After a little fine tuning in the Meat Bun garage, our next line, Checkpoint, is just around the corner.

We’ll have more to share soon, including a few imminent teasers. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook to know the instant phase one of Checkpoint is released.

From right, Phil Fish (gentleman who makes the IGF Seumas McNally Grand Prize award-winning Fez) and Richard Lemarchand (gentleman who makes those wildly popular Uncharted games), perform as PHILLIPPE LEMARCHAND. They’re joined by Baiyon (PixelJunk 4 AM) while repping some Meat Bun at the Venus Patrol party at GDC. It’s easily our favorite photo from the entire week, because we love seeing Meat Bun on people, but the full GDC 2012 photo set from Jeriaska of Nobuwo is spectacular stuff if you love video game music and video game music people.

Meat Bun is thrilled to take part in the upcoming Diversions art show at Giant Robot LA and humbled to be showcasing a selection of our artwork alongside some amazing talent.

Diversions begins this Saturday, March 10 and runs until April 4. The group exhibition features Sean Chao, Feric, Jude Buffum, French, Monyo Monyo and Paul Roberston, whose work you may recognize from our Snack Attack and Big Money, Big Prizes tees (or the web site you’re looking at right now).

The opening reception will happen this Saturday March 10th 2012 from 6:30-10pm. We’ll have some prints of our work on display–and for purchase, of course–that are exclusive to the show.

Some additional details from the release:

Jude Buffum from Philadelphia crosses 8-bit art and social and pop culture commentary. Monyo Monyo from Japan creates wearable masks that are furry and powerful. Feric from Taiwan is known for his delicate and cyber-detailed pieces. Originally from Taiwan but now a resident of Los Angeles, Sean Chao creates astonishing dioramic worlds. French from England evokes metal music and its iconography. Meat Bun, our comrades from multiple pop up shops and Game Night events will display some of their iconic work. In attendance for the opening will be Paul Robertson, Sean Chao and the trio who make Meat Bun.

Diversions will be on view at GR2 which is located at 2062 Sawtelle Blvd LA, CA 90025. Be there!

Hey, it’s still winter, right? Good! Then we’ve got something you might be interested in if it’s not t-shirt weather where you’re currently situated right now. In addition to the fine, fan-favorite Needlemouse t-shirts that we have still stocked in the Meat Bun shop, we’ve added two new styles.

One is printed on a soft, supple and heavyweight eco-fleece sweatshirt. This thing is crazy comfortable and will help keep your torso toasty well through springtime. One thing: we only have a handful of these, with some sizes already sold out. So if you want one, grab one.

If you’re looking for something more lightweight but still with extra sleeve, there’s the Needlemouse raglan jersey. Again, very comfortable, but more breathable and light.

Let us know what you think, OK?

Southern California, come out to GR2 this Saturday, February 4 for the latest Game Night! This time, we’re honored to have Pocketwatch Games’ Monaco, the IGF award-winning multiplayer heist game. We’ll have lots of game stations, lots of fun people to hang out with and more than enough good times to go around.

Here are the particulars. See you at GR2!

Game Night 8
Saturday, February 4 2012, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Giant Robot 2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net

In previous years, our brief deliberations on Game of the Year nominations typically focused on games for a wide range of tastes: Dance Central 2, Limbo, Red Faction Guerrilla, Demon’s Souls, Red Dead Redemption. This year, however, just one game was deserving of our collective GOTY accolade: From Software’s amazing Dark Souls.

Curiously, we all agree that the spiritual sequel to Demon’s Souls was the most memorable game experiences of 2011. That’s pretty damn impressive, given the competition. Sure, we loved The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bastion, Mortal Kombat, Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP and Batman: Arkham City too, but nothing really did it for us quite like Dark Souls.

Mike platinumed it. Scott was consumed by it even while playing Skyrim. Jason simply adored the first five minutes.

So, congratulations, Dark Souls. You’re Meat Bun’s 2011 Game of the Year. We’ll prove just how much we love you in 2012.