Nelson's Weblog: culture / games / space-giraffe


Mastodon @nelson@tech.lgbt Linkblog Mon 2024-04-15 Butterick’s Practical Typography Wicked Bible Sat 2024-04-13 Normalization of Jan 6 Followgraph for Mastodon South Yuba Canal Fri 2024-04-12 Waffle House order marking Wed 2024-04-10 Boy Meets Boy Meets Boys’ Love Termux Tue 2024-04-09 Netflitwitter Nigeria’s Scrabble King Internet eclipse traffic Electric rickshaws Mon 2024-04-08 Eclipse power dashboard Windows terminal latency Grass Valley pasties Django's left hand Willie Nelson's guitar LÖVE game engine Sat 2024-04-06 Redesigning Vikram Thu 2024-04-04 Balaji Srinivasan, clown Search Archives 2023 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2022 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2021 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2020 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2019 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2018 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2017 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2016 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2015 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2014 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2013 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2012 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2011 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2010 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2009 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2008 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2007 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2006 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2005 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2004 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2003 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2002 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2001 12 11 10 09 08 07 One good site MDN Nelson Minar nelson@monkey.org Blog licensed under a Creative Commons License		Space Giraffe Jeff Minter's new Xbox Live Arcade game Space Giraffe is brilliant. It's nominally a Tempest-like shooter with some gameplay subtleties. But what it really is is completely fucked up. If you have an Xbox 360 check out the demo. If you don't, this video gives an idea. The gameplay is good, but it's the æsthetic design that makes the game brilliant. The graphics are over the top technopsychedelia coming from Minter's acid head music screensaver engine. When the graphics inevitably blur into a purple haze the sound design takes over as you interpret the sounds of ringing telephones, bleating sheep, and shattering plates as cues of what's going on behind the full screen glow effects. It seems awful but it's really fun, bringing me back to the sensory overload experience of a 1980s arcade. I mostly agree with this reviewer's comparison to Ulysses. A bit impenetrable, but deeply rewarding. I love Xbox Live Arcade; they're cultivating a catalog of inexpensive games with creative visuals and fun casual game play. A game like Space Giraffe has no hope as a traditional release, but as a $5 Xbox download? No problem. Lumines is also brilliant on XBLA and GEON: Emotions looks promising. culture • games 2007-09-18 18:07 Z Nelson's Weblog • culture • games → emulation, eve, warcraft