Guru Meditation Released

After two years of off and on development, I’ve just released my relaxation game Guru Meditation, simultaneously for Atari VCS and iPhone. The game is a re-imagining of and homage to old Amiga lore, an exploration of what a game that legitimately deals with inactivity would feel like, and (through the iPhone version), an exploration of attention and compromise in today’s always-on devices. You can read much, much more about the project on its webpage.

The Atari VCS version is a signed, numbered limited edition of 10, including game cartridge, Joyboard, Atari VCS system, custom yoga mat, and printed instructions. The iPhone version is available now on the iTunes App Store.

Why two years you ask? Well, it wasn’t continuous development time, but I also had to acquire enough of the rare Joyboard peripherals to make the Atari set. I also co-wrote a book about the Atari during that time, and when I decided to add the iPhone version I had to do the work of porting and customizing it.

The results are very pleasing to me, and I hope they might be to you too. There are already some nice reactions around the web, including getting a nod as a weekly App Store pick from The Apple Blog, and mentions on Offworld, G4, Finger Gaming, Game Set Watch, Creative Applications, and elsewhere.

But it’s iPhoneOtaku who really gets the project:

The lines between handheld, retro and next-gen gaming have never been so blurred, and hats must go off to Ian for accomplishing such an unusual and ambitious project as Guru Meditation.

At the end of the day, who can out-geek “simultaneous release on Atari VCS and iPhone?”