October 2010 » Nectarine NZ

Five Men Standing – the official game of Rugby World Cup 2011

Oct 152010

We've been very busy inventing, designing and otherwise beavering away at a new game, and we're very excited about it! It's called Five Men Standing, and it's the official game of Rugby World Cup 2011. Roll on Rugby madness- New Zealand is going to be a vibrant, pulsing party-land next year!

This game is a big step for us, because it's a true 50/50 collaboration with IQ Ideas- we're co-inventors and are contributing half the manufacturing and licensing costs. It's quite a commitment, but we know we've created, a fun, frantic game that also looks amazing, so we believe it'll do very well and has the potential to be huge.

I'll post more details once I've finished creating the official website, but here's a teaser shot of the box front and back to get rugby fans salivating!

** UPDATE ** : There's been demand for the site, so even though I have plans to put much more content online, you can visit what's there now at fivemenstanding.com ; in particular, the How To Play animation seems quite popular!

Dressage Wairarapa website

Website Portfolio

Oct 152010

The Dressage Wairarapa site provides a central point for information about the Wairarapa and Solway Dressage clubs, with details and entry forms for their upcoming events, online newsletters and a subscription service so riders can stay up to date with the latest equestrian events in their area.

Dressage Wairarapa website

This WordPress-based site allows the organisers to update the site themselves, providing results for previous shows, adding news articles and uploading details of new events. Bek designed a clean, crisp site with straightforward navigation, and both groups are very happy with the result!

View the site at www.dressagewairarapa.com .

The Art of District 9

News

Oct 112010

Last Friday I headed down to Wellington's Embassy theatre for the launch of Weta Workshop's "The Art Of District 9" book.

The book is gorgeous: packed to the gills with sumptuous images, including work by Christian Pearce, whose illustration also features on the cover of our upcoming Five Men Standing rugby boardgame!

It's fabulous that they included a lot of development work that never ended up on the screen. You really get to see the creative process through all its twists and turns, from sketches to artwork to working prototypes and functioning final items.

Yummy Weta goodness!

If you're a sci-fi fan, a Weta fan, or just love to get a look behind the scenes of moviemaking, I highly recommend you grab a copy.

The event was also a lovely chance to meet and chat with Weta folk, like author Daniel Falconer, artist Greg Broadmore, and amazing graphic designer Leri Greer. I spent some time nurturing my inner geek by blathering on to them, and then sorted my outer geek by playing with some of the weaponry they had on display:

[FLOWPLAYER=http://www.nectarine.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/1_Minty_district9.f4v,480,360]

Then it was on to a screening of the film, introduced by Richard Taylor and prefaced by development stories from Daniel, Greg, David Meng and Leri. It's been a few months since I last saw District 9, but it reminded me again why I rank it up there with my sci-fi favourites Blade Runner and Gattaca. Astonishing!

Hovercrafts and Carterton

News

Oct 112010

Our lovely new office on the first floor of our house offers gorgeous views of the Tararuas, but it also overlooks the huge Carrington Park that lies out our back door.

Over the years, we've seen some wonderful things in the park: performers practising their running backflips in amongst the llamas when the circus is in town, all sorts of sports, hundreds of kids going mad when What Now came to town, a helicopter landing during floods, and hot air balloons floating overhead on crystal clear mornings.

But despite all of that, I hadn't really figured I'd look out one day to see a hovercraft.

Carterton. It's a funny wee place.

What's that, down on the ground?

Ah, of course. A hovercraft.

Looks like fun! I was tempted to push one of the kids out and jump in...

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