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A couple of years back, some engineering students from UC Santa Clara were bored and decided to decorate their building with a tribute to Super Mario Bros. -- done in Post-Its.
Now, a new batch of students have made a sequel of sorts, and have come up with a more elaborate tribute to Donkey Kong, complete with giant monkey, damsel in distress, barrels, girders, and Mario -- again, all done in Post-Its.
Ok, I admit, I have a soft spot for these incredibly geeky things that people do with their spare time.
By now, most people have heard of the Nintendo Wii, which comes with the Wii Sports game that includes a simple bowling game. LEGO Mindstorms, on the other hand, is a toy line from LEGO that is targetted at teenagers and young adults. Basically, it allows you to make simple robots using LEGO bricks, some motors, and software to program your robot with. It has a good following around the world, especially with burgeoning robotic enthusiasts.
So some guy recently gets a Nintendo Wii, and being a Mindstorms builder, decides to make a Wii Bowling robot. He gets it to automatically bowl a perfect game...
Another little interesting tidbit from the Internet.
Nintendo held a live concert a few years ago, with strings and percussion, and did the Super Mario Bros. theme with a Latin-style arrangement. But to add a little extra oomph, they had someone sing some lyrics to accompany the music.
While this clip doesn't have any subtitles, the translation can be found below.
Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running Go save Princess Peach! Go! Today, full of energy, Mario runs Today, full of energy, jumping! Today, full of energy, searching for coins Today, keep going, Mario!
Get a mushroom - it's Super Mario! Get a flower - it's Fire Mario!
Goomba! Troopa! Buzzy Beetle! Beat them all! Mario is always full of energy and strong!
[Spoken] The only one who can reverse the spell that has captured the Mushroom People is Princess Peach. But Princess Peach is hidden underground, in a far-off castle. Ah, the days of peace... if we could once more return to those days... to save Princess Peach and bring peace back to the Mushroom Kingdom, that is why Mario is on his journey today.
Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running Go and beat the Koopa tribe, go! Today, full of energy, Mario runs Today, full of energy, jumping! Today, full of energy, searching for coins Today, keep going, Mario!
Get a star - become invincible! Quickly, go save Princess Peach!
Lakitu! Blooper! Cheep Cheep! Beat them all! Mario is always full of energy and strong!
Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running He's made it to the castle and gets fireworks! Lightly sidestepping the Hammer Bros. Show the last of your power, Mario! It's been a long journey but it's nearly at an end You've done it, you've done it! You've defeated Bowser!
Princess Peach says "Thank you" Mario's got a great big heart!
Mario's adventure is over for now, but Mario's dream lives forever...
1up.com recently posted a couple of interesting articles about one of the sessions in the Game Developer's Conference ongoing in San Francisco. The session was given by the main producer, Keiichi Yano, of "Elite Beat Agents", one of the more popular Nintendo DS games to be released this year.
In the session, Yano explains how a popular rhythm-based game in Japan named "Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan!" evolved into a "Elite Beat Agents". The challenge: to change a game full of Japanese quirkyness about male cheerleaders who encourage regular people to complete their difficult tasks by using play mechanics similar to Dance Dance Revolution -- to something more engaging to the Western palate.
Needless to say, they almost bit off more than they can chew. Read on how "Ouendan!" almost became a weird Village People clone...
Another Internet gem I stumbled upon. Greg Patillo is a street performer in New York who specializes in mixing beat boxing and flute playing. 'Nuff said.
Check out his renditions of the Super Mario theme, Sesame Street theme, and a funky mix of Inspector Gadget/Axel F.
With all the hype of the new video game consoles that have come out over the past year, it's easy to forget that what matters most are the games, not the hardware.
Video games have been around for over 30 years, and a number of genres have evolved over time. One of the first video game genres established was the shooter. The concept and gameplay is simple -- you are a lone hero that has to destroy multiple targets, all the while avoiding being destroyed yourself. The earliest example of this (that I can think of) is the classic "Space Invaders".
