Shepherd's Pie

Rez and i/Overflow

I'm Back.

While visiting Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry exhibit, Game On: The History of Video Games, I was lucky enough to spend some signifigant time playing an incredible game "Rez" for the the Playstation2. The game consists of a shapeshifting figure floating along a path in the center of a shapeshifting universe. You fire endless bursts of single shots which register as beats. When your shots connect with "enemies," they explode in more complex little beats. All of this is programed to align with the soundtrack(which is amazing). So you essentially are pigeon-holed into making pretty nice music and and visualizations. Despite it's simplistic sounding gameplay, I cannot explain how much the visuals alone hold attention. The whole game is unlike any I have played, in general, there is no comparable experience. I strongly encourage you to check out the videos on the official site.

Unfortunatly, there is no computer version. However there is an opensource computer version in the works called I/Overflow. In I/Overflow, there would be no soundtrack expect what you supply. The gameplay would be based on the mp3s and cds you play through the game. Revamping the remix nature of the game. An amazing idea, I hope this project can eventually pick up some steam, or a similiar type game is released officially.

posted by JRS @ 8:30 PM