Limited to only 150 prints (Free Worldwide Shipping) purchase of the Naughty Dog anniversary T-shirt enters you into the draw to win the one off, custom Uncharted : Drake’s Deception Nike Dunks. The draw will take place on the 03/20/2012. If you are the winner you will receive the shoes along with your T-Shirt.

You can buy the T-shirt from the KyozoKicks store HERE. 

Designed by KyozoKicks to celebrate one of, if not the, finest 3 consecutive game franchises released by a single developer. Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter and most recently, the adventures of Nathan Drake in Uncharted. I have played and loved each game (a timeline of games which now spans over 15 years).

Your purchase of the T-Shirt not only supports KyozoKicks but also grants you access to a draw where the winner will receive the custom Uncharted : Drake’s Deception Nike Dunks with their order completely free. The Uncharted Dunks are a one off piece created for this draw and will not be available again at any point. If you purchase more than one T-Shirt (two for example) your name will go into the draw twice, doubling your chances of winning. At only 150 T-shirts your odds are pretty good!

My intention is for this to be a quality product with care and consideration being put into each step. The T-shirts themselves are 100% preshrunk cotton with the screen printing itself being handled by the artisans at Mission Print who have almost two decades in the business.

I hope you all enjoy the T-shirt! To one lucky purchaser, take care of the shoes for me.

Check back next month for another T-Shirt, custom Nike dunk combo.

Click here if you would like to own these custom Uncharted Nike Dunks. 

What praise can be put upon Naughty Dog and the Uncharted franchise that we haven’t heard before. Almost universally praised by fans and the media as well as dozens of industry awards (including 4 BAFTA awards for Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves). What I won’t hesitate to say is that I’m really happy these guys are in the business of making games. I don’t say that flippantly, as a fan of Naughty Dog since Crash Bandicoot and of hearing Richard Lemarchand (one of the lead designers on the last 2 Uncharted games) discuss Naughty Dogs approach to what video games are and what they could be at last years GameCity festival, I truly believe nobody else could have made Uncharted but Naughty Dog. Naughty Dog appear to march to a different beat creatively, as their own Neil Druckmann put it, they’re out to “Change the f***king industry”.

Whilst Uncharted might seem wildly different to the Naughty Dog games which preceded it, upon closer inspection you begin to see the sparks of inspiration in the early games that would come to shine in Uncharted : Drake’s Deception. Moments such as the dynamic shifts in perspective during the Crash Bandicoot games are still a signature of the Naughty Dogs, now instead of a more convenient angle at which to collect apples the players perspective is switched to add emphasis to jumps and vistas. The genuine bond and friendship between Nathan Drake and Sully builds upon what they were doing with the relationship of Jak and Daxter  2001, their games are undoubtably better today because of the games that came before it.

Naughty Dog then are building on a good thing. Since the start of KyozoKicks in 2009 I have been patiently waiting to do an Uncharted piece and I hope you enjoy it. inspired by Uncharted : Drakes Deception, the separate panels of the shoe depict various pages from the journal Drake carries with him throughout the adventure. The aged and weathered brown leather that covers the rest of the shoe mirrors the gun holster that drake has worn throughout each game. The rear of the shoes carries the horsehoe design found on his beltbuckle.

Come back next month for another custom pair of Nike Dunks based off of some of our favorite video games. A clue for next month?  Well, call your mama in the room and show her how great you are! 

But enthusiasm is for nothing without a competent execution. To assess how well Awesomenauts does as a game, we have to understand what it is. Described as a MOBA (an acronym of Multi-player Online Battle Arena) Players are, at the beginning of each round split into two teams of three players and set against each other, battling it out to destroy opponents turrets (whilst defending their own) to gain control of the map and ultimately, overthrow the opposing team. The familiarity to players of PC games such as League of Legends or DOTA should be immediate. Indeed this is no mistake on Ronimos part, the intention is to bring that very experience over the console. Here, the tried and tested game formula has been tweaked, streamlined and wrapped in personality.

