This group of guys aren’t just a bunch of developers huddled in a dark room, (although looking back on it, you could practically print some 8×12’s in the joint – more to do with Dutch weather than a love to bathe in monitor glow I think). Over in Utrecht, I met up with two of the co-founders of Ronimo Games, Jasper Koning and Fabian Akker who sat down and had a chat about their new Nintendo WiiWare game, Swords and Soldiers. Inspired by the ending to Super Moine and the Flash game, Age of War, Swords and Soldiers is kind of like a mutant cross breed between Worms and Civilization. It takes flat style illustration and couples it with strategy as well as the love for senseless, repetitive violence. You make them better. Faster. Stronger.
Not only is this game coming while the company is practically still in diapers (they just graduated last year from HKU), but they’re Dutch, and trying to do comedy all in a $10 game. I personally would have attached some string to a ball and called it a day, but everyone has their thing.
They’ve made the most out of what their education and country has to offer. According to Jasper, they were able to secure some subsidies for their company (albeit not a whole lot, but enough to keep them and their game independent). In fact, when they first started they quickly grew out of building that housed collective artists but were able to get the digs they are currently using for their company alone with the help of the government. Talent definitely has its rewards.
Just because they get a little help doesn’t mean that they have to answer to anyone. Swords and Soldiers is the result of a collaborative effort between everyone at Ronimo whether it was a designer, a programmer, an animator, or that weird guy in the corner (they’re all in corners – HA!). They even got some local high school students to test out the game with high marks from those who like strategy games. I give the boys high marks for being funny and creative. I mean, how long have I been saying there should be a game about barbecue sauce?
♥ URBAN TYPOGRAPHY WORKSHOP AT OOSTERDOK APRIL 3-4
€200 will get you a ticket into working with grafitti artist ZedZ, artist Wayne Horse, and graphic designer Mirthe Blussé for two whole days on guerilla style type. Walls not included in lab fee.
♥ AT THE BOY WASH, YEAH!
Proving that there really is a Nintendo DS games out there for everyone, Duel Love teaches the importance of cleaning your man from top to toe.
♥ CRAFT YOUR ASS OFF
Q&A session about where and how you should see your wares at craft fairs.
♥ FELT IS THE MATERIAL OF GODS!
Hey-Sign in Germany makes all kinds of things with big, thick felt. Favorites include felt-covered books and these keychains which were swag (“shit we all get) from a convention a friend attended.
♥ ONE STOP SHOP FOR ONE OF KIND CLOTHES
Tucked in St. Nicolaastraat here in the A’dam. Check out the custom designed umbrellas and make sure you say hi to my girl behind the sewing machine.
Sometimes blogging is like finding an apartment. You go on Craigslist, you narrow your preferences, you look at some posts. Every once and awhile you’ll see something that sounds interesting (“Large Room in Manhatten – Cheap!”), but then you look at the photos and wonder why the biggest photo of the bunch is of the bathroom, or why they decided to strech one of the pictures about 20 pixels too wide.
Well, I’m experiencing the same thing with this story breaking news. Sure it’s for the Olympics. Ok, you’ll release it this Christmas for DS and Wii. Oh, and you are putting Mario and Sonic head to head in a competition game. Whhaaattt? Have you got any marginally convincing quotes to back this up with? Oh, you do. Great…
“Bringing together intensely competitive and fun characters like Mario and Sonic in an Olympic setting helps showcase the sports of the Olympic Games in a new and compelling way for all generations.”
I don’t know, it sounds kind of hokey to me, and even if the game does exist, it still falls under “borderline retarded” on my list of things I’m willing to put on my credit card.
From the description of the youtube video:
“Semi-fictional character known mostly for his appearances on ExtraLife Radio, Ding Pong gives the Wii a spin for himself. Those easily offended by Asian stereotypes need not apply. My Korean brother laughed and so should you.”
Truly and deeply inside my heart, I am still a consumerist and I love to buy things at a good price, so I’m ok without the Wiinja, a Wii mod for playing backed up/pirated games. So far, Nintendo has done a good job of keeping the price points of their consoles and their games at a fair price, it’s just getting a hold of one that’s difficult.
Majesco has announced that they are shipping “Cooking Mama: Cook-Off” for the Wii to retailers nationwide. It’s got the same general format as “Cooking Mama” for the DS, but now you can finally prove to your mom that you really ARE a better cook than her:
Kill American packaging, kill fellow office people, yes, it’s an “everything must die” mentality here at keempoo.com.
I posted this a couple of days ago about threatening to turn my DS into something more useful than a place to cross animals with. Well, now I’ve found the ultimate homebrew hack for the DS and it even came with video!
As of now, there are no finite plans for release. The project is on Nintendo’s radar, but failing a commercial release, Sabiston mentioned the possibility of making it available to homebrew hackers on the Web. Here’s hoping this powerful DS app makes it to the stores, though; after today’s demo, I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I don’t know what that last paragraph is about – the possibility of a Nintendo brand game surrounding illustration being created for the DS or it’s being on Nintendo’s “radar”, but it sure did make my heart skip a beat.
