You'd Batter Believe It.

Evening. How are we all? Splendid.

Got a photoblog effort for you today. It's called Jim's Pancakes and it's about a dude called Jim who makes pancakes. However, in a similar vein to the previously-plinked Tiny Art Director (well worth checking in on again if you haven't seen it in a while), things are improved by the inclusion of a demanding little girl calling the shots.

When it comes to pancakes, I'm happy enough if I can make one that comes out round, but that's not good enough for Jim, or more specifically, Jim's daughter Allie. She'd rather have a Plane:



or a Cheeseburger:



or a... Ferris Wheel?



Yeah, he's a talented guy. Read the rest of the Jim's Pancakes blog to see Sushi, a Crane, a Necklace and many more.

Save The Beeb.

Simple one, this. There are currently some cuts of BBC services being proposed, including some neutering of the website and the abandonment of BBC 6music.

Protests have been underway for a while but this seems to be the final push, so if you have a minute and care about the issue (which you really should), please sign the Petition.

Thanks.

LittleBigPlanet 2.

The title should tell you everything you need to know. If you were reading my blog back in October of 2008, firstly thanks for sticking around. Secondly, you may remember me getting overly excited about the release of LittleBigPlanet!

Well, guess what. The sequel has been announced, and it looks fantastic of course. An evolution of the first game in every way. No longer 'just' a platform game, the strapline for this one is "a platform for games." My head is already spinning with the possibilities. I'm ready to get excited all over again.

Who's with me?

LittleBigPlanet 2.

Plumbing New Depths.

Hiya. I am currently too ill to go out so I'm going to stay in and furnish you sickeningly healthy types with some games.

Who is the most famous video game character ever? That's right, it is This Guy.

In polls he has proven to be more recognisable than Mickey Mouse. As a result, he appears everywhere and as well as appearing in over 200 official video games over the last 30 years, he has been the subject of more fan made games than it is possible to keep track of. Todays plinx brings you two of the latest, greatest examples.

Firstly, we have Super Mario Crossover. This one takes the entirety of the original Super Mario Bros and allows you to play through the game as either Mario or one of several other classic videogame stars. I'm going to run through them now, the further you get through this list and still know what I'm talking about, the nerdier you are. Ready?
Link. Mega Man. Samus Aran. Simon Belmont. Bill Rizer.
If any of that rang any bells, you should give this game a go. It's making a mockery of my childhood memories in the best possible way!

Secondly, a much more abstract offering. This is actually a brain-twisting puzzler disguised as a platform game. It's called Enough Plumbers and to beat each level, you just have to direct a plumber to the exit. However, things are complicated by the fact that every time you collect a coin, a clone of yourself appears. As the difficulty ramps up, you have to use and abuse this power in ever more complicated ways. It's difficult to describe but not difficult to enjoy. So play it!

Alright, I'm going back to feeling sorry for myself. Bye.

Full Moon Over Wowtown.

Hey there.
I know you're accustomed to me just heaping free entertainment in your laps every couple of days but today is different. Like with the Indie Love Bundle, today's episode of plinx calls on you to dig deep in those pockets. As always, however, I don't do this without good reason. Today is no exception.

Thomas Truax is a man who deserves to be on your radar. He is a songwriter, a performer and an inventor and he puts on a heck of a live show involving instruments that he has designed and built himself. His music sounds like nothing else and he is starting to see some success. It's impossible to capture the spirit of a live show in any useful form but there are some tracks on His Myspace and you can watch a video of Thomas introducing his 'band' of fantastical instruments right here:



Now, he has a new album that, to quote the man himself "sits smoking on the pad, ready for launch, yet sadly just short of the fuel it needs for a proper lift-off" and is asking for help from the music community. If you have any interest at all in the man or his music, you can take part in a program called 'pledgemusic' which allows fans to directly influence the release of the music they love, enabling them to be a part of the process and in this case, get rewarded for it!

Y'see, all you have to do is 'pledge' to buy the album (for 8 measly pounds!) and, should it get enough supporters to reach the amount required, you get the album. However, if you wish to help even more, you can pay slightly (or not so slightly, depending on your inclination) more and get a 'reward'. Anything from a signed limited edition poster, to a private gig in your house!

