MetaFilter posts tagged with Video and game

Cello Fortress By Joost van Dongen

boo_radley — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:55:32 -0800

Cello Fortress is a unique combination of a game and a live music performance. A cellist defends a fortress by improvising on his cello. Melodies control the guns, dissonant notes activate the flamethrowers. Players from the audience use game controllers to steer their tanks and attack the fortress. The cellist plays live music, while at the same time controlling the game to be a fun challenge for the players. Cello Fortress is an innovative experiment that blends concert and game.

Discipline, Punish or Runaway

PinkMoose — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:20:37 -0800

Run away from Michel Foucault. Cameron Kunzelman is a games journalist and creator. He has made a little web game where you try to evade the French historian. His blog. His twitter. More Kunzelman Previously.

Scam-Z

boo_radley — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:29:22 -0800

Hammerpoint Interactive released its new MMO The War Z on Steam yesterday. It has not been a good launch. Described as a feature laden clone of Day Z, War Z had many baffling design decisions: Respawn times were measured in hours -- originally meant to be 24 hours, player protests knocked it down to 4 hours "for the beta", unless you bought a fast respawn in-game. In-game equipment purchases were lootable from your corpse, which is controversial in a game where player death is guaranteed. But there were more problems: it's been alleged that scamulent developer of The War Z has purposefully mislead its audience to make a quick buck and shut operations down as soon as sales drop off. Interviews with the developer have done nothing to alleviate people's concerns about the game. Earlier today, Valve removed The War Z from its store and began issuing refunds based on the assessment that the game was "prematurely" and "mistakenly" released to customers.

What's Snots?

rollick — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:27:38 -0800

Two Irish children misunderstand a quiz show

You got Atari in my geetar!

KevinSkomsvold — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:50:34 -0800

Behold the gAtari 2600. An Australian musician performing under the pseudonym cTrix specializes in creating chiptunes using a combination of games consoles from 1977 - 1992, including a Commodore 64, Amiga 500, a clear-cased Gameboy, and an Atari 2600. The latter is possibly the most striking setup, incorporating the Atari (running custom-written sequencing software) into an oversized guitar body, with a fretboard packed with Boss stompboxes and a great pun as a name — gAtari.

A long way to go to lose

JHarris — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:34:26 -0800

Here is a video playthrough of The Legend of Zelda without a sword. It is possible to get right up to the last boss without one, although it requires knowing a lot of tricks. That is exactly what mev1978 does in his playthrough, without dying. And then he does it again in the second quest. First quest (1:61:31) - Second quest (1:13:18) I don't think many of you will watch all the way through these things, but if you try, take my advice. In the first quest video, when he enters the Graveyard, there's going to be a lot of grinding, so start skipping ahead.

Bap Bah Dah Pah Baah Yap Pah!

The Whelk — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 22:58:44 -0800

Nerdcore rock band I Fight Dragons presents I Fight Ganon, a live performance of the Legend Of Zelda Theme song

The 50 Greatest Video Game Characters of All Time

Greg Nog — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 07:39:40 -0800

How many of these classic video game characters do you remember? A list of the 50 Greatest Video Game Characters of All Time. Obviously, it's a difficult task to create a definitive list of all our beloved favorites, but this seems to cover all the really significant characters. A little surprised (in a good way!) that Gestalt actually came in at number 10, TBH. Empire Magazine and Guinness World Records have also compiled lists, but frankly I've never heard of most of those characters

name that game!

flex — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:58:21 -0800

How many video games can you identify by their sound effects? How many can you guess from their music? (part 2, part 3) Can you name video game consoles by their start-up sounds?

Over 70 Billion Gold Rings Served

Rhaomi — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:56:15 -0800

Twenty years ago today, the gaming world saw the launch of a truly landmark title: Sonic the Hedgehog. Developed as a vehicle for a new Sega mascot, the fluid, vibrant, cheery-tuned wonderland swiftly became the company's flagship product, inspiring over the ensuing decades an increasingly convoluted universe of TV shows, comic books, and dozens of games on a variety of systems (all documented in this frighteningly comprehensive TVTropes portal). And while in recent years the series has turned out more and more mediocre 3D and RPG efforts, the original games remain crown jewels of the 16-bit era. So why not kick off this anniversary by replaying the titles that started it all for free in your browser: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994), Sonic & Knuckles (1994). Or click inside for music, remakes, and other fun stuff! Music

