dave

14 Jan 2015

Metrico is a platformer on PS Vita by Digital Dreams that uses inforgraphics as the environment. It is interesting because it combines games and data visualization into a single piece. However, I felt the project missed a great opportunity. Sure it uses the aesthetics of visualization, but there are no actual underlying data behind anything. Numbers and bars are arbitrary and just exist to serve the gameplay. It reminds me a flash game where one can surf on stock market slopes, and its art style is similar to Monumental Valley. Finally, I have rants against this game only being on PS Vita, meaning it will not be accessible to many people, like me.

 

Stanley Piano is made by Digital Kitchen. It takes in song requests via Twitter and plays them. I really enjoyed the video presentation of the project, however the actual performance part is a bit short. I also enjoyed that social media aspect, which allows people to have their own personal musician who plays their requests. It is very similar to self playing pianos that have existed for a long time now, but because of Stanley Piano’s interactive aspect, it feels a lot less mechanical than those. Also, because its insides can be easily viewed, it also feels less creepy than those self playing pianos.