Portable XBox 360/Zune Phone Fantasy is Exactly What Microsoft Should Make [Gizmodo]

OMG Iron Man in the Hulk game!

Five days ago, in an unexpected terrorist attack, the entire shipment of liquid-soap for Europe was hijacked - hundreds of lorries diverted towards Paris and their contents spilled over French capital. The scenes were horrifying - millions of Frenchmen who hadn't washed in decades screaming as they were forcibly cleansed.

That Videogame Blog points out that concept artist Ben Mauro recently put up a nice collection of concept images for a "proposed sequel to BioShock."

Mauro told the site that these are just personal images he created for an art class he was taking. The assignment, he says, was to design a sequel for a video game or movie.

Too bad, because it's some pretty amazing stuff. I liked it so much I sent a link to Ken Levine to see what he thought. Haven't heard back yet.

It almost looks as if Mauro was thinking prequel when he did this art. Perhaps this shows the making of Rapture? Check out the link for images of his tram system.

Mid-Term Update... [Perpetual Motion, via That Videogame Blog]

Hotness. But what's with those shoulder buttons?

Concept [flickr via PSPFanboy]

Next comes the Disciples of Kaine, an evil class that combines the close-up, dagger style of the classic rogue with the dark rites of Kaine, stealing their foes essence and offering it to their god in exchange for power. Sort of a mage thief, from the information provided. Sounds absolutely splendid.

Then we have the High Elven land of Ellyrion.

The vast, rolling plains and mild climate of Ellyrion make this inner kingdom the perfect breeding ground for the finest Elven steeds in all of Ulthuan. Great herds of these amazingly swift and graceful creatures roam the grasslands throughout the year, and are prized among the noble lords of the Phoenix King's court for their magnificent quality and majestic beauty.

And a look at the various taverns serving as home bases across the lands in the game...

Realm versus realm keeps factor heavily into the gigantic, ongoing RVR combat that the game hopes will draw in PVP players in droves.

And finally a quick trio of renders from the next cinematic trailer, coming soon to video game website near you, doubtlessly joined by another several dozen bits of concept art.

And I really do like the idea of a 16x9 screen on top (even if this image might not hit that scale perfectly, I can't tell). So what if games couldn't take advantage of the screen real estate, since movies and TV shows would look great. What do you think? Hot or not? Hit the jump for another shot.

That chrome DS symbol really seals the deal for me. Yes, I too can't believe that I just typed that last sentence. Hit the link for more shots.

Nintendo DS 2: the 3D Mock-Up Makes Us Drool Alien-Style [gizmodo]

Tetris Forever [via Gizmodo]

Horizontal scrolling allows you to check out different media easily within the current interface, taking advantage of the wide aspect ratio to fit numerous large preview images on the screen at once. And general navigation can be as quick and easy as XMB is now.
Plus, the pain in the ass shopping cart interface has been simplified in scrollable icons.

I dread the day when I'll actually visit the PS Store on a regular basis. So go ahead Sony, rip off this design. It's OK if one designer's heart is broken for the good of many. Better yet, just hire him. And then you can sit around the bar, telling interface jokes at LIVE Marketplace's expense (or at least show your face in public).

The "New" (photoshopped) PS Store [ps3forums]
Thanks Gantz!

The only element we're not sold on is the whammy bar which, though coated with with rubber "to prevent screen damage," doesn't seem to work next to the strum bar. Activision, Harmonix, whoever-the-hell has the rights now—let's make it happen. But an FYI: as long as the fret buttons are in tact, I can just strum with the buttons. You know, if that will help or something.

Concept by Dan Moore.

There's even more out there! Do a Google search for Iron Man and you'll find thousands of pieces of Iron Man 'concept art.' Was this really necessary, Sega PR people? Just tell us that Iron Man will be fighting tanks and we'll fill in the rest in our heads. If you'd have sent this out as Iron Man Desktop Wallpaper I would have been much more forgiving.

