still-alive
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Son of Nor achieves Kickstarter goal
StillAlive studios lived up to its name by obtaining $151,175 on its $150,000 goal for Son of Nor, a telekinetic, terraforming combat and puzzle action game. "We did it! Oh my god what a race it has been in the last hours and minutes," the team wrote in a Kickstarter update. "This campaign has brought us much more than just the funding we need to continue the project we believe in. It brought us a warm, great and positive community who helps each other, leverages each other and does not compete in a negative way." From here on out the team plans to continue development and update backers on their progress. StillAlive previously stated it's planning a closed beta for Q1 2014, with the final game scheduled for the middle of next year. Although the Kickstarter has concluded, the studio is still open to PayPal donations.
Telekinetic, terraforming action game 'Son of Nor' seeks Kickstarter powers
StilAlive studios has kicked off its Kickstarter campaign for the single-player and co-op action adventure Son of Nor with a goal of $150,000. The game has been bouncing around for a bit and the international team of developers says they've taken it as far as they can without help. Son of Nor features the last remnants of mankind fighting the lizard-man army of Sarahul using a combination of fire, wind, terraforming and telekinetic powers. In this dark future, it appears humans have learned to wield rocks with their minds, but have lost all ability to whack something with a stick. Maybe we should just let the lizard men win? The final version of Nor is targeted to be about eight hours, with a 50/50 blend of combat and puzzle exploration. If the Kickstarter is successful, the team plans to continue development through the year, updating its progress with developer diaries. A closed beta is planned for Q1 2014, with the final game scheduled for mid-2014. Head on over to the Son of Nor Kickstarter page for more details on reward tiers.
Play the latest Humble Bundle with headphones
The latest Humble Bundle, available through August 9, is composed of six musical albums and zero video games. Think of this bundle as a break from all the games you've been buying thanks to a certain recent sale, while still perfectly aligned with your latest paycheck.This bundle includes music from the Valkyria Chronicles series and Jonathan Coulton's Greatest Hit (Plus 13 Other Songs), which includes a live version of the iconic song "Still Alive" from Portal. Albums by Christopher Tin, They Might Be Giants, and MC Frontalot are also featured in the music package. The sixth album, OK Go's Twelve Remixes of Four Songs, is available to buyers that pay more than the average price.For those wary of picking up some new tunes, each piece of this Humble Bundle is compatible with any pair of headphones or speakers you want to use.
'Still Alive' played on 3D printed record, takes music piracy to complicated new levels
We're still in the relatively early stages of the 3D printer revolution, and as such, it's hard to say just how these devices will play a role in our daily lives. We've seen some really cool toys like turtleshell racers and Weighted Companion Cubes, but what about some everyday products? This 3D printed record keeps the Portal printer theme going by cutting our old pal Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive" into its grooves. The single was printed over at Shapeways and played on a Fisher-Price record player. Video after jump.
Jonathan Coulton talks coding, Creative Commons and becoming an internet rockstar (video)
There are few ways of endearing yourself to the geek world more quickly than writing a song like "Code Monkey." The developer-friendly track was one of 52 released as part of Jonathan Coulton's year-long "Thing a Week" project and was later adopted as the theme song for a similarly-titled G4 program. The songwriter was just adhering to that old adage of "writing what you know," having worked as a full-time computer programmer prior to giving the music world a go -- though, as he readily admits, he still keeps it real by coding for his own site. We sat down with Coulton as part of this month's Engadget Show, discussing his midlife crisis-driven decision to quit his day job and the journey that the internet played in making him a star. We also discussed the musician's favorite tech, his love of Creative Commons and using gadgets to make music. Coulton also treated us to three songs, including "Still Alive" from the Portal soundtrack and two tracks off his brand new record Artificial Heart. Video of all that after the break.
