Microsoft Surface + D&D = Super Rad

Totally badass proof of concept video for a D&D application of the Microsoft Surface. From Penny-Arcade.com:

-A while ago we went out to speak at the ETC in Pittsburgh. After our talk we got to walk around the campus and talk to all the different teams. You can go back and read Tycho's post about our trip. One of the groups we saw was working on developing applications for the Microsoft Surface. The stuff they were doing was for some kind of defense contractor though and so it was all essentially top secret. They did have a Surface in their room though and I actually sat down and played with it for a bit. After I was done doodling I started sketching out a game grid and we all got to talking about how you might be able to use this tech to play D&D. I drew out some rough ideas and Tycho and I gave them a wish list of things we'd want to see it do. Stuff like selecting spells from a menu around your figure and animates effects for attacks and auras.

After we got home we received a mail from them saying they liked the idea so much they wanted to make it their next project. That was months ago and they've just now released their first proof of concept video. Obviously it's still super early but in my opinion it's got a ton of potential.

Words fail me. Check out Wired for more.

Even More Mario Tattoos

Skateboarders Make Real Life Tetris

The video says neon, but I suspect these skateboarders are using EL-wire to simulate a game of Tetris on a dark San Francisco street.

Silent Hill Artist Signs on To Salome Game

From Offworld comes the badass news that Takayoshi Sato, lead artist for the Silent Hill series, is in fact the "extremely talented and very well known game artist" previously hinted at to be working on Fatale, a game retelling of Oscar Wilde's Salome. The story follows the young girl Salome, who is ordered by her mother to seduce her step-father with 'the dance of seven veils' to convince him to behead John the Baptist.

From creators Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn:

We're interested in the idea of a love story that ends in death, but we also want to include other elements of the tale. The fact, for instance, that Salomé may have been just an insecure girl who was manipulated by her mother, Queen Herodias - who then ends up becoming the real "femme fatale". We're also very sensitive to the political tension that underlies the tale: a Middle Eastern country -Judea- occupied by Westerners -Romans- at a time of religious unrest -the birth of Christianity. And this girl, Salomé, just has the head chopped off of one of the most important figures of the time. On a whim, apparently, or for unrequited love, changing the course of history.

A Night Over Europe

Enemy tracer bullets weave an intricate pattern as they shoot towards the planes of the Royal Air Force during a night attack on Hamburg. This picture was made from one of the raiding planes.

Personally, I'm just reminded of all those old Ikaruga screenshots.

Steampunked PS3

Over at Brass Goggles is a beautiful modded PS3 in the steampunk fashion for the upcoming game Damnation.



It's only a surface-mod, to preserve the warranty, but I find that the curved sides actually work with the wood surface.