Speedruns

For those who don't know a speed run is a video of a person (or persons), completing a game as fast as possible using any means possible. This can include glitches, abusing in-game mechanics and skipping items or even playing events out of sequence.

Speedrunning has become a huge part of gaming in recent years, predominantly due to the rise of the internet and the sharing this allows. 

There are many amazing speedruns out there but for my money one of the most impressive is the Super Mario 64 Speedrun by SIG. It was done in 2013 Speed Demo's Aarchive's Awesome Games Done Quick (or SDA's AGDQ 2013) a charity speed run marathon which aimed to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The marathon was a MASSIVE success, with donations reaching $448,423.27. in 2014 the AGDQ raised over $1 million. I've also put the Zelda: Wind Waker, Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog- the Master System version speedruns, purely because I completed both games but not as quick as this obviosuly! Who says gaming doesn't do good?

Batman: the Animated Series Filmscore Fantastic

For many Batman: The Animated Series was the pinnacle of 90's animation, mature storytelling with great animation. The animated introduced Harley Quinn, an original character created for the series. I came across these great videos and thought I'd share them with you, the first is the orchestrated soundtrack which I loved and the second is Harley Quinn's best bits (so to speak).... looking back I don't know how I missed the innuendo! Enjoy!

Icarus Proudbottom's World of Typing Weekly

We've talked about the brilliant Icarus Proudbottom's Teaches Typing but this is a new 5 part murder mystery, which you solve by typing quickly and accurately. Proudbottom's lies dead and by typing the funny and progressively surreal passages you slowly start to unravel the mystery. I have yet to finish all of the parts but am thoroughly enjoying what I've played of it so far. There are worse ways to while away time at work!

It's Proudbottom... but weekly! It's amazingly fun.

LINK- Icarus Proudbottom Teaches Typing

Zelda Theme on Wine Glasses, Bottles, Pot and Pans

I don't know about you but when I see wine glasses, bottles and pots and pans around the house all I think is... crickey, that's a lot of washing. But for Dan Newbie it's different, he sees that stuff and thinks "Let's make music". Well he's done just that, watch and be amazed as he recreates the Zelda Overworld theme by the legendary Koji Kondo!

Patatap

Synesthesia integrates sight, sound and touch into one seamless experience. In computer gaming, it is a design choice in which visuals, user input, and sound are all fused together to create a sensory overload. Think of games like Rez or Child Of Eden, where visuals and sounds come together with controller input.

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Rez is an amazing game by Tetsuya Mizuguchi

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Child of Eden is a phenomenal visual game with beautiful music

You can create synesthesia with a wonderful free website called Patatap. The instructions are very simple: press any key, from A to Z or the space bar, and observe how a sound and its associated abstract shape become a mesmerizing visual show on your screen. Each stroke on the space bar triggers a different color palette which is associated with a unique sound. The visualisations bring to mind the work of the great artist Kandinsky, who felt shapes and colors represented music. For example he felt triangles were loud and aggressive whereas circles were soft and calm. What masterpiece can you make?

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LINK- Patatap

Terry Cavanagh Games

Terry Cavanagh is one of the smartest programmers out there, he produces amazing games and the best thing is that most of them are free! I've linked to his website and although I love all of them I do have a couple of favourites:

Don't Look Back- A simple graphic design but an addictive game.

Hexagon- A super addictive game made by Terry Cavanagh at a game jam. He them polished the idea into the amazing Super Hexagon, twitch gaming at its finest!

Naya's Quest- as a fan of 'Head Over Heels' this game appealed to me!

LINK- Terry Cavanagh Games

Konami Code Workout

If like me you grew up in the 80's the legendary Konami code is engrained in your consciousness. The code has also found a place in popular culture,  referenced in Wreck It Ralph, The Amazing World of Gumball (in an episode called "The Tape" when Gumball attempts to cheat in real life) and also in the opening of Gravity Falls (when Bill Cipher appears at the very end).

Well now the Konami code has it's own fitness video... dare you take the ultimate Konami code challenge? I'm not gonna lie, I haven't done it yet as fitness is not my top priority at the moment *eyes his Xbox game pile of shame* but for some of you it might be a call to arms!

Classic Advert Used a Chiptune

I'm in the process of writing an article on great chiptunes, great music from 8 and 16 bit computers. Whilst doing my research I made a discovery although I'm sure loads of people already know... I'm a bit late with these things. 

There was an advert on in England in the 80's that annoyed me as it seemed to go on and on, funnily enough that was it's sales pitch... it was Ariston. The music it used was from the Gameboy Robocop game, I had the Amstrad CPC 464 version and the game and music were both class. Anyways check it out as the advert retrospectively is actually very impressive.

Zoltar Makes Wishes Come True

Do you remember the fortune telling Zoltar machine from the classic 80's movie 'Big'? If you don't move on, there's nothing for you to see here, but if the name Zoltar rings a bell then read on...

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Whilst mooching around London with my wife I popped into Namco Arcade, next to the London Dungeons and Aquarium and to my delight we found the Zoltar Fortune Telling Machine. The machine was made famous in the film 'Big' where it has a central role when it grants Tom Hanks' character the wish to be big (well, older... not obese or anything). Well my wife made a wish and whilst not knowing what it was, I got a real buzz finding the machine, giving it a try and getting a 'Zoltar Speaks' card. For those who want to give it a try, go on... it's only 1 pound and your life may change, for the better...