A few years after "Space Invaders", another other classic game, "Phoenix", introduced a new concept that was become a staple in the genre -- the end of stage "Boss" that you had to defeat to progress to the next level.
From those humble beginnings, and over 30 years of evolution, with these tried and tested gameplay mechanics, a Japanese company has released a game called "Mushihimesama Futari" (don't worry, I have a hard time pronouncing that, too) for the Playstation 2. It's claim to fame: the hardest video game "Bosses" ever! You need a combination of lightning relexes and a savant-like ability to recognize patterns to defeat these bosses.
The Nintendo Wii has been out for almost a couple of months, and it's an early success for Nintendo. The Wii was a best-seller during the Christmas season, had a lot of positive stories from the mainstream media, and just general good word-of-mouth. So it's no surprise that the Wii would be a subject for the many fan-made videos on the Internet...
Yesterday saw the release of a funny (and a bit racy) video that explores the intersection between video gaming and the mating ritual...
A video taken from an orchestral concert dedicated to playing music taken from video games. Check out this full symphonic orchestra play a medley from the original "Super Mario Brothers" to "Super Mario World 64".
Microsoft recently released a game called "Gears of War" for the Xbox 360, and is currently the best-selling game in its line up, selling over 1M copies in a little over a month.
To promote the dark and gritty game, Microsoft created a commercial with visuals from the game with a cover of the Tears for Fears hit, "Mad World" playing in the background.
Ever since the commercial came out, the sales of that version of "Mad World" in the iTunes music store shot up, introducing a new generation of angsty teenagers to New Wave music.
Ok, so probably 90% of those who've seen the commercial or purchased the song don't know who Tears for Fears is. But you never know, maybe Americans will now know Tears for Fears beyond "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".
In a related (yet quirky) note, some people were inspired to use the same "Gears of War" commercial footage with different music. The best 80's homage has to be the one set to the theme song of "The Neverending Story"...
A cool video using stop-animation of a combination of clay, food, and common household items. The animator recreates the classic gameplay of Centipede, Frogger, Asteroids, and Space Invaders. Enjoy!
For all you "Legend of Zelda" and/or Nintendo fans out there...
Seeming like a counter-point to the string quartet playing the Zelda medley, we have a guy playing another medley on his ukulele. The funny thing is, it makes it seem more medieval... like listening to a bard's mandolin. :)
A little disclaimer: I'm a PC user -- I've never owned a Mac, and could never justify getting one (even a Mac-mini) just to play around with. That being said, I'll admit that Apple makes some of the best advertisements in the computer industry. Apple's latest "Get A Mac" campaign is one of their wittiest, spawning may spoof ads on the Internet.
Both console video game machines are scheduled to come out in the last quarter of 2006. Based on the available facts, hype and buzz, the gaming community is torn between what machine to purchase. Here are the arguments for each machine, in a nutshell:
Sony Playstation 3 PROS: arguably the most powerful machine, will have a blu-ray drive (to high definition movies or games), very strong brand image, great 3rd party game support CONS: most expensive console ($499 basic version, $599 premium version that most gamers will want), blu-ray still unproven (and one of the reasons the PS3 costs so much), games mainly target males from teens to mid-20s, very expensive to produce games for
Nintendo Wii PROS: most affordable machine (no more than $250), very family friendly image, great 1st party games, targets wider audience to expand the video game market, relatively cheap to produce games for CONS: the least powerful among the latest generation of machines, no plans for high definition content, been at 3rd place in video game industry for 2 generations
With these points in mind, see the video below as it explains it in another way...
Most children of the 80's can easily recognize Pacman, Space Invaders, and a host of early video games, whether they really played them or not. They are ingrained in pop culture, and from time to time we see their influence, as the children of the 80's grew up and are now producing modern media.
Which brings us to a clip from Futurama, the cult-hit show of Matt Greonig (creator of "The Simpsons"). Check out their tribute to the video game pioneers...
