Category Archives: Posts

The Story Behind the Synaesthesia with Rez Creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi

Posted on Jul 1, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

The season finale of documentary series toco toco focuses on the life and work of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, game designer and former head of both Q-Entertainment, developers of Lumines and Child of Eden, as well as Sega’s United Game Artists division, the team responsible … Continue reading →

Posted in Games Culture, People, Posts, Video | Tagged Games Culture, Japan, Music, People, Rez, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Toco Toco, Video | Leave a comment

Programmable Series – By Any Other Game

Posted on Jun 18, 2017 by Mike Clark (Chemical Taint)

Every video game is an interactive experience, but when does an interactive experience become a game? Video games by their very design require input from an external source, most commonly a keyboard, mouse, controller or joystick. If a game played itself it … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Opinion Piece, Posts, Programmable Series | Tagged Dragon's Lair, Flappy Bird, FMV Games, Game Development, Indie, Indie Developer, Indie Games, Interactive Media, Laserdisc, Mountain, Opinion Piece, Programmable Series, Tamagotchi, Time Gal | Leave a comment

Uniqlo X BoxBoy Apparel Line Serves up an Unexpectedly Adorable Collaboration

Posted on Jun 13, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

Following on from their partnership with Nintendo for the UTGP t-shirt design competition, Japanese clothing giant Uniqlo have announced a collaborative apparel and merchandise line featuring characters from HAL Laboratory‘s puzzle platformer gem BoxBoy. The line is fronted by a pair … Continue reading →

Posted in Fashion, Merchandise, Posts | Tagged 3DS, BoxBoy!, Fashion, HAL Laboratory, Japan, Kirby, Merchandise, Nintendo, Uniqlo | Leave a comment

RPG Eats, Game Boy Knitwear and Relationship Goals – Culture Collection #21

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

‘Game Legend‘, a fair at which various dōjin groups get together to exhibit and sell their gaming-themed creations, took place earlier in May. Kazzycom was there to capture the scene and shared with us a nice shot of some 8-bit Shugei from … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture Collection, Features, Games Culture, Posts | Tagged Culture Collection, Games Culture | Leave a comment

Masahiro Sakurai’s Exhaustive Smash Bros. Blog Gave Me a Year of Joy and Agony

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

Between New Super Mario Bros. turning ten last May and the recent discovery that the Smash Bros. DOJO!! – a website used by Super Smash Bros. series director Masahiro Sakurai to promote the then upcoming release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl – began updating ten … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Musings, Opinion Piece, Posts, Retrospective | Tagged Features, Masahiro Sakurai, Musings, Nintendo, Opinion Piece, Retrospective, Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii, Writing | 2 Comments

Musings on Life and Culture from the Contemplative Mind Behind Doshin the Giant

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

Toco Toco‘s latest Japanese cultural showcase focuses on Kazutoshi Iida, the creative mind behind Aquanaut’s Holiday, Tail of the Sun and Doshin the Giant – minimalistic, pensive experiences that blend the traditional hallmarks of game design with distinctly human elements aimed at encouraging thought … Continue reading →

Posted in Games Culture, People, Posts, Video | Tagged Aquanaut's Holiday, Art Games, Artdink, Doshin the Giant, Japan, Kazutoshi Iida, Nintendo, People, PlayStation, PS1, Tail of the Sun, Toco Toco, Video | Leave a comment

Highlights from the 2017 My Famicase Exhibition

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

We introduced this year’s My Famicase Exhibition, an art show consisting entirely of creative designs for make-believe Famicom games, at the end of last month. Hosts METEOR have now uploaded their full online gallery of every cartridge on display. After … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Features, Games Culture, Posts | Tagged Art, Cartridge, Famicase, Famicom, Games Culture, Japan, Meteor, My Famicase Exhibition, NES, Nintendo | Leave a comment

You’ve Probably Never Played… Barbarossa

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

Barbarossa Developer(s): SystemSoft Publisher: Sammy Platform(s): Super Famicom Release Date: November 27th 1992 (Japan exclusive) Hitler was a bad guy. It’s hardly a surprise, all things considered, that the majority of his video game appearances have seen him take on the fitting role … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Posts, You've Probably Never Played... | Tagged Barbarossa, Import, Japan, Sammy, SNES, Strategy Games, Super Famicom, SystemSoft, You've Probably Never Played... | Leave a comment

Programmable Series – The Sounds Of Context

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Mike Clark (Chemical Taint)

Audio in video games is an interesting beast to tackle. You’ve got background music to set the mood and enhance the environment. You’ve got sound effects for the actions players and characters perform within the game. You may even have voice … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Posts, Programmable Series | Tagged Another World, Capcom, Features, Game Development, House of the Dead, Indie, Indie Developer, Indie Games, Marvel vs Capcom, Music, Programmable Series, Secret of Mana, Sega, Sound Design | Leave a comment

The Irresistible Uphill Battle of Nintendo Pocket Football Club

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Oliver Jameson

In a way not unlike the failure of Mario Bros. to capture the nuances of the plumbing industry with any sum of accuracy, Nintendo Pocket Football Club is a football management simulation that pushes aside the preconceptions you may have garnered about what’s … Continue reading →