Infinite Lives

This could well be the first-ever ALL GAMES-THEMED exhibit to ever open in Chicago.

“Super Button Mashers,” opening February 11, 2012, features an incredible roster of artists:

Aya Kakeda, Alex Willan, Ben Spencer, Blütt, Brandon Garrison, Brain Killer, Brian Stuhr, Brian Walline, Brianne Drouhard, CHema Skandal!, Cory Benhatzel, CZR PRZ, David Palumbo, David Rettker, Eric Broers, Glen Brogan, Isaac Bidwell, James Liu, Jason Castillo, Jenny Frison, Jeremiah Ketner, J.Shea, Joey D, Jordan Elise, Lana Crooks, Leeanna Butcher, Luisa Castellanos, Martin Hsu, Matt Hawkins, Matthew Ryan Sharp, Max Bare, Melissa Sue Stanley, Mike Budai, Mike Graves, Mr. Walters, Natalie Blue Phillips, Nathan West, Sean Dove, Shawn Smith, Shayne Labadie, Steff Bomb, Steph Laberis, Tyler Coey, Yosiell Lorenzo, Zoë Bare, and Plush Team

What an all-star cast! I am so damn thrilled I don’t know what to do with myself.

And one more thing: curator Max Bare somehow convinced Chicago’s own Jake Elliott to submit an arcade game to the exhibit! It is an all-new game, and it will be playable at the show.

OhNo!Doom
Super Button Mashers Mega Opening
February 11, 6:00 PM-10:00 PM
1800 N. Milwaukee
Chicago IL 60647
Tuesday and Thursday 4:00 PM-10:00 PM
Saturday 12:00 PM-7:00 PM

Strap in! I’m not sure how much I can—or want!—to tell you about this gallery show, but know this: it opens on February 11, and there will be art. Details forthcoming.

Jeesh, how had I ever missed this? It’s called “Colossal Katamari,” and I guess Joystiq reported on it in 2006 (the year in which I continue to live, apparently). And! It’s MS Paint. MS Paint, you guys.

I feel like you can get a much better feel for it at the link, so go look. And use the little zoom buttons!

• Pixel Joint – Colossal Katamari

What might happen if all your favorite old television shows—circa 1978, say—were gussied up as Intellivision games? Motion graphics collective PUNGA has the answer!

Here’s their cheery promo ‘spot’ for a block of retro television programming, slated to air on FOX in Italy. D’awww! B.A. Baracus never looked so twee!

• Vimeo – FOX Retro via Retropoly

Young Princess Zelda by Salvador Ramirez Madriz (via Gamma Squad)

Nicole Gustafsson’s Shy Guys, completed just in time for the SUPER iam8bit exhibit, which opens August 11 in Los Angeles. (It’s nice to see somebody exploring the softer side of “shy.”)

I am pretty sure I have mentioned this every summer for the last several summers, but my birthday is actually that very—oh, never mind. Twenty-three was the last birthday I celebrated, anyway. I know, I know.

• nimasprout – Upcoming Iam8bit show! via Sugoi

Elisha Hale (AKA Electric Method) is selling this print at various sizes and price points.

• Society6 – The Defender of the Mushroom Dynasty via it8Bit

Artist Papang (AKA Anak Binal) reinterprets Mega Man for an upcoming art anthology. (See also.)

• Sugoi – Dagens bild: Myten om hjälten

Illustrator Martin Hsu’s latest solo show, CRAKENS, opened at Chicago’s Rotofugi Gallery late last week. The LA-based artist was in attendance, and he is every bit as charming, friendly, and animated as his paintings are.

At least two of the cutest pieces in the exhibit are video games -themed, and of course I am totally in love with both of them.

Here’s one of Hsu’s recurring characters, Snappy Pig, playing his 360. He appears to be losing to the little fox-rodent on the left:

And here’s another recurring character, Sea Monkee, playing his brand new 3DS in a tree.

Giclee prints of each, signed and numbered by the artist, are available in limited runs of 30 (US$120 framed, $70 unframed). The prints are very nearly the same size as the originals, which is nice.