Visually, the game appears to be a direct descendant of the 16-bit SEGA Mega-drive/Genesis games of my youth. The way it plays and feels is immediately familiar, the 2D Saturday morning cartoon visuals, the humor, even the 8 way shooting mechanic sparks feelings of nostalgia. A feeling that I can’t quite grasp until I hear Robin Meijer, Awesomenauts Producer on hand at Eurogamer Expo, mention Earthworm Jim and like that it all clicks. As far as inspiration goes, I know these guys are looking in all the right places

Awesomenauts wants desperately to engage you, constantly. From the moment you decide to begin playing there is little opportunity to so much as look away from the screen. The usual lobby system has all but been removed, instead if other players cannot be found at the moment you start playing, the level will be populated with AI players. An online drop in, drop out system is then employed, replacing the AI characters with human counterparts when they become available. At the beginning of each new round all players experience points are reset to level one (a departure from the usual ongoing level up mechanic console players are use to in games such as Call of Duty or Red Dead Redemption). Currency, or in this case ‘Solar’, is gained through your actions during the battle which, in turn, can then be used mid-game to upgrade your avatar along an entire tree of upgrades. In one game you might increase your move list, in another depending on how the game is playing out, you may want to increase your overall health or the damage you dish out with each attack. Things are kept interesting and at the end of the match your characters strengths and weaknesses may be the complete reverse of how you decided to upgrade that same character during the previous match. The re-spawn screen has also quietly been done away with, the short wait time between you meeting your demise and reentering the battle becomes a mini game of sorts, to collect more solar, to spend in game, to upgrade your character. Engaging you, constantly.

Awesomenauts ace in the sleeve is undoubtably its social or cooprative appeal. Get yourself and two friends together on a sofa and you have a full team ready to go. With the screen split into four (the HUD elements are moved to the forth, bank square for easier viewing) Awesomenauts then takes your team online to blend together both local and online gaming. With multiple characters to choose from, each with very different abilities and benefits, real strategy can be implemented. Because you are playing actual players online rather than AI opponents the challenge of each game will differ in how you work as a team. I expect the experience of a group of friends playing this game together, deciding when to push forward or to pull back, who will upgrade and how, will bring a smile to many faces.

And that’s where game ultimately succeeds, it’s fun. It’s fun when I play the game by myself and that feeling is only amplified by how many other people are playing too.

Awesomenauts.

Release Date : TBC
Developer : Ronimo
Platform : Xbox 360 & Playstation 3
Publisher : dtp Entertainment AG
Pricing : TBC

Note : KyozoKicks played a version of Awesomnauts currently in BETA and as such should not be considered a review of the final product. Approximately 2 hours was spent with the title.

Strip down the game to its core elements you’re presented with an arcade style racing game, where we are challenged with simply getting our protagonist Joe (seen above), safely from point A to point B on his chosen mode of transport, avoiding various obstacles as you go. Where that great feeling I mentioned comes from is the imagination and flamboyance Hello Games wraps that simple premise in.

Joe, the character, remains as charming in his body language and reactions to our slip ups as ever. Not content with being a simple motorcycle daredevil (as in the first game) he now sees himself as an, albeit bumbling, Hollywood stuntman. The most notable and immediate change to the series is the inclusion of multiple vehicles. Where as Joe rode his motorcycle exclusively throughout the first game we now see him attempt to also master mine carts, skis, snowmobiles and jet-packs. I wondered if simply adding more vehicles to the series would be enough to sustain a sequel, yet each mode of transport brings with it its own rhythm and style. On skis Joe feels quick and light, off jumps I seem to soar through the air whilst in the Mine cart I am given a sense of weight, barrelling down tracks and through tight loops.

Unique vehicles call for unique environments and here once again Hello Games seems to be flexing their creative muscles. The bright, cartoon like visuals now not only make Joe come alive but the entire screen. The obstacles Joe has to clear or targets Joe has to hit (A Russian Warhead in one instance) over the course of these levels are pleasingly difficult without seeming impossible. A simple, single touch of a button allows you to quickly jump back into the action before a mishap took place and focus on what you are doing right, rather than feeling punished for what you are doing wrong.

