Wintory’s Journey to the Grammy’s
A few months ago it was announced that Austin Wintory’s soundtrack for the spectacular game Journey for the PSN has been nominated for the Grammy for “best soundtrack for a visual media.”
Now I know this is old news, it was announced as long ago as November, but I’d like to touch on just how big a deal this is for not only Mr. Wintory himself but for the video game medium as a whole. Read the rest of this entry
Journey: A Complex Personal Experiance, with Strangers!
As thatgamecompany’s last title, Journey is an accumulation of experience taken, focused, and concentrated into a two hour long dream. It is a game that strives to be more than a game, and as per the intentions of this blog, speaks to the heart of what I believe games can become. As always, this is your spoiler warning.
Humble Bundle V: Revamp Your Hipster Cred between now and June 14th!
Humble Bundle Inc has just released their fifth collection of video games and it is a dizzying collection.
LIMBO, Bastion, Sword & Sworcery, Psyconaughts, and Amnesia: The Dark Decent, PLUS all 5 soundtracks all available to you for the total price of…. you choose.
That’s right, keeping with tradition, Humble Bundle allows you to set the price you pay for all 5 games (though in order to access Bastion you need to pay more than the average customer, currently less than $8). Did I mention you even get to choose what percentage goes to the developers, to Humble Bundle Inc, and to the charities EFF and Child’s Play?
Buy it for yourself, buy it for a friend, you’ve not had a chance to get hipster cred this cheaply since you found that collage of 90s movie posters at goodwill. Just click the link here.
Oh, and hurry, the sale ends June 14th
thatgamecompany’s lead designer speaks on PS3 owners’ desire for artistic games.
Here’s a link to an interesting article by Venture Beat in an interview with one of the creators of Journey, Jenova Chen, claiming that PS3 owners seek out more artistic forms of gaming.
http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/07/ps3-owners-interested-in-art
Dark Souls: A Game for the Masochist in Us All
I’ve spent hours trying to figure out what makes Dark Souls such an engrossing game, trying to find out what new feature utilized by the people of From Software that created a game so difficult, yet so inherently rewarding that its garnered a cult fanbase devoted to subjecting themselves to the murderous rampage of this game playthrough after playthrough after playthrough. Strange thing was, every aspect I explored was met with examples that already existed in other games. Simple controls, flexible battle system, cooperative gameplay, an immersive world to explore, and the incredible difficultly that has become an internet fad with games like Super Meat Boy, I Wanna Be the Guy, and Splosionman.
Shadow of the Colossus Analysis: All the World is but Lizards and Birds
So this analysis is painfully late, I know. I’d finished SotC sometime late October and had let the analysis sit there for sometime because I honestly did not want to write what I had to say, but here it is. As always, spoilers follow.
Ico Analysis: I’ll never let go Ico, I’ll never let go…
Ico is a game that could not have existed in the ’90′s, yet much of its gameplay and puzzle solving reminds me of games from that era such as Myst and the Legend of Zelda series. Indeed, it most strongly seemed like a 3rd-person installment of Myst. It is an interesting combination, an experiment that paved a way for more peculiar games and arguably began the whole idea of alternative/hipster video games if Myst didn’t already own that distinction.
Journey Delayed for Spring 2012
So now we know why there hasn’t been much news on the upcoming release of Journey. It’s because there IS NO UPCOMING RELEASE. Journey has been delayed until Spring 2012, a bittersweet opportunity to play the other dozen or so great games coming out. I still can’t wait, but now perhaps the delay will enable me to give it the proper attention it deserves.
From Dust Analysis: Ebb and Flow
From Dust packs a fittingly holistic philosophy into its theme of man versus nature, despite the tribesmen who are sometimes dumber than lemmings. (WARNING: As always, expect spoilers to be exposed at length)
I love the grave, slow start of the game. It makes me feel like I'm about to witness a story passed down through generations.
