KyozoKicks & SEGA Generations.

I have always maintained that KyozoKicks is a site (or perhaps more accurately, an outlet) for my ongoing adoration towards videogames. The creativity gone into the games I interact with constantly spurs creativity right here in the form of custom footwear. Occasionally i’ll stray from the original theme somewhat, but on a short leash. Videogames have an irresistible draw.

Videogames have been doing that for over 2 decades now. Yet things didn’t get really interesting for me until a blue, round, hedgehog entered the arena. Until then my relationship with videogames could be best described as passive, at friends houses or on our family computer (which I recall displayed exactly 2 colours – orange and black). Sonic was the first time I felt swept up in what I can only describe as the mise en scène of a videogame. It was the first time I didn’t want to just play, I wanted to listen, watch and talk about the game. I expanded the world Sonic existed in however I could, through cartoons and comic books. 20 Years later and still a fan, I was approached by SEGA to create 5 pairs of custom shoes featuring the same character. Each pair to be given away to another Sonic fan to celebrate the release of Sonic Generations. I like to think 6 year old me would bestow me with the highest of high fives today.

Awesomenauts Eurogamer Preview.

BY NICHOLAS TONKS

Let it be said, Enthusiasm is nothing if not infectious. Try as you might, you’ll be hard pressed to find more of it than among the Indie game development community right now. Before I even interact with Awesomenauts, an upcoming downloadable title from Dutch based developers Ronimo, I get a sense of that enthusiasm among the team. Focused in the right places, enthusiasm can make wonderful things happen.

But enthusiasm is for nothing without a competent execution. To assess how well Awesomenauts does as a game, we have to understand what it is. Described as a MOBA (an acronym of Multi-player Online Battle Arena) Players are, at the beginning of each round split into two teams of three players and set against each other, battling it out to destroy opponents turrets (whilst defending their own) to gain control of the map and ultimately, overthrow the opposing team. The familiarity to players of PC games such as League of Legends or DOTA should be immediate. Indeed this is no mistake on Ronimos part, the intention is to bring that very experience over the console. Here, the tried and tested game formula has been tweaked, streamlined and wrapped in personality.

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Joe Danger : The Movie Preview

Joe Danger : The Movie feels great to play. No wait, scratch that. Joe Danger makes me feel great when I play it. Even stood amongst 60,000 jostling gamers at this years Gamescom I Immediately find myself swept up in its charm and I come away struck by the balance developers Hello Games have near perfected with their next downloadable title. Realise that in Joe Danger you might win some challenges, you’ll loose plenty too. But you’ll never feel like you’re failing.

Strip down the game to its core elements you’re presented with an arcade style racing game, where we are challenged with simply getting our protagonist Joe (seen above), safely from point A to point B on his chosen mode of transport, avoiding various obstacles as you go. Where that great feeling I mentioned comes from is the imagination and flamboyance Hello Games wraps that simple premise in.

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Custom Minecraft Vans by KyozoKicks.

Over time it has become a belief of mine that Minecraft, now an Indie game tsunami from Swedish outfit Mojang, has the power to manipulate the very fabric of time. What I conceive to be minutes of playtime in a world of cubes somehow turns out to be hours. On occasion I fail to perceive the change from day to night in the real world (or more worryingly, the opposite occurs).

Minecraft has no real narrative in place nor is one strictly necessary. It does however have a wild and popular a cast of characters which populate the world, to build your own story upon if you see fit.  A fan favourite among the cast, an online icon, The Creeper. The dead eyed, camouflaged, Kamikaze creature has become an unofficial mascot for the game. After only spending a short amount of time with Minecraft I knew I wanted to create a pair of shoes influenced by it. My experience, of running scared after late night run-ins meant I knew they had to be Creeper inspired.

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KyozoKicks in Official Playstation Magazine UK

The amusement and interest in my on going work here at KyozoKicks continues among the gaming press, this time in ever so permanent print. Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe made a comment some months ago on his excitement in reference to his new game appearing on the cover of a magazine and, even with people touting and end to traditional print media how novel it was to have something so tangible reference your work and effort and the pride that came with it. KyozoKicks didn’t quite make the front cover, but it might as well have.

A piece on KyozoKicks can be found in the June issue of The Official Playstation Magazine UK under the Culture section. Thank you to everyone at the magazine, especially Joel. Everyones enthusiasm, from tweets to magazine articles on KyozoKicks continues to be the best motivation I have ever found. More shoes inbound this month!

