Culture Archives - Page 1510 of 1552

Some Kick-Ass Fantasy Images to Start Your Wednesday

Sean Murray is an artist who we’ve actually featured here before. But that was when I only posted images pertaining to a particular game, or franchise. Now that I’ve blown Fine Art’s doors off, it’s time to look at the rest of his work, because the stuff he’s done aside from Kingdoms of Amalur is…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 23, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Unboxing a…1986 Sega Master System

Who gives a shit about unboxing modern games hardware. We all do it when we buy the thing, they come with basically nothing, and the documentation is woeful. Let’s enjoy, then, this unboxing of a 1986 Sega Master System bundle. Marvel at the included accessories. Gape in awe at the pack-in games. I actually never…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 22, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Your Eyes Are Not Ready For This Hideous Sega Jacket

Just as Nintendo had its Power Line, so too did Sega once have its own band of phone-based game assistance. It was staffed by men and women who were known as Sega Game Counselors, and in addition to their jobs helping kids get past the tough parts of games, they also got these jackets. This…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 22, 2012

Culture

The Colourful Concept Art of Pink77

Chinese artist XiaoPeng Xing, aka Pink77, has been working in the games industry for eight years now, lending his talents out to clients like Activision/Blizzard and online juggernaut Tencent. His calling card? Bright colours and the female of the species. Some of these images are for professional projects, others – like his King of Fighters…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 22, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Now You Too Can Play the Terrible Akira Video Game!

In 1988, Taito released Akira, cash-in on the hugely-popular animated film of the same name. Just in case you were wondering if Japanese developers somehow made better movie adaptations in the 1980s, no, they did not. The game was terrible. Still, that’s mostly second-hand information, as most Westerners have never actually played the game, since…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 21, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Activision’s 1984 Catalogue Did Not Feature Call of Duty

Before the internet, before people even really cottoned onto the idea of games magazines, publishers had to sell things the old-fashioned way: with TV ads and catalogues. Most catalogues were simple affairs, all bright lights, screenshots and slogans, but sometimes publishers went a little left field. Like Activision did in 1984 when it basically commissioned…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 21, 2012

Culture

Celery with Peanut Butter: The Snacktaku Review

In the comments section of my most recent Snacktaku review, a reader accused me of (and I am paraphrasing here) “eating nothing but crap”. Perhaps this review of the healthy, wholesome combination of a vegetable no one likes and chocolate’s pale understudy will convince him otherwise. Sometimes I eat things that only look like crap…

By Mike Fahey Published May 21, 2012

Culture

A Force to Recon With

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier arrives this week, giving Dragon’s Dogma a tough act to follow. PlayStation Move title Sorcery also finally arrives on shelves. Today • Mario Tennis Open (3DS) Tuesday • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (PS3, 360) • Dragon’s Dogma (360, PS3) • Sorcery (PS3) • Men in Black: Alien Crisis (360,…

By Owen Good Published May 20, 2012

Culture

Sunday Comics: A Hell of an Error

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. Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie published May 18.—Read more of Virtual Shackles Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published May 14.—Read more of Awkward Zombie…

By Owen Good Published May 20, 2012

Culture

This Week in the Business: ‘Do Consumers Still Care About Kinect?’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Do consumers still care about Kinect?”—Veteran games journalist Johnny Minkley tackles the tough questions surrounding the Xbox business and whether Xbox 360 is even catering to the core at this point QUOTE | “Sony has bigger problems than a Vita price…

Steve Peterson Published May 19, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Here’s How To Make The Professor Layton Soundtrack Much Better

The Professor Layton games have long demanded a soundtrack a bit more sophisticated than the one they have—the plinky, “ooh boy, we have a mystery!” music is fine at first, but eventually I’ve found that it begins to grate. This is especially true of the first game that I played in the series, 2008’s Professor…

By Kirk Hamilton Published May 19, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

It Takes A Lot Of Focus To Play Pong… WITH YOUR MIND

Psychic/possessed children are creepy. They do creeeepy things, like stare blankly at you and speak in a monotone and maybe set your hair on fire with their minds. But sometimes, they do something even creepier. They play video games… without using the controllers This scene, from the apparently terrible 1981 horror film Kiss Daddy Goodbye,…

By Kirk Hamilton Published May 18, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The Weird Art of the Video Game Massacre

We’ve all done it. Anyone who’s played an open-world game, from Grand Theft Auto III to Fallout 3 to Red Dead Redemption, has gone on a murderous rampage. Those civilians. They’re all just… sitting there. You know what else is sitting there? Your dark, murderous id. Time to go to town. The number of video…

By Kirk Hamilton Published May 18, 2012

Culture

Star Wars is no Match for Some Good Concept Art by Your Side

Paul Adam is a concept artist at BioWare. No, not the Mass Effect BioWare. Or the Dragon Age BioWare. The Star Wars one. So yeah, you’re about to see some lightsabers. This art was all done for Star Wars: Old Republic, some of it as promotional stuff for the game’s website, other pieces as concept…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 18, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Video Games Kickstarted the Careers of Some of Hollywood’s (and TV’s) Greats

You may have seen one or two of these clips before, maybe even here on Kotaku, but boy, seeing them all laid out in a single video like this is something else. Witness stars like Christian Bale, Jack Black and…30 Rock’s Jenna Maroney and…Paul Rudd get a big break on crappy old video game commercials.…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 17, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

A Very Sexy Introduction to an Ancient Tabletop Game

Sure, I could bang on about Caveman, a tabletop electronic game released by Tomy, and how it had a rad soundtrack and some terrific box art. But my Australian accent is, while occasionally loud, not exactly sexy. And I’ve never actually played this thing. So let’s kick back and watch the Belgians at Bleeping Relics…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 17, 2012

Culture

Only Art Can Bring Halo, Uncharted & Assassin’s Creed Together

Evan Shipard is an Australian artist who has worked on some big movies and movie franchises, such as Wolverine, Narnia and even House of Flying Daggers He’s also worked on a number of prominent video game commercials, including Halo’s Deliver Hope spot and trailers for Battlefield 3, Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed and God of War Shipard…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 17, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Welcome to Atari, Sir, Here’s Your 1973 ID badge

Ronald Jardine was one of the very first employees at Atari. We’re talking the early 1970s here. Employee #159. Wonderfully, Jardine recently took photos of his old ID badge from his time there and uploaded them, giving us an insight into the cutting-edge security methods employed at the blossoming tech company. It was…a card with…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 16, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

You Won’t Sleep After Seeing Soft & Cuddly

Soft & Cuddly was a 1987 game for the ZX Spectrum. It was neither soft, nor cuddly. It was horrifying Strange and mildly disgusting in a way only British-developed game for personal computers in the 1980s could be – and I say that as a good thing – it tasks the player with collecting the…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 16, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

There’s Live-Action Diablo Footage…From Suburban America

This old Diablo II commercial, from around the time of the game’s launch in June 2000, is notable for two things. The first is that it’s a rare example of official live-action Diablo The second is the use of the word Macintosh in the closing splash. For all the credit companies like Valve get these…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 15, 2012