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Sunday Comics: A Fraction of the Price

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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Sept. 12.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Sept. 14.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by…

By Owen Good Published September 18, 2011

Culture

This Week in the Business: ‘Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week… QUOTE | “Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo.” – Satoru Iwata once again says, despite mounting pressure, that his company will “absolutely not consider” smartphone development, which goes against Nintendo’s philosophy. QUOTE | “Gears 3 is better on every level.” – Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski…

James Brightman | IndustryGamers.com Published September 16, 2011

Culture

Age of Empires’ Art is Like Free-to-Play Ice Cream

When opting for “cartoon” graphics, there’s a fine line between looking stylish and looking childish. Age of Empires Online, I think, gets it just right. The fact the recently-released online game doesn’t look like the old Age of Empires has upset some fans, and that’s unavoidable. Still, it’s a shame, as the new game looks…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 13, 2011

CultureTotal Recall

Giant Plastic Alien Heads, Badass Fantasy Art & Video Games

Fans of classic rock and fantasy art will no doubt be familiar with the name Roger Dean. The British artist is as synonymous with 1970’s prog rock (especially the band Yes) as epic guitar tracks, and his bold, unique art style means you’ve probably seen and remembered his work, even if you’ve never remembered his…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 12, 2011

Culture

The Best Game You Can Name

The good old hockey game NHL 12 headlines a robust week of releases, joined by Call of Juarez: The Cartel and The Gunstringer for Kinect. PC exclusive Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad also joins the party. Monday • Dungeons & Dragons Online: Secrets of the Artificers (PC) Tuesday • Call of Juarez: The Cartel…

By Owen Good Published September 11, 2011

Culture

Sunday Comics: Deus XXX

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. You can contact Owen Good, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page. Awkward…

By Owen Good Published September 11, 2011

Culture

This Week in the Business: “Xbox 360’s Massive Lead”

QUOTE | “Xbox 360’s massive lead.” – SCEA SVP of Publisher Relations Rob Dyer acknowledges Microsoft’s big lead in hardware but asserts that software sells better on PS3 relative to the installed base STAT | 27% – The reduction in the number of games rated 80 or higher so far in 2011, as EEDAR notes…

James Brightman | IndustryGamers.com Published September 9, 2011

Culture

The Art of BioShock 2, and Dead Space 2, and Dragon Age, and Silent Hill, and…

You may know artist Jason Chan as the chap who helped design us a lovely t-shirt. Or who drew rad pictures of kids fighting zombies You should know him, though, as a video game concept artist who’s worked on games like BioShock 2, Dead Space 2, and Dragon Age: Origins Chan works at Massive Black,…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 9, 2011

Culture

This Concept Art Features X-Men, Jedi Knights (and Jedi Outcasts!)

Most of the time on Fine Art I look at new stuff, or at least somewhat contemporary art. Sometimes, though, I like to look a little further back. Today is one of those days, and it’s a real treat. Today we look at the art of Jeffrey Moy, who among other things did concept art…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 8, 2011

CultureTotal Recall

When Nintendo Wanted to Bring Gambling Into American Homes

In 1988, Nintendo released a modem for its Famicom system in Japan. A crude device, it didn’t allow for online play; just some downloadable stuff and access to basic news and information services. The device was never released in the United States, but it wasn’t for want of trying. Indeed, Nintendo figured at the time…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 8, 2011

Culture

The Metallica Game We Never Got (But Maybe Should Have)

Around 2003, Black Rock Studio (which is sadly now no more) was working on something fairly unique: a Metallica game that didn’t involve plastic instruments. It instead was a “post-apocalyptic driving/adventure game”, in which the band’s members were badass, gun-toting characters. Destined for the PS2, nothing ever came of the title. It was never even…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 7, 2011

CultureTotal Recall

Believe it or Not, There Was a Goonies Sequel

Despite annual reminders, Hollywood has never made good on its threat to release a sequel to classic 1985 adventure flick The Goonies That didn’t stop video games from coming up with their own Goonies II, though. In 1987, Konami released The Goonies II on the Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System. And proceeded to confuse the shit out…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 7, 2011

Culture

The Beasts and Beauties of God of War

A former comic book artist, Andy Park is one of the main men to thank if you liked the look of the last two God of War games, as he was a senior concept artist on both God of War II and God of War III That means many of the series’ classically-inspired nasties, as…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011

CultureTotal Recall

There Has Never Been A Good Akira Game

It’s one of the defining works of modern popular culture, and features plenty of stylised, graphic action. So why is it nobody has ever made a good game out of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira? It’s not for want of trying, that’s for sure. There have been three (well, maybe five, but we’ll get to that later)…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011

Culture

Sister…This Storyboard Artist Has a Twin Sister…

That Darth Vader line has always creeped me out a little. This stuff, though, featuring a pair of storyboard artists working in the games industry, does nothing of the sort. After I ran that Crysis 2 art last week, I was contacted by Trudi Castle, another artist who worked on the game. Unlike the static…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 5, 2011

CultureTotal Recall

Snatcher, Hideo Kojima’s Adventure Masterpiece

Most people know, and love, Japanese developer Hideo Kojima for the Metal Gear series, a franchise he created all the way back in 1987. For me, though, that’s a convoluted mess of a property that’s become more unwieldy and pointlessly self-referential with each passing entry. If you feel the same and would like to see…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 5, 2011

Culture

Disgaea 4 and Some Other Games

I’ve been hearing it for a month about Disgaea 4 not being included in the Coming Soon for Sept. 6 alongside other games such as Resistance 3, Driver: San Francisco, Dead Island and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. So here you go: Disgaea 4, here on the front page, big as Christmas, is coming out this…

By Owen Good Published September 4, 2011

CultureShop Contest

Smash Mountain

No-brainers make for the best ‘Shop Contest ideas and this one was a lead-pipe lock as soon as it was spotted on Tuesday. This log flume full of Smash Bros aficionados takes the gold for best roller-coaster reaction shot of all time, but we’re going to make it better. The exploitable potential of this really…

By Owen Good Published September 4, 2011

Culture

Sunday Comics: Don’t Look a Yoshi in the Mouth

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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Aug. 29. – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Aug. 31. – Read more of Nerf…

By Owen Good Published September 4, 2011

Culture

This Week in the Business: “PS3 Will Outsell Xbox 360”

QUOTE | “PS3 will outsell Xbox 360.” – That’s the belief of Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, IF Microsoft decides to stand pat on 360 price this holiday season QUOTE | “Like a religion.” – Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg says 60 frames per second is critical to Call of Duty as he describes the four…

James Brightman | IndustryGamers.com Published September 2, 2011