Hello Dtoid.
A lot of people I know seem to think 'Indie' is a bad word. Many cringe, and even more vomit when a suggested game falls under the 'Independant' category of gaming. I asked a friend of mine who's not entirely up to date with modern gaming what he thought these kinds of games were like, and the description I got was parallel to a 3 and a half hour, black and white, foreign art haus movie, in which each second you aren't reading subtitles you're fumbling to comprehend just what the crap the movie is really trying to tell you. I happen to love those kinds of movies just as much as I love the so-called "pretentious" indie games, but I digress: this is not one of those games.



At it's very core, Das Uber Leben is essentially Helicopter, a game I'm sure all of you have played before, whether it was ages ago or whether it is perpetually minimized on your screen to this day. Helicopter has the basic objective of: "Don't Get Fucked Up", and Das Uber Leben takes this simple idea to new heights...literally.
Das Uberleben is a sky diving game, only the dive has gone terribly awry and you are falling through risky territory, shifting your weight to avoid total destruction. The game can be played with 1-7 (yes, seven) players, and there is an option to turn on FIGHT MODE where you fall to death with not your friend but rather the very evil which haunts your dreams, apparently, as you gain the ability to push and shove each other into the rocks, walls and barriers through which you fall, watching in delight as your foe's entirety is reduced to a pixellated cloud of blood and guts. Unlike Helicopter's lame, uninspired and generic 'Macromedia Flash 2004 Web Banner' graphics, Das Uber Leben has some satisfying sprites with kind of this weird 3D 8-bit thing going on that's as to the point as it is stylish.

This game is completely entrancing, and borderline psychedelic at times, but most of all I think you want to play this due to it's fine tuned balance of sheer simplicity and total awesomeness. Whether you're looking for 5 minutes to an hour of game time, Das Uberleben has definitely earned regular play on my PC.

If you're a fan of addictive, simple, but over-the-top pick-up-and-play goodness, then do yourself a favour and download it here:
Das Uberleben

I might also add that this game is devoid of anything other than sound effects and ambient noise, making it very easy to completely change the mood of the game with different accompanying music. My personal favourite was putting on absurd 80s hair metal to rock rock on as I fell to my utter oblivion.
Feel free to share any sweet music combinations you may find while playing below.

Hello dtoid,

Looks like that 'Splosion Man game that Twisted Pixel revealed at the start of April is coming along nicely.



It's looking a lot more...annoying...than I expected, but, I think this still looks like a quality platformer, something that's not always easy to find. Thoughts?

hello dtoid,

recently, i had the urge to dust off my 64 and rock some pilot wings, conker's bad fur day, and of course super mario. now, i usually like to turn down the in-game music and leave only the sound effects, which can be heard on top of a playlist i'll have running through my stereo. this can often be much more gripping than the original game's themes, or in the case of Gary Numan meets Resident Evil 4: hilarious.

(i wanted to post that video of harrison ford on conan doing his 'intense' face to different music here but to no avail. use the power of yr IMAGINATION!)

last night, while whipping through a new file in mario 64, my playlist came across some popular music in my place, and completely changed the game, taking it to an incredible new level.

casino versus japan, also known as erik kowalski, is an electronic musician who knows how to make yr bones tingle. blending playful, catchy synth leads into a thick watery world of bubbling analog-ambience, kowalski forms this psychedellic-scuba-adventure, as each song takes you through what feels like some bizarro secret level in ecco the dolphin, where the developers got bored and decided to get stoned out of their faces.



now take mario 64, the lovable gem of early 3D games, the first stunning display of the analog control, full of playful, often intricate worlds that act as a playground for the beloved franchise to grow in. isn't it fitting then that it be paired with music that reflects that same care-free awesomeness?

i present you with a mystical, bubble-encrusted hyperlink to your entire childhood played back to you via underwater stereo, the sounds of 'whole numbers play the basics' by casino versus japan, which when combined with mario 64 creates this ping pong effect: the game far more enchanting because of the music, and the music enhanced by the giddiness of an old classic.

casino versus japan - whole numbers play the basics (2002)

i particularily love the track 'moonlupe' in any level that consists of a lot of swimming.

let me know what you think, comrades.

p.s i really want to add that the song 'ego tripping at the gates of hell' by the flaming lips is stellar when playing during lethal laval land.

hello fellow dtoiders,

i come bearing the gift of music, this time much more video game related.

i'm sure you all remember these:



ever wonder who says that magical "PlayStation!" at the end of each commercial?
yeah, i didn't either...but apparently it's the magical, multi-talented Takako Minekawa, electronic musician extraordinaire!



"Minekawa's musical skills set her firmly outside of the J-Pop "idol" tradition: she writes and composes most of her material, singing quirky lyrics about subjects such as clouds, cats, and the color white (her personal favorite), with her love of Kraftwerk and French Pop Music also showing through her unique experimental sound. She often makes use of vintage Casio keyboards and analog Moog synthesizers, as well as vocoders and other electronic instruments" says her wiki.

i figured theres enough otaku on dtoid that would dig the ridiculously japanese side of her, but in addition to her cutesy, cuddley voice she is actually an incredibly sound electronic musician. i'd go as far as saying she is a japanese version of stereolab, blending wonderfully playful analog synths into a smooth space-lounge kind of sound, of course pushed through the bizarro filter that is japanese culture.



as i mentioned in my previous post, i'm not sure how the editors feel about sharing albums on their blogs, but until i am castrated and banned from ever using the internet again, i present you with a link. it's not just any link, it's a hyper link. containing music. for to listen to!

if you dig the sounds in those videos above, then you'll love the following albums from miss minekawa, who's easily replacing bjork on my 'coolest solo females' list.

roomic cube (1996)

cloudy cloud calculator (1997)

let me know what you think, comrades.

xoxoxo