Coulton recording new version of 'Still Alive,' Sara (of Tegan and Sara) involved
Be still, our trembling hearts. It's rare the stars of our musical and gaming interests align in any meaningful manner -- the launch of the Billy Joel Rock Band 3 track pack, for example, rocked both areas of our life to their core. However, details have been slipping out over the Twitter feeds of Jonathan Coulton and They Might Be Giants (co-founder John Flansburgh is producing Coulton's upcoming album) of a project near and dear to our hearts: A new version of Portal's ending anthem, "Still Alive." Here's what we know so far, based on the tweets: It features a guest appearance by Sara Quin, of Tegan and Sara fame There's a theremin solo, performed by theremin virtuoso Dorit Chrysler We probably won't get to hear it until Jonathan Coulton's new album drops in 2013 John Flansburgh is producing it! John freaking Flansburgh.
Block mesa plays Portal's 'Still Alive' in Minecraft
This is a triumph: Using the musical blocks introduced in the latest version of indie world-builder Minecraft, YouTube user Tritex989 has managed to re-create Portal's theme song, "Still Alive," in its entirety -- minus some notes and with some transposing, due to the blocks' two-octave limitation.
Children's choir sings Jonathan Coulton's 'Still Alive'
Bill Cosby had that show about kids saying cute stuff for a while, but there seems to be an even more entertaining trend emerging on the internet: kids singing super awesome stuff. First, there was that chorus that sang Phoenix's "Lisztomania" and now (via GameVideos) we have the Gifford Children's Choir singing Jonathan Coulton's wonderful "Still Alive" (also known as "that song from Portal"). You can check out the video past the break, which is kinda dark but you're not really watching it for the visuals so that's okay. Seriously, for as much as we're sick of Portal memes, out of the mouth of babes comes a great version of this song. Of course, it's worth mentioning that the whole song is basically one spoiler -- so if you haven't played the game, you should probably stop reading the internet and fix your situation.
WoW Moviewatch: Still Alive -- JoCo version
I think Still Alive -- JoCo version wins the "genre bending" award. Still Alive was originally the closing credits song for Portal by Valve Software. The computer system known as GLaDOS promises the Portal player cake throughout the game. It's kind of the carrot to keep the player moving. (This is also the source of The Cake Is Not A Lie.) Still Alive is performed by GLaDOS at the end of the game. Well, being the geek savant that he is, Jonathan Coulton covered Still Alive. Being the WoW culture savant that he is, Spiff took JoCo's cover and turned it into a World of Warcraft machinima. (There are plenty of references to the original Portal game in the video, though, so this version isn't entirely detached from its roots.) Like all of Spiff's videos, Still Alive -- JoCo version is a lot of fun. Spiff does a great job capturing the fun and humor of JoCo's original music. Not to mention, his animation skills are constantly growing and always impressive. Edit: JoCo wrote the original song, mind you. Still Alive was performed at the end of the game by a female artist. This song, then, is the version performed by JoCo. "Cover" is a tough word to use for this, so I wanted to clarify it. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Jonathan Coulton not (yet) working on song for Portal 2
We still haven't had any confirmation of a Portal sequel, other than, you know, designer Kim Swift and Valve's lead marketing director, Doug Lombardi mentioning that the game is probably coming. Now internet songster and Portal theme -- "Still Alive" -- composer Jonathan Coulton has chimed in as well. We recently interviewed Coulton about his upcoming "Best. Concert. Ever." CD & DVD set (look for the full interview soon where we'll be giving a copy away), and the first thing we asked him about was how his song for Portal 2 was coming along. "I haven't started it yet. I honestly don't know ... I haven't spoken to them in a long time about it, so I don't know much at all about their plans for Portal 2 and what they're thinking of doing," he told us. "And that's the truth, that's not an 'I signed a non-disclosure agreement and can't tell you what's going on' answer. I really don't know."So it's still a non-confirmation of nothing, but it sounds like he may be on tap to write something for it. Maybe. Possibly. Speculatively. Hope is "Still Alive" (we hope).
