Cosmo Liquid, famous Japanese toy sculptor/artist has taken the “fight figure” bask to its basics with his new minimalist toy, Mr. Punch Ball. These were display and available at the BEAMS TOKYO CULTuART shop opening party in November. I really like the black one with the alternating matte/ gloss finishes. Good stuff and a must for people who are both Japanese designer toy collectors and bowlers.
It was just recently that I really became a fan of the cray-zay world of tiki mugs. There is most certainly an aesthetic correlation between the designs of these comedically exagerated Polynesian idols and those of the designer Japanese vinyl toys that I dig so much. Plus, I do enjoy the occasional drink.
As it turns out, Munkitiki, the incredible designer tikiware website, is run by Polyester Cowboy from the kaiju/ Japanese vinyl messageboard Skullbrain. As a result, the stock of Munkitiki is not only heavily influenced by the design aesthetic of designer vinyl, but also is up to the quality/ artistic standards of said scene.
Wow this wasn’t expected, but Sony has announced that full open beta for Playstation Home will be available for download starting tomorrow, Dec 11th. If you don’t know, Home is Sony’s attempt to bring a more social online gaming experience to their console. In the past if you wanted to meet people to play against you had to meet them in game and add them to your friends list, with Home you will be able to travel through a virtual world meeting new people all over the place. Whether it be in a bowling alley, arcade, clothing store or just the commons square; full interaction with as many people possible is available and will help you accumulate more “friends”. Now I have been in the beta for a few months now and maybe it’s just me, but I don’t really like it. I understand what Sony is going for and will probalby be more enjoyable as more people use the service, but right now it feels like second life and not much is really going on.
It is neat that you get to fully customize your avatars living quarters, looks and how they dress; and of course you will be able to buy new clothes and furnishings for you apartment through the playstation store for real money. So give it a try as it is free, you may get more enjoyment out of it then me. Official press release below:
PLAYSTATION®HOME BETA SERVICE WILL BECOME AVAILABLE TO ALL PLAYSTATION®3 USERS ON DECEMBER 11
Highly Anticipated Service Open For All PLAYSTATION 3 UsersTokyo, Foster City, London, December 10, 2008 – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that its highly anticipated PlayStation®Home Beta service for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) will become available for all PS3 users around the world *1 on December 11, 2008. Following the successful completion of the closed beta service, PlayStation Home’s open beta service will continue to evolve with new features and functionality.
PlayStation Home is a ground-breaking 3D social gaming community available on PS3 that allows users to interact, communicate and share gaming experiences. By leveraging the power of PS3, PlayStation Home delivers overwhelming visual graphics and rich gaming social experiences only possible on the PS3 platform. Within PlayStation Home, users can create and customize their own unique avatars and explore the virtual community in real time where they can communicate freely through text or voice chat. PlayStation Home users will not only be able to enjoy variety of entertainment content such as mini-games, videos and special events along with their friends, but will also be able to create their own community by using the “Club*2” feature to create clubs with other PlayStation Home users who share the same interests. PlayStation Home also allows groups of users to launch directly into their favourite online games together from PlayStation Home.
PlayStation Home, available as a free download*3 starting December 11, will launch directly from the PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation®Network column of XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) on PS3. Users will be able to experience basic features and services of PlayStation Home, free of charge*4. PlayStation Home will allow open interaction among users, business partners, and SCE, and will evolve with additional features including dedicated game spaces, special events and exclusive themed items, to further enrich the entertainment experience on the PS3 platform.
“PlayStation Home is truly a promising network community service on the PlayStation platform, made possible with the powerful combination of PS3’s overwhelming computational power and PlayStation Network that covers many countries around the globe,” said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, SCE. “We are committed to providing PS3 users with exciting gaming experiences with PlayStation Home and together with our partners and users, expand the new world of interactive entertainment as we move forward.”
For users accessing PlayStation Home in the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) regions, themed virtual environments will be available to explore. Starting with a themed Far Cry 2 space, PlayStation Home will offer game inspired environments that allow people to discuss the specific games, plan strategies and access content and clues that will enhance the gaming experience. The number of gaming environments such as this will regularly increase, with spaces for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune™, Warhawk™, Motorstorm and SOCOM following very soon. SCEE is working with leading publishers such as: Electronic Arts, UBISOFT, Midway, Sega and Atari to create engaging environments that will provide users with an on-going gaming experience.
