It should have been a link to the classic “Strong Kids, Safe Kids”.

Strong Kids Safe Kids

My sister and I were subjected to this edutaining video when we were kids. I think it was borrowed from a dark corner of the public library, while the VCR was rented from the grocery store, which was also a warehouse.

Anyway, I hope that order has been restored to the universe now.

Though it’s targeted at [tag]amateur designers[/tag], there’s a lot of solid advice that could be applied to professionals as well. Most notably: design on paper, continually reward players for playing, and broaden your horizons beyond [tag]video games[/tag] to come up with really interesting ideas.

There are other good articles on the site as well. Most are game related, but then there’s also one about how to spot [tag]abusive men[/tag]. I’m not sure how the two topics are related, but I suppose it’s good advice all the same. The cycle of abuse ends with you.

Now I understand that during his rendition of Bésame Mucho he wasn’t trying to seduce me into the bedroom, he was trying to seduce me to the dark side of the the Force. Hard to see the dark side is.

The question SankeWesker asks is where game art will go in the next 20 years. Have we hit the wall of diminishing returns? Do developers really want to plow through the Uncanny Valley and create game characters and worlds that are indistinguishable from the real world? Would that even be fun or interesting to the player?

I’ve always believed that game developers will never make games look absolutely real. It’s not that they’ll never have the technology, it’s that if games looked as good as real life, they would be too boring. We like Oblivion because it allows us to explore a fantastic world that looks like ours (except for the hellish areas), but also has its own visual style. It’s for that reason that games will always look a little off; they’ll never look as good as our world, and it’ll be on purpose. If they did, gamers might be forced to get their entertainment elsewhere, either through films, or by simply going outside. I mean, if games start looking 100% real, you may as well go see the real deal, right? Or at least just look at a video/picture of it…

Source: Worst. Blog. Ever.

It sounds like what SnakeWesker is describing is the same thing that happened to the art world in the 19th century. By the 1800’s artists could capture the real world with remarkable precision. But, the modernity led to a shift in the role of the artist, due in part to the introduction of photography, but also due to changes in the way people looked at the world and the individual.

Modern art is a general term used for most of the artistic production from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. (Recent art production is more often called Contemporary art or Postmodern art). Modern art refers to the then new approach to art where it was no longer important to represent a subject realistically — the invention of photography had made this function of art obsolete. Instead, artists started experimenting with new ways of seeing, with fresh ideas about the nature, materials and functions of art, often moving further toward abstraction.

Source: Wikipedia

Personally, I don’t think the video game industry is are anywhere near the level of maturity of the 19th century art world. Designers are still struggling with tools and technologies that are emerging and unfamiliar. Very few games exhibit mastery of the form, and even then, its hard to even define what the form is that they’ve mastered.

The time will come when mature artists have mastered game development. They’ve nailed representation of their game worlds, and it’s no longer appropriate to pursue realism. We see it already in Katamari Damacy, Okami, Wind Waker, and other “stylized” titles. But my feeling is that the true revolution in games will be when the form of the gameplay is just as expressive as the visuals. Games like Rez, Electroplankton, and Fl0w seem to be laying the tracks for future generations of experimental design.

I’m really looking forward to the time in gaming when there are institutions for really creative designers to rebel against and reinvent. It will be pretty awesome the first time the gaming equivalent of “A Starry Night” appears on the screen.

By way of The Tanooki

[tags]Video Games, Art, Style, Modern Art, Artsy Fartsy[/tags]

It’s a great example of how creative developers can get with the Wii remote. The game employs a number of unique stances, known as “forms”, that instruct you to hold the remote a particular way. Often these forms require you to move your entire body to complete a microgame. Sure, you can easily fake out the Wii’s robotic brain by doing tiny movements with the remote. But in so doing, you idnetify yourself a douche bag worthy of derision and beneath pity.

Speaking of which, I suspect that this is game is a dish best served multiplayer. The single player is fun. But, after awhile you might feel somewhat douchey holding the remote up to your nose like an elephant trunk. So I guess you’re a douche if you do, and a douche if you don’t. It’s a tough position to be in, but a sanitary one.

The single player game looks like it’s shorter than Warioware Twisted, which had a truly obscene amount of content. I’m okay with what Smooth Moves has to offer, but I’d have liked a few more unlockable toys and mini-games like there were on the handhelds.

