Brandon Boyer

One shot: Lost: The NES Game

I've played this Lost: The Game, and even this Lost: The Game, but the whole time, I would have much rather been playing that Lost: The Game. [Adam Campbell, via Tiff]

Offworld Crew

Congratulate the finalists in EA/Phenomic's BattleForge contest

The votes have been cast and the polling's now closed: congratulations to Offworldians Chiro, Infiniteammo and BDJSB7 for taking an overwhelming majority of votes for their user-submitted legends in the BattleForge contest.

We'll be passing along your e-mail addresses to EA/Phenomic to get in touch and claim your prizes, after the Phenomic team chooses one of the three final entries to be included in the game itself.

Hit the jump to read the legends from the three finalists.

READ THE REST

Brandon Boyer

Offworld at SXSW: come say hello

As the throngs descend on Austin, a quick note to say that I will indeed be wandering around the city at various interactive, film, and music events over the coming week (including next Wednesday's DataPopParty, which cruelly was scheduled against the Anticon/Ghostly showcase I'd like to duplicate myself to also attend [if you've never seen the one-man tender looped madness of Andrew Bird drummer Dosh, do not miss this show]).

I've already talked to a few of you about meeting up at some point, but if you're in town and would also like to talk things Offworld-ly, show me the amazing iPhone game you've been toiling on for the past several weeks, or anything otherwise, you can drop me a note via brandon@offworld.com, via twitter @brandonnn, or use the handy pictorial equation above to spot me in a crowd and just wander up to say hello.

Offworld Crew

Only on Offworld: Write a legend for EA's card-game RTS BattleForge

In this latest contest, EA and developer Phenomic have partnered with Offworld to get readers into Phenomic's new online real time strategy game BattleForge, coming to PC March 24th.

BattleForge is unique, EA says, in combining the pace of RTS gameplay with the customization of trading cards in an online environment where friends can play together, and one reader will have the chance to pen the description for an Offworld-exclusive in-game trading card. The top three submissions will also receive ATI Radeon HD 4800 graphic cards and T-shirts.

Hit the jump for the full details, and a key to enter BattleForge's ongoing closed beta ahead of its release.

READ THE REST

Brandon Boyer

Housecleaning: Offworld RSS feed no longer an uninterrupted jumble of words

Unless it's my own over-dense prose, that is. As you may or may not have been experiencing, since launch our RSS feed has had a bit of a rough time properly converting line breaks, resulting in a single, near-unreadable mashed-up paragraph.

But no more: our own resident renaissance man Rob has finally kicked out the last of the feed gremlins and restored order, so you can now (re-)subscribe with confidence. Thanks to everyone who stuck that out.

I've also been getting an increasing number of emails and anonymous comments that some of you are having problems logging in to leave comments -- we're currently working on issues there and will let you know when those wrinkles have been ironed.

Let me know if you're experiencing any other issues putting a damper on your stay here via the comments (you know, if you can) or that send-a-tip email at top right.

Brandon Boyer

A new Hanes Beefy-T awaits

This T-shirt -- fortuitously spotted by a twitter search, and, I've just sussed out, purchased by Southampton DJ James Zabiela -- is just a few quick fixes away from being an amazing bit of site merch.

No luck finding my own, but at very least I've just learned the kanji for Offworld. [Update: Buy it here at Last Exit To Nowhere, thanks Transmission3000!]

Offworld Colonies t-shirt [via search.twitter]

Brandon Boyer

Happy Holidays from Offworld (feat. Keita Takahashi)

Before the site goes any darker and the posting gets even lighter for the remainder of the week, I just wanted to drop off one last little gift, drawn exclusively for all of you Offworldians by (obviously) Noby Noby Boy creator Keita Takahashi.

Hope everyone's having a happy holiday, and thanks for all the smart comments and well wishes we've received over our first month here.

