Noah Wardrip-Fruin, assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz and author of Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies, pokes some holes in the game's seeming perfection.

The design of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves should make integrating gameplay and fiction easier in two particular ways. First, it's linear, so there's no need to worry about unexpected traversals of the fictional space. Second, it's almost entirely scripted - a matter of how adeptly things are accomplished, rather than what approach is taken or what tasks are attempted - so there's little chance of unexpected emergence from game mechanics coming into play in places, times, or combinations other than what the developer intended. Given these advantages/limitations, the game's creators shouldn't have much trouble making sure that gameplay action is solidly motivated by, situated in, and consistent with the fictional world.

And it appears to have worked, at least from the game's reception. As you probably know, the game has been getting great reviews that call it "a rollicking good yarn" that "gives up nothing to the biggest action films you can think of."

I've just started playing myself - thanks to winter break - but I'm actually a bit disappointed in Uncharted 2. It seems as though the gameplay and fiction have more disjuncture than even in the first Uncharted, much less a well-written movie.

Consider, for example, the first major chunk of action (after the prologue in the snow). This is set in a museum, and Nathan Drake (the main character) takes pains to explain to his accomplices that he doesn't want them to bring guns, because they're just going up against museum guards - and he doesn't want to kill anyone. This leads to a bunch of non-lethal hand-to-hand. Next it is revealed that one of the accomplices has brought guns. But they're non-lethal dart guns, so it's okay, and a bunch of museum guards get tranqed. Then, in the midst of this, Drake is hanging from a roof edge when a guard walks toward it. The game prompts the player to hit the square button - which results in grabbing the guard and throwing him to his apparent death. An accomplice makes a joke of this and Drake makes no mention of this completely out of character action. Others have also found this strange. But the associated joke (the one that starts, "There's a guy above you!") also appears to be one of the game's most-quoted.

The next big chunk of action has an even-odder break between the fiction and the design of the gameplay. Here the scenario involves a set of explosive charges that have been placed around a camp. The player character must arm them so that they can be used as part of a diversion. But the process of arming them requires fighting a camp of men armed with automatic weapons - an accomplice says we'll have to "clear the place out" - and the game neither prompts nor seems to provide the possibility of doing this via stealth. So the only way to play is to have a large firefight against people armed with automatic weapons and presumably aware of the route back to the main camp to warn their fellows. This seems likely to create at least as large a "diversion" (at the wrong fictional moment) as blowing up a few explosives mounted to the sides of the very platforms around which the firefight takes place. It's as though the fiction authors said "Let's have them arm some charges" and the gameplay authors said "Let's have the associated challenge be a firefight with several waves of goons" and no one checked to see if the gameplay made any sense with the context and motivation of the fiction.

Starting the game this way was leaving me a bit dispirited, though wanting to press on, given the Edge review's reassurance that the "opening chapters do not see the game at its very best." But then I heard the questions I was asking myself. "Did they put that guard's death in there just so they could work in that joke?" "Why didn't even a single one of the many goons we fought think to run the short distance to the main camp, if they were cut off from their radios?" I realized - these are exactly the sorts of questions I find myself asking after seeing the same blockbuster action movies on which the Uncharted games model their experience.

Arguably this is a sign that the Naughty Dog developers are right on target. It wouldn't have occurred to me as a goal, but it might be a sign of perfection to have emulated not only the globe-hopping spectacle and history-mashing treasure hunts of well-loved action films, but also their sloppiness in integrating action and fiction. Let's hope, however, that Uncharted 3 can reconsider this aspect of devotion to its inspirations.

Reprinted with permission from expressiveintelligentstudio.

Noah Wardrip-Fruin is an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz, where he teaches in the University of California's first undergraduate computer game degree program, co-directs the Expressive Intelligence Studio in the Computer Science department, and founded the Playable Media project group in the Digital Arts and New Media MFA program. His most recent book is Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies.

Below are some of the better ones, but there's plenty more in the OP.

Movies with video game names [Something Awful]

Currently a work in progress, the tapestry will come in at an incredible 620x40cm (or 250x15 inches) when completed, which is amazing not only for its scale as a work of art, but also as a means of visualising game worlds in literal terms.

Super mario projektet [Elsa's Broderier, thanks Vebjørn!]

In addition to actual arcade cabinets, the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines also plays home to a collection of classic posters, for games with such amazing names as Tankodrome and Well, Just You Wait!

These posters are just a sample; you can see the full collection below.

Soviet Video Game Posters [TMSAM, via GameSetWatch]

Which is kinda what this game is like! Though, sadly, not exactly like; as this artwork shows, cues have been taken from the fan-favourite prequel series, but it's not quite the same. Ah well. Still looks a million times better than the spiky look-a-likes the films have been "blessed" with.

These two shots are just a sample; there's plenty more to be found at the Game Informer link below.

Transformers: War For Cybertron Art Gallery [Game Informer]

Richard Diamant, ND's lead character artist, was joined by Darcy Korch, Bryan Wynia, Nichol Norman, Behrooz Roozbeh and many others showcasing their work in Zbrush's community forums. You can get a look at the wireframes, textures, environments, matcaps, and, of course, character models forming the source material for this game.

The thread began with Diamant posting some samples, and then his colleagues quickly followed with theirs, to the delight of forum readers. And now, you. Great community outreach by Naughty Dog, even if it wasn't the intent.

Clarification: Calling these assets concepts is inaccurate. Most if not all were actually used for the game or the public promotion of it.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Art Work [Zbrush Central, thanks to reader Anugrah Adams]

Valve have picked the three winners from a field of over 11,000 entries, each of which will receive one-of-a-kind in-game items. And boy do they deserve it. Especially that "Blue Devil" one. Let's hope there was a clause in the entry forms stating the winners may end up for sale in Valve's store!

