Playstation Over The Years

I recently saw this short film and it perfectly encapsulates gaming over the years for me, not just in terms of Sony but also Nintendo and Microsoft. As well as showing the passing of fashion and music trends it also offers a meta-critique on the London housing market and the difficulty of getting on the property ladder. Have a look and tell me what you think!

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Medley by Superfast piano player

I wish I'd learnt to play an instrument, even a recorder eluded me :(  Check out the guy in the video though, he has, as the kids say 'mad skills'.

Historical Software Archive

I wanted to share with you an amazing undertaking which is happening on the internet to save for posterity the digital information we have online. In the words on the Internet Archive Software Collection;

The Internet Archive- a treasure trove of resources!

The Internet Archive Software Collection is the largest vintage and historical software library in the world, providing instant access to millions of programs, CD-ROM images, documentation and multimedia.
The collection includes a broad range of software related materials including shareware, freeware, video news releases about software titles, speed runs of actual software game play, previews and promos for software games, high-score and skill replays of various game genres, and the art of filmmaking with real-time computer game engines.

Imagine how much communication we do digitally and with the speed at which technology evolves and changes how much information is lost forever? Think about how important the written word has been to the history of humans? In the current climate where technology is moving ever rapidly forward and data is transient and software can be removed or difficult to use in todays computing environment, it would be sad to lose some of the data, files and information forever. 

A non-profit organisation, the Historical Software Archive had the mission of making old programs and games accessible in-browser, a large undertaking indeed! (the games were originally released for platforms such as the Atari 2600, Apple II, and Commodore 64)

Pitfall, a true classic.

Recognise the game?

Copyright is an interesting issue as most of the software is still covered under the laws but it will be interesting to see if these companies decide to press on and request a cease and desist order. I for one hope that the archive remains and continues to build it's collection, archiving for future generations is important!

The 2D animation boom

It seems you can't turn up at the cinema without he latest CGI animation showing,  and this may seem like the death knell for traditional hand drawn animation but the truth is far more interesting. Check out this short documentary (just over 10 minutes) which shows that 2D animation is thriving. Enjoy!

Gumball vs Street Fighter

I would like to share with you one of my favourite TV shows at the moment, The Amazing World of Gumball. The animated show has 2 series at the time of writing and follows the adventures of Gumball, a cat and his best friend Darwin, a fish who grew legs. The show is 15 minutes long and has an amazing look combining traditional cel animation with photography, CGI and papercraft (as well as film footage on a talking chin with googly eyes- you have to see it to believe it!) 

There are few examples of mainstream children's programming as wildly imaginative, as visually and narratively daring, as The Amazing World of Gumball. and I love its marvelously surreal chunk of fast and funny humour. 

The show riffs on popular culture and computer games are referenced throughout. I've chosen one of the finest computer game references. See what you think and give the show a look!

Retronauts Podcast

Retronauts is an excellent and informative website which provides free podcasts about old computer games. There are over 150 podcasts about a wide variety of gaming topics. The subject matter is always meticulously researched and presided over by the incredibly knowledgeable Jeremy Parish and Bob Mackey. Being an American podcast there is very little discussed about the British micro computers of the late 80s and early 90s, so don't expect any Amstrad, BBC or Spectrum discussions but they do cover almost every other computer out there.

The most recent incarnation of Retronauts was crowdfunded through Kickstarter after the 1UP gaming website closed, which was where Retronauts first started. I've listened to all the podcasts and love them so I thought I'd share the love!

Retronauts, discussing old games and junk.

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang Documentary

Free on youtube for the first time the fascinating story of Mojang and Minecraft. A really interesting insight into game development and design! 

Mysterious Cities of Gold Wii U Game

Visitors to this site will know my adoration of the MCOG series, but I'm pretty excited bout the upcoming MCOG game which will be making it's way soon to the Wii U. Check out the gameplay :) 

I'm off to play the iOS MCOG: Flight of the Condor game... until next time, goodbye! 

Also as an added bonus (because I'm all in the spirit of giving) check out the new English trailer for season 2 of the series, coming to the UK on Bluray in early 2014.... this is pant wettingly exciting! 

Super Mario Parkour

Another parkour video but with an interesting twist :) 

17th Century London Recreated in CryEngine

Cry Engine is a free software which has been used to make computer games but a group of Uni students have used the software to recreate 17th century London- virtual tourism (with the Oculus Rift) here we come!

Salty Bet Mugen

MUGEN is a free fighting game engine that allows people to plug in their favourite characters and have them battle it out against each other. Computer-controlled fighting game fighters against other computer-controlled fighting game fighters in an endless loop. I came across saltybet.com  by chance, in a climate when fighting games are all about balance and skills it is refreshing to see such a thriving scene of pure unadulterated silliness.  The interesting thing is the pure diversity of characters that are available on the roster, you can have Toejam fighting against Ryu from Streetfighter, Dr Doom against Goldie from Primal Rage and so on... the range of characters and the diversity of the games they come from is mindboggling! There's even an Edvard Munch character inspired by 'The Scream'... you have to check this website out, it is amazing! 

saltybet.jpeg

I've linked to a video where you can truly watch the horribly unbalanced and buggy matches.

Lindsey Stirling- Zelda OST

The wonderful violinist Lindsey Stirling does a mighty rendition of songs from the Zelda series. You have to listen to this, it's immense!

8 Bit Wood

I had to bring to your attention an amazing website. Now I am a huge pixel art fan but Jeff, the creator of 8 Bit Wood takes it to the next level. Creating pixel art masterpieces using small pieces of wood. Just look at some of these pictures below and visit his website for more amazing art pieces. My favs the Megaman, what's yours?

Mirrors Edge in Real Life

I saw this amazing video on Youtube and wanted to share it with you folks... I love the game Mirrors Edge and even though this video happens in Cambridge and not some futuristic white city with red embellishments I still think it's great!

Video Game High School

The ultra talented Freddiew made a series of films about a high School where video games are part of life.. check it out and see what you think! 

How It Should Have Ended

HISHE is a fun look at alternate endings of films, often funny always irreverent!