Fantastic Arcade: Day Four Reflections, Gallery

A Grand Prize in TexasJesus vs Dinosaurs.

Seriously, find a friend and play it.

Fantastic Arcade when out not with a bang, but with a boot. A boot full of Shiner. Welcome to Austin, Texas. I personally went hands on a bit more with Payday the Heists, played a little more Pixel Junk Pilot, and Jesus vs Dinosaurs (seriously, it's stupid-crazy fun). We got a little four-piece Owlboy orchestra going. I'll share some thoughts later on Deep Sea, probably one of the most creepy experiences in gaming most of us will never experience (sadly) because I'm not sure there's a way to get this one out into the market.

Meantime, here's a rundown of the (absolutely silly) Fantastic Arcade Award winners:

• Best in Show: Faraway by Little--Eyes
• Audience Choice Award: Fez by Polytron 
• Most Punished for Lack of Ninjas Award: Radical Fishing by Vlambeer
• The Bionic Commando Award for Grappling Hook Excellence Award: Capsized by AlienTrap 
• The "You got 2D in my 3D, or maybe 3D in my 2D" Award: Fez by Polytron
• The Mandlebrot Award: Fract by Phosfiend Systems 
• The Most Recent Use of Japanese Tradition by Westerners Award: Skulls of the Shogun by Haunted Temple Studios
• The Implied Cephalopod Intercourse Award: Octodad by Team Octodad 
• The Teach the Controversy Award: Jesus vs. Dinosaurs by Martin Jonasson, Petri Purho

Fantastic Arcade: Day One Reflections, Gallery

Fantastic Fest is off and running in full force which means the second annual Fantastic Arcade. While last year's video game showing had a very hefty dose of Microsoft next to all of the featured indie, this year the competition has taken center stage. The result is a lot of Playstation Move on public display. More important, a really exciting slate on indie games on tap for the future. I'll keep people posted on when my takes on already critically acclaimed Journey, rhythm-action excuse to break out the old Rock Band controller Retrograde, innovative Lost in Shadow meets Gettin Up platformer Sideway, and the Team Ico-quese (and I don't use that comparison remotely lightly) adventure-puzzler Papo Y Yo on PSNFans.  

Also expect some coverage for XBLAFans looking at Skulls of the Shogun amongst other games I get some hands-on and developer interview time with over the course of tonight and the next two days. In the meantime, here's a look at some of the sights from last night including Sony's feature PS3 and PSN games, the indie featured games, and the Starhawk tournament.

Update: Back Online

After a few weeks of being down, the blog is back online. Still in flurry of other things going on going to have to take some time to get things back going, but will in the week get into posting some links to certain things from Fantastic Arcade and GDC Online as well as some pictures. Also may get the audio of a few of the interviews up soon.

Meantime everyone has been well for everyone else.