demoscene
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Amiga Forever Essentials for Android promises to expand your emulation options
There's already a number of Amiga emulators for Android, but using them has so far required you to provide your own Amiga system files to actually get that emulation started. Cloanto's set out to change that today, though, releasing its Amiga Forever Essentials app for Android that comes complete with officially licensed ROM and OS files for the reasonable cost of one dollar. As the company explains, it worked with the makers of Amiga emulators like UAE4Droid, AnUAE4All, UAE4All2 to ensure the system files are auto-detected (you'll still need to use at least one of those other emulators in conjunction with Forever Essentials), and it's thrown in a few bonuses like Workbench 1.3 and the First Demos disk images to get you started. It also says that this is just the first of a planned series of "Essentials" packages for other platforms, but it has few specifics to share about those at the moment, saying only that it's hopeful it can "help make retrocomputing more accepted on other app stores."
New demoscene hitting PSN: .deTuned
Click for high-resolution elephant people. Love it or hate it, there's no denying that Linger in Shadows was an interesting and innovative addition to the PlayStation Network. SCEA introduced a brand new kind of real-time interactive experience to PSN users that offered some bizarre mind-expanding imagery instead of "gameplay." While Linger in Shadows may have been the first demoscene on PSN, it's far from the last. Rusty Buchert, senior producer at Santa Monica Studios, has announced the next demoscene offering on PS3, and it looks even more bizarre. .deTuned comes from .theprodukkt, a team some of our readers may be familiar with due to their incredible 96kb-large FPS, .kkrieger. .deTuned looks to be a truly different experience, allowing users to create their own visuals based on music stored on the PS3's hard drive. Using the SIXAXIS, players will be able to manipulate the scene and even the music they play. It sounds like a rather intriguing concept, and we certainly want to see it in action. %Gallery-51595%
Plastic shares Linger in Shadows development tools
Are you familiar with the demoscene group known as Plastic? If you are not, then you've been taking the "interactive digital art" Linger in Shadows for granted. Plastic is the group responsible for putting LiS together; so all your strange nightmares of floating Basset Hounds are all thanks to them. Speaking of 'putting LiS together,' Plastic group co-founder, Bonzaj, sent us a tip on a video the group made which showcases some of the tools used in making Linger. The group used something called "Pico" -- a graphics engine for integration with Maya. "The tools are Maya plugins," said Bonzaj. "... and they can be downloaded from our site for free." Budding game developers (or digital artists for that matter) might want to avail of the free tools, but first, you'll probably want to check out that video we mentioned earlier and see those tools in action. You can watch that after the break.
Download the Linger in Shadows soundtrack for free
The guys at Plastic are a charitable bunch -- they have made the soundtrack to their demoscene Linger in Shadows a free download on their website. The ZIP file even includes an additional track from their other demoscene, Into the Pink. Visit their website here and click on the soundtrack link in the middle of the page to download the file. Wojciech Golczewski is the Polish composer responsible for the atmospheric soundtrack. You can find out more information about him and sample additional tunes by visiting his official website here. [Thanks, kspraydad!]
Linger In Shadows steps into the light this Thursday
A new PlayStation Blog post, written by Rusty Buchert (not to be confused with the PS3 Fanboy janitor, Rusty Bucket) who is the Senior Producer for Linger In Shadows, has revealed when we can finally get our hands on it. Buchert nonchalantly mentions that it'll be available on October 9th, but neglects to mention any pricing information. He also finally tells us a little something about the project's background. Buchert is keen to state that Linger In Shadows is not a game. Then what is it? " It is an experiment with the demoscene and it is an experiment in Interactive Digital Art." Historically, the demoscene has been a community who developed passive audio-visual "demos" which attempted to push the boundaries of a piece of technology. Linger In Shadows bucks the trend by allowing people to interact with their creation. Hence the trophies. So, based on that, we wouldn't be surprised if Linger In Shadows was released for free. Even if it's not, we're intrigued to check out what Plastic have been creating (in their spare time, no less). Check out the PlayStation Blog for more details.
Linger in Shadows lurks onto European PSN this week
Download to PSP Finally, the veil will be lifted. The strange, mysterious real-time PS3 demoscene Linger in Shadows will be available for download this week ... at least, according to the official PlayStation website. This interactive demo is yet another artistic experiment for the PSN -- you can get a small taste by watching this video released by the artists themselves. We can't wait to see how the PS3 community responds to quite possibly the strangest addition to the PSN yet. Update: For some reason, Linger in Shadows has been mysteriously delayed.[Via Siliconera]
'Linger in Shadows' video hints at PS3 project
Much like its title suggests, meaningful information regarding the above video seems to be loitering in all the dark corners of the internet, unwilling to step forward and reveal itself. From what we've been able to piece together, "Linger in Shadows" is a "demoscene," an artistic video generated by one of those "computer" things the kids are so addicted to these days. In this case, the computer is allegedly a PlayStation 3, with the beautiful imagery having recently been rendered and displayed at Breakpoint 2008, a demoscene party held in Germany. It is reportedly the product of demoscene group named "Plastic." Rumors label it as more than just a demo, however, with onAXIS pointing towards a "Linger in Shadows" trademark nabbed by Sony in November 2007. Couple that with the Santa Monica Studios logo displayed at the video's start and you have plenty of net denizens anticipating a visually arresting game which has you controlling a trail of black smoke. Or a flying dog. Whether it's a game, a screen saver or just a bit of art is for Sony to say, but it's certainly managed to intrigue us. Even more so than Lingerie in Shadows, the other, considerably more dubious video that turned up in our research. [Via PS3 Fanboy. Thanks, Mauricio]
Rap song samples extensively from C64 demo
If you're into the ultra-niche classic console demoscene, last June's release of the Nelly Furtado single "Do It" may have sounded awfully familiar to you. Apparently, the single samples heavily from a 2000 piece originally composed for the Commodore 64 as part of the Old Skool Music Competition. What's more, a 2005 ringtone from Furtado mega-producer Timbaland uses the same sample. The similarities between Tempest's "Acid Jazzed Evening" (later remixed by demoscener GRG) and the Furtado track are apparent and extensive -- from the bass line to the melody, the songs are nearly identical, except for Furtado's addition of lyrics. Still, it's a tough call as to whether or not the sampling constitutes illegal copyright infringement -- the case law involved is long and somewhat contradictory. The legal point may be moot though -- according to some hearsay from a self-described friend on the SomethingAwful forums, original artist Tempest doesn't want to go through the "time-consuming and horrible" process of a legal suit. Still, the fact that a major record producer is taking direct inspiration from a years-old chiptune composition speaks to both the creativity of the demoscene and the dearth of originality in modern pop music.
