sxswi: Screenburn Arcade

Jools Watsham, a moon man with a gun, and Gregg Hargrove of Renegade Kid.

Finding free stuff without a badge is generally a matter of exhaustive web browsing, diligent RSVPing, and no shortage of smooth talking. Not so for the Screenburn Arcade, which is generally lineless, blind to badges, and chock full of gaming awesomeness.

For those who couldn’t care less where their games are made, there are playable versions of huge upcoming releases including the infamous violence of Mortal Kombat, Okamiden and Street Fighter IV for Nintendo 3DS, no shortage of frighteningly realistic first-person shooters, and a boxing ring complete with a cartoony Mike Tyson. The real draw there is the handheld Nintendo 3DS that looks as good as you hoped it would (It‘s been called “magical” by more than a few people). Just think, you can go home to your friends and say, “You can’t understand how cool it is until you’ve tried it.”

Looking to see what the locals are up to? Well, apparently they’ve been working hard.

Local Xbox Live Arcade rising stars Twisted Pixel are showing off a playable demo of Ms. Splosion Man, the sequel to the accessible and absurdly fun Splosion Man. Check out the trailer for their other anticipated title for the Kinect motion sensor, Gunstringer, filmed partly at the Paramount Theatre.

Paper Child Studios is showing off their upcoming release of Purify Puzzle, an addictive and thoroughly playable casual game in the Bust-a-Move mold. Get hooked now before everyone is mainlining it.

A pleasant surprise was Renegade Kid’s pre-alpha demo of an upcoming 3DS release Face Kart: Photo Finish. It should be out in time for the holidays with Mario Kart style gameplay and the ability to take a photo and put your face on the driver. Turn off the 3D and play the game by tilting the handheld system. Amazingly, the screen tilts as you turn so the game world always looks right-side up. A small detail that makes all the difference. Face Kart is slated to be released before the holidays. More immediately Renegade Kid has another, more extreme racing game, ATV Wild Ride, coming to the non-3D DS soon.

Local porter of massive titles to the Wii, Red Fly, will be releasing Thor in time for the blockbuster film. The trustworthy studio won’t just be changing the controls for the Wii, but will actually be building the game from the ground up, which can only mean good things. Honestly, you really can’t go wrong when you get to swing your Wiimote like Thor’s Hammer.

New kid on the block Oddball games has spent the last two weeks crunching to get a playable version of their first game ready to show. The current build of the game is very clearly in early development, but shows a lot of promise with it’s geometric ninjas and accessible gameplay.

The big letdown? No Mountain Dew booth. BYOMD this year.