Microsoft has officially decreed that summer ended this week by releasing Shadow Complex, the 5th and final title in Summer of Xbox Live Arcade program. For those not in the know, the Summer of Arcade is in its second iteration and is an initiative designed to help Xbox users deal with the extreme lack of summer retail releases by providing a variety of relatively high-profile, downloadable titles for purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
To help those that are less savvy when it comes to downloadable purchases, or those that just missed the boat completely on this whole Xbox Live Marketplace deal, here's a quick little summary of the games released.
'Splosion Man - 800 Microsoft Points ($10)
'Splosion Man is a quirky little puzzle platformer from indie developer Twisted Pixel. Taking the role of the scientific oddity that is 'Splosion Man, players will run and 'splode their way through 50 single- and multi-player levels. Be warned though, the game may seem easy with its soft look and absurdist sense of humor, but 'Splosion Man quickly ramps up in difficulty by asking players to complete complex puzzles and jumping sequences flawlessly. However, if you're a fan of old-school platforming, this is the game for you.
Plays like: N+ or New Super Mario Bros... except with more 'splosions.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - 1200 Microsoft Points ($15)
A re-release of a perennial favorite among fighting game aficionados, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 allows players to pit characters like Ryu from Street Fighter against the ravenous Wolverine from the X-Men comic book license in some of the most intense and chaotic 3-on-3 tag battles ever seen in a video game. Seriously, this game is crazy, even for fighting game standards. The only new features in this game are extremely minor visual updates and an online multi-player, but in all honesty, this game is best enjoyed amongst friends in the same room.
Plays like: Street Fighter on crack
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled - 800 Microsoft Points ($10)
TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled is no-nonsense remake of the arcade classic beat 'em up. With updated visuals that don't look very interesting and no way to experience the original version of the game though, it pales in comparison to last year's breakout brawler epic Castle Crashers. Save your money, you really don't have much of a reason to get this.
Plays like: a lackluster brawler that takes about 30-45 minutes to beat.
Trials HD - 1200 Microsoft Points ($15)
An interesting take on a motorcycle game, Trials HD plays more like a physics-based platformer than a racing game. The object of the game is to drive through obstacle-laden tracks as perfectly as possible in the endless attempt to get the fastest time. Online leaderboards and a quasi-ghost system also serve keep the level of competition at a fierce high.
Plays like: LittleBigPlanet on a motorcycle.
Shadow Complex - 1200 Microsoft Points ($15)
Based off of Orson Scott Card's Empire series, Shadow Complex is a straight rip-off of Castlevania and Metroid games with a cookie cutter storyline concerning some group of terrorists that wish to engulf the United States in civil war. All this makes the game sound bad though, when in fact, it is probably the strongest title in this year's Summer of Arcade. Whilst retaining all of the fun and addictive qualities of Castlevania and Metroid games, Shadow Complex adds more elements to help streamline the experience as well as bring something new to the table.
Plays like: the logical next-step of 'Metroid-vania' type games.
Protoculture: Summer of Arcade Wrap-Up
Song of the Week: Candy Claws "Catamaran"
I was going to put Candy Claws up on an artist watch, but with the post before already being one and "Catamaran" being such a cool, ethereal tune, I figured it would make for a pretty good song of the week as well.
Artist Watch: Radiohead
I'm sure it may seem a bit weird that a band with as much renown as Radiohead is appearing in a section primarily targeted at up-and-coming artists, but here's a bit interesting news that may make you want to keep a closer eye on them: a 'leaked' song for Radiohead's upcoming EP seems to have given way to an alternate reality game.
With a track entitled "These Are My Twisted Words," Thom Yorke and crew have created a very interesting way to market themselves by taking advantage of music pirating sites and Twitter in addition to their own site. Here are the particulars that make the song seem more than a simple leak:
-A few days ago, a new Radiohead track appeared on the music sharing site, what.cd. To listen to the track, click here. Packed in with the file posted was this text file.
-Some Internet super-sleuths suppose that the line mentioning "the wall of ice" is a reference to a particular xkcd comic (see the image above) due to its similarity to the band's own views regarding digital rights management.
-Also found in the text file is a date: 2009-08-17, which was proposed as the release date for the Wall of Ice EP. Obviously, this is not quite the case though, as it is beyond that date, and no further tracks have been found. Others supposed that the date is in reference to the date that EMI re-released Radiohead's back catalog in order to make a few quick bucks.
-Then, showing up on Radiohead's merchandise site is a picture of twisted trees that resemble design on the text file. This coincided with a post on radiohead.com that 'officially' released "These Are My Twisted Words." Inside the zip file for the song hosted on the band site, there's a mysterious PDF packed in that displays a series of images, including one of the twisted trees. Directions for these images read as follows: "This is an artwork to accompany the audio file. We suggest you print these images out on tracing paper. Use at least 80gsm tracing paper or your printer will eat it as we discovered. You could put them in any order that pleases you"
So what does it all mean? Well, we know the EP hasn't released on the day predicted, which has undoubtedly called much of this conjecture into questions. However, I think that the new result of typing http://wallofice.com/ into an address bar (it changed to its current form on August 17, mind you) is enough proof that this Wall of Ice EP isn't just a crazy Internet farce.
