Since these pictures are worth 13,000 words at current conversion rates, we'd say that's an ample apology. Personally, I love the invincible Mario and the hypercolored Koopa Kids. Grab them for your personal collection in the gallery.

The violent cop drama is said to be only a few months old, but currently playable, focusing on a police detective that plays by his own rules—as interesting fictional police detectives are wont to do. Some two dozen-plus pieces of artwork from Necessary Force highlight the game's planned police brutality, but also appear to highlight an actual use of color in the gritty game.

While gritty, ultra-violent open world police dramas aren't necessarily my "thing," the title looks interesting. It's intriguing if only for the reason that we're getting a peek at the game's artwork and visual design before any real chance of release, not as some post mortem highlighting what could have been.

Artwork [Necessary Force]

The game's first artwork, from artist Kazuya Takahashi, is yours for the downloading. We're only showing you a snippet of the full-sized piece above, which measures a hefty 3000 x 779 resolution. You can download that right here should you be in the market for something new and crystal-filled for your desktop.

If Final Fantasy MMOs aren't your thing, stay tuned. We'll have more artwork from E3 for you later this week.

Appreciators of Kim's work on Magna Carta II—previously featured here—will likely be extremely pleased that the game is not just limited to a Japanese release, but will also come stateside, courtesy of Namco Bandai.

The rest of you who only want to ogle gorgeous character designs can soother yourselves the gallery below.

While Magna Carta II has only been announced for the Xbox 360 in Japan at this point, that doesn't stop us from posting trailers or high-res character designs—even if some of us are on the fence about Kim's style. I didn't happen to play the PlayStation 2 version, Magna Carta: Tears of Blood, that Atlus brought stateside, so I'll plead ignorance to the game's quality.

But we promised more artwork. And we intend to make good on that promise.

But the game is gorgeous, one of the more interesting third-party titles coming for the Wii this year. And one that's managing to somewhat decently so far in Japan, so we don't necessarily mind that Vanillaware and crew clearly have aftermarket plans to shill Muramasa: The Demon Blade stuff. New wallpapers from the game, direct from the publisher, that don't even feature the game's hero and heroine are all the evidence we need.

Hey, we'll gladly post about the inevitable mouse pads, hump pillows and figures—and the inevitable digital macro breakdowns from figure collecting perv web sites. So just let the pandering to horny otaku wash over you and enjoy some new wallpapers from the publisher.

Oboro Muramasa Wallpaper Shame #1, #2 [Marvelous via GoNintendo]

Namco Bandai has so far released character renders for 20 of Tekken 6's fighters for us to use, less than half of the arcade lineup. So we'll likely have more character artwork for you to download before the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions ship later this year.

Until then, peruse. And any requests for future artwork posts are more than welcome.

We've got plenty of RPG staples here: ludicrously unwearable armor, gargantuan swords, dragons, presumably tormented male protagonist. What we don't have: much of an inkling about what this project might be. It could certainly be artwork from in-development title or something that's been canceled — like Mistwalker's nixed Cry On.

Despite the presence of blue and dragons, it doesn't fit visually with Mistwalker's Blue Dragon series. Any guesses? Big, big image after this.

Mistwalker Gallery [Official Site via NeoGAF]

There's some spectacular stuff here, worthy of desktop wallpapering, visual inspiration for many of the game's gorgeous cut scenes. Perhaps it's time for a point and click Halo Adventures to really breathe some exploitation into the series. What's that you say? "Jesus Christ, no"?

"World of Warcraft is a global phenomenon that boasts a large base of people who not only actively play the online game and TCG, but who also really enjoy the artwork in the games," said Tim Muret, Vice President of Upper Deck Authenticated. "We wanted to release a book for these players as well as celebrate the great work of these artists."

UPPER DECK ENTERS THE PUBLISHING WORLD WITH BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® TO RELEASE FIRST-EVER HARDCOVER BOOK SHOWCASING ARTWORK FROM AWARD-WINNING WORLD OF WARCRAFT® TRADING CARD GAME

'World of Warcraft: The Art of the Trading Card Game' Will Be Available at Major Retailers in January 2008

CARLSBAD, Calif.- Upper Deck and Blizzard Entertainment® today announced the January 2008 release of a new hardcover book titled World of Warcraft®: The Art of the Trading Card Game, which will feature artwork created for the highly popular World of Warcraft Trading Card Game (TCG). Published by Chronicle Books, the 288-page, 11"x9" book will include more than 300 full-color iconic pieces of art featured during the first year of release of the World of Warcraft TCG.

