Brandon Boyer

Get this: Namco's Muscle March breaks through to U.S. WiiWare

Muscle March • WiiWare • Namco • www

It was one of 2009's top game memes when video first emerged of its Japanese release, and now it's finally arrived: in a momentous occasion few thought we'd ever see (and even fewer genuinely hoped we would) -- Namco has just released Muscle March for download on U.S. Wiis.

So how'd it turn out? Not surprisingly, pretty much exactly as you'd imagine from that video above. Strip away all the well-oiled bodywork and its a remarkably slim game of think-fast reaction time, a holdover from its arcade roots.

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2

Rob Beschizza

Too elementary, dear Watson!

Just tried the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries iPhone game. This video explains it: ask questions, inspect evidence, then figure stuff out. An interesting idea, but the execution is so simplistic that interrogation is just an interactive story, clue-searching a mindless mini-game, and solutions easily brute-forced. It's polished and mildly entertaining--and just a dollar--but it only held my attention for a few minutes. [iTunes Link]
6

Rob Beschizza

Nintendo as a gothic manuscript page

Got Medieval presents the opening crawl of the Legend of Zelda as a gothic manuscript page.
0

Rob Beschizza

Avatar for Atari 2600


tumblr_kw17rsfST71qa9g6uo1_500.jpg

Illustration: Penney Design.

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Brandon Boyer

Get this: Flipping out with Terry Cavanagh's VVVVVV

VVVVVV • PC/Mac (Linux forthcoming) • distractionware • www

According to early Internet opinionating, VVVVVV -- the essentially unpronounceable commercial debut of Don't Look Back creator Terry Cavanagh is either a groundbreaking platformer that has already instantly redefined indie gaming in a way that we haven't seen since Jon Blow's Braid, or "a bland exercise in confusion and frustration".

The truth, as usual, is somewhere quite comfortably and happily in between. Designed around giving the player only one switch (beyond left and right movement) to interact with its world -- a switch which flips the gravity of its interstellar station -- VVVVVV isn't hiding any particular mechanical tricks up its sleeve.

It doesn't boldly dare to upend time itself or bend inter-dimensional space or throw plot twists asking you rethink everything you thought you knew about free will. What it does instead is simply craft an enormously cohesive experience around -- and allow a fantastic sense of exploration through -- that one simple interaction.

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28

Brandon Boyer

Get this: Namco's Muscle March breaks through to U.S. WiiWare

Muscle March • WiiWare • Namco • www

It was one of 2009's top game memes when video first emerged of its Japanese release, and now it's finally arrived: in a momentous occasion few thought we'd ever see (and even fewer genuinely hoped we would) -- Namco has just released Muscle March for download on U.S. Wiis.

So how'd it turn out? Not surprisingly, pretty much exactly as you'd imagine from that video above. Strip away all the well-oiled bodywork and its a remarkably slim game of think-fast reaction time, a holdover from its arcade roots.

READ THE REST

2

Rob Beschizza

Too elementary, dear Watson!

Just tried the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries iPhone game. This video explains it: ask questions, inspect evidence, then figure stuff out. An interesting idea, but the execution is so simplistic that interrogation is just an interactive story, clue-searching a mindless mini-game, and solutions easily brute-forced. It's polished and mildly entertaining--and just a dollar--but it only held my attention for a few minutes. [iTunes Link]
6

Rob Beschizza

Nintendo as a gothic manuscript page

Got Medieval presents the opening crawl of the Legend of Zelda as a gothic manuscript page.
0

Rob Beschizza

Avatar for Atari 2600


tumblr_kw17rsfST71qa9g6uo1_500.jpg

Illustration: Penney Design.

26

Brandon Boyer

Get this: Flipping out with Terry Cavanagh's VVVVVV

VVVVVV • PC/Mac (Linux forthcoming) • distractionware • www

According to early Internet opinionating, VVVVVV -- the essentially unpronounceable commercial debut of Don't Look Back creator Terry Cavanagh is either a groundbreaking platformer that has already instantly redefined indie gaming in a way that we haven't seen since Jon Blow's Braid, or "a bland exercise in confusion and frustration".

