Did the home console kill off the arcade? Is the idea of gathering in a public space to play games together an outmoded concept of the early 80s? This Sunday, August 7th, at 4PM, our fourth edition of JUEGOS RANCHEROS at The Highball will prove those ideas wrong and be the launching point for the TEXATRON initiative to bring independent game arcade machines to Austin.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

What began in Toronto with the Torontron soon spread across the Great White North to Winnipeg with the Winnitron, an arcade cabinet built from the ground-up to bring independent games both local and global to the rest of the world, with Winnitron machines soon popping up in such far flung locations as the Netherlands, New Zealand, New York and Australia.

In attendance this Sunday — all the way from Winnipeg — will be Alec Holowka of Infinite Ammo, developer of indie hits like AQUARIA, PAPER MOON and the upcoming MARIAN, and co-founder of the Winnitron project, to tell us more about what the Winnitron is, how it works, and how it’s changing the way we experience indie games across the world.

Following that, we’ll be giving Austin its first chance to play the Winnitron’s selection of games, including cult successes like Messhof’s brilliant swordfighter NIDHOGG and special exclusive two-player versions of games like Vlambeer’s SUPER CRATE BOX and our own Adam Saltsman’s CANABALT.

But more importantly, we’ll be talking more about our long-time goals to bring the Winnitron to Austin as the TEXATRON — a series of arcade cabinets set up around our own fair city showcasing the best indie games from around town and around the world.

Everything will be kicking off Sunday, August 7th, promptly at 4PM at The Highball, 1142 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704! Come hang out, enjoy the Highball’s Happy Hour drink specials, and say hello to the people changing the way you think about games (and cartoons)!

[*PS: Hey everyone! As usual, bring your 3DS again! We’re doing awesome with these StreetPasses!]

Couldn’t make it to our last meeting of JUEGOS RANCHEROS, Austin’s independent game developer collective? Here’s what you’ve been waiting for: the full, hour-long recording of ADVENTURE TIME creator Pendleton Ward (@buenothebear) talking with Capy‘s Kris Piotrowski (@krispiotrowski) and Superbrothers‘ Craig Adams (@the1console) — two of the team behind the brilliant iOS adventure game SWORD & SWORCERY EP — about games, animation and all of the cross-over in between.

The chat is hosted and moderated by Austin’s own Adam ‘Atomic‘ Saltsman (@adamatomic), creator of CANABALT and the Flixel game-creation library, with a few additional questions & comments by yr humble blog post author, Brandon Boyer (@brandonnn).

Anyway, we hope you enjoy what will likely be just the first in a long series of chats by amazing artists and game creators — and hopefully by then we can work out a few of the video kinks and get you something a little more HD and a little less echo-y.

Spread the word (the Vimeo embed code can be found here), and subscribe to JUEGOS RANCHEROS updates either here or via Facebook and Twitter!

Attention indies both local and global: submissions have been opened for the 2011 Fantastic Arcade — taking place here in Austin, TX from September 22nd-29th — with an August 1st deadline already rapidly approaching.

Last year’s debut Fantastic Arcade, if you didn’t manage to make it, kicked things off in great form, bringing indies like Derek Yu, Cactus, Messhof, Jon Blow, Molleindustria and Superbrothers together for a week of panels, talks and general carousing.

Here’s how the festival — operated by Alamo Drafthouse, our local favorite theater organization & an instrumental part of getting JUEGOS RANCHEROS off the ground — describes itself:

Fantastic Arcade fuses the world of independent film and independent gaming. We bring together artists and professionals who are telling stories and creating experiences in film, games and online entertainment simultaneously. At Fantastic Arcade, we showcase a curated selection of brand new independent games as well as a larger sampling of important groundbreaking independent games from the last couple of years.

Attendees are invited to play the games as well as interact with the game developers via panels and nightly parties and happy hours. We also feature both panels with independent filmmakers side by side with game developers and intimate demo sessions by independent game developers. Lastly, we feel that video games rightfully belong side by side with shorts and feature films at Fantastic Fest. The artistic merit of these games will be honored with both audience awards and a juried competition.

Selected games will proceed to the second round of submissions and will be asked to provide a playable version of the game for Fantastic Arcade festival programmers. Official selections for the Arcade will be made based on each game’s art, story, characters, gameplay and, most importantly, connection with the character of Fantastic Fest.

Submit your game to be a part of this year’s festivities by clicking here!

