(Credit:
EA)
Boom Blox is the first game to result in the collaboration between filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts. When we first got a look at the title back in February, we were impressed with the game's accurate rendering of real-time physics and unique gameplay. Now that we've had a few days to explore the final retail version of the game, we're proud to say that we're officially hooked.
The game has you use your Wii remote in a variety of game modes that involve everything from careful blox removal (essentially virtual Jenga), to smashing blox with a variety of different projectiles. Each mode has an "adventure" campaign you can play through, each level more challenging than the last. The game presents a list of goals in which you are awarded gold, silver, or bronze depending on your efficiency. All the levels vary and are quite satisfying and addictive--you'll even find yourself retrying them to reach a gold medal. There are close to 400 puzzles, so forget about blowing through the game in a weekend.
Boom Blox is certainly a technical achievement as its physics, while somewhat floaty, are dead on. Much effort has gone into the realism-factor, guaranteeing you'll never see a level play out the same way twice. But perhaps what is most attractive about Boom Blox is ... Read more
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'Boom Blox,' Electronic Arts' first game under its partnership with Steven Spielberg, launched Tuesday. It is a casual, level-based puzzle game.
(Credit: Electronic Arts)
The box cover for 'Boom Blox.'
(Credit: Electronic Arts)Electronic Arts on Tuesday officially launched Boom Blox, the long-awaited first game under its partnership with Steven Spielberg. It is now available in North America, and EA plans to have it on shelves in Europe on May 8, in Asia on May 13, and in Japan on May 22.
The first details about the game, which is from EA's casual games unit, were released in February. Now, the game, which will be available only on Nintendo's Wii and on major carriers' mobile phones, is out and the world can finally see what happens when you put someone like Spielberg together with top-level game designers at a company like EA.
Boom Blox will task players with navigating nearly 400 levels of "strategic destruction."
In addition, players will be able to use the game's editor to craft their own levels. The best part of this sounds like it will be the way the editor lets players take existing levels and elements from the game--props, characters, blocks, etc.--and incorporate them into all-new levels.
... Read more
Bloxes cardboard cut outs can form walls, furniture and more.
(Credit: Bloxes)A start-up launched on Friday aims to make furnishing an office as simple as assembling a cardboard box.
Bloxes are the latest option in cardboard furniture (see photo gallery), which is gaining a toehold in the world of 'green' design. The corrugated cardboard puzzle pieces lock together to form sturdy shapes such as chairs, walls, and play forts.
Bloxes founder Aza Raskin turned to his childhood for the idea, toyed with as an art project by his father Jef Raskin, known as the "father" of the Macintosh computer.
The junior Raskin is using Bloxes to furnish the lofted Chicago office of digital design firm Humanized, where he is president (Mozilla hired Raskin and Humanized co-founders in January to work on Firefox and other projects.)
With a little help, Bloxes are strong enough to drive over, said founder Aza Raskin.
(Credit: Bloxes)"You could go out and get yourself a set of cubicles and it'll be boring," Raskin said. But Bloxes, on the other hand, enable creativity on a whim. "It's pretty amazing to see when we need a desk or a workspace, we can build it in 10 minutes."
The interlocking forms are so strong that a car safely drove over a large form capped by plywood, Raskin said. Plus, the 'green,' recyclable building blocks can be packed flat for easy and inexpensive shipping.
Bloxes aren't ideal for outdoors use, although someone could probably coat them in waterproofing material, he said. However, similar shapes in plastic or another water-resistant material could work outside, Raskin added.
The 6-sided, 9.5 inch-square shapes are designed with CAD software and made in Chicago. Bloxes sells each case of 20 brown or white squares for $60, enough to build a form 36 inches by 45 inches.
With swift hands, Bloxes furniture could be assembled in 10 minutes.
(Credit: Bloxes)The headquarters of Humanized features Bloxes workspaces as well as a virtual roman aquaduct, which help to absorb sound from a noisy heating and air conditioning system. Two other Chicago offices are using Bloxes, including news Web site Gapers Block. Raskin envisions Bloxes, which can be drawn or painted on, in kindergarten classrooms and college dormitories.
He sees an overlap between the worlds of sustainability and software. The Web 2.0 movement is refocusing people on design while offering highly customizable do-it-yourself tools for tinkerers, Raskin said.
"I guess you could say Bloxes are a physical representation of Web 2.0."
(Via TechCrunch)
(Credit:
EA)
EA was showing off its slate of upcoming releases to NY-based press last night. In addition to a peek at Spore, we were treated to a one on one with the Steven Spielberg and EA collaboration known as Boom Blox.
The game is primarily a puzzle-based physics simulator in which you partake in a variety of "blox" maneuvering modes. We learned how to play the game in a stage where you throw a baseball at different pieces, relying on real-world physics to knock over and blow up blox while accomplishing goals. While most of our time was spent understanding the basic fundamentals of the game, we learned that the original concept spawned mostly from Spielberg.
His idea was centered on the fact that children love to use building blocks to construct large structures, only destroy them. Boom Blox is essentially this but without the mess. The game is definitely the most physics-intense experience we've seen on the Wii. It looks a lot more accurate and complex than games that have tried to tackle physics simulation before, such as Elebits. Boom Blox may have a cartoony style, but its effects are much more in the vein of technical achievements, such as Crysis.
In the different gameplay modes in Boom Blox, we were able to try out a Jenga-like mission in which we had to carefully remove a number of pieces from a large construction, making certain not to harm the little cow creatures balancing at the top. ... Read more
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