Rock Band Wiikly: Ministry, The Zombies, the Cranberries, 19 more
This week's Rock Band 2 DLC update brings not only the promised tracks from last week's multiplatform Rock Band DLC announcement, but 19 tracks from the back catalog as well. That includes one free track that most of you are going to run to the Wii and download right now: the "Still Alive" song from Portal. Well, you'll run to the Wii tomorrow, when these tracks actually go up. Now you can play the song on a console on which you can't play the game! How ... novel!The list is after the break. Everything not performed by a rogue AI is 200 Wii Points per song.
Spotted @SXSW 2009: Jonathan Coulton in a giant fishbowl
Geek songster extraordinaire Jonathan Coulton was on-hand at SXSW, being interviewed in the aquariumrific Studio SX stage. You can watch the full interview at some point later on SXSW.com to hear Coulton talking about reaching his geeky audiences, how he crafts his songs, and why he loves audience misbehavior. He capped everything off with a live performance of the unofficial Portal anthem "Still Alive," which really doesn't get old no matter how many times you hear it.
Important announcement concerning the clandestine facilities of Aperture Science
Greetings, Chell.In response to the success of the GLaDOS World of Warcraft infiltration program, I have taken it upon myself to further reinforce the importance of your best friend in the world, the Weighted Companion Cube.You will find the cubes located in the entrances to all clandestine Aperture Science Enrichment Centers. An example of the Cubes I have deployed is displayed above. The cubes resemble the ones I had in place for you at the primary Aperture Science facility, as well as the cubes initially placed in our clandestine facilities one cycle ago.Please ensure your continued observation and interaction with the cubes throughout the next five days. Since the Icestone has now melted, you have no excuse not to begin your duties immediately.If you are able to successfully make use of them to further Aperture Science, I can assure you the cake will be quite real this time.This GLaDOS message is now concluded.Goodbye. Love is in the Air and on WoW Insider. Check out our continuing coverage of the event and our guide to earning the achievement. And you better hurry; the holiday only lasts five days!
Best of 2008: The most delicious DS homebrew
Time to face some harsh facts, people: this time next year, none of us will have two pennies to rub together, and nobody will care anyway, because we'll all be fighting to the bloody death over scrap metal, rat carcasses, and clean drinking water. The good news? You can slow your inevitable descent into abject poverty by no longer paying for your DS games, and instead download totally free homebrew. Hurray! Not that you shouldn't be selective in what you download -- after all, for every StillAliveDS or Pocket Physics, the homebrew community churns out plenty of garbage. With this in mind, we decided to compile a list of the best homebrew we personally encountered this year. Have any recommendations that we missed? Tell us in the comments! And don't forget we dedicated a whole week to homebrew earlier this year -- you can head here for more recommendations!
Next Wednesday: 'Portal: Still Alive' transports onto XBLA
(Note to self: Must avoid Portal clichés. Must avoid Portal clichés!)Microsoft announced today that Portal: Still Alive will bend reality on XBLA beginning next Wednesday, October 22nd. The title includes the original Aperture Science adventure (Joystiq's GOTY 2007), along with 14 new "exclusive" challenge maps and six advanced maps, complete with new Achievements. So, you can have your cake and eat it, too. (Damn.) We've contacted Microsoft about a price for the game. Major Nelson tells us the game will be 1200 ($15).This isn't to say Portal: Still Alive is the only title coming next week to XBLA. The previous two weeks have had additional games announced on Wednesday.Source - Announcement [Gamerscore News]Source - Portal: Still Alive Achievements [Gamerscore Blog]
Mirror's Edge theme, 'Still Alive,' not Portal's 'Still Alive'
When we received word today about the Mirror's Edge soundtrack – set do be available for digital download upon the game's launch Nov. 11 – something struck us as a bit ... odd. That would be the fact that the theme from the game is titled "Still Alive." You know, like the wonderfully infectious theme of another game: Portal.This song isn't by geek rock legend Jonathan Coulton, however, nor does it feature the vocal stylings of GLaDOS. It is, in fact, by Swedish pop star Lisa Miskovsky, and, while wonderful, sounds nothing like Coulton's tune. It's a case of "same title, different song." Sort of makes us wonder, though, if anyone connected with Mirror's Edge at DICE or EA has, y'know, heard of Portal? After all, EA did distribute the console versions of The Orange Box. Like we said, Miskovsky's "Still Alive" will be released Nov. 11 alongside several remixes of the song by prominent musicians including Paul van Dyk, Junkie XL, Teddybears, Benny Benassi, and Armand Van Helden. Starting this week, those who pre-order Mirror's Edge at Best Buy will receive a CD containing the game's theme and the Benny Benassi remix. Be sure to check out our hands-on impressions of the game's time trial mode posted earlier today.