I’m playing a game mere days after its public announcement and already apparent are the hints at nuanced game-play improvements over it’s predecessor. Dynamic courses giving subtle changes each time a level is played. Local multi-player modes that go beyond simple races. User generated content in the shape of our own levels that we can construct and share with Joe Danger : The Movie players around the world. Speaking to Hello Games I get the sense, as they throw around ‘what if’ scenarios for this new Joe Danger game, that they are as excited to make the game as I am to play it. And that feels, great.

- Nick Tonks.

Minecraft has no real narrative in place nor is one strictly necessary. It does however have a wild and popular a cast of characters which populate the world, to build your own story upon if you see fit.  A fan favourite among the cast, an online icon, The Creeper. The dead eyed, camouflaged, Kamikaze creature has become an unofficial mascot for the game. After only spending a short amount of time with Minecraft I knew I wanted to create a pair of shoes influenced by it. My experience, of running scared after late night run-ins meant I knew they had to be Creeper inspired.

Fast forward a few months and the Minecraft Vans are complete. Upon reflection I look back and wonder if, at the start had I considered the over 1000 squares I would be painting, by hand, and each 1000 squares being painted four separate times to get the colours just right, would I have even started? They are by far the most complex pair I have ever done, the most intricate and time consuming but also the most fun. To bring an idea for a pair of shoes to life, for them to match what I had in your minds eye is a hugely satisfying experience.

That’s not to say I’ll ever make them again.

Due to them being such a huge drain as far as time goes (for example the placement of each coloured square had to be considered so no colour was placed beside a square of the same colour on any of the four possible sides – got it?) these Minecraft Vans shall foreseeably be the only ones I ever make. Pair one of one. Originally I intended them to be worn by myself at this years Gamescom event but, with my computer suddenly meeting the end of its life, the shoes shall go on to serve a higher purpose. KyozoKicks is not in a position to just go out and buy a new PC so hopefully these can raise a bit towards one. That way I can continue to make sure new shoes and other ideas keep being made and shared.

If you would like to get in contact with me you can do so HERE

Follow KyozoKicks on Twitter HERE

Become a fan on Facebook HERE

A piece on KyozoKicks can be found in the June issue of The Official Playstation Magazine UK under the Culture section. Thank you to everyone at the magazine, especially Joel. Everyones enthusiasm, from tweets to magazine articles on KyozoKicks continues to be the best motivation I have ever found. More shoes inbound this month!

Okay, for the most part I was encouraged to run, the game stumbles often in its execution. At a few points during the game I am presented with, what feels uncharacteristic for our protagonist Faith, a weapon with which to dispatch the bad guys. The weapons feel like an after thought and only serves to intrude on the enjoyment that comes from stringing together a line of perfect free running.

So yes, Mirrors Edge is far from perfect but so are all my other favorite games. A sequel would have no doubt ironed out these flaws but with EA’s E3 press conference coming to a close for 2011 with no mention it might be time to let go of Mirrors Edge. What better way to do it then with custom Mirrors Edge Converse.

I had actually designed these shoes towards the end of 2010 and put the mock-up on KyozoKicks where it sat dormant for a few months. Dormant until they were seen by a fellow Mirrors Edge fan and commissioned. Whilst I always enjoy painting, to paint shoes off of a game you really like makes me extremely enthusiastic.

A brief run down on the design, The colour scheme is red, blue, black and white. All colours heavily used and associated with Mirrors Edge. Wrapping around the sole of the shoe is a silhouette of an urban landscape, the kind you encounter all throughout the game. There are no rounded edges used on the buildings which ties into the sharp design of Faiths black tattoo which climbs the height of the Converse. The blue is again used on the tongue of the shoe and incorporates the Mirrors Edge logo. The red comes into play on the laces and sparingly on the rear of the shoe, within the game the colour red leads the direction of the player.

Well that’s it for another pair of custom video game shoes from KyozoKicks, hope you enjoyed them guys and keep coming back as I plan on even more pairs this summer including the Star Wars Hi-Tops as voted by you on the KyozoKicks Facebook Fanpage Here.

Thanks for stopping by guys, any questions or comments please feel free to leave them bellow.