The truth, as usual, is somewhere quite comfortably and happily in between. Designed around giving the player only one switch (beyond left and right movement) to interact with its world -- a switch which flips the gravity of its interstellar station -- VVVVVV isn't hiding any particular mechanical tricks up its sleeve.

It doesn't boldly dare to upend time itself or bend inter-dimensional space or throw plot twists asking you rethink everything you thought you knew about free will. What it does instead is simply craft an enormously cohesive experience around -- and allow a fantastic sense of exploration through -- that one simple interaction.

READ THE REST

28

Brandon Boyer

Get this: Capcom's criminal-trial adventure Phoenix Wright hits WiiWare

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney • WiiWare • Capcom • www

The 2005 DS debut of Capcom's Phoenix Wright franchise was a minor gaming landmark in finally introducing the West to the 'visual novel'. And while it may not have necessarily opened the door as widely for other adventures of its type, it quickly lifted the franchise to cult hit status, with two direct sequels and two more spin-offs.

What it lacks in action oriented play -- as the genre name suggests, you spend the majority of your time simply watching its text-heavy courtroom drama unfold, only interjecting (or, you know, objecting) to point out flaws in witness testimony -- it makes up for where it counts the most: with its intricately constructed murder mystery scenarios, and a surprising amount of comic timing eked out of two-frame animations and a genuinely at-times-hilarious script.

The new downloadable WiiWare port of the game might be a no-frills affair (it appears to be running in what is presumably an official DS emulator), but it's a perfect introduction for anyone that missed out on the handheld debut -- and one of January's most unmissable game releases.

3

Andrea James

Game-themed cupcake quiz

simon-cupcakes.jpg Wil Wheaton points out this severely awesome game-themed cupcake quiz. How many can you get right?
22

Brandon Boyer

The Boing Boing Guide to the 2010 Indie Games Festival

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Still the best temperature gauge of What The Indie Game Development Scene Is Up To This Year, this year's Independent Games Festival brought in yet another record number of entries (306 to last year's 226), and its just-released finalist selection has brought another round of some of the most innovative and finely crafted games due for release in months.

The grand prize finalists this year see a diverse collection of stunt-jumping daredevils, competitively coordinating catburglars, sadistically savory sacks of meat, post-traumatic surreal memory exploration, and militaristic poultry, and its Nuovo finalists -- awarded for boundary-pushing shortform and abstract works -- bring together Atari 2600 haiku, sedan-slamming bears, dark interactive poetry, all-out sensory/perception warping, and a play between light and darkness itself.

And so below, ahead of the final winner announcements during March's Game Developers Conference, a complete illustrated guide to all twenty of 2010's IGF finalists across all its categories, with a precis of each, links for more information, and, where available, a link to play all finalists that have already released their games.

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8

Rob Beschizza

Penny Arcade TV

Penny Arcade has a video channel. Watching the lads is interesting, especially the mini-documentary, a super intro to their play-work.
7

Brandon Boyer

Ten for 2010: the 10 most-anticipated games coming in the new year

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For all the things the indies are able to do best -- experiment wildly and allow themselves the infinite creative freedom that otherwise gives stockholders the chilled sweats -- one of their greatest assets is the element of surprise.

Unlike the managed valleys and troughs of the four-year-dev-time hype-cycles, fantastic and wholly unexpected indie games pop up weekly and continually knock us flat on our backs. And so, choosing a list of the games we look forward to the most in 2010 is somewhat a fool's errand, as you honestly never know when another Canabalt is going to land from nowhere in a blinding flash.

But still, there are enough higher-ambition titles -- especially for indies making their bigger-budget forays onto consoles -- that deserve more attention to make this round-up necessary, so find below ten of the games (of a much larger field about which we know even less: I'm looking at you Bit.Trip: Runner) that you'll likely be hearing much more about in the months ahead, as their gestation periods finally end.

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