Posts tagged Flash
About “…But That Was Yesterday,” a Short But Powerful Flash Game
Nov 18th
Evoking emotion in games can be a tricky task. It’s bizarre to think that a relatively simple Flash game can provide one of the best gaming experiences I’ve yet seen in regards to emotion, but with “…But That Was Yesterday,” I believe it. The simple yet evocative platformer is part of the Casual Gameplay Design Competition; more details about the competition and the other games entered can be found here. Created by Michael Molinari, “…But That Was Yesterday” gives me hope for aspects of gaming — both regarding creativity coming from independent developers and the ability of games to be an emotionally touching medium.
Go play the game. Go ahead, take the 20 minutes or so needed to play it. We’ll talk when you get back.
About an Adult Swim Flash Game: Robot Unicorn Attack
Feb 13th
What is a “game” but an alchemist’s mixture of disparate concepts that by themselves don’t mean much, yet somehow make sense as a whole when paired accordingly?
Gears of War’s cover mechanic has no use in a two-dimensional fighter. A licensed Barbie title (maybe) doesn’t need Castlevania’s map system. And – obviously – Guitar Hero’s flurry of scrolling musical notes and reliance on plastic peripherals would never make sense as a musical zombie shooter starring, let’s say, Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day.
So where does that leave Adult Swim’s latest attempt at destroying workplace productivity? Robot Unicorn Attack, developed by Flash game creator and the one-man band at developer Spiritonin, Scott Stoddard, takes two seemingly opposite concepts — a looping ethereal audio track and the get-as-far-as-you-can gameplay of Canabalt — and mashes them into a fabulous union. The title implies certain gameplay elements, among other things (like some unicorns are, in actuality, robots), but I doubt you expected it to feature licensed music. Oh, it does. And it’s offensively wonderful.
About an Adult Swim Flash Game: Meowcenaries
Oct 12th
Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim is one of those rare media brands that absolutely understands its demographic.
From the nightly bump cards to the merchandise and the numerous concert series and beyond, Adult Swim has succeeded in making money by airing deranged programming to a young population of insomniacs who were tired of the same old talk shows and infomercials after midnight.
While I’ve been a devotee of the late-night programming block for years, I’ve never played one of Adult Swim’s growing cadre of free Flash titles. The games portal opened on the official website a few years ago, and each title generally boils down to an example of extremely violent behavior under the guise of sick humor — well-tuned to the network’s signature style.
After watching Metalocalypse, Superjail! or Aqua Teen Hunger Force, is it that shocking to stumble upon a game where cats wearing bandannas fire at each other with Uzis and rocket launchers? Read the rest of this entry »
Daily Recap: May 7, 2009
May 8th
More earnings statements, game announcements, and a touch of the whimsical. Time for today’s news roundup!
Gunnin' for that #1 spot: Sales of Call of Duty: World at War helped Activision post earnings of nearly $1 billion this past year, the company announced today. Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft were also named as leading Activision-Blizzard franchises.
Just a couple of days ago, Electronic Arts announced its quarterly and yearly financial statement; today, Activision followed that up with its own release, and the returns are very impressive. Activision-Blizzard posted a $981 million net revenue in the first quarter of this year — no, that’s not a yearly figure. That beats the publishing giant’s own projections for the quarter by more than $100 million, and has caused the company to raise its revenue expectations for the 2009 calendar year to $4.3 billion.
“Our better-than-expected first quarter results were driven by strong global consumer response to the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises and Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, despite challenging economic times,” Activision CEO Robert Kotick said.
Of course, as happens from time to time, some games that were rumored to exist were confirmed in the financial release. Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and DJ Hero were all confirmed in the report, and Guitar Hero: Van Halen was made official later in the day. GH5 is a follow up to 2008′s Guitar Hero: World Tour and 2009′s Guitar Hero: Metallica (our review of which is here.) Band Hero is going to be family friendly, and DJ Hero will feature hip-hop, R&B, electronic, techno, and dance music and a turntable peripheral.