NOVASTRIKE Now on PSN

NOVASTRIKE is the first indie developer / self-published game on the PlayStation Network (PSN). Built and developed by my friend Kevin McCann and company over at the illustrious TikiGames.

Publishing your own game can be a really really difficult thing to do.  Just making a game and getting it published without having substantial funding is difficult in it's own right.  With the decline of innovation going on in the gaming industry and the continuation of sequel after sequel and half assed movie tie-in releases, it is important to support those indie developers!

The game is a steal for $9.99 so if you have a PSN and some cash to spare show Sony and the other publishers that we gamers like , support, and want more indie developers.

7 Deadly Sin Cups

7 Deadly Sin cups (Greed pictured). Pretty awesome.  They took the idea of the 7 deadly sins and applied them to wine glasses.  While not at all practical from an artistic standpoint they are pretty awesome.  I don't even like wine personally, but these glasses are great.

via NotCot

Releasing an Apple Product in 5 Easy Steps

Gizmodo posted a video on how to release an Apple product in 5 easy steps.  It's pretty hilarious when it's dissected this way.

1. Talk Smack.
2. Say "most" a lot.
3. Compare your product to small stuff.
4. Toss in a "boom"
5. Wait for applause.

6. Profit?

The "It's the most wonderful mouse you've ever used" line is hilarious.  The round "puck" mouse for the iMac was probably hands down the worst product Apple ever produced.  I'd rather use a Newton than have to use one of those damn mice.

Radiohead 'Nude' Created by Machines

An interesting use of old technology to make music.  I always like this sort of thing.  Someone commented on Gizmodo "Oddly enough, things like this help me maintain my faith in humanity."  I agree!  This at least makes up for 5 fecal related videos ... ok maybe 2.

via Gizmodo

Troopahz

A flickr gallery called Storm Troopin' is a collection of 39 photos, using Star Wars Stormtroopers toys in various settings.    Very well done.  Comments from the creators mention other galleries that inspired this collection, pretty amusing.

via Cpluv

Your face is cubed ...

Some super swanky Photoshop work by Ricardo Salamanca.  Creepy and awesome all at the same time.  On his portfolio he has some "making of" shots of how he compiled the photos and the like.  Very cool stuff!

via NotCot

Game Controller for your iPhone

 iControlpad is something I dreamed up (and a lot of other people) awhile ago and it's something a lot of people having been thinking about.  I've seen 3D renders and illustrations and mock ups all over the net of similar designs all on the same idea ... making the iPhone into a portable game system. 

It's an interesting idea but there's a lot of complications.  Applications would have to write code to use it or have alternate mappings.  Plus it makes the phone bulky, and not really "phone" use friendly.  Oh well, at least you can play DOOM!

via Engadget

Weezer - Pork and Beans Video

Maybe Weezer is getting their "edge" back again?  Cool video.

via BoingBoing

Photoshop CS4 = GPU & Physics?

Apparently on Oct. 1st Adobe is releasing the new CS4 suite of products.  Photoshop CS4 supposedly will come equipped with GPU support and Physics.  Definitely weird.  I sort of understand where they are coming from with this on one hand and the other makes me go, WTF Adobe?

Where's our Thermo beta?  Where's our final REAL Macromedia / Adobe merged code and everything plays happy together?  Where's our robust and streamlined asset management tools?  64-bit support?  Are you really going to ship another version of ImageReady?  Seriously?  Is Fireworks dead yet?  Can Illustrator and InDesign be one tool yet?  No ... no ... you just want to add some GPU stuff and show off how Photoshop can kinda do half-assed 3D and use physics?  You don't care what the users want ... ok Adobe.  Can we at least keep all of the Photoshop 1.0 legacy code?  Ok thanks.

via Digg

Interpol - Rest My Chemistry Video

Blip Boutique created the Rest My Chemistry Video (QuickTime) for Interpol.  It's not heart stopping amazing but it's interesting to see creative types (bands, artists, etc.) playing with code and things to create dynamic visuals.  It's interesting to see these things evolve.  I think that the baby steps artists and designers have been taking towards programming by way of web code and other misc. tools has been an interesting journey so far.

via Computer Love

GTA 4 vs NYC

There is a super keen flickr gallery comparing side by side real photos of places in NYC to their GTA 4 counterparts.  It's pretty sweet!

via Boing Boing

89 Places to Download Photoshop Brushes

fuel your creativity posted The Ultimate Photoshop Resource List (part 1 - brushes) a few days ago.  I'm actually afraid to click on many of the links because I'm a digital pack rat and I know I'll find 1,000 new brushes I think I will use and pack the all away on my RAID.  It's dangerous, proceed at your own risk!