On a related note, check out Superhero Hype! for a write-up of the preview trailer for the Iron Man movie shown at Comic Con yesterday. Much more exciting than crouching in front of tanks.

The Cult of Rapture has posted a small gallery of level sketches and concept art that eventually became the beautiful and tragic locales of BioShock. Ranging from pencil sketches to fully realized paintings, the six images are a great look for anyone interested in the artistic side of this "beyond your typical FPS" game.

BioShock Level Art Design [The Cult of Rapture

"We went to E3 with our most neutral environment, which was only meant to be neutral. We didn't have our lighting working right...the characters blended into the background, so we quickly learned our lesson on that and everything we've done is about making the characters come forward. " -Evan Hirsch, Art Director, FASA Studios

When I visited FASA a few months ago for an early look at Shadowrun, I talked for a long time to Art Director Evan Hirsch about E3—and more specifically the royal spanking that the game's graphics design had received at the event. He was clearly humbled by the situation—not just the negative response from fans—but from his own peers in the business.

At the time, Hirsch was retooling characters while testers played a game full of trolls running around in red and blue footie pajamas. Given my long infatuation with footie pajamas, I just had to see how this story turned out. So I set a date to talk more around the game's release. Hirsch and I, along with FASA Studio Head Mitch Gitelman, talked for nearly 45 minutes as I baked in a hot car under Texas sun (a necessity for a quiet interview on the road). Still, I enjoyed the conversation and Hirsch's blunt explanation of Shadowrun's art design.

In other words, yes, this article is long as hell. Yes, Hirsch said a lot of interesting stuff. Yes, there are lots of pretty pictures for those too lazy to read.

Characters In Differing Environments: Making them Shootable

"Our characters are effectively a studied signal to noise...The problem is, the more realistic you make [them], if you go with, say, Gears of War, the signal to noise is really hard. That works in a Gears space but it doesn't work in a wicked-fast, twitchy space," Hirsch explained. "We didn't want to make them cartoony, because we know how people thought about that... For me it was about finding that balance point - how do you make it very different and very visible?"

Easy: Profiles, Color Pallet and Lighting (I may have been given the answers.)

Racial profiling may be frowned upon in real life, but it's essential in Shadowrun. Knowing a troll from a dwarf is relatively simple to design, but what about knowing an RNA (corporate) troll from a Lineage (native) troll—just from their profiles? A solution was found through symmetry. The RNA is symmetrical, from the characters to their monolithic environments. Meanwhile, the Lineage assets are equally asymmetrical, breaking the corporate mold, so to speak.

Color Pallets are organized in a similar fashion, with cold tones (blues) denoting RNA and warm tones (reds) denoting Lineage.

"Why'd we go with blue [for RNA]? If we went with green then it's the military in the Tom Clancy games...Why don't we go with brown? Then it's Smokey and the Bandit and the forest service," Hirsch said. "But we had to explore all this, because we wanted them to look like mercenaries. Blue is really the only color that made them look like mercenaries without being the army."

Using lighting, Hirsch and his team solidified the color palletes of both the characters and the maps. Since these environments (in essence) match either red or blue color palletes, lighting clarifies any potential blending issues that may crop, and allow fine tweaking on the "moving target" factor. Note: I just made that term up and have no clue why I put it in quotes.

Ultimately, these decisions combine to a relatively unconscious gaming experience in which a player simply feels like their character does or does not belong on a certain map or alongside a certain team, adding a sense of story and identity to a game that technically has no story other than that in the manual.

Or as Gitelman put it, "whether or not anyone reads the story or not, they know that one's there."

Creating Drama on a Budget

"The biggest challenge of Shadowrun for me - as an art director - was I had 16 characters on screen that could, at any given time, each spawn three characters. Each one of our characters is carrying roughly 65 bones," said Hirsch. "That means I've got 3,072 collision detection calculations potentially in every frame...And I've got 30 bullets a second per character."

