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This Halo Concept Art is so Old it’s Drawn on Paper

Lovers of Halo (or of art in the most traditional sense) should dig these images from artist Eddie Smith, who over the years has worked on several games in the epic sci-fi saga. The more recent the games are, the more modern the art, but my favourites are Smith’s pieces for the first two Halos,…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 9, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Nintendo Once Made a Vacuum Cleaner

As you know, Nintendo hasn’t always made video games. Before the dawn of the home entertainment era, the company made everything from love testers to fake LEGO to shooting galleries. Did you know, though, that amidst all that fun stuff, Nintendo also made a vacuum cleaner? This is it. The Nintendo Chiritorie. Released in 1979…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 9, 2012

Culture

Metal Gear Ain’t Metal Gear Without Yoji Shinkawa’s Iconic Art

Last year, Fine Art looked at Ashley Wood’s contribution to the Metal Gear universe with his scratchy, chaotic images. While those have become popular of late, for many long-time fans the man they think of first when they think of Metal Gear’s look is Yoji Shinkawa. Beginning his career on cult hit Policenauts, Shinkawa quickly…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 9, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Thank Your God The SNES Didn’t Actually Look This Hideous

The North American Super Nintendo looked…OK. The Japanese and PAL version looked hot. Oh, how things could have turned out differently, had early concept art become reality. These two early designs for the SNES, drawn at a time when they were still calling the machine the “Nintendo Entertainment System 2”, were hideous. Where the final…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 8, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

A Robot Sex Doll. From The Future.

This incredible animated gif doing the rounds this week (though first published in February) is taken from Paragon Sexa Doll (パラゴンセクサドール Doll), a Japanese “visual novel” developed by Heart Soft and released in the early 80s on the NEC PC-8801, a primitive PC that was pretty big in Japan. Visual novels are barely games; like…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 8, 2012

Culture

Some of the Greatest Video Game Pictures You’ll Ever See

If you’ve been reading Kotaku for a while, you may already be familiar with the name Genzoman. Or, as his mother knows him, Gonzalo Ordoñez Arias. The Chilean illustrator, part of the illustrious Udon Crew, is responsible for some of the most amazing video game images on the internet. Some of them were clearly drawn…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 7, 2012

Culture

A Whole New Way To Play Video Games: Standing Up

It’s not every day you discover a whole new way to play video games. Yet over the past month, I’ve done just that—I’ve found a way to play games that makes me feel better, more alert, healthier, and more involved. How have I accomplished this? I’ve started playing video games while standing up. “Oh, damn…

By Kirk Hamilton Published August 7, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Pelé and Pete Rose Should Have Stuck to Sports

Athletes still do a pretty poor job in commercials in the 21st century. So as you can probably imagine, in the 1970s, they were terrible This Atari clip from 1978 featured baseball star Pete Rose, football legend Pelé and…Don Knotts. OK, so Don did just fine, but he was an actor, not a sportsman. 1978…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 7, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Taito’s Love Affair With Old Jackie Chan Movies

What kind of developers have the peanuts to rip off Jackie Chan not once, but twice, at the same time? Taito have the peanuts, that’s who. This image is from Silent Dragon, a side-scroller Taito released in 1992. The blue dude on the left may look familiar to anyone who’s seen Jackie Chan’s awesome Big…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 7, 2012

Culture

Exclusive: Killer Concept Art From The New Total Recall Movie

Stephan Martiniere is a long-serving concept artist who has worked on some of the biggest (or best) movies of the past fifteen years, from the new Star Wars movies to Fifth Element to Tron Legacy. He also served as art director on id’s 2011 shooter Rage (Stephen interviewed him a few years back about the…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 7, 2012

Culture

Planters NUT-rition “Adult” Peanut Butter: The Evolutionary Snacktaku Review

There was a time that I’d spend at least a third of each week driving from grocery store to grocery store, hunting for the star of the next Snacktaku review. I’d walk the aisles for hours, making note of which items shoppers were putting in their carts. I’d measure stock density hour-by-hour. Sometimes I’d just…

By Mike Fahey Published August 6, 2012

Culture

One Man’s Terrific Art for Assassin’s Creed, Prometheus and More

Here’s another awesome Fine Art to get your week started on the right foot: a collection of works by David Levy, aka vyle, aka another of my very favourite concept artists in the whole wide world. David has worked on a number of big video games like Assassin’s Creed (we’ve actually shown some of his…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 6, 2012

Culture

The Week in Games: Short and to the Point

Persona 4 Arena arrives in the west this week, accompanied by the funky rhythm game Sound Shapes. On Xbox Live Arcade, the third-person multiplayer shooter Hybrid continues the Summer of Arcade. Tuesday • Sound Shapes (PS3, PS Vita) • Persona 4 Arena (PS3, 360) • Deponia (PC) Wednesday • Hybrid (XBLA) Friday • The Amazing…

By Owen Good Published August 5, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

This Stupid Controller That Looks Like a Sex Toy Helped My Brother Win a Silver Medal

Hurry! There are only two days left until this auction for “Le Stick” closes. You can have this hunk of junk for $29.99, but I warn you, it’s practically useless. Except for one video game, that is. Rewind: It’s 1983. My brother and I live next door to a guy who is an electronics buyer,…

By Owen Good Published August 5, 2012

Culture

Sunday Comics: Friendship is Tragic

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Aug. 4.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published July 30.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by…

By Owen Good Published August 5, 2012

Culture

This Week in the Business: ‘PS Vita is an Utter Flop.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “PS Vita is an utter flop.”—Rob Fahey, veteran game journalist, talking about Sony’s losses with their games business QUOTE | “The Old Republic was sold as a story; very soon, it will have to double as a shop.”—Matthew Handrahan, staff writer…

By Steve Peterson Published August 4, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Welcome Back, Rise of the Triad, You’ve Been Missed

Perhaps the strangest news of the day, if not much longer, is that cult 90’s shooter Rise of the Triad is getting a remake Considering a whole generation of gamers has now grown up likely not having played the thing, they’re probably wondering, what’s all the fuss about? Here’s what all the fuss is about.…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The Horror of Broken Old Nintendo Games

Old video games may have a certain charm to them when they’re working, but what about when they’re not? When they’re crashing and bugging out all over the place, no matter how many times you shake them or blow in the cartridge slot? Glitchee’s site is a wonderful catalogue of just such episodes, mostly of…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2012

Culture

The Stunning Concept Art of Sebastien Larroudé (Deus Ex, Tron, etc)

Sebastien Larroudé is one of my favourite concept artists working today. Formerly a senior concept artist at Eidos, where he worked on Thief 4 and Deus Ex (we actually featured some of his DE:HR work previously here), Larroudé – aka Rainart – now heads up Steambot Studios, a collection of brilliant artists that includes the…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2012

Culture

Uncharted’s Art Director Can Also Draw Cool Spaceships

Robh Ruppel is the art director at Naughty Dog, the developers of the Uncharted series. Before that, he spent over a decade working at Disney’s animation studio. This gallery of his work includes examples of both concept art and matte paintings from across that period, and features pieces from the Uncharted games, personal projects, Disney…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 2, 2012