Anyway, I think this is a great idea and am very much looking forward to receiving my album and poster, as well as the feeling that I have played a part in the release of something amazing. If you want in, have a look at the pledge site Here.

Pixellent.

Evening.
I have a video for you. It's footage of New York City as it is beset by a plague of pixels! Taking the form of classic retro videogame sprites, they lay waste to the city. This video is amazing and well worth a watch even if you aren't a total geek. But if you are, then you get the added bonus of spotting all the references to different games and their makers.

Anyway, enjoy!


PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by onemoreprod. - Discover more animation and arts videos.

The embedded video is a little small. If you'd prefer to see it in glorious big screen, click the link.

You'll Like This. Not Alot, But You'll Like It.

This tickled me. Partly because I am a spelling and grammar pedant, but mostly because it's funny!

It's an article containing advice on how to cope with the piss-poor writing standards of 90% of the people online, and it stars this li'l critter:



Give It A Read.

Haha, having read a bit more of the blog this is from, I have found some other great stuff. Check out 7 Games To Play With A Brick and A Thesis On The Tyranny Of Sandwiches.

Skol!

I don't like to resort to cliches but...

*ahem*

If you only click on one link this year. Make sure it's this one.

Turns out I'm pretty Big In Sweden!

Care Package.

Evening. I'm on holiday! Woo! For the next week I shall be camping in (hopefully) sunny Devon. As such, I will not be here providing you with internet entertainment.

But panic not! I will use this post to stockpile some games that should keep you going until my triumphant return.

First, the new Nitrome effort: Tiny Castle. As usual, it has a familiar gameplay mechanic with a quirky twist. In this instance, it is a platform jumpin', princess rescuin', fireball dodgin' platformer that all takes place in the same space. things are kept interesting, however, due to the constantly changing nature of the level. Platforms are destroyed and rebuilt, irate wizards pull the odd switcheroo, the lights go out and... well, expect the unexpected. It's not a long game but it should keep you interested until the boss battle. So go, swing your sword and battle the monsters.

Something a bit different now. This one is a text adventure. For the non-geeks, that means a sort of choose-your-own-adventure, like the books, but without the need to flip through the pages every time you make a choice. This one is about being a captain in the navy and is WAY more compelling than I just made it sound. Give it a shot, as it were. It's called Choice Of Broadsides.

Aaaand, what list of games on plinx would be complete without a couple of physics puzzlers, or phuzzlers as the experts call them. Me. I'm the experts. First is Mechanics which is NOT about fixing cars, but rather is about placing cogs in the correct positions to get them turning and illuminating the light, or simply stacking them up so that none are lost in the abyss. It's gentle fun.

Continuing on a phuzzle tip, here's the Cover Orange series. That link was to the original. There's also a Sequel and a Player's Pack for all your orange covering needs. In all the games, the idea is to protect your smiley ball(s) from the coming storm of spikey things that threaten their existence. Look, since when have online games had to make sense. Just play them, you'll figure it out.

Right-o. I'm off! Have fun, kids.

This Too Shall Pass Me By.

Umm. Bit embarrassing, this. There's something I should have plinked ages ago but never got round to. Now it has been plastered all over the place and there's a very good chance you've seen it already. It's an OK Go video. Specifically, one featuring a huge, elaborate Rube Goldberg device. Here it is:



Now, considering my usually propensity to post OK Go videos AND Rube Goldberg videos, to miss out on this one when it seems almost laser-targeted at me is terrible. I'm losing my touch, man. Getting old. Past it.

Except, no. Maybe not. Maybe I can turn this around.

Because, you see, after coming out with the video, they opened a contest for people to make their own. So this IS relevant after all. Hooray! I'm back in the game. Suck it, everyone.

There's an interesting Interactive Floor Plan of the music video one and the site for the competition is Here.

One winner has already been announced. A worthy entry, I feel. Check it out:



Phew, alright. Panic over.

Fools! I'll Destroy Them All.

So yeah, April Fools day was a couple of days ago. I thought about doing something to try and fool you guys but for one thing, I don't think enough people read this blog for anyone to notice on the day and also, I didn't think about it until the morning of the 1st of April so I would only have managed something a bit half arsed.