So disagreements can become petty slap fights easily.

"John (lead designer) and I had many screaming matches over whether or not I could have weeds in hallways," said Hirsch. "Because if I draw weeds, is that gonna cost him bullets and frames? Everything on that screen costs you something."

Hirsch also gave me the example of rails on stairways. He needed them to invoke a sense of speed, but those working on gameplay could use those resources for any number of other things. In very few cases designers had to compromise hugely to squeeze them in: like by omitting collision detection.

Another price of the online game environment was that the entire map had to be loaded into the 512MB of RAM at all times, since buffering simply isn't an option when you can teleport indoors to outdoors or up 5 stories of a building in a manner of seconds.

To make the game work, Hirsch had to "rob" the RNA level's development time to give the team a longer window to make the complex Lineage and slum levels possible. And by choosing International Style Architecture for the RNA, the art team was able to create a look that wouldn't require painstaking technical compromises at every turn.

"They're a simple form, but they actually, to your eye, don't look like simple extrusions like they normally would in a hallway shooter because these buildings have been around for hundreds of years, you understand that style of architecture...We just add texture and color and lighting to mess with your eye, but that was it."

And Hirsch is right: the ultra-sterile RNA maps are simple without making you feel cheated. The non-RNA levels, as we talked about before, fall back on the property of asymmetry to create identity and tension.

"One of the big goals for me and John was that in the slums maps, you always feel like you're being closed in on, you always feel like you're in a Alfred Hitchcock film."

"All the angles are odd angles, nothing is perfectly linear, everything is off. All The buildings if you look up are coming in over your head more than they're going away. And we do all that on purpose to make you feel more anxious and uncomfortable," Hirsch said. "In the corporate spaces they're much more ordered, and actually you have a different problem that in some cases they're so symmetrical that you get lost."

So What's Missing?
Every developer has things they wanted in a game but just couldn't make happen. Here are Evan Hirsch's top three:

More Effects/Shaders
"The look we came up for the magic like teleport, smoke and resurrect, all had this wonderful unique look. What I wish I could have done more was getting more of a tech look to work on the tech effects... we hired in a new guy who comes from the film industry and wrote his own shaders, and it wasn't until the last month of the project that he figured out how to work it within our engine. The shaders he wrote for something like the minion are just stunning. The minion's hot shit... I really wish we had gotten our head around it much earlier."

Female Elves
"The biggest compromise was the female elves. We had a whole set of female elves that we just loved, but...we agreed that to bring females in we'd need to have them move differently, and we just didn't have the time to get that done. We had the models built and the skeleton built and we just couldn't get it in on our date."

Various 3D Atmospherics
"The last one is, and this was a conscious decision, we had to cut a lot of the real 3D atmospherics that we had in. If you see in the intro video there's a waterfall. That waterfall was actually in the game. It was the waterfall or the minions - guess who won."

Too bad...that waterfall was "hot shit".

I'm with the Fallout forum regulars here...this is just too similar to the Capitol building concept from three weeks ago to really be all that interesting. They should have ended it with the spectacular piece from last week, which highlighted the 50's vibe that we know and love.

And that's it for the concept art. Now we just have seven days til the extremely important teaser trailer, as the more rabid Fallout followers sit by their computers, lighters poised under Molotov rag wicks as they watch for the slightest misstep. You can do it Bethesda. I believe in you. Michael Fahey

Fallout 3 [Bethesda Softworks]

The image is of the Annacostia Naval Yard in DC, only slightly destroyed. I've always found there to be something chilling about recognizable landscapes rendered destroyed through art or cinema, ever since Charlton Heston found the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes. "You Maniacs! You blew it up!" Michael Fahey

Official Fallout Website [Bethesda Softworks]

I'll say it's an all-new look, considering the original character looked something like this.. Not sure how you go from a guy in a striped shirt to an alien with a blue gumdrop for a head. For Boulder Dash purists this is comparable to replacing Mario with an anthropomorphic cat with blue hair. Oh wait.

