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The Controller is coming. Get yours soon!

Friend and ever so talented graphic designer Cory Schmitz announced on his twitter about a day ago that printed copies of his second gaming magazine, The Controller, have finally arrived and are being prepped for distribution. Sister to his previous mag .EXP, The Controller features 60 pages of stunning artwork and articles from a variety of folk including Jacob Ferguson, Ashley Davis, Chris Furniss, Katie Turner, Maré Odomo, and many more! I got a sneak peak of the mag while hanging out with Cory at IndieCade, and it's a beaut. When it's out in the next few weeks you can pick it up over in the Attract Mode shop!

I too had the fortunate opportunity of contributing to The Controller, thanks to Cory. Remember all of those random drawings of food stuffs I was doing about a month ago? Well if you don't, they're all fan art for the game Deadly Premonition, and though the reference is pretty obscure you can see the full collection of drawings in the magazine! Below is an example of a [Turkey Sandwich], with more to come. I hope fans of DP will enjoy the piece.

Finally, folks in Seattle should not miss the opportunity to go to The Controller's launch party coming up on November 19th! There will be refreshments, art, and music to enjoy, and I'll try to send my original work up to Cory so he can put it up at the show. Check out this flyer for all the details.

Looking forward to getting my copy!

Left 4 Dead rides Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye

Game modder Dives shaped up and modded a map from Left 4 Dead to resemble one of my favorite Disneyland rides, the Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The map is fairly accurate (you can download it here), including most of the memorable details of both the ride and the temple while thankfully omitting the more unmemorable details like the people who wait in line at Disneyland.

Altogether it's pretty impressive, though I did think the ride could have been a bit bumpier. I wonder if Dives collected all of the assets for the map himself or borrowed some from other Disney enthusiasts? How many times does one have to ride a ride in order to make a mod of it?

Divector8 via Topless Robot | Photo via John Perry

P.S. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! I haven't been posting too much lately as my brother shamelessly reminded me. Been too busy playing Deadly Premonition (still) and working. I'll try and post more this week!

Bayonetta vs. Bechdel - Does the Bechdel Test apply to videogames?

Some of you are familiar with The Bechdel Test for film, but for those who aren't it's a simple set of rules that can be applied to movies in attempt to "...gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are." The rule originally comes from Alison Bechdel's strip Dykes to Watch Out For, and Feminist Frequency does an excellent job summarizing how many films to this very day fail the test in this video. Watching it recently made me wonder whether the test is also applicable to games.

I asked this question to my Twitter followers, but no one responded. I'm very curious. Particularly because I recently finished Bayonetta (DUN DUN DUNNNNNN). Hit the jump to see some second thoughts. 

Collect those quarters and donate to Cory Schmitz's EXP.

via Cory Schmitz

Hooray! It looks like the greater web (Kotaku, GameSetWatch, 4 Color Rebellion, Tiny Cartridge) has taken notice of Cory Schmitz's upcoming gaming magazine EXP., which is awesome! DIY Gaming Mags are hotter than bear sleeping bags (actually, after some consideration they are of similar hotness), and with 92 pages of luscious and colorful design, it's most certainly worth another looky loo.

Cory has set up a Kickstarter page to help him print a set of mags to release to everyone! Help him out with more than $55 bones, and get copies of the mag, an upcoming book called Controller (which I may contribute to, *hopefully*), and one of three printed posters. Cory sent me the posters he's giving away and they're printed in super high quality and are just stunning in person. So really, what can you lose? Help a gamer out and keep gaming print media alive!

Me and my Zelda icons poster! It's beautiful, and what's shown in yellow here is actually shiny, shimmery gold ink!

In other exp-gaming-zine news, Matthew Kumar's original exp. magazine now has its own twitter account and is teasing a successor issue. Order the original exp. minus one at Attract Mode, and keep an eye out for exp. zero in the near future!

Get ready for EXP. videogame mag by Cory Schmitz

Iconography of Zelda - From EXP. Magazine by Cory Schmitz

Cory Schmitz is another talented fellow I met through the likes of Flickr and Tumblr. In fact, he and Pokécomic mastermind Maré Odomo turn out to be roommates (what an impressive bunch of connected Internet friendos I have!) A while back Cory contacted me about his senior project for his BFA in Graphic Design at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. His project, called EXP. (not to be confused with this exp., btw) is an 80-page videogame magazine and it's shaping up very nicely.

Cory has this to say about EXP.:

The purpose is to reject the idea that a video game magazine has to be be comprised of reviews and previews of the latest games. It hones in on the gap between game magazines and design magazines, embracing the relationship between video games and artists. A big focus of the magazine is the experience games provide, and how that is a great inspiration for creative people to draw from.

Cory sent me a package of sneak peeks yesterday, and from the look of it you can really see how his graphic design skills shine from page to page. Also, bonus (!), I hear there's an interview with VVVVVV creator Terry Cavanagh, and probably more than a few works from Mr. Maré Odomo too! EXP. will be full of very very good things.

The magazine (and some poster prints) will be available sometime in May and I'm so excited I already pre-ordered two copies from Cory. I'll let everyone know when EXP. is published and available for purchase. Hit the jump to see more shots of EXP. and visit Cory's portfolio and his flickr to see more of his great work.

Update! From Cory's Tumblr:

...the Killer7, Legend of Zelda, and Phoenix Wright pieces I designed are going to be 18” x 24” screen printed posters. On red, black, and cream paper respectively.

Yum! Also, Boy & Girl!