Artist Jason Chan — who also happens to work for concept art house Massive Black, partially responsible for the visual direction of many, many video games — painted this little beauty early last year, well before the launch of Valve's zombie shooter, but it's just now getting some traction, thanks to Digg.

Chan wrote on his personal blog that the painting, dubbed "Zombie Playground," was created for a ConceptArt.org contest, not necessarily as a response or homage to Left 4 Dead. Funny how similar the four zombie slayers are, though, with maybe the exception of Bill.

The good news for fans of the piece (and Chan's bank account) is that the artist is going to be making the item available as a print. We'll give a shout out when that happens.

Zombie Playground Prints in the works [Jason Chan Art]

It's easy to forget the creativity involved in crafting something so involved and so immersive. Fortunately, a new book by one of the industry's most influential group of concept artists will be hitting in mid January to remind us that art is an integral part of video game development.

I just got my hands on an early copy of Massive Black Volume One. The 190-page art book is packed with oil paintings, 3D renderings, sketches and hand drawn concept art from the folks at Massive Black. The book will sell for $60 to $120, depending on whether you want it signed or to get a free piece of original art with it.

Inside my copy of the book I found art for a number of video games titles including Golden Axe : Beast Rider, Hellgate London, Dragon Age: Origins, Ironman, Maelstrom, Red Faction: Guerrilla, Ride to Hell, Dead Head Fred, Saboteur and Area 51. There are even a few bits of art from unreleased projects and some movie and graphic novel concept art.

But the art, as glorious and illuminated as it is, isn't the greatest thing about this book. What really makes this a must have is that it offers gamers a tantalizing glimpse into the world of what could have been.

You see, concept art, no matter how good, doesn't guarantee a successful game. Developers may ignore the art, may take a different direction, or maybe they follow it to a T, but the game itself, because of poor mechanics or bad design or uninspired writing, plain out sucks.

This book offers you a chance to visit a place free of commercial concerns. You can look at that first piece of art found between the black covers of this book and see a world of talking Polar Bears, of a sisterhood of witches, a frozen land of religious battles, and not even realize that it must surely be art used for Activision's take on Golden Compass, a game that was eventually developed by Shiny and published by Sega.

This book delivers to readers the gift of dreaming, imagining the games that could have been had they only relied solely on the vision of artists and never were waylaid by bean counters and schedule keepers.

Massive Black: Volume 1 Our Art Book is Done

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]