Kotaku: Concept Art

Concept Artist Behind Fallout 3, Skyrim Has Died

Kate Cox — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:30:00 EST

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I played something like 130 hours of Fallout 3. I adored many things about it — and, admittedly, hated a few others — but my absolute favorite part was exploring the world. The entire history of this never-quite-was version of Washington, DC could be read in its architecture, its artifacts, and its people. The game turned the city where I actually live into a wrecked, raygun-gothic husk of itself... and I loved it. More »

Here's 25 Awesome Coffee Table Books About Video Games

Pierre Bienaimé — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:30:00 EST

Miguel Concepcion recently posted a healthy reminder that gamers CAN be bibliophiles—especially where books about video games are concerned. Behold, the 25 Best Video Game Coffee Table Books. More »

Would Bayonetta Have Been Sexier If She Was More "Western"?

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:30:00 EDT

As far as video game characters go, Bayonetta was built with one thing in mind. The suit, the heels, the British accent, even the glasses, all there for sex appeal. But would she have been sexier if she was less "Japanese"? More »

The Breathtaking Concept Art of Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:40:00 EDT

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While the next Ratchet & Clank game looks handsome enough in those new bright and cheery screen shots, the PlayStation 3 exclusive had a gorgeous base on which to build. This is a sampling of that concept art from Insomniac Games' Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. More »

Breaking Down The Beauty Of Battlefield 3

Mike Fahey — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:00:00 EDT

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Video game beauty is only polygon deep, right? Not so with Battlefield 3. This latest series of screens, concept art, and renders take us under the skin and behind the scenes of EA's next big shooter. More »

Kameo 2 Artwork Hints At The Pretty Sequel That Might Have Been

Mike Fahey — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:00:00 EDT

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In 2005 developer Rare graced the newly-launched Xbox 360 with Kameo: Elements of Power, a cartoon-styled action-adventure game starring a fairy with the power to transform herself into various magical creatures. Slow sales killed its rumored sequel, but the art lives on. More »

The Beautiful And Bold Concept Art of Batman: Arkham City

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EDT

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How can Batman: Arkham City look so much better than its unexpectedly great predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum? Handsome concept art of Gotham's streets and skylines, both gritty and gorgeous, may provide clues to developer Rocksteady's talent for making Batman look so good. More »

Is This The New Face Of PlayStation Home?

Mike Fahey — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:20:00 EST

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With PlayStation Home gearing up for a transformation from virtual world to viable gaming platform, concept art images depicting the new look for Sony's PlayStation 3 service have surfaced. Let's take a look! More »

A Peek At The Road Rash & Strike Reboots That Never Happened

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:00:00 EST

Two video game series fondly remembered by fans, but almost completely untapped by Electronic Arts are motorcycle combat contest Road Rash and isometric military shooter Strike. EA hasn't made a new game in either of those series this generation, but it tried during the last. More »

The Early Art Of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST

You've already seen the latest Elder Scrolls from Bethesda Softworks in screen shot form—complete with handsome humans—now see what Skyrim looked like in its conceptual stages. Bethesda released new Elder Scrolls V art at its official blog, art that might just be your new wallpaper. More »

Lego Video Games Should Be This Cool

Stephen Totilo — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:00:00 EST

I like most of the Lego video games. They present breezy opportunities to fight and explore. Their charm compensates for an over-emphasis on collecting things. I like these games, but I don't think they are as magnificent yet as this concept art for the spring's Lego Pirates of the Caribbean ~~Indiana Jones~~ [Sorry! I got excited!] suggests they could be. More »

Who Knew Donkey Kong Could Be This Gorgeous?

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:00:00 EST

Beautiful concept art for Retro Studios' Donkey Kong Country Returns shows that this Wii game could have been a different looking beast. More »

Harley Quinn Looks Crazy Good In DC Universe Online

Mike Fahey — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:00:00 EST

Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel was an Arkham Asylum psychologist who thought she had a shot at curing Batman's insane nemesis The Joker. Obviously that didn't work out too well. More »

The Ataris That Never Were

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:30:00 EDT

Time for some concept art! Not for upcoming games, though. Not for old games, either. These are for old systems. More »

Who Wants Some Thor Video Game Concept Art?

Mike Fahey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:40:00 EDT

And so begins the process of Sega convincing us that a good comic book movie-based video game is in the works, with a pair of concept art shots from Thor: The Video Game. More »

Five LEGO Games You'll Never See

Brian Crecente — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:00:00 EDT

This LEGO game concept art is fantastic, not just because it was so lovingly airbrushed, but because the images are for games we know will never come to exist. More »

Building A Better Ghost Pirate LeChuck

Mike Fahey — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:20:00 EDT

LucasArts gives us another behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge, showing us the design stages of Guybrush Threepwood's undead nemesis, LeChuck. More »

Mecho Wars Creator Goes HD With Reaper

Mike Fahey — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:20:00 EDT

Luc Bernard, the man behind the pretty yet flawed Eternity's Child and the well-received Advance Wars clone Mecho Wars for the iPhone is thinking big again with Reaper, a gorgeous new 2D action-adventure game. More »

Building A Better Guybrush Threepwood

Mike Fahey — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:20:00 EDT

Rather than bury us in another flood of screenshots for Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge, LucasArts gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into bringing Guybrush Threepwood to life from 19-year-old sprites. More »