Luckily for everyone involved, the core charm of Boulder Dash has always been its gameplay, so this isn't exactly a disaster. Just a slightly freaky design choice. All hail the embryonic Teletubby! Michael Fahey

10TACLE STUDIOS AG and FIRST STAR SOFTWARE breath new life into cult gaming figure Rockford

"Boulder Dash -Rocks!" announced for Nintendo DSTM and PSP

Darmstadt, April 12th 2007 - 10TACLE STUDIOS and 10TACLE STUDIOS MOBILE along with First Star Software, Inc. are proud to present the first graphics of cult gaming figure Rockford of Boulder Dash fame. In Boulder Dash - Rocks! , the latest sequel to the 80s cult classic, our familiar well-loved hero appears with a whole new look. Both the logo and characters, as well as the in-game graphics, are designed to appeal to long-standing fans as well as target groups new to Boulder Dash, thus introducing a whole new Boulder Dash look.

The DS and PSP versions each offer at least one play mode custom-designed for, and unique to each platform. Boulder Dash-Rocks! is due for release on both platforms in the fourth quarter of 2007.

This challenging, arcade-puzzle game made its debut in the early 80s and continues to fascinate its enormous fan base decades later. Today the game is acknowledged as one of the classic cult games in computer gaming history. Now Boulder Dash will appear with a hot new look sure to take the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP platforms by storm. The hit game's main objective and game physics remains unchanged: the player has to collect a certain number of diamonds while avoiding falling objects, traps and besting enemies in order to open and discover the exit, before time runs out. Of course there are a number of helpful tools made available to players such as bombs or laser guns which can be loaded with different types of ammunition. These lasers provide the player with different temporary powers, such as the ability to freeze enemies, destroy boulders and even pull diamonds and other distant objects towards the player.

In addition to the classic single-player mode, presented in several different worlds, Boulder Dash- Rocks! offers a multi-player mode as well as three additional game modes for a total of five play modes for each version. There are two new game modes, never before available in the Boulder Dash series, one of which has been custom designed for each of the two different platforms.

For further informations:
www.10tacle.com

###

These include Gran Turismo HD Concept v1.2, now compatible with force feedback steering wheels, an Armored Core 4 demo and a handful of trailers (Stardust, Are We There Yet? and Perfect Stranger).

Good thing this hit, I was about to unleash a tirade directed at Sony for not having enough Ice Cube comedies on the Store. Relationship ruining crisis averted! Michael McWhertor

American McGee's new Spicy Horse Studios is on the hunt for a "dark cartoon" concept artist for their upcoming game based on the dark side of Grimm's Fairy Tales. The ad calling for talent showed up on McGee's Flickr photo gallery a few days ago and was spotted by Kotakuite, Joe. It outlines the types of styles they are looking for which is dark and spooky as opposed to bloody and gory. The list of applicable influences include the likes of Tim Burton, Tim Biskup, Dave McKean, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are and McGee's own Alice. You can send your appropriately creepy samples or links to ken@spicyhorse.com.

A full sized version of the ad with all the trimmings is available for perusal at American McGee's Flickr Gallery or you can see it on American McGee's Blog. Flynn De Marco

I love armored priests. One of the main things I think EQ does better than WoW is allow their healers to wear plate mail instead of confining them to frilly dresses. Warhammer not only allows plate mail and skirts, Warrior Priests can dual wield hammers. Hell. Yeah. Michael Fahey

They go on to offer the following:

Having said this, we realize that our choice of anthropomorphic characters (ie humanoid animals) is likely to attract a fair number of furries. We're ok with that, and if there are enough furries, we'll consider creating a dedicated furry server. We will not, however, be ok with public sex, and won't be providing any sexual animations or content, furry or otherwise.