“We are very excited to be bringing PlayStation Home to Europe and the PAL territories, offering users an interactive, social, gaming experience,” said Daniel Hill, Home Service Manager, SCEE. “PlayStation Home is unique to anything else in the gaming world and by partnering with both global and regional gaming and non-gaming brands, we are able to offer exciting and entertaining content that will enhance the PlayStation experience.”
SCEE today also announced the first partnerships with some of the world’s most respected lifestyle brands for the Open Beta. Fashion leader Diesel, contemporary furniture designers Ligne Roset, energy drink Red Bull, film studio Paramount Pictures and video content providers Hexus TV and Eurogamer are the first on board. They will offer resident’s virtual clothing for their avatar, virtual furniture for their PlayStation Home apartments, exclusive video content and a virtual flying challenge: the Red Bull Air Race.
Visitors and residents will be able to explore PlayStation Home with their avatar character and, thanks to Diesel, avatars can look great from the start with Diesel offering the latest men’s and women’s designer avatar clothing, with items ranging from free of charge to €1.50. So for those visiting PlayStation Home, they can dress their avatars in the latest jeans and jacket prior to getting out and about.
On the home front, PlayStation®Home gives everyone their own apartment to spend time in and entertain friends - who will now be able relax on exclusive Ligne Roset furniture. At the virtual store, people will be able to choose from a selection of the most popular Ligne Roset designs, including the iconic Togo and Facett upholstery collections. It will be possible to personalise furniture by selecting from a wide selection of fabrics and leathers allowing a unique and individual look. This is an opportunity to get acquainted with Ligne Roset’s cutting edge designs created by some of Europe’s most talented designers.
As the very first consumer brand space, Red Bull has created the Red Bull Island where visitors to the Island can interact and take part in many of Red Bull’s unique events. Initially there will be the opportunity to get inside the cockpit of a Red Bull Air Race plane and compete against the PlayStation community. The real-world Red Bull Air Race World Championship has become a global phenomenon in just four years, attracting millions of spectators. Now those spectators can leave the stands, become a pilot and tackle the Red Bull Island course themselves. The Red Bull Island will continue to expand, adding new and exciting content in early 2009.
Taking full advantage of the PlayStation Home Theatre, SCEE has partnered with various content providers to enhance the cinematic experience. Offering a wide range of content, the PlayStation Home Theatre will provide lifestyle technology programming from Hexus TV, gaming content from Eurogamer and exclusive film content from Paramount Pictures. Starting with the release of the highly anticipated film, Watchmen, Paramount Pictures International will use PlayStation®Home to promote its latest films. Initially, PlayStation®Home residents will be able to view an exclusive video greeting from Watchmen Director Zack Snyder as well as the latest Watchmen trailer. A selection of virtual Watchmen merchandise e.g. T-Shirts with the smiley face logo, Doomsday clocks and character statues, will also be available in the New Year, ahead of an exclusive Q & A event where cast and filmmakers will meet selected press and competition winners fans within the Watchmen themed environment.
PlayStation Home is exclusive to PS3, free to download and easy to join. It’s the ultimate online community – a place where you can meet friends, try the latest games, hear new music, watch videos, relax in the apartment of your dreams and much, much more. With more and more spaces being created and partners like Diesel, Ligne Roset and Red Bull coming on board, the PlayStation Home experience is just getting started.
SCE will vigorously promote the expansion of the world of PS3 by introducing new services that will open up new possibilities and enjoyment in interactive entertainment.
*1 PlayStation Home will not be available in some regions.
*2 To be a “Clubhouse” owner, user will need to buy the entitlement to run the club.
*3 When the service is available, PlayStation Home icon will appear after booting/ re-booting the PS3 system. To enjoy PlayStation Home, users will need broadband network connection and PlayStation Network account in addition to the PS3 system.
*4 Some content and services are charged.
Matt Walker of Dead Presidents Designs recently posted these new images of the Skeletor custom that he did for me earlier this year to his flickr page. Matt is an amazing artist/ pin striper who is rapidly becoming one of the top names in high end designer vinyl custom toys. For more info on this Skeletor or Dead Presidents Designs, check out Nerd City Episode 7.
