first social of 2010 is… Thursday Feb 11th***

To the distinguished membership of the Hand Eye Society: apologies for this double-post (reason: it’s complicated), please note that the corrected date for this event is Thursday, February 11th 2010. ***

For the fifth Hand Eye Society Social, the first of 2010, we are preparing a brief audiovisual presentation intended to thrill & amuse. Hosted by Mr. Nathan Vella of Toronto’s own Capy, a studio that has recently released a couple of thingamjigs for Sony & Nintendo’s machines, the presentation will include glimpses at two types of blinking lights offered by two dudes with beards:

Firstly, Mr. Kris Piotrowski, born in Poland & raised in Cuban Missile Ssauga, a former Ryerson film student and currently creative director at one of them independent videogame studios located here in Toronto, will be presenting for the first time a (hopefully) crazybananas Wiiware project called ‘Heartbeat’, while attempting to explain some learnings from its roundabout design process.

Secondly, Mr. Craig D. Adams, born on Canada’s west coast & living in Toronto since the turn of this 21st century, will be presenting a three-way collaborative project named ‘Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP’, described as a brave experiment in I/O cinema for Apple’s touchtronic machines featuring 1) the remarkable pixel artwork of Superbrothers, an ambiguously pluralized & irritatingly cryptic art & design organization known for the occasional published pixel illustration & a few DIY videogame efforts at ToJam & with the AGI plus 2) the soulful soundz of Toronto’s Jim Guthrie, the Juno nominated recording artist known for using a PSone as a drum machine & sequencer to make marvelous music 3) the engineering capabilities & videogame design prowess of the fine & noble folks at Capy.

These two projects, still deep in development and up until now all but unseen, will be making what is effectively their world premiere at this free presentation and social event at Unit Bar on Queen West in Toronto on February 11th. Doors will open & beers will be available from 19:00 EST and the half-hour presentation itself will begin at 20:00 EST (otherwise known as eight o’clock in the evening).

Afterwards the entire Heartbeat & S:S&S EP teams, including Mr.Jim Guthrie, will be on-hand for chit-chat, poutine or what-have-you.

*** It has been reported by members of the Hand Eye Society that, due to a rare bug with Safari, Mozilla & all internet browsers other than Netscape Explorer v1.7, the date of the next social was incorrectly displayed in a recently published post & in the promotional images on handeyesociety.com & everywhere else on the internet too.

The correct date for the next social is in fact Thursday February 11th 2010. For real. The 11th. ELEVEN. TEN PLUS ONE. (NOT THE FOURTH). We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this confusion may have caused.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is GO!

Hello to the lovely people of the Hand Eye Society,

It’s time for an announcement: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is GO!

So what is it?

Whelp, it’s a collaborative art/music/videogame project from Superbrothers, Jim Guthrie & Capy that could only happen here in Toronto. Beyond that it’s a little tricky to describe right now, except to say that it’s headed towards Apple’s kickass handheld machine thing at some point. It’s also worth noting that it already it owes a whole heckuva lot to the ladies & gentlemen that have pioneered Toronto’s thriving DIY videogame culture.

Anyways, here’s a ‘first look’ to whet the appetite: swordandsworcery.com

Plus here’s a little project info & some pixel artwork: http://www.swordandsworcery.com/project

We’re still just getting warmed up, but already things are looking/sounding/feeling nice, so we’ll see where things go from here!

* * *

If you’d like to follow the project as it emerges blinking into the light in the coming weeks & months, you have a few options:

-’instantaneous micro-bulletins’ via @the1console & the S:S&S EP team’s twitters.

-occasional ‘teletex bulletins’ via the superbrothers email list.

Also:

-hang out at capybaragames.com, creators of rad videogames like the just released Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes DS & Critter Crunch PSN.

-hang out here at the Hand Eye Society, if anything super significant happens we’ll try and make a little noise.

* * *

If you’re local and you’re press and you’d like to know a little more about what’s going on, maybe get in touch with any of these fine people and say hello: craig@superbrothers.ca, nathan.v@capybaragames.com, kris.p@capybaragames.com.

* * *

Did you know that all three SUPERBROTHERS films are online at vimeo right now?

* * *

We’re hoping to ping a few of the Hand Eye folks (you know who you are!) about the possibility of a little hands-on time with S:S&S in the next few weeks, so yeah – we’ll be in touch!

superbrothers + jim guthrie + capy

PRAISE BE to the ladies & gentlemen of the Hand Eye Society, particularly the visionary organization’s founders, for creating a context wherein the creation of videogames, DIY & otherwise, is understood to be cool & worthwhile.

The society, its socials & its related initiatives (the jam, the incubator, the society’s public presence at cultural festivals) have fostered the growth of a tightly-knit community of like-minded souls, creating what is commonly referred to as a ‘consensus reality’ that enables friendly, exciting creative collaborations like the following:

SUPERBROTHERS + JIM GUTHRIE + CAPY = MIRACLES?

Notes: Additional details of the above collaboration will be forthcoming in early December. Should you wish to remain in the loop you might consider joining the superbrothers email list or following @the1console and/or @krispiotrowski.

* * *

That aside, hope to see fellow society members at Mark Rabo’s eagerly anticipated retro arcade event this Saturday at the Ossington Hotel, or at next week’s equally awesome sounding Hand Eye Society social # 5 : The World Premiere of Something Cool.

Beers!

I COME TO BURY ENSEMBLE STUDIOS, NOT TO PRAISE THEM

I’ve cooked up a steaming pile of rant that I’m going to deposit on THE 1 CONSOLE one of these days, but I thought it might be wise to get a reality check from the Hand Eye Society braintrust. Waddayathink?

edit: Took the rant down to re-tool. In the meantime, feel free to stop by THE 1 CONSOLE for DESIGN REBOOT HD.

http://www.superbrothers.ca/the1console.html

lunatics INVITE!

. . .

l u n a t i c s  INVITE!

1. Are you a videogame creator and/or enthusiast who finds the above picture appealing?

2. Do you have a PS3 & idle time on a Wednesdays from 930pm until 1030pm EST?

3. Do you have moderate skill with videogames & the ability to focus?

If yes, then perhaps you would be interested in participating in this: 

> > > http://www.superbrothers.ca/motorstorm.html

SUPERBROTHERS & THE 1 CONSOLE presents The Motorstorm Syndicate, an online play session that occurs each Monday evening in the spectacular & immensely satisfying videogame Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.

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