Brandon Boyer

Would You Like To Play A Game? Networking Edition

It's been a bit too long since we've done one of these, but let's make it a bit different this time. We're all on different pages this weekend, Rob having just put Fallout 3 to bed as Joel just now re-emerges from the vault, John looking for groups on Left 4 Dead (via XBL name 'drcrypt' -- mention Offworld in your request, please!), and me honestly still not sure where the weekend's going to take me (I've been having a desperately hard time lately escaping Banjo Kazooie's Xbox Live Arcade remade paw/claw grip, and am looking forward to sinking in further to XBLA's Meteos Wars).

So, this seems as good a time as any to launch our official Facebook presence, where I've kicked off a thread with our Steam/Xbox Live/PSN/Wii/etc. information, and encourage anyone interested to do the same. Hopefully, while we still fiddle with coming up with something a bit more official, we'll have something more stable than our comments to keep us all together.

As usual, you can also join our Boing Boing Steam group and while I'm passing out our various web presences, I might as well mention that our Offworld Twitter feed is in its neophyte stages and will begin in full soon.

Brandon Boyer

Offworld on BBtv: Awesome edition

Clearly still struggling through Infinite-Jest-esque urges to purchase beauty-enhancing video phone masks and the anxiety of talking to yourself while staring into a tiny, lit, terrifying Hal 9000 eye-hole, I've made my official non-gnome deathknight debut on BBtv.

In it I recap what we've been doing on the site (most notably, the debut of Monster Mii), recommend Dr. Awesome, the first game that's felt to me like a proper 'iPhone game,' versus a game that's merely been made for the iPhone, and let you know what's happening on the site in the coming weeks.

Bonus points for recognizing any of the ephemera in the background, and, as usual, a direct download link so you can blow it up full screen and shoot suction darts at my scruffy mug.

Brandon Boyer

Offworld/BBtv: Status Report edition

While we here at Offworld gather exclusive content for future editions of Offworld's BBtv transmissions, our second update is a status report, telling the wider world what we've been getting up to over the past week (including the rapid growth of our Boing Boing Steam group, as we all gather for Left 4 Dead extended plays), and a quick rundown of the new things coming to the site in the following weeks.

As usual, here's the direct MP4 link, if you prefer a downloadable rather than the Flash.

Brandon Boyer

Explain Leeroy to the fish: Offworld on Air America

There's a certain primary education process that I think a lot of us take for granted about games, and assume in other people. Case in point: yesterday, I was invited to be a guest on Air America Radio to explain precisely what it meant that Obama's new FCC transition team co-chair was a level 70 Tauren shaman.

I'd made a lot of assumptions, actually, including believing the call to be a pre-recording that would get slickly edited down to a few seconds of soundbytes (which I had all pithily prepared) to go into a longer NPR-style news clip, assumptions which were summarily shattered 10 minutes before my phone was supposed to ring when a friend wrote on the wall of my Facebooks, "So here I am, listening to Air America... 'coming up later, Brandon Boyer,'" and I realized I was about to be on live for quite a long time, facing questions I might necessarily not be up to answer.

That was somewhat relieved when host Ron Kuby led in the piece as I was on hold by rattling off facetiously sweeping generalizations of who World of Warcraft players were, and then brought me on to do some very, very basic explaining. Turns out: that's a lot more difficult when you've been immersed eyeball deep in the culture for as many years as I have and have to take it all back to square one. As in: have you ever tried to explain what exactly 'Leeroy Jenkins' is or why it's funny? I'd never had to, until I was live on national radio.

You can hear me valiantly try, though, via Kuby's archives at Air America (though from what I gather the clip ends rather abruptly after an offhand 'teamsters' analogy). Coincidentally, and it would take me another few hours for this to click, Kuby is indeed one-and-the-same the Ron Kuby you hear 'The Dude' Lebowski ask for after the Malibu chief of police beans him with a coffee mug (!). Oh, right, and, you know, also a civil rights activist and lawyer of fantastic renown.

Brandon Boyer

The Offworld Launch Week Unicorn Chaser

We're wrapping up the first week here at Offworld, and I should thank everyone that's commented, written, and left overwhelmingly positive notes about the launch here, and say that if you need me, you'll know where to find me, as again captured via BBtv. It's just how I do, you know?

(BBtv) Unicorn Chaser, Friday Review: Offworld.com Dirty Dancing Death Dwarf