Recently on Offworld, Ragdoll Metaphysics columnist Jim Rossignol officially declared 2009 the year of the real-time strategy genre, French guerrilla artist Space Invader was caught on film, Dr. Mario talked Universal Health Care, and a new group is taking a games-centric approach turning NES/Famicom clones into classroom computers for the developing world.
We also saw indie things: an upcoming PC game that lets you ghost-ride a moon rover, an excellent customizable pixel-platformer browser game, submissions open for worldwide indie showcase Indiecade, a teaser for the Alien Hominid/Castle Crashers dev's new game (above), a fantastic looking new downloadable DS game from the Boy and his Blob remake team, an audio preview of a new game from the creator of I Wish I Were The Moon, and a new DIY 8-bit retro console for you to make your own games.
Console/handheld/PC things: the first video of Steven Spielberg/EA's Boom Blox sequel, a fascinating look at the peculiar appeal of Peggle, amazing new games built with just 4K of Java, action-man kung-fu-grip gaming with the PS3's Rag Doll Kung Fu, rhythm in real life with a new DS game, and retro-futurist downloadable Wii music game Bit Trip: Beat coming on Monday.
iPhone things: a multiplayer game about personal/inter-relational growth, love, and money called KarmaStar, Japan signing up for the iPhone with a new dedicated magazine, ragdoll physics injuries with Stair Dismount and board game legend Reiner Knizia seeking iPhone devs.
Toy things, and things to wear: a Metal Gear crossover with vinyl art progenitor Michael Lau, a custom Earthbound toy, a new games-like site from Argentina cutesters DGPH, a new Nintendo character T-shirt from kaiju artist Lamour Supreme for 8bitpeoples, and UNIQLO's massive game crossover T-shirt line revealed.
Musical things: the excellent near Ed-Banger-esque soundtrack to iPhone game Edge, chiptuner Tettix vs Fighting Games, Rockstar/Timbaland's music tracker app back on track for a 2009 release, shoegaze made of hacked-firmware dot matrix printers, and Chamillionaire, Kanye, and Jay-Z done 8-bit style.
