RoyboyX has reviewed the recently released Samus Aran Arm Cannon by ThinkGeek, and gives us his opinion on this latest piece of Metroid merchandise. Is it worth your time and money? Be sure to check out the review below and find out more!
Community Spotlight: Mozzaratti
This month’s Community Spotlight features musician and Harmony of a Hunter/Heroes contributor Mozzaratti. Mozzaratti created some fantastic pieces of music in our albums, and this Spotlight highlights his work, his inspirations as a child and his projects in recent times. He is also responsible for the music you hear in the Shinesparkers Podcast, and was even a guest on our second episode, which you can check out here.
Episode 03 – Eric Kozlowsky (Ex Retro Studios)
In our third episode, we speak to former Retro Studios Environment Artist and self-confessed Metroid fan Eric Kozlowsky, who worked at Retro on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. He shares memories of his time working at the company, his work in the industry and his desires to work on a Metroid title. Be sure to check out this feature length episode with our host Amanda, team member Darren and our brand new team member Dalagonash!
Community Spotlight: Gonemushrooming
Our latest Community Spotlight is now available! We are pleased to be featuring an up and coming cosplayer, Leanne, also known as Gonemushrooming. She became active in 2017 with a cosplay based on Samus’s blue outfit from the ending of Metroid Fusion, and has been featured in Entertainment Weekly. A Metroid fan from a young age, Leanne has now created multiple Samus cosplays, including an original one of Samus on the beach. We felt her work was excellent and deserved recognition. We hope you will take the time to check out Leanne’s work, and support her efforts on her social media.
Retro Studios hires two more environment designers
Retro Studios is hard at work on Metroid Prime 4 and over the last few months, we’ve had several announcements of new developers joining the company. Yesterday, news broke that two more game designers have been recruited: Mark Capers, formerly of Playful Studios (New Super Lucky’s Tale) and James Beech (Crysis 3, DC Universe Online). Capers comes to Retro after significant layoffs at Playful Studios along with the returning Stephen Dupree, who was the lead designer of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze before working at Playful for two years. Capers and Beech will both be environment designers. We can’t wait to see the worlds they produce in Samus’s next adventure!
Source: VGC/Nintendo Life
Episode 02 – The Future of Metroid (Guest: Mozzaratti)
In our second episode, we discuss the future of Metroid and where we would like to see the series go next. We also speak to Harmony of a Hunter and Harmony of Heroes musician Mozzaratti, about his contribution to our albums. Featuring our host Amanda, and team members Darren and RoyboyX
Feature: A History of Metroid amiibo
We have published a brand new feature to the website! This time around, we highlight the history of Metroid amiibo, the toys-to-life platform created by Nintendo which first released in 2014. Our feature highlights the history of each Metroid themed amiibo, its functions and a short review of the quality of each figure. At the time of writing, there have been six Metroid amiibo released, the latest being Dark Samus in the Super Smash Bros. series. Will we ever see more? Only the future will tell..
Jhony Ljungstedt (Art Director) joins Retro Studios
Development of Metroid Prime 4 is well underway at Retro Studios, and a new addition to the team has just been confirmed. Jhony Ljungstedt, who is credited for his work on the Battlefield and Medal of Honor franchises as an Art Director, has confirmed via his LinkedIN profile recently that he will be leaving his role at EA Dice for a position at Retro Studios.
Today was my last day at DICE and it’s with mixed feelings I’m leaving something that’s been part of my life for such a long time. It’s been great journey and I feel privileged to have got the chance to work with all the talented people at DICE, you will all be missed… Now I’m ready for a new chapter in my life, and looking forward to my new journey at Retro Studios.
While his specific role isn’t confirmed, it can be presumed that he has taken the Art Director position that Retro Studios first advertised for in November 2018. Back in September, we reported on the roles Retro Studios were advertising at the time. Since then, more job opportunities have been made available. Here’s an updated list:
Positions still available
Lead Graphics Engineer (April 26, 2019)
Senior Designer (August 09, 2019)
Lead Engineer (August 20, 2019)
Lead, IT Engineer (Updated role from previously advertised IT Manager) (August 29, 2019)
New roles
Lead Animator (November 6th, 2019)
Lead VFX Artist (November 6th 2019)
CONTRACT – Product Tester (November 26th 2019)
CONTRACT – Concept Artist (November 26th 2019)
CONTRACT – Environment Outsourcing Review Artist (December 16th 2019)
Technical Animator (January 7th 2020)
Environment Terrain Artist (January 29th 2020)
Positions no longer listed
Art Director (November 12, 2018)
Lead Cinematics Artist (April 26, 2019)
Senior Material Artist (August 09, 2019)
Environment Designer (August 09, 2019)
Director of Development (August 12, 2019)
Sources: LinkedIN, Nintendo of America Careers
Community Spotlight: Superstupidy
Our first Community Spotlight of 2020 is now available! Our latest Spotlight marks the twenty-eighth feature in this series, and we are delighted to have shared some talented individuals and groups with Metroid focused projects or skills, and aim to continue doing so into the future!
Today, we are pleased to be highlighting the great work of an animator called Superstupidy, who has created some impressive Metroid focused animations. He has been inspired by stop motion from a young age, and his introduction to Metroid Fusion and the Metroid Prime trilogy of games led him to bring two passions together. We felt his work was really brilliant, and deserved some further recognition. So I hope you will take the time to check out his work, and support him on the links contained within his Community Spotlight feature.
Official Metroid 2021 Calendar Available For Pre-order
Last year, an officially licensed Metroid Calendar was released, featuring artwork from across the whole series. For a series that doesn’t often see lots of merchandise, it was great to see. Just recently, a 2021 calendar has been made available for pre-order on Amazon, and published by Abrams Books, who published the 2020 calendar. A shot from the back of the calendar features on the website, which seems to focus on artwork from the Metroid Prime trilogy of games, and a few others.
The calendar is currently available for $14.99 for US Amazon customers, and £12.99 on Amazon’s UK website, with many more retailers out there offering similar prices.
Update: Shortly after this news post was being written, the image was pulled from Amazon’s public listings. However, we have managed to grab some further images and upload them here
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- Metroid 2021 Calendar (Back)
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- Metroid 2021 Calendar (February)
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- Metroid 2021 Calendar (April)
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- Metroid 2021 Calendar (July)
Source: Amazon