What I find most exciting about Smooth Moves are all the nuggests of potential Wii gameplay that the package suggests. Yes, there are duds in the bunch. But, surprisingly few. I could see entire Wii games being built around some of the mechanics that Smooth Moves has introduced.

As a game to introduce people to the Wii remote, Smooth Moves isn’t quite as accessible as Wii Sports. In Wii Sports, the metaphors are extremely clear — The remote might be a tennis racket, a baseball bat, a golf club, and so on. Smooth Moves asks you to make some leaps — Hold the remote like a Mohawk, a Samurai, a Waiter, etc. But if you’re willing to meet the game half way, its humor and fast pace carry the day and deliver a great experience.

You can see the sexy horse mutilator in all his well-lit glory on the Broadway World site.

It looks like all the writers of Harry Potter slash fiction toiling away with their capes, pointy hats, and hand lotions have been vindicated.

[tags]Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, Equus, Naked, Hot[/tags]

In this dream FrankenBerry, Count Chocula, and Michael Clark Duncan came over to my house. My house was a cave, but it was decorated like a palace.

They wanted refreshments, so I made them the following cocktail:

• 1 cup frankenberries, ground in a blender
• 1/2 cup chocolate covered espresso beans, ground in a blender
• 1 part strawberry schnapps
• 1 part banana liqueur
• 1 part vodka
• A splash of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of iced milk
• Whipped cream aplenty

I called it the Lanky Franky, and served it to my guests from a pitcher resembling the Kool-Aid man. It was impossibly delicious, and it saved me from a beating at the hands of Michael Clark Duncan.

I do not have all of the ingredients to create my dream beverage. But, perhaps you do. If so, please, go forth and live my dream. And tell me how it tastes.

[tags]Cocktail, Dream, Frankenberry, Recipe[/tags]

So far I haven’t been too impressed with any of the FPS games on offer. Red Steel and Call of Duty both felt clumsy. I haven’t played Far Cry: Vengence, but from what I understand it doesn’t really improve the situation.

Back when I first heard about the Wii controller, It seemed like a perfect fit for FPS gaming. The Nunchuk and remote sounded like great surrogates for a mouse and keyboard interface. Even better, it seemed like gameplay would be more intuitive, since you can literally can point and shoot at things on the screen.

But in practice, navigating the world and aiming with the wiimote can prove to be very frustrating. And since FPS is such an established genre, the Wii gestures that have been incorporated into the current batch of games feel like afterthoughts.

I’m eager to see how Metroid plays. But as it stands, my gut feeling is that the FPS genre needs to be completely rethought for the Wii, or thrown out altogether. The argument on Video Game Vs. sounds like a good place to start the rethink.

[tags]Wii, FPS, First Person Shooter, Video Game Vs., Video Games[/tags]

She has a number of cool handmade Video Game inspired designs. I love the pacman scarf and hat combination. And the princess herself is too cute.

The Urban Princess certainly gives Miss Ivy and her Odd Couture a run for its money.

And now, apropos of nothing, I’d like you to check out the totally boss Link hoodie that was constructed for me by a princess of a different sort.

[tags]Urban Princess, Odd Coture, Miss Ivy, Link, Mario, Nintendo, Pacman, Fashion[/tags]

It feels like a Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin movie set against works of art like Gustav Klimt’s the Kiss, or an Escher drawing. The movie includes some great sequences that hearken back to Popeye cartoons like Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp, and Ali Baba’s 40 Thieves. You’ll probably recognize some of the character designs and plot points from Disney’s Aladdin, which this film inspired.

Vincent Price delivers a wonderfully playful performance as an evil Vizier. And though the Thief and the Cobbler are silent, both convey a great deal of character and emotion through their body language and great facial expressions.

The movie is delightfully anachronistic. It recalls a time when animation captured the joy of movement, and payed off on fantastically choreographed physical comedy. If you’re a fan of the very early stuff from Disney, Warner Brothers, and Max Fleischer, you’ll definitely get a kick out of it.

I don’t know if we’ll ever see a completed version of this cut. But thanks to Garrett Gilchrist’s fan restoration, we can all enjoy this remarkable piece of animation history.

Links you might like:

• Max Fleischer Cartoons – Freely downloadable from Archive.org
• Vintage Toon Cast – A video podcast featuring classic cartoons.
• ReFrederator – More classic cartoons via Channel Frederator

[tags]The Thief and the Cobbler, Richard Williams, YouTube, Animation, Restoration[/tags]