What time is it? JUEGOS RANCHEROS TIME. This Sunday, July 3rd, at 4PM, we’ll be kicking off the third edition of JUEGOS RANCHEROS at The Highball, in partnership with Fantastic Arcade! In a super special guest-star edition, this time around, we’ll be live-chatting with none other than Pendleton Ward, creator of Cartoon Network’s super amazing original series ADVENTURE TIME, and representatives from Toronto indies Superbrothers and Capy, creators of the brilliant hit iOS adventure game SWORD & SWORCERY EP, all at THE SAME TIME.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

If you follow the intersection between games, art & animation, there’s very little chance you haven’t already been acquainted with Adventure Time, but if you haven’t, all it takes is basically one sitting to realize that the show was created and written by a lifelong and super enthusiastic videogame lovers. Magic +1 rings, perilous labyrinths & miniboss battles and a full-on episode where stars Finn & Jake are pulled directly into a videogame on their BMO console (artwork by that episode’s animator, Ke Jiang, below!), the series is drenched in the culture we’ve collectively grown up in.

In a special three-way live-chat, creator Ward will be joined by the team behind recent iPhone & iPad cult success SWORD & SWORCERY EP — the adventure game from Toronto tri-force Superbrothers, Capy and musician Jim Guthrie — and linked up to us back here at the Highball for a talk on how the art, animation and videogame worlds inspire and feed off each other, now more than ever.

JUEGOS RANCHEROS’s own Adam Saltsman, local hero & creator of CANABALT and the Flixel game creation library, will be hosting the live chat, and all Austin attendees will have a chance to pick the brains of both Ward and the SWORCERY team.

Everything will be kicking off Sunday, July 3rd, promptly at 4PM at The Highball, 1142 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704! Come hang out, enjoy the Highball’s Happy Hour drink specials, and say hello to the people changing the way you think about games (and cartoons)!

[*PS: Hey everyone! As usual, bring your 3DS again! We’re doing awesome with these StreetPasses!]

Continuing what looks like it will now be a regular series, presented at our second event, here’s our latest round-up of A Fistful of Indies: a top however-many list of the indie games both local and global worth paying attention to released over the prior month.

This one’s a bit belated thanks to E3 and a pileup of other events this month, but, fully annotated for your pleasure, for the convenience of both event-goers and, hopefully, the wider world of indie game enthusiasts, here’s the list for June 2011:

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Here we go again: this Sunday, June 5th, at 4PM, we’ll be kicking off the second edition of JUEGOS RANCHEROS at The Highball, in partnership with Fantastic Arcade! This time around, we’ll be getting a closer look at THUNDERBEAM, the psychedelic, open-ended iPad adventure game coming soon from brand new Austin indie studio Karakasa Games.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

For a debut game, THUNDERBEAM comes with a lot of pedigree: it’s directed and designed by Wiley Wiggins (who you may recall from his starring roles in DAZED AND CONFUSED & WAKING LIFE), is being animated using the same rotoscoping technology behind both WAKING LIFE & A SCANNER DARKLY (from Flat Black Films), and will feature sound design and an original soundtrack by THE OCTOPUS PROJECT.

Inspired as much by classic games like ANOTHER WORLD, PRINCE OF PERSIA, MANIAC MANSION & EARTHBOUND as it is by 70’s science fiction, Karakasa promises THUNDERBEAM will be a game that “eliminates busywork, rewards ingenuity, maximizes randomness and emergent play” in “a grown-up world where death is an immediate, irreversible and oddly-funny reality.”

Wiggins, Flat Black founder Bob Sabiston & The Octopus Project will all be attending to present the art, sounds, technology and ideas behind the game from 4PM, and all will be on-hand to sign limited edition THUNDERBEAM posters!

And that’s not all! Following the THUNDERBEAM presentation, JUEGOS RANCHEROS will be featuring the worldwide debut of a PlayStation Move-enhanced version of JOHANN SEBASTIAN JOUST, a new game imported direct from Denmark devs COPENHAGEN GAME COLLECTIVE — the same team behind the Independent Games Festival finalist B.U.T.T.O.N.

JOUST just might be the most unexpectedly theatrical & amazing videogame you’ll play in 2011: a three-player game where your only goal is to be the last person standing in a dramatic round of baroque slow-motion dueling. Each player holds a PS Move controller and tries to keep it as still as possible, as you and your opponents try to sneakily tip each others’ controllers to count them out of the round, everything paced by a Bach piece that’s constantly shifting its tempo.

It’s a game better experienced than it is described (see: the video above), and was the surprise underground hit of the recent Nordic Game Conference & Arcade Boat 2011 party (which you can see beautiful footage of here). Trust us: you’re going to love it.

Everything will be kicking off Sunday, June 5th, 4PM at The Highball, 1142 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704! Come hang out, enjoy the Highball’s Happy Hour drink specials, and say hello to the people changing the way you think about games!

[*PS: Hey everyone! Bring your 3DS again! We all still need more StreetPasses!]