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My wonderful wife with her 'Zoltar Speaks' card...

FUZE

At Deadpixels we are always looking at creating exciting Computing lesson plans which incorporates the new curriculum and excites students. Part of this will be the use of the Raspberry Pi. I came across FUZE, a simple and interesting idea of providing a case for Raspberry Pi which provides a tidy, safe and very secure Raspberry Pi workstation whilst retaining all the connectivity via the easily accessible back panel.

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Raspberry Pi enclosed in the FUZE

In their own words;

It includes extension cables for USB, HDMI, Audio and Network ports, a UK Keyboard and pass-thru interface. For added safety the Fuze protects the encased Pi from electrical damage via the extended & protected GPIO. Also included is a UK Mains to 5V PSU and 840 socket solder-less Breadboard for electronic projects and prototyping.

I hope to be ordering the FUZE and using the free downloadable lesson plans to help develop my own ideas for the KS2 Coding part of the curriculum.

LINK- FUZE website

Smooth McGroove

Smooth McGroove is an amazing talented bloke, making acapella arrangements of computer game tracks. He has over 80 (at last count) and there are so many I love but here are a few of my favourites:

Arduboy

Arduboy is a project being kickstarted by Kevin Bates. He created it initially as an interesting way to get his CV out there but the business card sized console also plays simple games like Tetris, also it would be programmable. The Arduino Pro Mini board features an OLED screen, a speaker and touchpads for control. For more details and to support the kickstarter click on the link below.

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The Arduboy is a sleek and simple business card and game console.

LINK- Arduboy website

75th Anniversary of Batman

Batman is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year. The character of Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and was first introduced on March 30, 1939 in Detective Comics #27. Whilst other characters have gone through their ups and downs with their popularity Batman has always had a pretty solid time of it (Batman and Robin not included in that statement btw). This year alone there will be the new Batman computer game, a slew of comics as usual, and new animated episodes. All in all Batman is in great health and I am looking forward to celebrating this awesome year with him.

The thing I am most excited about is the new animated shorts that are appearing, courtesy of Batman: The Animated Series helmer Bruce Timm. Here are the two that have been released so far!

3Doodler Pen- 3D Printing Pen

The kickstarter proved a success, easily raising the required $2.3, and now the 3Doodler is real. It is a simple idea, a heated nib pipes plastic that can be manipulated into different shapes. The results can be amazing, just look at some of the examples below!

LINK- 3Doodler Pen from Maplin

Game and Watch

Game and Watch is a line of handheld electronic games produced by Nintendo from 1980 to 1991, created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi. Each Game & Watch features a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock, an alarm, or both. There were 60 games released and it proved incredibly popular and lucrative for Nintendo. The Nintendo Gameboy came out a year later and with it's interchangeable cartridges there was no need for the old Game and Watch. For those yearning for the old LCD games you can now enjoy them online on one very cool website, I highly recommend it!

LINK- Game and Watch

The Dark Room

Remember the old role-playing books of yore, popularised by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson? Well this is a modern and refreshingly original take on the same basic premise. You are in a dark room and all you have to do is escape, you are presented with 4 options and based on your choice you get another few options.... all this is done within YouTube with hilarious results thanks to the off the wall performance of John Robertson... can you escape the Dark Room? If you like this you can catch him live in London on 18th April at the South Bank.

Brilliant Websites and Podcasts for Geeks

I want to share with you some amazing websites which I regularly visit. Maybe there's something here that you might like and get into, click on the images and you're set to go!

VGMpire is an informative and excellently researched site with it's focus on computer game music and soundtracks. They do regular podcast which are essential listens for a gamer like me.

Lasertimepodcast is a wonderful geek culture website which shares and discusses films, music, books, computer games... pretty much the whole gamut of media. It has a lively forum and people share their views and opinions in a respectful way. Wonderful!

Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is a surreal website which is brilliant, I can't really say much except go there and check it out!

Welcome to Nightvale is a weird and wonderful podcast set in a fictional desert town where conspiracy theories are all true, If you like X-files, Twin Peaks, American Gothic and other surreal series then you'll love this!

A fun and highly un-PC look at cartoons from the 80's.

This website gives a rich and full history of computer games, the articles are superbly written and uniformly informative. Brilliant!

Audio Atrocities looks at the terrible voice acting in computer games, you'd think that over the last few years with games getting bigger budgets and production values bad voice acting would be a thing of the past, but no.... you won't believe your ears!

2 hours 45 minutes of ZX Spectrum 128K game music

The ZX Spectrum is a legendary computer. Whilst most people remember the chiptunes from the NES, SNES, Megadrive/Genesis the older computers are forgotten. But no more, listen to this amazing mix of ZX Spectrum classics! 

Quadcopter Flies Blackpool

The beginning from 'Apocalypse Now' has one of the most famous scenes of any Hollywood movie, the helicopters flying over a jungle blasting out Wagners 'Flight of the Valkyries'. The problems with filming the scenes are now legendary but the final outcome is amazing. You can achieve the same effect but at a much easier cost to finances and your personal health, using a quadcopter and a camera. There are even apps for iOS and Android which allow you to control the quadcopter. Check out the amazing filming of Blackpool done with a quadcopter and a camera and imagine what you could create.

Super Mario Sound Wall

Offices can be boring and uninspiring places, but not so for Ryan Colley. He has created an interactive wall using Super Mario Bros decals. He also gives a detailed description of how he did it so if you are feeling inspired you can do it too!