‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘NBA Jam’ documentary needs your help

In the 1990s, one name ruled the arcade scene: Midway Games. From Mortal Kombat to NBA Jam, Revolution X, NARC and San Francisco Rush, you knew what you were going to get when you popped a few quarters into a cabinet: fast, loud, aggressive games. But what’s the story behind those titles? How did the studio come to practically dominate an entire sector of gaming? That’s what Josh Tsui, co-founder of Chicago-based game developer Robomodo, wants to tell you with his new documentary, Insert Coin: Inside Midway’s 90s Revolution.

“I always half-joked that Midway Games was the most-funded group of indie developers ever,” Tsui says. “They just did whatever they wanted and as long as it was done on time. That’s pretty much all that mattered.” And he should know: He worked there from 1993 to 1999 on games including Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game and Mortal Kombat 3. “There are all these crazy stories that I was just in the middle of witnessing, and I thought it would be really great to try to get all these different stories into one place and see how they interacted with each other,” he says.

So far, those stories come from Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias, NBA Jam co-creator Sal Divita and Smash TV co-creator Mark Turmell. Oh, and perhaps most importantly, the man who’s widely considered the godfather of the arcade scene: Eugene Jarvis, the creator of Defender and Midway Games’ creative director. Tsui says that the reason for his timing with Insert Coin is that a lot of the Midway games from the ’90s are hitting their 20th anniversaries around now and that at the moment, there seems to be some nostalgia for that era. Also, after scrolling through the documentary section on Netflix, he realized that he had tales of his own to tell. Like when director Steven Spielberg apparently tried stealing Midway employees for his own project, or what happened when NBA Jam brought in over $1 billion in quarters in its first year. He needs your help to do it, though.

The documentary’s Kickstarter campaign launches today, and the $75,000 funding goal will go toward hiring an editor and production crew. The money will also ease travel expenses — a necessary expenditure for getting more interviews (including with former Midway audio specialist Matt Booty, who now leads Microsoft’s Minecraft division in the Pacific Northwest). The reward tiers are pretty straightforward, too. “I’m not going to make plush dolls of John Tobias or anything like that,” he says, laughing. Instead, $15 gets you a digital version of Insert Coin, while a $50 pledge translates to a special edition Blu-ray with bonus footage and $5,000 get you in the movie, talking about your memories of Midway games from that era. Interested? Hit the source link below.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Kickstarter

Twitch’s ‘Choice Chamber’ is here, will make you hate your viewers

Ah simpler, pre-internet, times: when screwing up someone’s perfect game was as easy as “accidentally” tripping over those absurdly short controller wires during a pal’s perfect Sonic The Hedgehog run. Choice Chamber, the first title funded by game-broadcasting juggernaut Twitch brings that sort of griefing into the modern era and it’s out now. A brief recap: while playing the game and broadcasting it on your channel, the audience in chat has a direct impact on what happens next in the 2D side-scroller. So if I’m feeling particularly nasty, I could set one of the game’s procedurally-generated rooms on fire and give someone’s player character the pogo ability, which makes them jump around all willy nilly. You know, if I was in a dour mood and could get the folks in chat to agree with me (I am very charming).

As an incentive to get folks playing, developer Studio Bean is running a contest this weekend and all you need to do is create a highlight reel of your playthrough to enter. There are four ways to win: be the first to beat the game, be the first to finish the game the fastest, hit the highest room number or be the person with the most money. What do you win for your efforts? An honorary in-game statue and Studio Bean will make a game for you. Seriously. If that isn’t reason enough to deal with a little pain suggested by yours truly, I’m not sure what is.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Twitch

JXE Streams: You are the ‘Wind Waker HD’ beneath our wings

Let’s keep this Wii U love train rolling. Yesterday, we hosted a tribute stream for Nintendo President and CEO Satoru Iwata, who died this week. We played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and discussed some of our favorite Nintendo memories, from the NES to the Wii U. Today, we’ll stick with Link and play The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD on Wii U. Maybe we’ll pivot near the end and play a little Mario Kart 8 or something — we’ll do whatever sounds fun in the moment because that’s what video games are all about. Join us at 3PM PT / 6PM ET on Twitch.tv/Joystiq, right in this post or on the Engadget Gaming homepage.

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Oculus buys VR hand-tracking company Pebbles Interfaces

It’s pretty easy to see why Oculus VR wanted to scoop up this company: Pebbles Interfaces specializes in technology that detects hand movement via “custom optics, sensor systems and algorithms,” the Oculus blog explains. “Over time, technology breakthroughs in sensors will unlock new human interaction methods in VR and revolutionize the way people communicate in virtual worlds.” We’re talking about hands as controllers in virtual reality here. Pebbles joins the hardware engineering and computer vision teams at Oculus, where it hopes to make VR more immersive with improved human-computer interaction.

Oculus revealed its own brand of motion controllers, the Oculus Touch, back in June. The Touch is two separate handheld devices with two buttons and one analog stick each, and it’s closer to a natural input system than using, say, an Xbox One controller. But it seems that Oculus has been interested in device-free movement for a while: In December, Oculus acquired Nimble VR, a company that transfers your real-life skeletal movement into virtual reality. Yep, hands in VR. In May, Oculus acquired Surreal Vision, a company that transforms physical spaces into VR worlds. Yep, hands and entire rooms in VR.

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Source: Pebbles Interfaces, Oculus

These ‘Minecraft’ worlds will teach you about UK geology

One of the reasons Minecraft is so popular is that it gives players a blank slate on which to build whatever creations their imaginations can conceive. This level of freedom has led to entire cities and even countries taking on a virtual form, though sometimes our destructive nature can be just as strong as our passion to create. The British Geological Survey (BGS) is one of many organisations using Minecraft to build worlds that are both fun and educational, having already made a scale model of Great Britain based on Ordinance Survey data. Now, though, the BGS has gone beyond the surface to recreate the underlying geology of Ingleborough, West Thurrock and York in pixelated blocks.

Using different coloured glass blocks for the deep foundations of its 3D worlds, the BGS has made models of several UK locations that not only show the lay of the land, but also the geological features underneath. In the words of the BGS: “You are now able to see the rocks beneath north London, the soils that were deposited by ancient glaciers in York and how the ground is dissected by faults beneath the hilly slopes of Ingleborough.” While the models are primarily intended to be “a fantastic tool for young people to see the interaction between the above and below ground,” anyone can download them and start digging for treasure knowledge. The BGS also intends to release more worlds in weeks to come, so keep an eye on its site and you might find you’re able to explore whatever part of the country you call home in the near future.

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Source: British Geological Survey (1), (2) (pdf)