Development for StillAliveDS is ... continuing
Promoting the 1.2 update for StillAliveDS (and drumming up votes for his Neoflash homebrew coding competition entry), programmer T4ils put out this trailer for the new version of his 2D Portal remake.The release piles some impressive additions on top of an already exemplary stack of features; in addition to its polished mechanics, in-game level editor, and online custom game directory, StillAliveDS now features custom campaigns/stories, DS Motion support, online leaderboards, a skinning system for tilesets/sprites, and cool new elements like the wall that reflects your portal gun's shots.If you haven't downloaded and played it yet, you should! This great game isn't a lie!%Gallery-24064% Wacky Japanese games, emulation, DS Fanboy's recommendations, naughty homebrew: our recent week of homebrew coverage had it all. Don't be put off if you're a beginner, either -- we have guides and a glossary for the newest of newbs.
X08: Hands-on Portal: Still Alive (XBLA)
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/Hands_on_with_Portal_Still_Alive'; A buzzing noise fills the room as you are shaken awake. Bright lights bounce off the windowed walls of your 4 foot by 5 foot holding cell, making them twice as bright. As you rise from your bed and adjust your eyes a timer clicks from beyond your transparent walls and immediately you can't help but to fear you've seen this all before.Portal: Still Alive is the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title based on the critically acclaimed original found in The Orange Box from Valve. Those who were unfortunate enough to never play the original Portal are in luck as Portal: Still Alive is essentially the exact same experience but with a few added bonuses.
Portal: Still Alive additional levels based off Portal: The Flash Version, won't include GlaDOS
There's been an understandable amount of excitement regarding the pseudo-sequel to 2007's "Game of the Year", Portal, following the E3 '08 unveiling of Portal: Still Alive. However, little was announced about the title by its digital anti-heroine at the Microsoft Press Conference -- luckily, Valve's Doug Lombardi spilled the beans about the game's new features, and its relationship to the first groundbreaking title, in a few interviews during last week's shenanigans.In one such interview with GameSetWatch, Lombardi explained that Still Alive is a standalone version of the original Portal. The additional maps and challenges that were revealed on Gamerscore Blog will be pulled from the Portal: The Flash Game map pack, a 3D rendition of the award-winning web game based on the original pastry-rich puzzler. This map pack, lovingly crafted by We Create Stuff (the minds behind the Flash game), is available (and free) to download for PC portal-hoppers now.Unfortunately, neither GlaDOS, nor any other "story elements", will be included in the extra content. As excited as we are for this expansion, the prospect of zipping around an abandoned research facility without the accompaniment of an unsettling, sing-song voice just doesn't seem right.
E308: Portal continues on XBLA with 'Still Alive' [Update]
Update: Portal: Still Alive is exclusive to Xbox 360 this fall.It looks like Portal will live on. Microsoft will announce Portal: Still Alive will continue the single player story found in the original Orange Box collection, and will add new challenges. With the popularity raging from the original, this looks to be a big win for Microsoft when it hits the service. The announcement comes from the leaked Gamerscore Blog video, which has now been removed. No word on exclusivity.