Are you like me and you can’t decide whether you love abstract impressionist “drip” paintings or kaiju-inspired modern designer vinyl more? You probably are. I understand. I also have an image of an upcoming release by RxH that you might be interested in. Behold the Pollock Bat:
From Suckadelic, himself:
The Evil SUCKLORD of CHINATOWN has teamed up with premier Los Angeles Toy Temple MUNKY KING to present a group show of epic Proportions. Using his uncanny influence, the sinister Sucklord has recruited an unruly mob of the best artists, toy designers, and madmen to re-imagine his blockbuster SUCKLORD 600 vinyl action figure. Over 40 artists will be “Doing their thing” to the figure and package for a super Suck-off for the ages. On October 30th these magnificent creations will be unveiled at the MUNKY KING gallery at 8pm. The madness begins following a warm up signing by the inimitable AMANDA VISELL and her VAMPIRE ELEPHANT vinyl figure at 7 o’clock. This event will feature beats by DJ R-RATED, fantastic video projections, Booze, and a free goodie bag to the first 30 costumed guests! If that wasn’t enough, SUCKADELIC TOYS will be releasing three new exclusive figures of the CHINATOWN WARRIOR, a new character in the Suckadelic universe. Cast in lucky red and gold, this new supervillain will be represented in all three of the SUCKADELIC toy platforms: Custom Vinyl, Classic Bootleg, and the popular SUCKPEG line. T-shirts and prints will also be in effect. Supplies are extremely limited. Online toy and art sales begin October 31st. Show runs til November 23. Don’t sleep on it!
MUNKY KING 7308 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles CA. October 30, 2008. 8-11 PM
Check out the Chinatown Warrior figures:
Man, I wish I could go! There are so many previews of so many great submissions to this show popping up all over the net. However, the one that I’m the most interested in is this one from TriClops Studio (nice name, eh?) that utilizes quite a few vintage MOTU parts:
Check out Suckadelic’s home page here.
The event is to be held at Munky King, their home page is here.
Check out some amazing sneak peeks of entries to the show here.
Last, but not least, the TriClops Studio blog is here.
Ben and Max welcome Chicago graphic designer Lane Fujita as they discuss the state of design, the triumphant return of side scrollers, and how to be a successful freelance web designer, just like Lane on this skull-and-spinal-cord-beer-bong fueled episode of Nerd City
Pics, video and links after the jump…
I was lucky enough to have a friend who worked on Guitar Hero: World Tour. Below is the fantastic interview I was able to do with my buddy Zach Parr.
Mike: So first of all thanks for doing the interview and giving us some insight on your work
Zach: No problem, I really like what you guys are doing with your site so I was happy to do my part.
M: Alright, let’s get into this. How did you get hired at Activision/Neversoft? What is your school background?
Z: I submitted a resume to Activision which got passed down the Neversoft. The two major qualifications which got me the job were a masters in computer science as well as a music background. Since it is the case that Neversoft is currently in the business of “rhythm games” my qualifications fit the profile of the type of person they were looking for.
M: What is your official title/ what do you do at work?
Z: My title is UI Programmer. I primarily work on game screens involving stats, menus, and HUD (heads up display) elements
M: What was it like having Guitar Hero 4 being your first project to work on and where you a fan of the series beforehand?
Z: Being assigned to GH: World Tour as my first industry job was truly amazing. It is a triple A title and most people don’t get the pleasure of working on such a popular game when they first enter the industry. I was a fan of the series before hand but only in the “party” since, I hadn’t really gotten into the game until shortly before i had my interview while doing research on the company’s current titles. I quickly became an addict. Guitar Hero aside I’ve always been a huge fan of the Tony Hawk series.
M: Experiences (best and worst) working on the project? At what phase did you come in on the production of the game?
Z: I started at Neversoft midway through development of GH:WT, this was quite daunting at first. I would in fact chalk this up to the worst experience so far. The learning curve is very steep when jumping into such a massive code base. At the beginning I wasn’t sure what i had gotten myself into, i was constantly breaking the game and having to reboot and reload into the portion i was working on just to have it crash again! These games are very fragile while in development and this can be quite frustrating. The best experiences for me come during the development of a new idea. Game elements are often reiterated over and over until all the producers/designers/directors are happy with that particular element. The best experience is when I put my own twist on some element I am working on which gets a consensual smile of approval among the leads.