Playable archives of the original music from every game in the series
Nearly four hours of remixed tracks in many genres from the pros at OCRemix.org
An orchestral medley from travelling concert series Video Games Live
CarrotAdventure's snazzy "Spin Dash" remix on Mefi Music

Fun fact: after years of speculation, the composer of the catchy Sonic 3 soundtrack was eventually confirmed to be none other than Michael Jackson (listen and compare). Emulators and Fan Remakes

More Java-emulated Sonic titles for Genesis, Game Gear, and Master System, courtesy of TheSmartAss.info (previously)
The visually stunning Sonic Fan Remix (PC demo; Mac demo; previously)
Open Sonic, a faithful, cross-platform, open-source adaptation
an assortment of Flash remakes

Bonus: Melt your cares away with docfuture's ultra-chill playthrough of the original game, discussed previously (YouTube version: part 1, part 2). He also plays through Sonic 2: Special Edition on his LetsPlay page. See also: Sonic Adventures, a multi-part retrospective of the entire series (previously)

Legocraft

The Whelk — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 09:21:55 -0800

Many people have described the popular freeform game Minecraft as "kind of like Lego", so a few enterprising stop-motion animators have decided to jump on that idea.

He sees you.

Lord_Pall — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:11:03 -0800

No matter what you do, no matter where you go, Watson will find you.

Why, that'ssss a nicccce everything you have there.

loquacious — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:04:28 -0800

Yogscast is already well known for their gaming related podcasts and video blogging, but have really come into their own with their Minecraft story-telling saga of THE SHADOW OF ISRAPHEL... Ok, so, it's really less about the storyline and more about a lot of screwing around and witty banter and porkchops. And the occasional bucket of milk. They do create an interesting world, there is actually a storyline and they use Minecraft to great effect as a rather believable - if boxy - world, but it's less about what they're doing and more about what they're not doing. If that makes any sense. Which I doubt that it does. But this is Minecraft we're talking about. Crack open a freshly cooked porkchop and start with the prequel to THE SHADOW OF ISRAPHEL - Part 11 of Survival Island where Old_Peculiar and Skylord_Lysander make their timely debut by rescuing the Yogscast heroes Xephos (the Spaceman!) and Honeydew (the Dwarf!) from Survival Island with the help of a mysterious airship. This plot line is continued from the start of Season 3 and currently runs for 11 episodes. I recommend watching them in order, but by all means feel free to skip around as they're just as enjoyable (and confusing!) in any order. The rest of the Yogscast Minecraft videos are pretty great, too. If you still have no idea what Minecraft is or what it's about, start at the beginning - Part 1: How to Survive the First Night.

Brierized.

kaibutsu — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 20:55:49 -0800

For your listening pleasure, I present to you the Zelda Rag, performed (with no prior practice) by Tom Brier. When that gets old, there's also a ragtime adaptation of the horse race theme from the Ocarina of Time that is not to be missed. And if Zelda's too easy, you can try the theme from Ghosts and Goblins. And, finally, an actual rag from Final Fantasy VI: the Spinach Rag. The theme for Super Mario Brothers 2 also works pretty well... And it looks like there are about three hundred more adaptations to be had!

The Post That Cannot Possibly Go Wrong

Rhaomi — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:28:53 -0800

Halfway through the third book of the Hitchhiker's Guide series, there is a throwaway reference to a doomed starship, one whose incredible splendor was matched only by the cosmic absurdity of its maiden-day annihilation. But the story didn't end there. Unbeknownst to many fans, this small piece of Adamsian lore was the inspiration for an ambitious and richly-detailed side-story: a 1998 computer adventure game called Starship Titanic. Designed by Douglas Adams himself, the game set players loose in the infamous vessel, challenging them with a maddening mystery laced with the devilish wit of the novels. The game was laden with extra content, including an in-depth strategy guide, a (mediocre) tie-in novel by Terry Jones, a whimsical First Class In-Flight Magazine, and even a pair of 3D glasses for one of the more inventive puzzles. Key to solving these puzzles was the game's groundbreaking communications system -- players interacted with the ship's robotic crew through a natural language parsing engine called SpookiTalk, whose 10,000+ lines of conversational dialogue spawned 16 hours of audio recorded by professional voice actors, including John Cleese, Terry Jones, and even Douglas Adams himself in several cameos (spoiler cameo). Want to experience the voyage for yourself? Then watch this narrated video playthrough (intro (ads) - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9? 10 11 12 13) ...or click inside for a information on how to run the game for free on Windows, Mac, and Linux (along with a bunch of other goodies!). Extra Content Excerpts of extra material included with the original copy of the game, including a fictional newspaper, profiles for all the bots and helpful guides to their "cellpoint" settings, the rantings of the infamous parrot, background articles from the strategy guide, and a map of the ship (source for scans).