We've gone a long way since the late 70's and 80's, and video games are a multi-billion dollar industry. And the earliest indicator of how popular video games are come from Korea, where multi-player network gaming exploded over a PC game called "Starcraft".
"Starcraft", a strategy war game involving the Terrans (humans) and two other alien races, was released by Blizzard (creators of the "Warcraft" series and the "Diablo" series) back in 1999, and for some reason, it really tickled the fancy of the Koreans! It seems everyone in Korea played "Starcraft", and it got to the point where the top players were treated like real sports celebrities, broadcasts were made for matches, and merchandizing ranged from toys to snack food. It's still played extensively 7 years later!
Which brings us to a "Starcraft" finals clip, where "Boxer", a player using the Terrans, wins the match in 5 minutes using a SCV rush tactic! (For those unfamiliar with Starcraft, the SCV is basically a resource-gatherer, and therefore the weakest unit you can have.) It's a feat that made him a god in gaming circles...
A Swiss artist presents a mixture of pop culture, video games, and stop-motion animation in his Human Space Invaders project.
Artist Guillaume Reymond basically rented a movie theater, a camera, and asked a lot of bored family and friends to help (not much else to do in Switzerland, I guess...). Each person became a "pixel" on the theater "screen", and formed the canon, aliens, flying saucers, bunkers, and shots. Using stop-motion animation and mixing in the original Space Invaders sound effects, Reymond faithfully recreated the classic gameplay of 70's video game phenomenon Space Invaders.
The video game industry is on the virge of its latest console war, with Microsoft firing off the first shot when it launched the Xbox 360 last November 2005. In response, the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3 will fire their volleys in the last quarter of 2006.
Who will come out on top? Who knows... (I'm rooting for Nintendo, personally.) But to commemorate the developing console war, someone posted this video on YouTube that pokes fun at the main competitors.
Whatever side you choose, I think you'll all be entertained. :)
As I previously blogged, a Bob Ross video game is in the works. The latest update from the developer announces a contest where anyone can submit their own original painting -- made using the Bob Ross techniques, of course -- and if chosen, it will be included in the game. The grand prize winner also gets a picture of him/herself on the packaging of the game!
Check out the press release, then get working on your happy little paintings.
Some college guys came up with a live performance of Super Mario Brothers for their college talent show. Using a technique inspired by Japanese theater groups (made famous on the 'Net for the Matrix Pingpong), "Mario" travels the land, collecting coins, stomping on goombas and turtles, and even shooting fireballs!
Sony just held a press conference revealing the pricing for their upcoming gaming system, the Playstation 3 (aka PS3). The highlights are:
Launching on Nov. 11 in Japan and Nov. 17 in the USA
Features a wireless controller with motion-sensors, similar to the Nintendo Wii
Will come in 2 SKUs: one with a 20GB hard drive, the other with a 60GB hard drive
The 20GB version has less features than the 60GB version aside from hard drive space
The 20GB version will retail for US$500; the 60GB version for US$600
Ouch. That's a lot of moolah. I think that officially makes the Sony Playstation 3 the most expensive next generation machine, followed by the Microsoft XBox 360 (2 SKUs: US$300 or US$400), then Nintendo's machine (no official announcement yet, but rumored to be US$250).
Now how do I afford these things without going bankrupt...
This week's issue of Time Magazine takes a look at Nintendo's latest console, formerly known as the "Revolution", now simply "Wii".
Pronounced "We". I know, I know... it's not the greatest name in the world. You can stop with all the wee-wee jokes now. (On a side note, this will make an interesting case study for marketing classes...)
Anyway, it takes a look at Nintendo's strategy against Sony and Microsoft, who have new gaming machines that are coming out, or have already come out. To reiterate, Nintendo is trying to expand the market beyond their typical audience of teenage boys and men in their 20's. They want to appeal to non-gamers, and are trying to address the barriers that keep new potential players away by focusing on more user-friendly designs and innovative gameplay. The writer gives his impressions on some games that will come out on the system.