Yam Hand? Jelly Man? BioShock Monsters That Might Have Been

Mike Fahey — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:20:00 EDT

If you thought BioShock had some creepy enemies, wait until you get a look at the enemy concepts that didn't make it into the game. More »

EA's Road Rash Reboot, Oliver Twist Game Could Have Looked Like This

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:40:00 EST

Road Rash fans are likely aware that Electronic Arts has flirted with reviving the violent racer on "next-gen" platforms, a project that has reared its head in video and trademark form. But did you know that EA was also working on an Oliver Twist game? More »

That Old Black Magic Has DC Universe Online In Its Spell

Mike Fahey — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:20:00 EST

Sony Online Entertainment reveals the latest addition to the cast of DC Universe Online, Zatanna Zatara, stage magician turned super heroine and the second-to-last entry in the Justice League's phone directory (curse you, Zauriel). More »

Sega Trading Project Needlemouse Info For Fan Art

Mike Fahey — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:40:00 EST

If Sega receives 100 pieces of fan-made concept art for Project Needlemouse Badniks, we can finally stop calling the next Sonic game Project Needlemouse. More »

Oh The Weather Outside Is...Ice

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:20:00 EST

If the weather outside is frightful, there's a good chance Victor Fries is out there somewhere. Sony Online Entertainment reveals the DC Universe Online look for one of Batman's most tragic villains, and I'm not even counting the movie appearance. More »

Uncharted 2 Art, Straight from the Artists Themselves

Owen Good — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST

With Uncharted 2 out and scarfing up a bathtub of major awards, especially for visuals, the games' creators are showing us how it was built. Several Naughty Dog artists have posted a ton of art in this thread. More »

An Early Look At Interplay's Fallout MMO

Brian Crecente — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

The legal back and forth between Interplay and Bethesda over the rights to make a Fallout massively multiplayer game had some interesting... fallout recently: Concept art. More »

A Boy And His Blob Get Their Own Month

Mike Fahey — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Majesco reveals new concept art and the cover to the Wii reimagining of NES classic A Boy and His Blob as part of Blob Month, a celebration leading up to the game's October 6th release. More »

Scrapped Halo MMO's title: 'Halo Universe'?

Owen Good — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:30:00 EDT

Dylan Cole, an artist formerly with Ensemble Studios, has on his personal Web site some concept pieces for a canceled Halo project that may or may not have been called "Halo Universe." More »

A Flood Of Heavy Rain Images And Concept Art

Andrew Freedman — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EDT

Gamescom brings more Heavy Rain screens and concept art. These all come after Sony showed the game off at its press conference. The PS3 exclusive is out next year, but check out this batch now. More »

The Other Real-Life Inspiration For The Saboteur's Hero

Mike Fahey — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:20:00 EDT

Pandemic's art director Chris Hunt found the inspiration for The Saboteur's main character at a concept artist convention, but not how you'd think. More »

A Glimpse At the Now Dead Aliens RPG

Brian Crecente — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Last week Obsidian Entertainment confirmed what we've known for months: The Aliens RPG is officially dead. This morning pics from the now defunct game have surfaced. More »

The Big Daddies That Might Have Been

Mike Fahey — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:20:00 EDT

Taking an iconic video game character and reverse-engineering it as a prototype is a delicate task. Let's look at a few of the concepts drawing that eventually led to the Big Daddy of BioShock 2. More »

How Wolfenstein Updated its Nazi Cheesecake Ladies

Owen Good — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:00:00 EDT

"Early on there was a small faction within the team that wanted the new Elite Guards to be less 'sexy' and more utilitarian in their look," writes Raven's Kevin Long. Yeah, that didn't last long. More »

It's Good To Be The Saboteur

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EDT

The latest batch of art and screens for Pandemic's The Saboteur display some of the more tangible benefits of being an Irish racing mechanic liberating France from Nazi oppression. More »

Former Diablo II Lead Artist Lays Down The L.A.W.

Mike Fahey — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Online game developer Nitrogen has just announced L.A.W., a post-apocalyptic multiplayer online game for adults designed by the lead artist for Diablo II and a "well-known movie director from the Star Wars". More »

The Brutal Art of Brutal Legend

Brian Crecente — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:20:00 EDT

I can't yet write about what we were shown at Double Fine's San Francisco studio earlier this week, but I did get permission to post some of the pictures from our wait. More »

Concept Art: God Of War III's Fire Titan

Mike Fahey — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST

This fine bit of work from God of War series concept artist Cecil Kim depicts the mighty Fire Titan, displaying the epic scale Sony is aiming for with God of War III. More »

Art Site Reveals DOA PS3 Robot Game

Brian Crecente — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:00:00 EST

Concept art for a never published Playstation 3 robot game for concept art studio Leading Light. More »

The Art That Launched a Thousand Games, Now a Book

Brian Crecente — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:00:59 EST

You can argue whether games end as art, but there's no debating how they start. Behind every shooter, every action title, every role-playing game is an artist's imagining, bits of art meant to inspire. More »

TimeSplitters 4 Concept Art Drips From Corpse of Free Radical

Brian Crecente — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:20:00 EST

Nick Carver is looking for a job. Which sucks for him because now's probably not the best time to be doing that. But it's great for us because he just dumped some of the TimeSplitters 4 concept art he worked on all over the Internet to help him find a new job. More »