[Team Fortress 2]

"The Only Elite Xbox 360 that has been microwaved," boasts the advertisement by artist Kenny Irwin. I'd love to see someone zap theirs just to spite the claim. Anyway, Irwin says half of the proceeds from this auction will go to the Council on American-Islamic Relations of California, which I bet never thought it'd be the beneficiary of a sale of melted consumer electronics.

Irwin's bio, according to the eBay listing:

Kenny Irwin art comes in many unique forms from using bic ball point pens to draw with to weaving xmas lights into textiles to microwaving everyday retail products into other worldly creatures and building giant robots out of your junk and much much more. Kenny Irwin art is endorsed and featured by AVAM [American Visionary Art Museum] and is the talk of the town and the talk of the world. Owning a Kenny Irwin original means owning something everyone talks about. From the internationally renowned dOvetastic Microwave Theater comes this state of the "art" work of art worthy of a place in the Guggenheim Museum sign and dated by Artist Kenny Irwin. Comes with free stylish display stand. Your item is guaranteed to have been microwaved or your money back. Remember, microwaving food is for morons. Price is non-negotiable. Buyer shall receive an object of microwave modern art.

CAIR of California is also listed as the 25 percent recipient of the proceeds from a nuked Wii, going for $5,988. It got the same treatment, microwaving, eyeball-affixing, the works. Speaking of works, these don't.

Microwaved Elite White Xbox 360 and Microwaved Nintendo Wii Mutant Gaming Machine [eBay via Hot Blooded Gaming]

Some of them, you'll just be looking at, but others, you can buy from Ashley's online store, then wear them on your chest.

[infinitecontinues, via Etsi]

As part of this struggle, Valve are running a contest, where the best user-submitted propaganda posters for the war win some prizes, like one-of-a-kind, in-game items named after the artist.

Though the competition is still running, Eric over on GSW has done a little digging and come up with some of the better entrants so far.

While some opt for more contemporary designs, as a history buff I can't go past these, calling on both World Wars for a little inspiration. They're by AgentScarlet, Fenomena and IgnisSolus rspectively.

For the rest, head below.

Propaganda Posters For TF2's Demoman, Soldier [GSW]

So you've got a choice! Either indoctrinate your baby from an early age that its entire existence has been to serve as a puppet for its maniacal master, or...teach it that killing helpless, innocent monsters just to save some dead broad is an OK thing to do.

SaltyandSweet's Shop Announcement [Etsy]

We've only known about Capcom's retro-riffic Mega Man 10 since Nintendo Power revealed the WiiWare title on Wednesday, introducing the world to the glory of Sheep Man, Rock's latest robot nemesis. Two days is forever on the internet, which is why sites like DeviantArt and Pixiv are being flooded with images of this wooly new foe. I for one am just glad that most of the images only have Mega Man hugging Sheep Man. They've all shown tremendous restraint and deserve cookies.

Head over to DeviantArt and the Japanese site Pixiv to see more lovely Sheep Man creations.

And no, I will not apologize for that headline.

Sheep Man Fan-Art Surfaces [Protodude's Rockman Corner via Capcom]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl fans may recognize this version of Andross as he appeared in the original Star Fox for the Super NES, but much of New York's commuting populace will be puzzled by the polygonal antagonist's cover up of their favorite glowing advertisements. You can enjoy photos of the Andross installation at Posterchild's Blade Diary.

Andross [Blade Diary]

Speaking of "Super Mario Clouds," he tells The Guardian's Keith Stuart:

"I knew that the clouds would be simple enough for people to latch on to, and I knew that in order to make art that dealt with technology, you had to, in a way, have the art not directly be about specific technologies. I mean, we think everyone played Nintendo, but really, hardly anybody played Nintendo. Now looking back on it all – it's about… what do these pixelated clouds represent? It represents the whole progression of humans, communication and technology. But I couldn't write that down. And it became a meme slowly. I put it up and it took years for people to see it, but it worked…"

Art doesn't have to mean anything (right?). But if you'd like to share your own thoughts on the work, have at it. And check the original article for more about Arcangel's peers, influences and other works.

The game of art: a profile of digital artist Cory Arcangel [The Guardian UK's Game Blog]

These shots are courtesy of On s'appelle, where you'll find plenty more.

20 ans GAME BOY [On s'appelle @ Flickr, via Tiny Cartridge]

The attention to detail put into this thing is simply mindblowing. For the cards, Baxter took photos of the cards from Pub Games, imported the images into Adobe Illustrator, recreated them there, added distress marks and imperfections to artificially age them, and had a print shop specially order a parchment card stock to print up three decks.

But wait, there's more. The chips. Made of wood in the video game, Shawn got his father, a Chicago artist, to create ceramic chips by hand. Shawn redrew the Fable guild seal and had a special stamp created for his father to emboss the chips. Then they were deliberately underglazed to make them also appear old and worn. Then comes the box. Shawn's cousin is a furniture maker, so, boom, he built that to specification, included an old oiling technique to finish the wood and give it comparatively aged appearance, too.

In all, the materials cost $400. That's not what raises my eyebrows; it's the fact this was only a two-month project.

Anyway, Lionhead, Microsoft Game Studios, Molyneux, whomever, now you have your prototype. Make it happen. I don't think Shawn's dad and cousin are taking orders for the rest of us anytime soon.

My Hand Made Fable Fortune's Tower Set [Capcom-Unity, thanks Noah L.!]