Gangstagrass

Producer Rench, has mashed together Gangsta rap and Bluegrass for reasons unknown.  Yes seriously.  Oddly enough it actually works.  They're allowing free downloads and you can listen to some samples on their myspace page.  Too funny.

Rubik's World?

Apparently there's some Rubik's Cube game called Rubik's World coming to the Wii and the Nintendo DS.  While I don't particularly care; I saw a couple of screenshots of it which is why it caught my attention.  I dig their faked GI rendering ... mmm soft shadows.  Unless they are pre-rendered backgrounds then it's not so impressive, but it's a nice design aesthetic none the less.

More Art from Poland

MOSK is the portfolio of Maciej Mizer, another artist hailing from Poland.  It's funny I think Poland is becoming the 'London' of the mid 90's as far as art and design is concerned.  They are cranking out the same level of amazing work, with some fresh twists.  Exciting times!

Sweet NES Redesign

Check it out ... now only if this was real, and supported emulation.

Why your art portfolio sucks ...

 Astheria has a great article on user experiences with various artist portfolio sites on the web.  My wife and I browse a LOT of art and design sites and are regularly frustrated by the sometimes inconsistent or generally annoying things people do with site navigation and layout that they feel is "clever" when in reality it makes me want to stab them.

I particularly liked the part about background music in which they display this graph:

I always find this to be accelerated when in combination the controls to shut off the music are hidden, non-existent, disguised as something else, or extremely tiny. 

Generally when I hit a site with music (including myspace pages) the first thing I do is turn it off.  I expect it on band pages and things like that.   For the most part I don't particularly care which emo song struck your fancy this morning when you woke up.

A follow up post on the same site denotes several portfolios that succeed is doing some fine presentations and why.  Great stuff!

Art from Poland

I ran across a new design portfolio called PEHA from a fellow named Peter Holub who is a graphic designer in Poland.  He's got some pretty rad work up.  I really like his use of lighting and 3D elements in conjunction with traditional 2D design elements.  It really gives everything an added bit of depth and realism.  Very inspiring stuff!

 

Nuare Art Studio

Nuare art studio has some amazing work on display.  They do 3D assets, concept work as well as illustration.  Beautiful work!

 

Steampunk Animals

This is some pretty wild sculpture work by Lisa Black. I'm sure all the animals in New Zealand look like this, which is why I want to live there with the hobbits. I want to do this to our cats when they kick the bucket, my wife may even endorse it.

Your Inner Nivbed

Reach out and touch your inner Nivbed (he is an artist friend who loves all things tentacles). Dan Hillier has some tental-tastic images up in his portfolio. You're able to buy prints as well, sweetness!

Mirrors Edge Gameplay Footage

There is some pretty amazing footage for the upcoming source engine game Mirrors Edge. I really love the over bright and vibrant colors they've chosen to go with, it's a nice departure from a lot of the under saturated and almost dream state visuals we've been given over the past few years. Visuals aside the gameplay is what is really exciting. It certainly feels like a generational leap for something like a Prince of Persia title. This game is looking really promising and I'm looking forward to seeing more glimpses of it in the future.

Cheap Artsy Laptops

New Dell Inspiration laptops for $699 featuring art from Mike Ming. They only have 2 designs tho, and while they're cool they're not overly exciting. I still prefer some of the more interesting designs that been applied to Apple MacBooks, iPhones, iPods, and Zunes over the past few months. Dell seems a bit behind the curve here.

Bear Dunny

This is a Bear Dunny ... this is Tea Bear ... it is awesome.



More ...

Radiohead video via Code

Flight404 have created a Radiohead video strictly from code. It's pretty freaking amazing looking. The camera is a bit bland but given the amount of time they spent on it (which doesn't sound like months or anything) it's pretty freakin sweet. Check it out:


Weird Fishes: Arpeggi from flight404 on Vimeo.

Also here is a 200 MB QuickTime version (more detail).