time machine // database // travel guide
A crew digs up all of the old Atari 2600 game cartridges of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” that were tossed into a landfill in the 1980s. (imdb)
Atari: Game Over is a 2014 documentary film directed by Zak Penn about the North American video game crash of 1983, using the Atari video game burial excavation as a starting point. Eurogamer called it “one of the best films about gaming this year and should be seen by anyone with an interest in the medium’s early wild west years.” (wiki)
Nox is an action role-playing game developed by Westwood Pacific and published by Electronic Arts in 2000 for Microsoft Windows. It details the story of Jack, a young man from Earth who is pulled into a high fantasy parallel universe and has to defeat the evil sorceress Hecubah and her army of Necromancers to return home. Depending on the player’s choice of character class at the beginning of the game (warrior, conjurer, or wizard), the game follows three largely different linear storylines, each leading to its unique ending. In the multiplayer, players can compete against each other in various game modes such as deathmatch and capture the flag, while the freely downloadable expansion pack NoxQuest added a cooperative multiplayer mode. (wiki)
Developing video games—hero’s journey or fool’s errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today’s hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it’s nothing short of miraculous.
Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it’s RPG studio Bioware‘s challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone‘s single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man’s vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.
Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable. (goodreads)
Your dogs have been dognapped by a beaked lunatic named Glorkon who stuffed them into his eye holes and is using their life essence to destroy the universe. You’re partnered with Trover, a little purple eye-hole monster who isn’t a huge fan of working or being put in the position of having to save the universe. He’s also not that big a fan of you quite frankly, and neither am I. (Jk, you’re great)
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system / OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions) / Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better / Memory: 8 GB RAM / Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better / Storage: 25 GB available space
timespace coordinates: 1950s (?) The Maw – a kind of underwater resort that caters to the extremely wealthy and powerful elite. The Maw functions just like a metal-plated ocean liner but is designed vertically like a skyscraper. Due to this design, it floats like an iceberg where only its funnel breaks the ocean surface while the greater bulk lies underwater.
Immerse yourself in Little Nightmares, a dark whimsical tale that will confront you with your childhood fears! Help Six escape The Maw – a vast, mysterious vessel inhabited by corrupted souls looking for their next meal. As you progress on your journey, explore the most disturbing dollhouse offering a prison to escape from and a playground full of secrets to discover. Reconnect with your inner child to unleash your imagination and find the way out! (steam)
Little Nightmares is a puzzle-platformer horror adventure game developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
A mobile app titled Very Little Nightmares was announced in April 2019 and was released in May 2019 on iOS. The story acts as a prequel to Little Nightmares.
Little Nightmares had a four issue tie-in comic, written by John Shackleford and penciled by Aaron Alexovitch, and published by Titan Comics. Two issues were released both in hard and digital copies. A hardcover graphic novel of the first two issues was released at the end of October 2017. The third and fourth issues are cancelled.
Dmitri M. Johnson and Stephan Bugaj of DJ2 Entertainment announced that they will be producing a television adaptation of Little Nightmares. The series will also involve Anthony and Joe Russo and the pilot will be directed by Henry Selick.
GTFO (also known as GTFO: Get the F&#% Out) is a 2015 American documentary film, directed by Shannon Sun-Higginson, about sexism and women in the world of video games. It premiered at South by Southwest on March 14, 2015.
Sun-Higginson, a documentary filmmaker from New York City, began work on GTFO in early 2012 and ultimately funded it as a Kickstarter project. She was initially inspired to create the film after watching a clip from live-stream gaming competition Cross Assault in which a player repeatedly sexually harassed his teammate. Sun-Higginson then “decided to take a step back and explore what it means to be a woman in gaming in general, both the positive and the negative.”
The movie compiles interviews from gamers, developers, journalists to show how pervasive sexist behavior is in the gaming world.
The film’s premiere at South by Southwest was met with primarily favorable reviews, with critic Dennis Harvey commenting: “Several other documentaries are currently in the works on the same subject, and many will no doubt be a lot slicker than ‘GTFO.’ But the rough edges of Sun-Higginson’s Kickstarter-funded feature lend it an ingratiating, unpretentious modesty, and its lack of rancor on a topic that might’ve easily supported a more sensationalist approach can only be a plus in reaching male gamers most in need of its wake-up call.” (wiki)
TimeSpace Warps 