Culture

Watch Golden Axe Get Ripped to Shreds in 9:27

Raise your hands if you spent a whoooole lot of time playing Golden Axe on your Sega Genesis. I sure did and never in my wildest dreams did I think it could be finished in under ten minutes. That’s exactly what Jason ‘honorableJay’ Feeney does in this speedrun video hosted at Speed Demos Archive. Feeney…

Yes, The PlayStation’s Startup Music Is Still Orgasmic

Remember when the original PlayStation came out? Better yet, remember how incredibly amazing the system’s start up music was? Holy smoke, that was good—and it’s even amazing all these years later. With Sony getting ready to announce the future of the PlayStation on February 20, now is as good a time as any to look…

Dead Space Monsters Aren’t So Scary When They’re Sitting On Your Coffee Table

Titan Books has got together with Electronic Arts to release an art book that celebrates the work not just of the team behind the recently-released Dead Space 3, but of the entire series. The Art of Dead Space, a 300-page, hardcover book, has art from the entire franchise. So not just the three main games,…

They’re Making Mountain Dew for Breakfast, and It’s All Your Fault

As a man that at one point in his life consumed no less than four liters of vaguely citrus soda a day, I find it hard to believe that there was really a large demand for a mildly juice-infused Mountain Dew breakfast drink, yet here we are. Coming February 25 to retail locations across North…

Nintendo’s Awkward 1990s, Remembered On Resurrected VHS

NeoGAF user jjgames has done the history of video games—or at least our ability to easily access some awkwardly amusing parts of it—a great favour. He’s bought six old VHS tapes from the 90s, each containing a Nintendo marketing or training video. They remind us of a time Nintendo was a lot warmer, a lot…

We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat… Well, A Bigger Luxury Automobile

Tonight's Fine Art looks at the work of Alex Brady

The Week in Games: Keep Our Honor Clean

PC, PS3 and 360 gamers are proud to wear the title Aliens: Colonial Marines this week. The turn-based gangster strategy game Omerta also looks to carry out its own Valentine’s Day Massacre on PC and Xbox 360. Today • Brain Age: Concentration Training (3DS) Tuesday • Aliens: Colonial Marines (PC, PS3, 360) • Omerta: City…

Sunday Comics: No Respect

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published Feb. 8. Read more of Brawl In The Family Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Feb.…

This Week in the Business: ‘It’s Highly Unlikely That PS4 or the Next Xbox will be Backwards Compatible’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “It’s highly unlikely that PS4 or the next Xbox will be backwards compatible.”—Chris Morris, veteran game journalist, talking about what Sony needs to do to succeed with the PS4 QUOTE | “EA: Best major publisher of 2012.”—Metacritic’s ranking of Electronic Arts…

Please, Help, I’m Relapsing And Posting More Guild Wars 2 Art

You’d think that the game being out, and out for a while now, would have stopped me lusting after the concept art behind Guild Wars 2, but nope. Not gonna happen. Not when creative director Daniel Dociu is posting fresh pieces. The artist, who you may recognise as the face of Father Grigory in Half-Life…

Sometimes, Koreans Can Give Western Fantasy A Shot In The Arm

Maybe it’s because Western artists are dealing with a genre that’s so close to their own culture and history (or at least close to it), but there’s a reason the majority (though not all!) of fantasy art ends up looking the same. It tends to stick too close to the real deal. Unless it’s some…

The Cold, Not-So-Lonely Art Of Dead Space 3

The game itself may be dividing critics, but I’d hope there’s one thing we can all agree on, and that’s the fact that before the game’s frozen wastelands could be played, they first had to be drawn by some very talented people. We’ve featured Patrick’s work here before, but now that Dead Space 3 is…

Badass 90’s Starfighter Design Lives On With Star Citizen

Kemp Remillard’s been featured here on Fine Art before, for his work on Skyrim. Today, things are a little more technologically advanced. He’s provided art for Star Citizen, the upcoming space shooter from Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts, and that art is making my inner twelve year-old lose his shit. Seriously, there are cutaways. Cutaways…

The Week in Games: A Thief in Time Saves Nine

Fire Emblem: Awakening warms up the release schedule tomorrow in time for a new Sly Cooper and Dead Space 3 on Tuesday. Monday • Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) Tuesday • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dragonborn (PC DLC) • Dead Space 3 (360, PS3, PC) • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, PS Vita)…

Sunday Comics: Starting Over

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published Feb. 1. Read more of Brawl In The Family Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Feb.…

This Week in the Business: “We know we’ve got a fast boat. We just don’t know how deep the water is right now.”

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Wii U has failed to capture consumer imagination.”—Rob Fahey, former editor of GI.biz, talking about Wii U’s problems but ultimately why there’s no need to worry about Nintendo. UPDATE: Fahey also wrote: “Sentiment is negative right now, but fundamentals aren’t, and…

This Isn’t The Monkey King I Remember From Childhood

Maria “Ketka” Trepalina is a freelance Russian concept artist who has recently worked for Blizzard (on the WoW card game), game design house Sibilant Interactive and casual developer G5 What’s great about her work is the life. No barbarian girls with overly-large chests, no dystopian sci-fi futures, no epic medieval battles… just strong characters and…

The Girl With The Dragon…Well, Dragon

Oleg Saakyan is a freelance concept artist who has worked for clients like social game developer Distant Orbit and board game (and increasingly video game) powerhouse Fantasy Flight Games. Expect to see him a lot more in the future, because this guy is good You can see more of Oleg’s work at his personal site…

Watch this insanely perfect speedrun of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 done in under 4 minutes.

Concept Art For A Game That Has Never, And Will Never, Come Out

OK, you’re going to have to bear with me on this one. This art is for a project called Solace. The work of Judson “Tettix” Cowan, it’s an album, and for each song Cowan has drawn a piece of “concept art”, or a “screenshot”, imagining the game that would be based on the music, if…