With the release of Gorillaz latest studio album, we take a look the band’s updated website that’s more than just a static HTML news page
Coming from the wild minds of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz online presence has never fallen short of being engaging.
When www.gorillaz.com launched in November 2000, accompanied by the band’s first EP, it gave users the chance to explore a virtual version of the band’s fictional HQ, Kong Studios. Created in-house by Jamie Hewlett and his team of animators and web designers, the website featured audio streams, flash games and a few hidden secrets for those sleuths. All of this was cluttered amongst dirty washing, Clint Eastwood posters, Japanese robot toys and all manner of paraphernalia.
Five years later, with the launch of Demon Days, the website was given a makeover. The cheeky apes’ crib was fitted with more rooms and more new games to play. Masterminding a viral marketing campaign (known as ‘Reject Flash Icons’) and encouraging users to submit their own artistic creations for a competition, Gorillaz’ website became a popular portal for fans during their second appearance.
Having returned from obscurity yet again with their latest ensemble piece, Plastic Beach, the current website is now an interactive excursion to the band’s not-so-idyllic island resort.
Arriving via biplane to the Tracy Island-esque monstrosity, formed from rubbish and oddly named polymers, you are greeted by two grumpy-looking seabirds (one of which sounds suspiciously like Albarn himself). Making you way inside the grotesque, anthill-like structure and you are free to explore a handful of rooms. More are promised to be unlocked in the coming months.
Gorillaz’ website has moved closer still to that of a flash adventure game with Plastic Beach. Indeed, the Experience edition of the album gives users access to a unique game, entitled ‘Escape to Plastic Beach’. The website has also played host to its own meta-game of sorts, with users bailing buckets of water to clear flooded areas of the island.
Creating an account, you are able to store the items you find for future visits and browse a virtual smart phone for additional media content, as well as online achievements for the website’s many flash games. These include a cookie eating game, an attaché case game (similar to Resident Evil 4’s inventory management) and a Simon Says-type game.
At the time of posting, most of the band members are curiously MIA. Apart from self-confessed lady’s man, Murdoc Niccals, who has gone and got himself stuck behind a bookcase. Oh, well. Between the moody squid, its newly built community features and the lo-fi charm of the place, Gorillaz online presence is once again extending their mad world for those that wish to be marooned with the pop mavericks.
Aaron Lee
Tags: flash game, gorillaz, internet, plastic beach