Cause you know all furries are hella into some hot public sex action. I guess Earth Eternal isn't the high-tech furry haven we all hoped for. Guess it's back to waiting for Furcadia to go next-gen. Michael Fahey

Earth Eternal Website

Kaloki X was one of the first games on Live Arcade that made me actually dig out my wallet, and a fleshed out version of it has me feeling rather tingly all over. Sure to be the best game featuring a mustachioed pig wearing a tie ever created. Michael Fahey

The Peugeot Design Contest recently wrapped up and the judges selected that beauty above for inclusion in Project Gotham Racing 4.

Here's a word from the designer of the Flux:

The name Flux was inspired by the continuous change and flow of our daily lives during work and play. The shape also represents this flow with transitions through hard and smooth lines, between straight and curved all of which are characteristics of Peugeot. A relatively small car (3500cm long by 1650cm wide), it runs on a slim hydrogen power plant hidden in the back along with the tank mounted under the front bonnet. The hood and side body panels are made from plastic, polyurethane for the seats and aluminium for the mechanical parts. The main components such as the chassis and head protection are metal.

Made up of simple body work (basic intersected volumes) the car is easily produced and accessible to everyone but most of all, it's fun to drive.

Digital Displacement points out that it probably didn't hurt that the concept car comes with an Xbox 360 built into the dash. Brian Crecente

Winner of the Pug in PGR4 Contest [Digital Displacement]

Worst part of cell phone gaming? The controls. Face it, punching out an email is hard enough, let alone shooting up a hoarde of baddies. That tiny d-pad just doesn't cut it. A Russian company Industrial Design hopes to make cell phone game better, way better. Called the "CompactAnalog Thumbstick," it's a retractable joystick that pops up when pushed. Otherwise, it phone retains its traditional d-pad. Sadly, this is not a real product as of yet, but just a concept. A good one at that. Brian Ashcraft

Pop-Up Joystick [Boy Genius Report]

Some new and new old and old new updates have been posted to the PlayStation Store recently, including Rally Cross for the PSP, which weighs in at a healthy 105MB. The PSone racer is priced at $5.99 and will surely be playable on the PS3 any day now.

On the free side of things, Sony has both the Genji Days of the Blade costume pack ready to take up hard drive space, as well as an update to Gran Turismo HD Concept. So what's new about the latter? The PlayStation Underground just sent us this notice:

Our records indicate that you downloaded Gran Turismo HD Concept from the PLAYSTATION(R)Store. Version 1.1 is now available for download, which refines the gameplay experience in Time Trial mode and the accuracy of lap times within the online rankings. Since online ranking results recorded by version 1.1 players will be given priority, it is highly recommended that you download and install it if you are playing the earlier version. Please note that version 1.1 is compatible with existing game save data, allowing you to race your previously unlocked cars.

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and hope you enjoy Gran Turismo HD Concept.

Consider your apology accepted! Bored downloaders can also grab trailers for 300, Fred Claus and the PS3 game GripShift. Yay! Michael McWhertor

I'm also planning to fired up Marvel Ultimate Alliance for some in-house multiplayer action, some Guitar Hero II expert level play and a few hours with the Sega Ages Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box. I'm trying my best to be a well-rounded gamer.

So what's on your agenda this New Year's Eve weekend? Don't be shy about dropping us info on your NYE plans, too. I will probably be hitting up the Flaming Lips/Gnarls Barkely show on the 31st, followed by some heavy drinking to ring in 2007. Michael McWhertor

Sony today announced that Gran Turismo HD Concept is hitting the Playstation store for free on Christmas Eve in North America too. They had previously announced the deal for Japan.

The limited time free download supports 1080p and includes the Eiger Nordwand course. After unlocking ten cars in the time trial mode, players have access to ten more tuned cars as well as a Drift Trial mode.

While it sounds like the game doesn't support online play, it does allow you to upload your times and view the top 10 ranking for each car and mode. You can also play and save replays online.

