was also responsible for Grand Theft Auto. DMA Design is now Rockstar North.

Getting back to the game. Its all about a bunch of suicidal munchkin like creatures who are trying to exit the level. Your job is to get a bunch of them across obstacles & out of the level (without much casualities). There is a DHTML version of the game available online. DHTML Lemmings

The game speaks for itself. Old schoolers get nostalgic.

But what the heck is a 'Lemming' anyway?

Blog Alert!!

Stumbled on a blog Intelligent Artifice. Its abt the video game industry...game design .....anything related to gaming.

THE GAME !!

I remember cribbing abt not having encountered that ultimate entertainer of game a few weeks back. Well I found it, its called 'Kirby 64- The Crystal Shards' (N64 platform). U play a character (Kirby) that looks like pink bubble with stubby hands & funky red shoes. Character is rendered in the Chibi format & awesomely animated. Violence takes on a cutesy turn in this baby. To kill enemies u suck them up. u can swallow them or spit 'em out. Now if an enemy has some power & u swallow the bugger, u accquire them too. If u swallow 2 powerfull baddies u get a hybrid power, this feature rocks!! Eg - Boomerang ability+electric shock = light saber a la Darth Maul.

In essence this game is a platformer, but the 3D level design gives it an awesome edge (pun intended). U walk along paths that wrap up mountains & the camera follows. The World is luscious w/ cutsey baddies & Crayon Sinchan style backgrounds. Music is Sonic-esque. People at Nintendo sure know how to make fun games. I love these guys.

On the design front, been sifting through my noodle for logo ideas. I have to design a spanking logo for the Island Motor Racing Club. This one is a good karma assignment. So far I have 3 mediocre designs on paper. Not satisfied, anways deadline is tomorrow 10am & the night is still young. Most of the morning & a good part of the afternoon was spent at the studio. Today was on of those perpetual hard-on days. Boxer shorts leave me horny ad infinitum. Frustrating part of the day wasn't trying to satiate desires, but coping w/ the horrible line-test machine which seems to have gotten worse after the repair. Interstingly, Shilpa one of the students out there, thought I was somebody else. Only after 5 hours did she realize it was me!! The wonders of the beardless state.

Had a dream, a very satisfying one, wherein I was kicking the asses (verbally) of people who bug me. Need more dreams like these.
Plans of drinking w/ ' Whiskey' G$ & ' Lime juice' Susk got killed. Susk is still slaving at the office.