A highly amusing story about an unusual contest tied into the novel and one fan's quest to crack it.
Original concept art by Oscar Chichoni, the Academy Award-winning designer of the game's environments.
A promotional article by game writer Michael Bywater
An explanation by Douglas Adams in response to incendiary emails complaining about the delay in the Mac version of the game
The obligatory TVTropes article
Blerontin.com - an archived promotional site
Vogon.com - A curious fansite for the series composed of several in-universe corporate sites

Emulating Starship Titanic Though an abandonware title, Starship Titanic can still be played using emulation software for its original Mac OS platform. To get this working, you'll need four basic elements: the emulator program, some files necessary to make the emulator compatible, some tools to extract these files, and a copy of the game itself. It sounds complicated, but it's actually pretty straightforward if you follow the directions. The emulator software we'll be using, SheepShaver, is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, so it should work no matter your set-up (though I've only done it myself on a Windows box). Here's what you'll need: - The latest version of the SheepShaver emulator (in a .zip file): Windows - Mac - Linux - Courtesy of the software archive at MacintoshGarden, compressed copies of the game's three discs: one two three - A compressed image of the game's original OS, on which to run the emulator: here - A free copy of 7-zip, to decompress the OS file: here Depending on your OS, you may also need some supplementary files to get everything working right; for instance, Windows XP users need a copy of SDL.dll in the extracted Sheepshaver folder and need to install the GTK +2 runtime. See Sheepshaver's installation notes for Windows, Mac, and Linux to see if your system needs any additional files; the site usually provides direct links to them. Once you have that squared away, use 7-zip to decompress the Mac 9.0.4 OS folder. Then, open the Sheepshaver folder and click the "SheepShaverGUI" icon. In the first tab, click "Add," browse to the decompressed OS folder, and select the file "macos9800.image." Next, click the checkbox at the bottom for enabling the external file system (this will let you transfer files between your computer and the emulated Mac). In the next tab over, select the window size and resolution you want for the emulator -- you might need to experiment with different sizes, since the image can look a little glitchy on some settings. Finally, in the "Settings" tab, set the RAM size to 1024 and set the ROM file to be the "Mac_OS_Rom" file that's located in the Sheepshaver folder. Now, click the Start button. If all goes well, the emulator should boot up a virtual version of Mac OS 9. Once at the desktop, click the icon for your computer's HD ("My Computer" for Windows, for instance) to access your computer's file system. Browse to where you kept the three Starship Titanic files and drag them to the virtual desktop. Now, click the "Stuffit Expander Alias" icon. This will open a tool that will decompress the files. Drag the game files onto the Stuffit window, then browse to a folder on your computer's drive and click "Choose." The game files will be extracted there. After the files are extracted, exit the virtual desktop by clicking to close the emulator window and then select "Shut Down." If you've got it in fullscreen mode, close any open programs inside the emulator (File -> Quit) and then shut down the desktop by selecting Special -> Shut Down in the menu bar. Now, open up the SheepShaverGUI icon again. In the first tab, click "Add" and browse to the first decompressed game file (STCD1.toast). Once it's added, click Start. The emulator should boot again, but now the icon for Starship Titanic should be on the virtual desktop. Click it to start installation, select a folder (in the virtual system) to install the game to, and you should be good to go. When the time comes to swap discs, just exit out of Sheepshaver and select the appropriate disc to add in the first tab of SheepShaverGUI. If you encounter any problems, the forums at E-Maculation (the developer of Sheepshaver) and MacintoshGarden (the home for emulated Mac games) are very helpful. See also the installation guides at E-Maculation, Macintosh Garden, and RedundantRobot for more detailed documentation. Fabulous Bonus for making it this far: "Parrots, the Universe, and Everything" - A full-length video and transcript of one of Douglas Adams's final speeches, in which he discusses his environmental book Last Chance to See at UC Santa Barbara.