Become a fan of KyozoKicks and get invloved with the growing community on the Facebook page HERE

Follow KyozoKicks on Twitter for quick updates HERE

When the game was finally released it became part of ‘The Orange Box’, a collection of games from already well established Valve titles like Half Life and Team Fortress. Deemed an experiment by Valve, Portal quickly garnered an overwhelming positive reception from critics and fans alike. Soon it would become a stand alone release and spawn a full-fledged sequel. Fans of the series embraced all aspects of the game and as a result we have seen plush Companion Cubes, countless PC case mods, scale replicas of the Portal gun and now Custom Portal Converse.

Really it could not have come at a better time, what with all the hype surrounding the second installment these past few weeks I was genuinely excited to design at paint these. Artwork and discussion relating to the series was everywhere and that all went into influencing the design. My main point of focus was to keep it simple, clean lines and well-defined use of colour. I looked into what the characters wore and interacted with and drew inspiration largely from the Portal gun, I spent an inordinate amount of time looking over Volpin Props fantastic recreation (The large blood splatter across the orange shoe is a nod to this, the same found on his gun).

Orange and blue, the colours of the portals and the fictious company found within the game ‘Aperture Science’ were also incorporated into the design.

See work in progress images, and become a fan of KyozoKicks on the Facebook page HERE

Follow KyozoKicks on Twitter for more updates HERE

Sonic is twenty years old this month. Two decades is a long time to be relevant and liked in anything, let alone video games. Sonic and his merry band of misfits are inductees into a nonexistent video game Hall of Fame, ostensibly to be forever enjoyed and admired. Being asked to do a pair of custom shoes based off of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, my second, on such a milestone I was happy to oblige.

I had visited the Sonic franchise recently in my work with my custom Sonic the Hedgehog Vans. Enthusiastic for the opportunity to revisit something still so fresh in my mind. I could approach the series from a whole new direction. The worlds created in the Sonic games are truly something to marvel at, how fluid an experienced player can move through them, they would serve as a wonderful inspiration. Alas, I’m drawn to characters and although purist may argue you cannot have Sonic without Tails.

Actually playing Sonic was when I first became aware that there were people who made these games and that these people lived in a far off place called Japan. The final design is a nod to Sonics roots. I wanted to give the shoes a feeling of a sketchbook, where the ideas for the game would have first been brought to life, pages filled with sketches and notes.

To help give the feeling of a paper the base converse are on off-white, which complements the chocolate-brown found in the design, laces and lettering. Next to each characters portrait it reads ‘Sonic’ and ‘Tails’ respectively.

The design takes into consideration (much like my God of War Vans) not how the shoes leave my hands, but how they will appear in 6 months, once they have been worn and dirtied. They are designed to age gracefully, the more time that passes will only add to its authenticity.

Feedback appreciated!

See ‘Work in Progress’ shots of these shoes and check out full size images on the KyozoKicks Facebook page HERE

Follow KyozoKicks on Twitter for more and frequent updates HERE

Order your own custom shoes HERE

Whilst I don’t play any of the Hasbro released titles like Monopoly anymore, there is no denying its lasting appeal among families. It is now possible to play Monopoly themed around Disney, Football, Star Wars, Even the town I grew up in, with a population of little over 150,000 people has its own official Monopoly set. One thing we are yet to witness are boards based off of video game franchises. Of course creative gamers do not wait for these things to come to us. With that I present Monopoly : Fallout Edition.

Unlike a lot of the official releases, where only the board is changed, DeviantArt user and obvious Fallout fan SwanBoy has taken the entire game into consideration. Mayfair becomes Rivet City, instead of going straight to jail you are banished to Paradise Falls. Bullet casings of various calibres take the place of homes and hotels and Bottle Caps represent paper money.

The board itself has been made into a feature, set under glass in a custom-made pine box. Still classed as a work in progress, what SwanBoy has achieved is something better than an official release.

What classic board games do you think should be given the video game touch? Guess Who : Grand Theft Auto Edition? L.A Noire Presents : Clue? Operation : Trauma Center?

Become a Fan of KyozoKicks on our new Facebook Fanpage HERE

Follow Kyozokicks on Twitter for quick daily gaming updates HERE