Wonderland

Left 4 Dead necklace

I really love the addition of the little jewels. It's so cute!

There's a Hunter necklace too. That's a conversation-starter.

Games of Nonchalance

Looks like an ARG. Might be more than that, it's being run out of San Francisco, part of the Transmedia Zone (hollywood + nerds = ...)

I like the art style, initially at least. About to dig a bit deeper.

SuperMe is live

Introducing @c4education's latest, SuperMe! (Obv disclaimer: I work at C4 Edu...)

Games, videos, quizzes, animation, quotes and a buncha other bits and pieces ... all within an outer layer of gamelike mechanics: you get levelled up, and achievements, for digging around in all the stuff. 

It's about resilience: how to feel good when life chucks you lemons. How to be better at thinking positively. How to cope with (and learn to love) failure. I'm really pleased with this, because I think it's ultra key for our target audience of 14+ teens.

Somethin Else and Preloaded created and built this, with added input from Coney and Margaret Robertson. The best bit is, poking around in here and playing these games, watching these vids: it's all officially good for you ;-)

Here, try Linkem. 

Or Swerveball : like golf, in space, with added reflection tests:

 

There's a ton more too. Proximity: it's multiplayer, too. Flomo, it's tough, and zen. Many videos filled full of actually useful stuff.

With thanks and love to everyone who helped create SuperMe. I'm incredibly pleased by it.

Coma

Found via @doctoe, this beautiful, atmospheric flash game, Coma. Gets me in the mood for Machinarium again, or the soon-to-be-released Limbo.

Epic Win really probably *is*.

Epic Win: from @rexbox (he of Little Big Planet design fame) and pals, a new app for the gameification of CHORES. So somewhat like Chore Wars, but cuter, and with silly British humour, and on a smartphone to boot.

FUCKING BRILLIANT.

(Thanks Chris!)

5 things I'm thinking right now

1. Android is going to be glorious. Apple has fucked up, this year, bigtime.

2. Facebook games that are designed to push your "addiction" buttons (c.f. Farmville) rather than your general-enjoyment buttons may make money in the short term - and are training wheels for the gaming masses - but will backfire on their creators over the long term. Like pop-up ads. "Ugh".

3. There is yet another giant gaming supernova in our near future, somewhere. The speed of success these days is extraordinary (and the speed of crashes, too: like Bebo). Like giant waves. Lots of paddling too fast at the last minute to attempt to get on.

4. Romance/love, the genre, is spectacularly underexplored.

5. It's finally - finally - time to buy a PS3. Joe Danger! LBP2!

In case you've been wondering why I've been quiet recenly, it's because we have three products launching in July, and another two in September, one in October, another at winterval, and today and tomorrow we're going through 160 proposals for our 2011 slate (up from 70 last year, and 35 in year 1 of C4 education's rebirth). I am fuelled, these days, only by coffee and regular electrical jolts. Bride of Frankenstein, with hair to match.

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima - in Halo

The original is here, and the Halo version is...

 

...beautiful.

From the Top Ten Halo Screenshots of All Time, at Hawty.