Philly-based composer and vocalist Matt Campana is currently in a contest to have his work featured in the next Assassin’s Creed.

Matt’s work with music stretches back nearly a decade, starting with private music lessons. In recent years he’s acquired some additional skills and knowledge through Drexel University’s Music Technology and Berklee College of Music’s Composition and Game Audio programs.

He’s created quality music and audio assets for film, TV and video games. Some of his past work includes arrangement for Video Games Live. In an effort to run with that idea, he’s now looking to get his work included in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

Let’s help a fellow Philadelphian and geek out by casting our vote on UJAM. It’s simple, just head here and click the Facebook “like” button. At the time of writing this, he’s number 9. After the voting ends, the top 20 will be reviewed by Hans Zimmer (top Hollywood and video game composer) himself.

Vote now. It ends tonight at 11:59pm

For more info about Matt and his work, visit his website:
www.MattCampana.net

Let’s get this out of the way right now. Warhammer 40k: Space Marine is the biggest gaming surprise of the Summer. In fact, it might be the biggest game-related surprise I’ve ever had. When THQ emailed me about the title, I shrugged it off as shovelware… but wow, it’s as though Gears of War and Darksiders fell in love and had a beautiful baby clothed in an ostentatious suit of armor… wait, wait. Space armor.

Switching on this game, there is no opening cinematic, just a brief blip about something going wrong on some random planet. Right away, you’re thrust into a world full of questions. Why are there Orcs in space? Why do other soldiers treat your character like he’s a deity of some kind? Why do the Orcs (who are in space) have cockney accents? What’s with the floating skulls scanning dead people and emblazoned on every single door? What are these Titan war machines, and why do citizens refer to them as The Machine Gods?

All these questions and more are raised, but never answered. And you know what? It doesn’t matter. Because you’re too busy having fun to give a damn. All hail the Emperor, whoever the hell he is. (more…)

Mobad Media and Arcana Studios have partnered to produce The Gwaii, a 3-D comic (no glasses needed) book for the iPad. Geekadelphia was given the chance to check out the 1st issue and we have the skinny on this innovative piece of media.

While The Gwaii is decidedly family and child oriented, the story is original enough to make for an interesting read to a comic fan like myself. Written by Arcana co-founder Sean Reilly and illustrated by Pedro Del Gado, The Gwaii centers around Tanu, a sasquatch in the Canadian wilderness that loses his mother to hunters turned kidnappers of this rare animal. Tanu teams up with fellow sasquatch Jaada and the adventure begins.

This iPad app is extremely easy to use and perfect for sharing with the young geek in your life. There are great options for kids like having the story narrated to them (it also highlights the words as they’re being read in this mode to assist in learning) and toggling back and forth between dialogues as they appear on the page. While it hearkens a bit to the motion comic movement, the “no glasses required” 3-D was pretty effective and looked vibrant on the iPad.

Gwaii part one is available right now at the iTunes store with 2 more issues on the way. You can download your copy right here.

Or better yet, why don’t you leave us a comment below for a chance to win a free download of The Gwaii? Just tell us which nomenclature you prefer: sasquatch, bigfoot or yeti?

Cipher Prime, the makers of the hit iPad game Pulse, have reason to celebrate. Their title has been sitting in the App Store’s top 10 list for iPad music games for 12 straight weeks. That’s a serious accomplishment for the mini indie game dev studio, located here in Old City, Philadelphia.

So, in honor of this accomplishment, they’re running a one-week only sale on their game.

Now through Wednesday, Cipher Prime has reduced the price of Pulse to $1.99 (60% savings over the regular $4.99 price). If you already own the game, great… now go tell your friends.

Transformers: War for Cybertron was, hands down, the biggest surprise in gaming for me last year. Despite all the hype surrounding the title, I had serious doubts. Blogs, print magazines, Twitter… everyone was fussing over this title, and I didn’t want to hear any of it. I mean, come on, have you played any of the other Transformers titles? Transformers: The Game or Revenge of the Fallen? Of course you haven’t, why would you do that to yourself?

However, with Gears of War-esque, third-person-shooter style gameplay, an intriguing canon-approved storyline, fluid controls and surprisingly good voice acting, High Moon Studios did the impossible… they redeemed the Transformers franchise in the world of gaming. And now, one year later, they’ve released Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a tie-in to the likely terrible (I’ve yet to see it, and probably won’t) film.

There’s a rule when it comes to most movie-game tie-ins… and that’s that the game is always disappointing. Not entirely so with this one. High Moon’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon isn’t a terrible game. In fact, I’d say its a rather great one. Unfortunately, the game is so short and lacking in features, that its hard to justify the high price tag. (more…)

As everyone knows, we are in the middle of one of the worst recessions in history right now. Jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate and most businesses are trying to figure out how to cope. One of the few fields that has seen only a minor bump has been the video game industry. For the most part sales have remained strong and developers are still hiring game designers and artists to work on their next big project.

That is why it is so important (and cool) that Pennsylvania Senator Daylin Leach has introduced a video game tax credit bill in the Senate. If passed, it would create a 25% tax credit for video game companies that are based right here in PA and it would be an important first step toward bringing new jobs and video game developers to the city of Philadelphia. Plus it would be a great help to allow game existing studios already in Philly to expand and grow.