The Revolution Will Be Counter Clockwise

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:17:41 -0800

The revolution will be counter clockwise! Jam City Rollergirls for WiiWare is ready to drop later this year. It will be the first video game treating the 75-year old sport of roller derby. Like most things derby, from the recent Down and Derby book to the WFTDA, to DNN, where you can watch live bouts, to the movie Whip It!, Jam City Rollergirls is supported by and features real players of this growing girl-power sport. It's just too bad none of the teams in the game are from the western region, which is dominating the national rankings. Just sayin'. West coast woot woot.

Board Games with Scott!

JHarris — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 02:31:26 -0800

Confused in Catan? Conflicted about Carcassonne? Puzzled in Puerto Rico? You've heard about all these awesome new board games that are out these days, but don't know where to begin? Help is here! Scott Nicholson knows all about 'em, and will explain them in great detail in his video series Board Games With Scott! Board Games 101, for those getting started. Some interesting episodes/games: 3. Friedrich, an asymmetrical wargame. 5. Heroscape, Hasbro's collectable wargame with a board you piece together out of terrain bits. 11. Ticket to Ride, a card-collecting, route-building game. 15. The Big Idea, Cheapass Games' silly invention game 32. Carcassonne: The Discovery, an introductory version of the tile-placing, territory-claiming game Carcassonne. 42. World of Warcraft: The Boardgame, for the WTF value. 45. Puerto Rico, Scott's favorite board game (mine too) 51. Agricola, a fairly new and awesome game with some similarities to Puerto Rico 61. Tulipmania 1637, designed by Scott! The complete list Top gaming experiences of 2008 Top gaming experiences of 2009 After watching a few, you'll probably get a kick out off this self-parody (warning: unexpected use of both Muppet Monopoly and polydactyl cat)....

WOOT

P.o.B. — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:44:39 -0800

RPG heroes are jerks!

25 cents, same as in town

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:54:57 -0800

The Joydick (NSFW) is a wearable haptic device for controlling video gameplay based on realtime male masturbation. Construction photographs.

First Person Shooter

netbros — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:45:35 -0800

In Sizing Up Sperm, people dressed in all white literally act out the role of sperm in the race to become one with the egg, running through valleys, squeezing through spirals, battling Leukocytes and much more. The results are stunning and the program airs this Sunday, March 14 on National Geographic. It just so happens that Slate also got in on the ejaculation meme, and delivered an article on a story of sperm donors and DNA tracing in Are Sperm Donors Really Anonymous Anymore? [via] The impressive undertaking was completed with helicopter-mounted cameras, world-renowned scientists, CGI and over-the-top reconstruction of the sperm’s journey played out in real life by humans. National Geographic’s Sizing Up Sperm page has video, photos, facts and “The Great Sperm Race” game.

Prochaine Station: Gotham's Soul Breakdance Battle

zenzizi — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:04:50 -0800

BBOY JOKER (single link interactive youtube game) - Patrick Boivin (from visual wizards Phylactère Cola [wiki]) strikes again with a new stop animation game following his success with YouTube Street Fighter.

YouTube Street Fighter

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:56:38 -0800

YouTube Street Fighter (single link interactive youtube game)

The Unfinished Swan

GuyZero — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:22:36 -0800

The Unfinished Swan is an unfinished video game set in an entirely black and white world. Players can splatter paint to help them find their way through an unusual garden. A video of the gameplay.

Like, OMIGOD!

carsonb — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:34:51 -0800

80smusicvids.com - Like totally bodacious collection of over 1000 music videos from like the raddest decade. Choice. Bonus, dude! Retro video games like flashacized.

Super Epic Video Game News

BartFargo — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:44:22 -0800

Super Epic Video Game News. Several Channel 101 alumni are bringing their own distinctive style to game and tech journalism. Perfect for those who love video games, but hate the people that play them. The YouTube comments are an even split between impotent rage and people who get the joke. For those who don't like Channel 101 or video game news, you have been warned.