Here's the list of the cars included in the freebie, in order of appearance:

— 1995 Suzuki Cappucino
— 1989 Mazda Eunos Roadster
— 2004 Honda Integra TYPE R
— 1996 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR
— 2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe
— 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR
— 2005 Lotus Elise 111R
— 1994 Nissan SKYLINE GT-R Vspec II
— 1995 Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car
— 2006 Ferrari 599

Hit the jump for the full release. Brian Crecente

PLAYSTATION(R)Store Offers Gran Turismo(TM) HD Concept Free for
PLAYSTATION(R)3 Owners This Holiday Season

World's Most Popular Driving Videogame Franchise Available in Full HD*

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment
America (SCEA) announced today the December 24 North American release of Gran
Turismo(TM)HD Concept, available for free download, exclusively on the
PLAYSTATION(R)Store (PS Store) for the PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) computer
entertainment system. Developed by Polyphony Digital Inc., this driving game
features an all-new course for players to be the first to drive a Ferrari on a
PS3, as well as have the option to select a car from nine other worldwide
manufacturers that include Infiniti, Lotus, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Suzuki.
Available only for a limited time, Gran Turismo HD Concept takes full
advantage of the PS3 PLAYSTATION 3 hardware performance by providing full HD
1080p* resolution and next-generation car physics ushering in a new era of
racing for the gaming industry.
"Gran Turismo HD Concept provides PS3 and automotive fans a glimpse into
the future of Gran Turismo," states Kazunori Yamauchi, famed creator of the
Gran Turismo franchise. "With the power of the PS3 technology, the world of
Gran Turismo is refined by its full HD visual presentation and unique
interactive experience, resulting in an even more realistic and true driving
simulator."
Upon downloading Gran Turismo HD Concept, PS3 users have access to the
Eiger Nordwand course and can compete in Time Trial races to collect and
unlock new cars. Upon unlocking the initial 10 cars, the player has access to
10 more "Tuned Cars," as well as access to a new driving mode called "Drift
Trial."
In the "Drift Trial" mode, the player can master the art of drifting and
achieve ultimate control of their car. Furthermore, when connected to the
PLAYSTATION(R)Network (PS Network), the player can upload their times and view
the Top 10 rankings for each car and mode, as well as play and save replays
online.

Featured Automobiles in Gran Turismo HD Concept (Year, Manufacturer,
Model)
In order of appearance in game (available in stock and "tuned" versions):

— 1995 Suzuki Cappucino
— 1989 Mazda Eunos Roadster
— 2004 Honda Integra TYPE R
— 1996 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR
— 2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe
— 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR
— 2005 Lotus Elise 111R
— 1994 Nissan SKYLINE GT-R Vspec II
— 1995 Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car
— 2006 Ferrari 599

Additional Information About The Game Modes in Gran Turismo HD Concept
In "Time Trial" mode, the player selects a car and must complete the Eiger
Nordwand course within the target time indicated at the top of the screen.
Each time the player beats the target time, a new car is unlocked and made
available for selection. As stated, upon unlocking all of the cars, the
player can access tuned cars, along with the option to race Eiger Nordwand in
the opposite direction.
In "Drift Trial" mode, the player's drifting technique is tested, rather
than their lap time. The player earns drift points based on their drift
angles, racing lines, and speeds within evaluation zones located at various
turns on the course. For each evaluation zone, the results are based on the
number of flags and a numerical figure. The point total from all zones
determines the player's drift points for the lap and is counted toward the
rankings.
The following settings are available during gameplay: 1)
Transmission — the player can select either Manual or Automatic. 2)
Stability Management (SM) — the player can turn this ON or OFF during
gameplay. ASM is designed to prevent vehicle skidding by controlling each of
the four wheel brakes independently. 3) Traction Control (TC) Level — the
player can set the TCS level, which senses drive-wheel slip and prevents wheel
spin. 4) Tires — the player can select front and rear tires from nine types
of brands.