World of Warcraft: The Art of the Trading Card Game will feature a collection of sketches, paintings and finished artwork highlighting a selection of World of Warcraft's most valiant heroes, devastating spellcasters and bloodthirsty creatures created by some of today's top fantasy artists. These artists include Todd McFarlane (Spawn), Greg Staples (Judge Dredd), Zoltan Boros and Gabor Szikszai (InQuest Gamer magazine's "Artists of the Year" recipients), Marcelo Vignali (Disney Animation), and Todd Lockwood (Forgotten Realms), among others.

"World of Warcraft is a global phenomenon that boasts a large base of people who not only actively play the online game and TCG, but who also really enjoy the artwork in the games," said Tim Muret, Vice President of Upper Deck Authenticated. "We wanted to release a book for these players as well as celebrate the great work of these artists."

Insightful forewords are given by Blizzard's Senior Art Director, Samwise Didier, and Art Lead Glenn Rane. Jeremy Cranford, Art Acquisitions Manager for Upper Deck Entertainment, provides the book's introduction.

Based on Blizzard Entertainment's hit massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), the TCG allows players to experience the action and adventure of World of Warcraft in a new format. Released in October 2006, the TCG's premiere set quickly became the hottest and most-sought-after trading card game in the industry, prompting UDE to print additional quantities to support the overwhelming demand.

World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG in the world, with more than 9 million subscribers playing the game in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Europe, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. In World of Warcraft, players assume the roles of legendary heroes and interact with thousands of other players online as they explore, adventure, and quest across a vast realm. Whether journeying together or fighting against one another in epic battles, players form friendships, forge alliances, and compete against enemies for power and glory.

For more information on World of Warcraft: The Art of the Trading Card Game, log onto www.upperdeckentertainment.com.

I just received my second email from the LEGO Universe team today, this one revealing so more concept sketches from the Net Devil folks working to bring the world of bricks to the world of clicks.

The two new concept images show a taste of the game's interesting, perhaps European architecture, as well as some of the minifigs, some destruction and an kinda cool looking airship.

Hit the jump for the images and newsletter.

Planet earth shudders and quakes ...... quivers and shakes. There's a new universe coming to life!

Last month the LEGO® Universe team called for help creating a game logo and a cool newsletter name. Thanks for all the dynamite ideas and designs. Keep your eyes peeled next month ... you could see your creation used for the good of the Universe!

Exclusives in Every Edition
Newsletter names like "LEGO Insiders" by Aragorn3737 make it seem like people are pining for peeks into the Universe. Well, ahem, here's a link to a secret spot where you can see concept sketches by LEGO Universe artists!
You can always share this shrouded information with your best buddies, but it's the people signed up at http://www.legouniverse.com who get the goods first! You'll nab more scoops in next month's newsletter!

Form the Future!
Nocturnsly needed to know what your minifigs will look like, so he asked on the message boards. Now you can show us the characters you'll create! Post a picture of your little LEGO person here, and you may see them again soon in a surprise setting!
Just like the online game it's about, this newsletter will be shaped by fan feedback. Go to the message boards to guide us toward the topics you want to see covered in the future. We'll try to tackle them!

Until next month, play well!
-The LEGO Universe Team

Splicers are among the many enemies you'll encounter in BioShock. Once some of the best minds in the world, these people chose to leave the world above and become citizens of Rapture. They then began to morph and adapt their bodies to optimize their wits, the physique, anything they could dream up perfecting, they augmented. Sometimes, to horrible ends.

The "Yam Hand" (also called, "Yammie) character eventually turned into a full-fledged Big Daddy in later versions of Waters' concept. I love how some of the lady friends look like zombie versions of Bettie Page. Kim Phu

Splicer Art Sketches [2K Games]

Obviously, you should consider the following shots potential spoilers. Those of you on the fence about buying another Monkey Ball game, myself included, should at least check them out. Michael McWhertor

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz Bosses Gallery

One time I had Ashcraft in a headlock and Florian was creeping up behind him with the screwdriver ( think this was when Reggie got promoted), and suddenly we hear the New Post alarm and Crecente swaggers in looking all fat and sassy. That scrubby bastard thinks he owns ALL the posts.

These are some old drawngs I did from about 4th grade when I was 10 years old. The story was for a class project and I was in a rush to make something so i threw that together fairly last minute. I'm still a procrastinator to this day haha. The Earthworm Jim and Sonic ones I did when I was 13. The rest I did when was was about 14 and discovered prismacolor pencils.

Well you know what, Crecente? You don't. You just don't.

I am king of the bashful pride associated with the great deeds of childhood. Blush, sweet readers, and send me your adorable legacy. I will put them up on the Kotaku fridge.

Wait! That's it!Eliza Gauger

Old Video Game Drawings by Aaron [Flickr]

Previously on Kotaku Fridgu:
Childhoods Spent Indoors: SJ Edition
Eric's Diary
Ben's Donkey Kong-Riddled Diary