LUMINES GETS US RELEASE
25/02/2005 - Lumines, Tetsuya Mizuguchi's new "music and luminary action" puzzle game for the PSP handheld system, will be published in the US by Ubisoft.
Lumines offers gameplay reminiscent of Tetris, blended with Mizuguchi's trademark style. Since its December 2004 release in Japan, the Q Entertainment production has sold around 40'000 units, becoming one of the most popular launch titles available for the PSP.
During his acclaimed GAMEHOTEL appearance Rez-creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi said that the new handheld consoles, Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, are a great way to "bring down the wall between the game and the player." He has also delighted his fans as he promised to "go on designing games until at least I'm 70." (via GAMEHOTEL)
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DESIGNER AIR SICK BAGS
25/02/2005 - Limited edition air sick bags by hyperactive Japanese designer collective FuriFuri will be on display (and fully operational) on Virgin Atlantic flights.
GAMEHOTEL guests FuriFuri have designed a special inflight sick bag (image) as part of a project initiated by Design For Chunks. You can win one of the hand signed happy sacks, as pilots call them, by sending a (quite specific) message to FuriFuri before March 3rd.
Speaking of FuriFuri: check out Life of Buddha (published by DGV), the full color book by Japanese illustrator, and FuriFuri co-founder Miho Sadogawa aka Erotic Dragon. Her lush artwork (image) combines traditional Japanese painting style and futuristic Manga design with Western influences from Gustav Klimt to Moebius. (via GAMEHOTEL)
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URBAN CULTURE COLLIDES WITH GAMES
20/02/2005 - Marc Ecko's forthcoming game Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
modestly promises to be "revolutionary, genre-defining", to "put the
flag in the ground of popular culture", and to explore new ways to
market games.
The urban fashion mogul, and founder of the famed rhino brand Ecko Unltd., will base his first venture in video games on the universe of graffiti culture that has played an integral role in his development over the past ten years. Acclaimed hip-hop artist Talib Kweli will provide the voice of the game's protagonist, Trane. Getting Up, developed with Collective, and published by Atari, should also receive a mobile add-on, developed by Sorrent.
At the same time, Atari announces a second collaboration with Shiny Entertainment for a follow-up to the Matrix Online game. The title has sold well, but has received harsh critical reception. The new game, Matrix: Path Of Neo, should again see the Wachowski Brothers closely involved with "script and directing" duties.
It will be interesting to see how much of their pop cultural elan game industry outsiders Ecko and the Wachowski Bros will manage to inject into these titles. (via GAMEHOTEL)
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KATAMARI DAMACY FUN
14/02/2005 - The sequel to the seminal Katamari Damacy action puzzle game is slated for release this spring in Japan. In the meantime, you might want to get your hands on a funky Katamari hat.
Keita Takahashi's Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy (Katamari Damacy 2, PS2) will allow players to continue to roll everything on Earth into clumps. The crazily addictive, toy-like gameplay, its highly original visual style, and the awesome soundtrack made the 2004 title one of the most innovative games in years, and a GAMEHOTEL favorite.
If you can't wait to get the sequel, treat yourself to a knitted hat made to resemble one of the game's clumps. These painstakingly handmade items are available as limited edition. Or maybe you prefer a hand puppet? (via GAMEHOTEL)
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KIDROBOT'S NIKE AIR MAX 1
12/02/2005 - Barneys New York and Nike partner with designer toy store Kidrobot to produce a limited edition Nike Air Max 1.
The black, gold and pink styling (image) was created by Paul Budnitz and Chad Phillips of Kidrobot, the partner of GAMEHOTEL's Californian Designer Toy Showcase. Originally designed by Tinker Hatfield in 1987, the Nike Air Max 1 is the first in the revered Air Max collection, and was the first shoe created with a visible air bag.
Each limited edition shoe comes packaged in a specially-designed gold and pink collector's box, and includes a limited-edition mini Kidrobot key chain. In addition, one of five blind-chase sock liners (image) packed in Kidrobot's signature foil bag, will be packaged with the limited edition shoe. One of the sockliners was created by GAMEHOTEL guest Huck Gee. (via GAMEHOTEL)
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MARIO'S DANCING DEBUT
10/02/2005 - Mario will appear in an upcoming Dance Dance Revolution game, and Lego Star Wars is scheduled for release in April.
Nintendo's trademark character will appear in a new installment of Konami's DDR dancing game series. Earlier, the company had confirmed that Mario and friends will be featured in the GameCube version of Electronic Arts' NBA Street V3. This is quite surprising as Nintendo's characters are rarely seen in games not published by the Japanese giant itself.
Another recent example of cross-branding is the Lego Star Wars game, developed by UK studio Traveller's Tales, and scheduled for release in April. Blending two extraordinarily popular, yet very different, universes, it chronicles the first three episodes of George Lucas' popular science-fiction trilogy from the perspective of those brightly colored plastic figures.
And speaking of figures: during GAMEHOTEL's Designer Toy Showcase at GDC unsubstantiated rumors have suggested that Michael Lau's gorgeous urban vinyl figures may appear in an upcoming video game. (via GAMEHOTEL)
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INFECT THE WORLD
05/02/2005 - GAMEHOTEL keeps a close eye on a forthcoming title that takes advantage of the PSP's wireless capabilities.
Infected, developed by Planet Moon Studios, is a third-person shooter that is being designed from the ground up for the new handheld console. It is scheduled for release later this year. The game comes with a multiplayer mode that lets you "infect the world" by spreading your avatar like a virus to other player's PSP systems.
GAMEHOTEL has featured some of the most innovative developers of next-generation wireless games, including Swedish pioneers It's Alive, and up-and-coming French studio Newtgames. (via GAMEHOTEL)
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ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK BY AMON TOBIN
01/02/2005 - Amon Tobin's soundtrack for the upcoming video game Splinter Cell Chaos Theory was released this week as a standalone album on Ninja Tune.
It's nice to see how much attention is given to original music in Ubisoft's new stealth-action game scheduled for release in March. Since his debut in the mid-nineties, Amon Tobin has been one of the most original producers in downtempo electronic music. The love of soundtracks of all types has always been a key influence in his work, from Bricolage to Supermodified to Out From Out Where, and it clearly shows in the Splinter Cell album.
You can listen to the tracks on Ninja Tune's site. (via GAMEHOTEL)
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