Lets get away from E3 for a bit to watch something that wasn’t made by a big company, no multi-million dollar budget, hell its not even exactly legal. This is Mega Man 2.5, a homebrew game in development by Peter Sjostrand. The game, much like Paper Mario, gives a 3D twist to a 2D word. Based mainly on Mega Man 2 with a co-op mode based on Mega Man 3. This is the kind of project that shows the talent of rogue homebrew developers, too bad most of them don’t survive a Cease and Desist from the original company.

Capcom, give this guy a job, I’d pay for this.

[Peter Sjostrand / Via Offworld]

Famed indie game creators Cactus and Messhof showed their latest creation this past Tuesday. Its a 3D racing game with two player mode in split screen as well as online. It was a very retro feel to it but looks very dynamic and fun, it also has enough flashing colors to cause you some severe seizures. Its like that old Pokemon anime episode they banned but 100X more extreme. They dont have a name for the game yet but I’m putting in my vote for EPILEPSIA or something witty like that, it would probably also serve as a legal disclaimer in case of any  lawsuits.

[Messhof / Via IndieGames]

Tired of watching variations of the same plots in anime this season? Well there’s still hope for the world. Anime Innovation Tokyo is a company that helps independent studios bring their creations to fruition. Their mission statement talks about inventing new expressions and breathtaking stories and frankly its quite inspiring but in fewer words they want to save us from the ever increasing batches of cookie-cutter anime out there.

They select their projects based on something very similar to a contest, currently they’ve got about 4 film projects being made. A trailer for, whats probably going to be their first released movie, Cencoroll is already out and we have it here for you. The website says this about Cencoroll “A sudden advent of an enigmatic creature pushes the world and our young heroine,YUKI, into the realm of surreal.” Ah, yes, thats right up my alley!

[Anime Innovation Tokyo]

Game designer and brainstormer par excellence Patrick Curry (not the fitness expert Patrick Curry who’s on the left) who we’ve covered once and again has at last finished his 52 game ideas project. For those unaware of it, Patrick, a Midway designer, set out to produce a new game concept for each week of 2006. Some of the ideas were small and quirky while others inspired a sea of opportunities.

I’m still pretty fond of Patrick’s Loup-Garou concept where you play as a werewolf. And before you scream Zelda go read his concept, actually go read all of them, they make for good game design reading. Congratulations Patrick, now go and finish Stranglehold!

[Thoughts on Game Design]

Indie game makers are a strange breed, they feed on carcasses and hopes and rainbows and candy flows from their rectum. But besides being a biological mystery they also make some sweet games, like this 2D adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time by Daniel Barras. While still a demo, the game shows much promise. The conversion to 2D is very detailed, and frankly seeing the A Link to the Past style makes me happy. :)

[Lunatic Gaming / Via DigitalBattle]