So how can you help this become a reality? First, spread the word. For this to work it has to go beyond just the geek culture and enter the mainstream. Second, contact the representative for your area and let them know you want this bill passed. You can find out how to accomplish this here.

This will go a long way toward making this a reality and making Philly the next “it” place to develop and create video games. Wouldn’t it be awesome to say that the next Halo or Gears of War was made right here in Philadelphia?

VGI Philadelphia
www.vgiphilly.com

It’s the classic nerdy tale: Young boy navigates a dungeon with nothing more than his wits, a sword and shield to save his kingdom from miscellaneous evil monsters and their ilk. In fact, Sword of Fargoal originally released on the Commodore 64 in 1982. Thankfully, Chillingo (you know, the Angry Birds publisher?) and a group of game designers led by Jeff McCord, the creator of the original, released a much-updated version for Macs and iPads everywhere.

While I’m about five years too young to have played the classic rogue-like back in the day, Sword of Fargoal Legends embodies the age-old nerds’ dream of dungeon crawling, stealing an ancient weapon and saving the kingdom from an onslaught of evil. If only real life were this cut and dry. (more…)

Beatrice King, a young Canadian actress with multiple film and TV credits – including appearances on “Supernatural”, “Psych”, and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” – takes a big step forward with the role of Queen Sindel in the Mortal Kombat : Legacy webseries. We got to interview her about that, her upcoming movie with Joseph-Gordon Levitt, and her not-so-secret-love of Yoda.

You’re currently in the new webseries, Mortal Kombat: Legacy – which has been doing phenomenally well. Did you spend more time preparing for your character with martial arts training, or playing the games on Xbox?

Haha! When I did do part of my research on the role, I found that this particular director has a very different vision in mind, so I went back to the script to understand the setup of these characters – as I was a Queen, it was very important to show this regal quality about her, and that sense of duty. That’s what I focused on in terms of the character.

Each episode’s focuses on a new set of characters, introduces the new main characters, and keeps everybody guessing on what’s going to happen next. They’re all intertwined in some way.

Can you tell us about some of the fight scenes? Do you have any background in martial arts?

I actually auditioned for one of the Twins [Mileena and Kitana] first, and I do have a background in kickboxing. I was looking forward to that, but my character does not have a fight scene. There are many fight scenes in my episode.

But you aren’t in any of them? Do you get a little jealous, and think, “I should be doing that! I should be kicking people! Possibly in the head… maybe in the face.”

Absolutely!

(more…)

Friday night, Lebowski Fest Philadelphia took over the Theater of the Living Arts on South Street, bringing with it a number of costumed fans, a fantastic movie screening, and a visit from Philly’s own chiptune sensation, Chipocrite.

Our man Chipocrite tore it up with an 8-bit remixed Big Lebowski soundtrack, complete with fantastic 8-bit visuals that includes pixelated Jeff Bridges, his rug, and Autobahn. It was a show enjoyed by all, save for a handful of drunken belligerent idiots who heckled from the back of the venue, and we’ve got a handful of photos of the show… and a video!

Check ‘em out after the jump.

Oh, and thanks to Jo, Fatboymonster, and Daniel for the photos and footage. Enjoy, and be sure to check out Chipocrite’s music on his official website.

(more…)

Dust off that old Gameboy because it is time to make some music. Chiptune is an up and coming music genre that repurposes all that old video game hardware you have cluttering up your attic. Take all those nostalgic sounds from your childhood and rock the black rimmed glasses off of the masses.

There is a gathering of chiptune musicians every month in West Philadelphia. Studio 34 is a yoga studio by day, but one night a month it strains to contain the 8-bit madness of 8Static, a gathering of local and touring chip musicians.

(more…)

On Saturday, May 21st, over 75 game developers will gather at the University of the Arts to hold the first annual GameLoop Philly, hosted at the Corzo Center. Held annually, GameLoop is a one-day game industry unconference — a self-organizing conference — that originated in Boston in 2008. Think BarCamp (or CampCamp!) but focused specifically on the industry of games.

“Over the past two years, Philadelphia developers have traveled to Boston to attend the original GameLoop,” said Tristin Hightower, one of the Philadelphia event organizers. “After attending in 2010, we decided Philadelphia needed to do one of its own.”

The unconference, sponsored by Comcast Interactive Media (CIM), will be from 9-6 and will host up to 20 sessions. While most registered attendees are from the Greater Philadelphia area, developers from Baltimore, New Jersey, New York, and Boston are also coming in for the inaugural event.

Post- event, attendees are invited to head over to National Mechanics for a Chiptune Happy Hour with special guests Animal Style, X-Hunters, and Dain Saint.

Want to learn more? Sure you do. Visit GameLoop Philly’s official website for details.

GameLoop Philly
Saturday, May 21st, 2011
www.gameloopphilly.com

Interesting in getting Comcast? Get Comcast from USDigitalCable.com

This past weekend was the TooManyGames convention, held this year at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA.

If people didn’t get their fill of video games this weekend, then they clearly did not try hard enough.

We had the pleasure of hitting up the Expo on Friday evening when the event was kicking off, right when they were about to host a screening of “The Wizard.”

(more…)