Dead Man's Bones
Hugo suggested another awesome band, Dead Man's Bones and I just couldn't let them go without a mention on the blog. Here's a pretty cool video to watch where they seem to be having a pretty good time making a creepy music video.
If you live in any of the countries that Spotify exists, then you should check out the entire self-titled "Dead Man's Bones" album. My personal favourite track is Pa Pa Power.
Johnny Two Shoes in 2009
It's 2010 and we're still here! 2009 was our most insane year yet, with the release of some wicked awesome games and us straying into a lot of new territory (even if it has been mostly behind closed doors).
We wanted to highlight some of the great things in 2009 related to Johnny Two Shoes, first off here are some stats from Google Analytics (who doesn't love stats?).
- Most played game at Johnny Two Shoes in 2009? — Attak, followed by The Heist 2
- Players visiting Johnny Two Shoes in 2009? — Over 10.5 million!
- Top Google search term? — "Attak"
- Most Googled player? — "PrettyPyrate" followed by "Shoop da whoop! SteveTheBad"
Our personal highlights include
- Interview with BBC (thanks to Illumina and their film crew)
- The Heist's 100,000,000th play (AddictingGames estimate over 100 million plays all around the web!)
- Introduction of our spaceman logo and the stickers printed by StickerRobot
- Our updated visual design
- Working with Warner Brothers (thanks to AKQA and Channel 4)
There's a ton more stuff we could have said, but the list would be massive. We want to say thanks to everyone who's played our games in 2009 and especially to those who join in with the community and give something back.
There's been so much planning in 2009 for this upcoming year, you will finally see the fruits of our labour. Have a great 2010, we'll be right there with you, high-fiving all the way into 2011.
OnLive at Columbia Tech
OnLive shows what it can really do and discusses some of the technology behind it.
If you're not sure what OnLive is, it's basically a way for anyone with a TV or PC/Mac to play the latest and hottest PC games at full detail without having to spend any money on an extremely powerful PC. It runs entirely over the internet (kind of like streaming a movie trailer, only way more awesome).
This video is both exciting and an inspiration.
Notes in Beta
Now available for everyone to try out now is the new notes feature, it's still finding its feet in terms of usefulness but it's on its way to becoming a new way to communicate privately among the community.
To use the notes feature, make sure you've validated your email address and you will then see a "Notes" icon in the user panel. Type a name of one of your beloved friends in the recipient box and it will fill the rest in for you. Ready to send? Hit Send Note and shazam, it's in your note stream.
Please bear in mind that it's a beta and submit any madness you come across to the appropriate forum page.
Consider this a little Christmas/New Year gift from us. Send a note now!
A Gaming Christmas!
What better way to bring people together at Christmas than games? We've been playing Gears of War 2, Eye Pet and Alive4Ever. What have you been playing with your family? Get any cool game related gifts?
The Mochis: Game of The Year Awards
Johnny Two Shoes will be at the 2010 Flash Gaming Summit in San-Francisco, part of the event is "The Mochis", awards for the best games of 2009.
We think that Johnny Two Shoes has had a mad year, but amongst the madness we released some pretty sweet games that we had a lot of fun building and people have had a lot of fun playing!
So, vote for Johnny Two Shoes games in "The Mochis" game of the year awards for 2009. There are 11 categories, we qualify for the following categories with the following games:
- Best Indie Game - Banana Dash World 4
- Best Game Art - Banana Dash World 4, The Great Sperm Race
- Most Creative Game - Banana Dash World 4, The Great Sperm Race, The Heist 2
- Best Shooter Game - The Heist 2
- Most Creative Game - Banana Dash World 4, The Great Sperm Race, The Heist 2
You can vote through the official Flash Gaming Summit website.
Flashguns
A great London based band called Flashguns, check them out. This video is for "I don't not love you" recommended to us by Hugo.
Remember, if you like this music video, try and support them by buying their EP "Matching Hearts, Similar Parts" from iTunes or from your local independent record store.
Inside the mind of Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck is a hero to me, I saw this video that Engadget made a while ago on their blog and I've been meaning to post it because what Starck says is very to the point and is a great example of a creative mind making a difference in the world.
Watch the Engadget Show — Inside the mind of designer Philippe Starck
Spaceman Stickers
Finally, after much waiting the honourable spaceman (and all his pals) have arrived today! It's been a lot of fun making spaceman our iconic logo so far and now he has a physical place on laptops, street lamps, underground carriages, pool tables, bus stops and lockers.
Sorry for the fluff, the stickers have little teeny pieces of paper stuck to them where they were die-cut. I just threw them on the scanner and hit GO!
WIP Space Illustration
I thought maybe it was a little much showing this illustration so early in its development, but then I thought, why not. It's been so long since we've actually been able to share things with you we should make it up some how.
So, this is part one of some kind of space illustration I'm working on. Right now there's no ship and that car was just plain lame-sauce so I decided to draw over it.