Moon Man Rising: Kid Cudi Concert Review (8/3/09)
A quick Google or Bing will tell you that the Great Hangover Tour is co-headlined by hip-hop freshmen Asher Roth and Kid Cudi. A trip to one of the shows will tell you that this tour is all about Cudi, and that's a very good thing. When I caught the tour at the Norva Theater in Norfolk, VA, the crowd swelled in size showed more energy for Kid Cudi’s set. He came after Roth, and when college loving rapper went off stage before his encore, the crowd called for Cudi to come on stage making it clear who they really wanted to see.
Also I missed half of Asher's set because I was running late to the show. Considering all this, I'll focus on Cudi's performance in this review.
The lonely stoner's set list included just five songs that were actually off his first album, and that makes sense since it doesn't drop until this September. Kid Cudi's success story is a bit different from most up and coming rappers, and needs some explanation.
His hit single, "Day 'n' Nite," was first written in ‘06 before the world knew Scott Mescudi as Kid Cudi. Its popularity grew and it soon became the single for his first and only mix tape, A Kid Named Cudi, in mid '08. Unlike most hip-hop singles, it only continued to grow in popularity until it peaked just a few months ago in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The song then became the first single for his album Man on the Moon: The End of the Day. With Cudi’s signature singsong flow and unique beats, A Kid Named Cudi delivered music that he said was meant to appeal to people who loved all kinds of music, not just hip-hop. Unsurprisingly he was soon signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label. For those of you unfamiliar with hip-hop scene, most new rappers develop their style over the course of multiple mix tapes (which is essentially just a free, somewhat informal album a rapper will release to gain publicity) before establishing themselves and perhaps signing a good record deal. For example, fellow rising star Drake released five mix tapes before being signed by Lil Wayne's Young Money label. Cudi achieved similar success in late '08 without ever having a show on The N (see Drake’s run on the show Degrassi) and just one mix tape. Cudi also worked closely with the Louis Vuitton Don on four songs on 808's and Heartbreak, and lent his singing voice to the hook of "Welcome to Heartbreak."
The songs from A Kid Named Cudi that drove Cudi's popularity were the highlights of the show. A crowd that was seemingly made exclusively of die hard Cudder fans sang and moved to beats of songs like "Down and Out," "Cudi Spazzin'," and "Embrace the Martian." The crowd even knew the unreleased leaks from his upcoming album, "Mr. Solo Dolo," and "Sky Might Fall." The only song that was performed without crowd assistance was the completely unreleased "Heart Of A Lion," which will be the third single for the album.
The set list left little to be desired, and Cudi's performance was flawless. He smiled and seemed genuinely happy as he danced across the stage, and the audience mirrored his mood or maybe it was vice versa. His performance was enhanced by a stage-wide screen of LED's that were operated by the same technician who did the lights for Kanye West's extravagant Glow in the Dark Tour. By the end of the show he had the knowledgeable crowd completely under his control as everyone in the packed Norva Theater yelled in approval at the start of seemingly every song and danced throughout the performance, making the concert hall feel and smell more like a packed frat party dance floor.
So when Cudi performed the second single off of his upcoming album, the Lady Gaga cover\parody "Make Her Say (Poke Her Face)," it made sense that the crowd completely lost its collective shit (that's really the only way to describe it) when Kanye himself came out to perform his verse from the song. His witty lines were barely audible over excited yells of the audience, and for the first time in the set, Cudi didn't hold the audience's complete attention.
Cudi then somehow managed to top the excitement from Mr. West’s surprise appearance with an outstanding rendition of "Day 'n' Nite." The song moved from an a capella first verse, to a normal but still enthusiastic second verse, before launching into the faster paced, more electronic Crookers Remix of the song.
When Cudi went off before the encore, the crowd took time to catch its breath before cheers for both Kanye and Cudi broke out. No one was disappointed as the G.O.O.D. Music duo performed "Welcome to Heartbreak" before Cudi capped the night by himself with one more mix tape track, "Man on the Moon."
As you finish reading this review, you should know that I am a huge Kid Cudi fan. Since I first listened to A Kid Named Cudi last fall, I have been recommending his mix tape to anyone with a slight taste in hip-hop. As purely a Kid Cudi fan, it was a highly satisfying experience to see him in person and have a chance to be surrounded by other fans of the once obscure rapper. As someone who has seen more rap shows than an average white college kid, it was a pleasure to see such a well put together performance in a fairly intimate setting. The quality of the show combined with Kanye West's surprise appearance at the end of the show made this one the best and most memorable concerts I have ever attended, and helped cement my opinion that Kid Cudi is the best up and coming hip-hop artist.