Interesting odd and ends from a week in the interactive entertainment zeitgeist.
Here's another in an occasional Friday afternoon series of games-related curiosities I haven't had time to blog about fully. This week we have a mockumentary about Sonic's chum Tails, a game about malaria, another one about filth and Popcap's new experimental games studio.
And above you'll see items from the newly announced Guilty Gear Accent Core PLUS Collector's Edition, a special version of the Wii, PSP and PS2 brawler hitting UK shelves on May 6. Containing limited edition art cards by Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari as well as T-shirts, keychains, soundtracks and the like, there will only be 200 available, all of them from UK distributor Zen's own online store.
Tragic Tails
Created by freelance writer Michael Leader, alongside pals Nick Moran and Edward Szekely, Behind The Bytes is a, 'silly mockumentary series in the style of Behind the Music, but about video game characters'. The first in the series is on YouTube now and it charts the rise and fall of Tails, Sonic the Hedgehog's loveable but ? it turns out ? psychologically troubled sidekick. Leader and co have got the format of these celebrity documentary shows exactly right, and the result is pretty funny, especially the simmering resentment that brews when Knuckles arrives on the scene.
Popcap goes (experi)mental
The developer behind polished puzzling blockbusters Bejeweled, Zuma and Plants vs Zombies has opened an experimental games label. Named 4th & Battery after the intersection where Popcap's Seattle office is based, the studio will produce smallscale, edgier titles. The first title to emerge from this intriguing chrysalis will be Unpleasant Horse, featuring a flying equine anti-hero that destroys small birds and attacks other horses from above. It's due out on iOS platforms at the end of the month and will be free to download.
"The PopCap brand has become closely associated with ultra-high quality, polish and attention to detail ? which is a great thing," says Ed Allard, Popcap's Executive Vice President of Studios. "But our standard game development process is therefore long and involved, and doesn't really accommodate all of the creativity pumping through our collective veins. 4th & Battery gives us a way to quickly try really strange or marginal ideas, and to give our designers a safe area to hone their chops."
It's a neat idea, and the sort of thing I expect to see more of in the future. Most major studios have times where groups of staff are left with little to do, often at the end of a project. Getting them to bash out strange little downloadable games is surely a better use of their time than clearing out their email in-boxes. As for further games in 4th & Battery's diary, Popcap co-founder Jason Kapalka simply tells us to, "Expect weirdness." We always do.
Talking about weirdness if you're a truly committed fan of Popcap's titles you'll be pleased to know that the company has made some official soundtracks available online. Have a listen to Bejeweled 2, Bejeweled 3 and Plants vs Zombies.
Dirty games
The Wellcome Foundation has commissioned an iOS and online browser game named Filth Fair to coincide with its Dirt season, which runs until August 31. Players must track down a series of words associated with dirt and disease, using cryptic clues to guess at the missing letters. Think of it as dirty hangman. No wait, don't think of that.
It's quite compelling, especially as, when you guess a word correctly you get a link to a relevant web article so you get to learn lots of interesting things about squalor and hygiene through the ages.
Swotting up on Malaria
Browser games have become a popular way for charities to spread information about their causes, and here's a simple but very worthwhile new example. Swat the Mozzy is a 'whack-a-mole' derivative, challenging you to splatter as many disease-carrying mosquitoes as possible within the time limit: the highest scorers will get the chance to win a range of prizes. The game has been commissioned by Malaria No More in preparation for World Malaria day on April 25. Although preventable and treatable the disease claims 781,000 lives a year, with children in Africa the most common victims.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/apr/08/friday-game-culture
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