M: Being a drummer, what are you thoughts on the drum set along with the new features on the guitar?
Z: The drum experience in the game is the most realistic out of all the instruments (excluding vocals) this is both a good and bad thing. In my opinion its very cool how realistic the experience is, but I’ve spent years behind an actual drum set developing the necessary coordination to play the instrument. So playing drums in the game feels very natural to me. On the other hand it is very difficult for me to imagine what it must be like playing the game without such a background. The general consensus is that it is very difficult; I guess you’ll have to start on easy folks. In my opinion difficult is good, people have already gotten 100% on through the fire and flames from GHIII, we have to cater to all skill levels and the challenge is part of what makes this game so addictive, the drums add a whole new dimension to the “challenge factor”.
At first I was not a particular fan of the new slide guitars, I really like the look and feel of the les paul, though after using the new slide guitar it wasn’t long before i preferred the smoother strum bar as well as the beefier size. (I still like the look of the les paul better though, I’m not a big fan of the sunburst)
M: What is your favorite thing about your job?
Z: There is a natural creative energy that emanates from the studio, this is created by the folks who work there. My favorite part of the job is how amazingly well the people interact, everybody has their own ideas and visions of what the finished product will be like. These ideas all differ in their own ways. Everybody must support the team and make decisions as a team. I am amazed on a daily basis at how well a team of over 100 people can fight it out and always come to a compromise leaving everybody in agreement
M: What are your thoughts on Rock Band and the other music games being released?
Z: Harmonix is a great company and have been making rhythm games for a few years longer than us. (you know they did develop the software for GH1 and GH2). I don’t really like the fact that you have to replay songs through the career progression of the game in order to get everything unlocked, but oh well, ill survive. You won’t catch me talking smack on them but there is a general level of competition between the two studios. I think this is quite healthy and keeps massive pressure on pushing the genera forward. We often compare what we are doing to what they are doing. We feed off their ideas as well as I’m sure they feed off of ours.
M: Now for some rapid fire questions, lets see what you got.
M: Favorite Smash Bros character?
Z: Fox on melee, Mario on brawl (lame I know)
M: Favorite Song in GH4?
Z: Rebel Yell
M: System preference and why.
Z: Xbox 360, its got the most games and largest online community. And you can have multiple people signed in online at the same time, Sony really screwed up not allowing that on ps3, I heard a rumor that they are changing that with the new sdk : )
M: What games are you playing right now?
Z: Metal Gear Solid 4, Dead Space, Rockband 2, COD 5 beta, Warcraft III (ill never give that one up), god of war on PSP (what ever the name of that one is) *Editor Note: it is called Chains of Olympus* and Spore.
M: What games are you looking forward to?
Z: Little big planet, StarCraft II and Diablo III.
M: What games should people check out that they have probably missed?
Z: Braid and Castle Crashers both xbox live arcade titles, Odin Sphere (ps2), Warcraft III (PC)
M: And finally, what are you working on next?
Z: Sorry, can’t tell ya.
Well there you have it kids, I hoped you enjoyed yourself. And remember Guitar Hero: World Tour comes out this Sunday (10/26) for PS3, Wii and the Xbox 360.
Jugrnaut, the awesome apparel/designer toy boutique in Chicago, is celebrating their first birthday this Friday, October 24th, from Midnight to 5 A.M. Rsvp here with subject line “1 Year Anniversary RSVP” for the event address. As the kids say, this party should be “hot”.
Tan-Ki is an artist/ graphic designer/ custom toy painter/ painter from Brest, France. In the world of custom designer vinyl, Tan-Ki has an immediately identifiable style that runs through all of his work. He has even ventured into producing his own diy platform toy, the KiToy.
Check out Tan-Ki’s website here.
Chicago apparel/designer toy boutique A.Okay Official is looking for artist submissions for new t-shirt designs for sale in their shop in 2008.
Winners will get one of every winning “Artist Series Shirt”: a total of 8 shirts valued at $360, and the chosen designs will have the artists’ names on the back, along with the A.Okay Official Signature, also designed by the winning artists.
Requirements:
How to submit:
Email designs to:
Mail designs to:
3270 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
This is the home of designer Pierre Cardin, an ocean front villa in Theoule sur Mer, southern France. This would most certainly make a suitable Nerd City Headquarters! Check out more images here.