However! There is a grand tradition of Fools on the web. Every year, certain websites will do something to try and hornswoggle the general populace. I'm going to recap some of this year's good ones in case you missed 'em.

Unfortunately, I can't show you YouTube's 'videos as text' thing because they took it down as soon as AFD was over. Losers.

However, remember XKCD? Well, that looked a little different this year, converting the whole site into a command-line based interface. Check it: UniXKCD!

Sites like Firebox, IWOOT & ThinkGeek have a tendency to release fake products like IWOOT's Universal Bark Translator, their iPhone to iPad convertor, Firebox's Cavalcade of Whimsy, ThinkGeek's Canned Unicorn and (my personal favourite) Screaming Chef Knife!

There are more, a definitive list can be found HERE but those were my favourites!

It Means 'Cave Explorer'.

I like the word 'spelunker'. It's not exactly in common usage but it crops up sometimes and I usually get to tell this story.

See, a while back, I was watching 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and the question for £125,000 came up thus:

"What does a 'Spelunker' do?". I don't recall the possible answers but one of them was 'explores caves' and I knew that was it. The reason why I knew this was correct is due to the South Park movie, in which one charaxter is referred to as an 'ass-spelunker' and, well the other options available didn't make sense in that context!

So yeah, South Park knowledge can be worth many thousands of pounds. They should show it in primary schools.

ANYWAY, the reason I bring it up is due to a game called Specter Spelunker Shrinks and (despite being more of a demonstration of a neat concept than a fully fledged game) it features a nifty growing and shrinking character dynamic and some awesome alliteration, also!

So go play it. Although there's a chance you'll need to download something called the 'Unity Web Plug-in' which is totally legit so don't worry!

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart!

Hello.
I'm here on eco-business today. It hasn't been very well advertised but tomorrow night at 8.30pm, it is Earth Hour. If you've not heard of it before, it is a global attempt to get 1 billion people to turn off all their lights at the same time for an hour. Admirable!

They had a decent amount of success Last Year. Naturally, however, they want to beat that this year. So get involved!

They are using a pretty neat method to inspire people to sign up this year. Namely, pitting the different parts of the UK against each other! Nothing wrong with a bit of well-intentioned jingosim, says I. Check it:



Right now, the English are getting their arses handed to them by our neighbours to the north. Clearly this will not stand. Also, my home county of Hampshire is in danger of being overtaken by Wrexham! So yeah, if you're a local boy or girl. Sign up now. We will NOT be overthrown by the Scotch or the Wretches (pretty sure that's what people in Wrexham call themselves, yeah?)

Anyway, it should go without saying that you shouldn't sign up if you don't intend to participate. So take part! Turn out the lights, set up some candles and enjoy the twilight. For the good of the planet. Your powers combined...

Citation Needed.

Hey, you're a busy man right? Or a busy woman. I'm not discriminating.

Point is, sometimes you need to know about something (frogs, bananas, helicopters, jazz, batman, electricity, beer) in a hurry. Firing up wikipedia is all well and good, but it's just not quick enough.

You haven't got time for history lessons or uses in popular culture. You just need the essence of your chosen subject.

Step up, 10 Word Wiki.

If it can't be explained in 10 words, you don't need to know about it.

Anticlimactastic!

So yeah, I've been putting off doing my 250th post until I had something worthy to show you, but it turns out it'll probably take a while. So I have made a few cosmetic changes and I will continue to do so. You may have noticed the 'pages' up top? Yeah don't click 'em, there's nothing to see. But one day... Oh, one day. You'll see.

So, yeah. That's about it.

Except no, there is a star of this show. Take a gander to the right of this jaunty text. That there is a shoutbox and it was coded for me by my good friend Mat who has said he requires no credit but I think should be shaken warmly by the hand. Essentially, it allows you to leave me a message without any of the tiresome 'comment' malarkey, so I urge you to do so! Enjoyed one of the links? Give me a shout! Want to direct my attention to something? Give me a shout! Want to tell me I have a stupid beard and girly hair? Er, give me a shout, I guess!

Woo!

Hmm, this seems wrong without some sort of link so I'll leave you a video. In case you've ever wondered why the URL for this place is 'kickpunchblock', well check THIS out...