About Gran Turismo
With more than 45 million units sold worldwide, the award-winning Gran
Turismo franchise for the PlayStation(R) platforms serves as the racing game
of choice amongst the automotive and gaming audience due to its true-to-life
graphics, physics and real-life cars and tracks. Since the inception of the
Gran Turismo franchise, famed creator - Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony
Digital Inc. in Japan have revolutionized the racing category as we know it
today. His offerings provide the gamer with the most true-to-life driving
simulation within the industry and a unique medium for automobile
manufacturers to showcase their products. In Motor Trend Magazine's February
2005 and 2006 issue, Yamauchi was selected as #17/50 most powerful people in
the automotive industry. For more information, please visit
http://www.gran-turismo.com .
The independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has rated
all Gran Turismo properties "E" for Everyone. For more information about the
ESRB, please visit www.esrb.org.

No new news from Lionhead yet about Fable 2, but they did just release these two new bits of concept art. Pipe-smoking FTW. Brian Crecente

Over at ConceptArt.org, one of their posters has published a huge amount of really amazing Guild Wars: Factions concept art. Some of it is really just Cthulhu cool. Of course, the actual game looks nothing like this, but there's scarce a picture in the bunch that wouldn't make a great wallpaper. Florian Eckhardt

Guild Wars Factions - Concept Art [Conceptart.org]

1up reports that art firm Massive Black is pursuing legal action against the head and a former employee of its Shanghai devision, James Xi Zhang and Jenny Chen, respectively.

A job at Massive Black is a student illustrator's wet dream; they handle art for high-profile games and movies, and their roster of character and environmental artists is second to none. I go to their forums and stare at the threads crammed with 16-year-old Corel Painter prodigies whenever I really want to feel like shit about my own drawing ability. The image at right is by Massive Black boss Jason Manley.

But enough about my trembling self-loathing, let's see what those crazy Massive Black peeps are up to:

Massive Black Inc. vs. James Xi Zhang is a civil complaint for injunction and damages. The complaint outlines 11 claims alleged against Zhang and his co-conspirator, Jenny Chen. The other named defendant in the case is "Studio Takeover" — a term the court instituted to indicate the studio Zhang and Chen planned to form from Massive Black Inc.'s clientele. The case also names Does 1-50, preparing for the inclusion of other conspirators, if the ongoing investigation yields more than just Zhang and Yiqiong behind the alleged plot. Among the claims: Fraud, Unlawful Access to Computer Network/Tresspass, Interference with Contract, Breach of Contract and Interference With Prospective Business Advantage.

To sum up, Zhang and Chen skimmed money via "expenses accounts", secretly accepted clients personally that had contacted the company itself, and hired their own artists to work on the sniped properties, using Massive Black's own studios and equipment. Now THAT is ninja'ing most foul. Eliza Gauger

Read the entire article here [1up]

Hit the jump for a gallery of the wonderfully macabre art and if you feel like getting depressed, check out what the game really looks like here. Brian Crecente

The Darkness Artwork [via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Earlier today, Ashcraft mentioned how much he enjoyed looking at concept art, following a game from raw, feverish inspiration to a more polished finished product. I'm similar and I was delighted to find that I could recognize almost every area in Gareth's sketches. If you're a fond ex-Rickenbacker, check it out.FLORIAN ECKHARDT

System Shock 2 Concept Art [Gareth Hinds]

Over at the Concept Art Forums, there's a load of Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 2007 conceptual stuff up. Personally, I find this kind of stuff fascinating and ground-level look at what makes a game tick. Hit the jump for more images. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Concept Art] Thanks, Dan!

Wired's Autopia blog writes about a new Nissan concept car that has a built-in Xbox 360. The Nissan Urge will debut Jan. 9 at the North American International Auto Show. The real question remains: Is the built-in Xbox 360 one of the hard-to-find U.S. systems, or an easy-to-find Japanese system?

Nissan to Show Xbox Car [Autopia]