And at the time of this writing, the originals themselves are unsold—Snappy Pig Xbox can be yours for a piddling $325, while Sea Monkee 3DS is just $350.

CRAKENS runs through June 26, so if you are in the Chicagoland area, stop by Rotofugi Gallery. As always, there is no admission fee.

You can read more about the show’s opening reception at Hsu’s blog.

Rotofugi Gallery
2780 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago
(773) 868-3308

• Rotofugi Gallery – CRAKENS: New Works by Martin Hsu

The weather is strange: a real dog day, overcast and grey and still; perhaps a steady hail of cogs and caps and casings; here and there, a garble of boards and wiring, spat out of the sky, maybe.

Overhead: some sort of roaring gyrodyne or helibus, chopping through the smog sideways; a thin soupy ring of cloud where the sun was. In the distance, a bank of steeples stretch heavenward, bellowing tines of smoke. A fibrillation underfoot; a structural undertow; a gnashing of architectural teeth. Just beyond the next concrete cliff, a window, a promise, a torii framed in steel and sealed with plate glass.

Only a terrible fairy tale. So rest easy tonight, young Charlie, little Jamie, tiny Tilda—the apocalypse is nigh, but it is not yet here. For now, there are only the signs: a pigeon, a dove, an office chair.

• Lord Libidan – Canabalt Cross Stitch via Brandon Boyer

“When You See It” by Aled Lewis (via Jez Burrows)

My Second Life avatar, awestruck by almost a thousand other avatars (click for a closer look).

“Mixed reality” artist Kristine Schomaker—Gracie Kendal in Second Life—is completing work on 1000 Avatars, a tower of larger-than-”life”-size avatars photographed from behind. Get it? Because, in a third-person game like Second Life, you only see your own backside—Kristine’s photos reflect how Second Life users actually come to visualize their virtual selves.

Her statement of intent is here.

• 1000 Avatars (direct link)

Ten months since the debut of his Mario Mech (which I blogged about at GameSetWatch, here), Donald Kennedy unveils its sequel, the Yoshi Mech.

Maybe the Best Thing about this particular customization is the robot’s flip-top snout, revealing Yoshi’s inner workings—the command center along the back wall was reappropriated from a Playmobil police station, Donald writes, while Little Yoshi’s laptop-console was ganked from a LEGO set.

“I can’t wait to do another,” Donald writes. “I think Luigi may be next.”

• Flickr – Custom Yoshi Mech via KodyKoala.com

Right before I started playing Jason Nelson’s games, I had been reading an article by some neurobiologist about the connection between agoraphobia and “spatial estrangement” and modernity and urbanity. I was in exactly the right mental room already.

Then Mr. Nelson emailed me about his “odd art games,” many of which you can play right in your web browser by visiting Arctic Acre. (In his email, he also suggested that I visit Jason Nelson’s School of Games. You should probably go watch his video lecture series, too, because it is hilarious. There are currently 16 episodes, each only seconds long.)

Maybe ‘odd’ is almost the wrong word for his games: they’re straightforward 2D platformers, with moving and jumping and spatial circumnavigation and an end destination in sight, so that the way to play is immediately discernible even to your mom. But as you run-and-collect, the screens become cluttered with prose noise, taking on the likeness and verve of treated text. Everything feels very inaccessible and obfuscated despite the mechanics’ simplicity.

For the uninitiated, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace was produced for Channel 4 in the mid-80s—don’t you correct me—starring the esteemed horror novelist, Marenghi himself, in the main role. As Dr. Dagless, Marenghi will very quickly discover that there is something sinister lurking beneath Darkplace Hospital’s cheery exterior.

OK: the “charming anachronism retro demake cover art” trend is getting tired, but there is something appealing about a show-that-doesn’t-exist spinning off into a game-that-doesn’t-exist. It’s so postmodern! Here, illustrator and noted retro gamer John Calcano accompanies his box art with a pixel-perfect, Intellivision-quality screenshot.

• deviantART – Darkplace for Intellivision via Dullest Blog in the Universe