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.
♥ WREEEEEETCHES!!!
Gears 2 Announced (from the site): “So by now there’s a slight chance you’ve heard something about…(blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah)… November 2008.” Yes, jeez, thank you.
♥ THE TEXTILE COLLECTION OF BENNO PREMSELA
Illustrator for such companies as De Bijenkorf (for display windows), and Van Besouw (for carpets), his designs will be on display at the Utrecht Centraal Museum from March 8th-12th. On side note, currently on exhibition is a collection of iconic fashion pieces throughout time as told by the medium of film.
It only took a whole day to donwload and put back up on the internet to share with y’all. Judging by the demo, the charm of the original game is still there for the most part there, minus some of the dry sense of humor the King of the Cosmos used to have (maybe he’s started going to AA meetings or something).
Now on a stronger system and looking cleaner than ever before, it’s a bit surprising that Namco didn’t attempt upgrade the style of the characters and objects as well because now everything seems more square than ever. Although Beautiful Katamari seems flatter than it did before, I am actually that bothered. This isn’t exactly one of those games where I have expected mind-blowing ingenuity in the sequels. I have always just wanted to play MORE Katamari and more levels at an alarming rate.
Fuuuuuucccckkk. There’s another perfectly good name I should have been able to come up with. Kotaku is talking about an ice skating game for Nintendo DS. How many little girls’ skirts do boys have to look up into a day?
Uh, funny story… I was shopping in San Francisco literally days before Christmas trying to get parking in the O’Farell garage smack in the middle of Union Square in really bad traffic. Of course, some one ended up cutting me off, but then THEY started honking at ME, trying to push me out of the road where I could not go. What am I supposed to assume you want me to do when I can’t go anywhere? All I could do was channel the spirits to come up with an answer and the spirits told me to stick up my middle finger and yell “FUCK YOU BITCH, WHERE DO YOU WANT ME TO GO YOU ALREADY CUT ME OFF, DUMBASS!”. That’s when the black woman driving the other car without plates got out and punched me in the face through my car window full-fisted with matching gold hair, earrings, and fingernails while my ex-boyfriend did nothing (though that’s kind of what he did in the general boyfriend department). Then she got back in her car and sped off so the whole thing was completely pointless and I ended up hating black people for like a week. I think after a week, I just kinda forgot about the whole thing so now I’m “not a racist” again.
YOU KNEW I HAD TO BRING IT UP
Now we all know Nintendo Wii is coming out a week from Sunday (two days after that crazy waffle iron comes out that everyone else wants. I, of course, always have to be different and keep my kitchen appliances and my gaming devices in separate rooms.) My opinions aside, I just really don’t want to see anyone to GET BEAT DOWN NEXT WEEK. Leave the console wars to the corporations, the stockholders, and the media because the fact of the matter is, most people getting a console next week don’t deserve one (i.e.: the guys who paid a homeless man to stand in line in Japan who got mauled by the mob, Paris Hilton, and probably “Turtle” in an episode of Entourage). And if your friend gets one before you do, just take comfort in knowing a first generation will probably melt in a couple of weeks, so you can just relax and enjoy the time you have with it and your friend instead of spreading rumors about him or her out of jealous rage. It’s not healthy and we all have to remember that at the end of the day these are toys that we’re talking about.
OPTIONAL READING
If you actually want to know why I really want a Nintendo Wii, I’ll tell you why: I’m a Screamer. That means when I play videogames, I have a tendency to scream very loudly (cops came over to my friend’s house once after reports came in that the neighbors thought there was a domestic disturbance while I was playing GTA). The Nintendo Wii gives me an opportunity to yelp and squeak complete with bodily spasms without looking like I wasn’t born with enough chromosomes. Also I like cute, “girl” games, which I’m proud to say that I play because it just so happens I’M A FRIGGIN’ GIRL. So I want one, I pre-ordered one, and I will sit here patiently until I get one.
I HATE STREET SWEEPING. I swear it’s one of the ways the beaureacrats keep the community in their houses so they don’t cause trouble. Or a way to keep the streets clean. Either way, I’m stuck here so I’ll recap some exciting things that happened last week like y’all think it’s exciting too.
COOKING MAMA
You are looking at the new proud owner of Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS. Not a new game you say, but very hard to find in English (apparently the language that only people who want to play games like Gears of War speak).
It’s pretty damn fun, I gotta say, except every once and a while a mystery ingredient needs to be added to the recipe and it always looks like poo. The Japanese will eat anything.
NEW(ISH) PODCASTS
Perhaps they have always been available (I’ve only seen them for purchase), but This American Life started giving away episodes on iTunes here (there are two right now). One might be a Veteran’s Day special as it’s focuses on the statistics that have been reported on the body count in Iraq (very dark) and the other one is about raising kids (zzz) with a David Sedaris reading at the end.
And for those who are Bikerfox fans (I don’t really have the will to explain him, you’ll just have to see for yourself), his video podcast is also available for free too here.
LIVE ACTION FAMILY GUY
Last Saturday’s MadTv had a live action sketch of Family Guy with Seth McFarlene. He really does sound like Brian.
I still haven’t fully recovered from my vacation, so I apologize for not having anything to post the last two weeks. I’m still going through a lot of the emails from when I was away, and here are some of the more interesting items people tried to keep me updated on.
Animal Crossing – THE MOVIE
Emailed from Marc who says he “scours the internet so I don’t have to”. Animal Crossing is the best game to play from Nintendo if you’ve just graduated and haven’t gotten a job yet (meaning you have to have a lot of time on your hands and be kind of bored). Technically that’s what movies are like these days so it’s not far fetched that and Animal Xing movie would come out.
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Gnarls Barkley/Biggie Mashup
Sent by Whitey who has been sending music links back and forth. We’ll talk more about music blogging, mp3 aggregators, podcasting (and the like) later next week as I’ve been compiling a lot of links and information about the subject. But for now, you can wet your whistle on these tracks.
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Summer Reruns
July already! Time to find that f*@king netflix envelope you lost in February and catch up on what you missed while you were “working” in the winter months. So far everyone who I’ve recommended “Weeds” to has loved it for different reasons, which is odd, but great! Click on the image to add to your Netflix, or buy from iTunes.