Custom Mirrors Edge Converse by KyozoKicks.

Conflict resolution in video games generally comes down to who has the bigger gun. Whether the game is a first person shooter like Call of Duty or a one on one brawler like Street Fighter you are tasked with physically dominating the opposition, to kill or be killed. That works very well in video games, neutralizing those characters we perceive to be a threat is an extremely gratifying experience. Where Mirrors Edge earned a special place with me is that when conflict arises our natural fight-or-flight response kicks in, even when playing a game. Here for the first time I was encouraged to run.

Okay, for the most part I was encouraged to run, the game stumbles often in its execution. At a few points during the game I am presented with, what feels uncharacteristic for our protagonist Faith, a weapon with which to dispatch the bad guys. The weapons feel like an after thought and only serves to intrude on the enjoyment that comes from stringing together a line of perfect free running.

So yes, Mirrors Edge is far from perfect but so are all my other favorite games. A sequel would have no doubt ironed out these flaws but with EA’s E3 press conference coming to a close for 2011 with no mention it might be time to let go of Mirrors Edge. What better way to do it then with custom Mirrors Edge Converse.

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Listen To : Top Score Podcast with Emily Reese

A mere four Podcasts in and I am completely enthralled with the bi-weekly Top Score Podcast by Emily Reese. Each episode Emily sits down with a different noted composer, such as Garry Schyman of Bioshock fame and Jason Graves who scored the recent Dead Space 2. The discussion can and often does veer off in a number of interesting and unexpected ways, from the inspiration to execution of the music. It has taken me awhile to come to understand just how important a role the score plays in the overall experience of a video game, Top Score Podcast certainly helps.

With understanding comes appreciation and the library of video game scores on my iPod is constantly expanding, from the Jazz, Swing and Big Band sounds of Peter McConnells Grim Fandango to the more recent, award-winning Bill Elm and Woody Jackson’s Red Dead Redemption.

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Custom Portal Converse by KyozoKicks.

Portal, the little game that could. As of writing the recently released sequel to the 2007 original sits atop the Amazon.com bestseller list across all available platforms. A week passed release and I think we can safely call this one a hit. Tracing the timeline of Portal up to this point is nothing short of remarkable. The idea for a game involving portals came from DigiPen students, who created the game Narbacular Drop before being ushered into the Valve family where, over the course of two years Portal was quietly crafted.

When the game was finally released it became part of ‘The Orange Box’, a collection of games from already well established Valve titles like Half Life and Team Fortress. Deemed an experiment by Valve, Portal quickly garnered an overwhelming positive reception from critics and fans alike. Soon it would become a stand alone release and spawn a full-fledged sequel. Fans of the series embraced all aspects of the game and as a result we have seen plush Companion Cubes, countless PC case mods, scale replicas of the Portal gun and now Custom Portal Converse.

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Sonic the Hedgehog Converse by KyozoKicks.

If there is one thing I can say about the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, it sure was a lot of fun. Which is something you can’t say about all games, even the ones you really like. The games we choose to play are always enjoyable, but fun is something different. Waking up on a Saturday morning circa 1992 however, I would forgo my early morning cartoons and celebrity endorsed breakfast cereal in favour of playing Sonic the Hedgehog, I only remember having fun.

Sonic is twenty years old this month. Two decades is a long time to be relevant and liked in anything, let alone video games. Sonic and his merry band of misfits are inductees into a nonexistent video game Hall of Fame, ostensibly to be forever enjoyed and admired. Being asked to do a pair of custom shoes based off of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, my second, on such a milestone I was happy to oblige.

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Super Mario Bros. : The Independent Film

Hey, the name’s Mario. I’m your main man, your ram-a-dame, your can of spam…

- Mario, Super Mario Brothers : The Movie (1993)

Video game to movie adaptations are a big, easy targets to be negative about. Whether the stories present within video games just don’t translate that well to film or we haven’t figure out how to competently do it yet is up for debate. Before anyone dismiss’ another Resident Evil film or the impeding doom that is David O Russell’s Uncharted : Drake’s Fortune adaptation, they need to sit down and watch the 1993 released Super Mario Brothers : The Movie and realise the only way is up.

During the SXSW festival, held each year in Austin, Texas, mini films or ‘bumpers’ precede the feature film. Lasting only a couple of minutes Director Joe Nicolosi takes a skewed look into the Super Mario Brothers universe with both humor, fan loyalty and a sense of self-awareness at the clichés found in todays Indie Films.

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