Culture Archives - Page 1513 of 1552

It’s the End of the World as This Concept Art Knows it

Ioan Dumitrescu is a Romanian concept artist who does mostly freelance work in the video game industry. While you’ve likely never played some of the games he’s worked on, like World of Mercenaries, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying some of his amazing artwork. You can see more of Ioan’s art at his CGHub site…

By Luke Plunkett Published May 1, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The 1970s Movie That Looks Just Like a Video Game

In 1976, a short film called C’était un Rendez-vous was released in France. It ran for ten minutes. And if you’ve ever played a driving game you’ll probably want to watch it. There’s no real plot or anything to it, at least not until the end. It’s just a guy driving a Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 30, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Video Game Books Used to be Amazing

If cheap magazines or dummy’s guides to dummy’s games are the only exposure you have to video games and the world of words on paper, I’m sorry you weren’t gaming in the 1980s, when you would have been treated to some of these I shared one of them a few weeks back, but seeing a…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 30, 2012

Culture

Gas Station Hot Dogs: The Snacktaku Review

Is the hot dog a snack, or is it a sandwich? Snackologists have long debated whether these discount sausage rolls fell under their dominion or were the bailiwick of the culinary elite. I have formulated, I believe, the ultimate answer. If you purchase a package of hot dogs from your local grocery store, bring it…

By Mike Fahey Published April 30, 2012

Culture

Time for a Snipe Hunt

Sniper Elite V2 leads the hit list of retail releases for this week. Assuming all is well with the publisher, Awesomenauts is due on PSN and XBLA this week, too. Tuesday • Mortal Kombat (PS Vita) • Sniper Elite V2 (360, PS3, PC) • Forza Motorsport 4: May Top Gear Pack (360) • Awesomenauts (PSN)…

By Owen Good Published April 29, 2012

Culture

Sunday Comics: What Would Valve Do?

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 April 27.—Read more of Virtual Shackles Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published April 23.—Read more of Awkward Zombie…

By Owen Good Published April 29, 2012

Culture

This Week in the Business: ‘Nintendo has to let Mario Games on non-Nintendo Devices’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Nintendo has to let Mario games on non-Nintendo devices.”—Nanako Imazu, Tokyo stock analyst, talking about what Nintendo has to do to reverse its massive loss for last year QUOTE | “This is the bombshell waiting to go off.”—Rob Fahey, veteran game…

Steve Peterson Published April 28, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The Classic VHS Horror Game That Was So Funny It Was Scary

Yes my gatekeeper!! Last weekend, I was hanging out at a friend’s board game night. There were some dice on one table, and a deck of cards on the other. Then, over in the corner, some people started fiddling with a VHS player. “Oh,” I thought. “Um.” Before I knew what was happening, we had…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 28, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

In Celebration of Kirby’s 20th Birthday: Fan Art!

Twenty years ago today, Kirby made his debut in Japan on the Gameboy in Kirby’s Dream Land. Today, we celebrate the adorable ball of pink’s birthday, and some of us commiserate with his inability to drink in certain countries. Fortunately I am not amongst those that do. To celebrate, I’ve gathered some standout fan renditions…

By Tina Amini Published April 27, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Quality Time With The Classic Video Game Characters You’d Switch Teams For

Yesterday on #Speakup, commenter chadoban asked which video game characters we’d all go gay (or straight) for. Your answers were as varied as they were enjoyable, so Chris Person thought he’d grab some of the most popular ones and render them into gifs. Check out the gifs below. Enjoy them. Place them on your desktop,…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 27, 2012

Culture

The Delicious Art of Kinman Chan

Artist Kinman Chan has done a lot of work in the movie business, lending his talents to animated films like Mars Needs Moms and A Christmas Carol. He’s also, though, been an artist in the video game industry, where he’s worked for companies like Rockstar and Sony, on games such as Resistance and Red Dead…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 27, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The Shameful History of Hip Hop in Video Game Advertising

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, video game publishers and their cohorts in the marketing world thought it would be a good idea to use rap in their commercials. It was not. This clip takes us on a tour of some of the worst, and while some are stretching the definition of hip-hop, others are entirely…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The Story Behind Sony’s Homebrew Development Kits

Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote a piece on Sony’s Net Yaroze, a kit which allowed PS1 users to make their own video games. Well, anyone who was interested in the subject, please check out this enormous feature over on Gamasutra, which even has in-depth interviews from the men behind it. [Gamasutra]

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Nintendo Power Sure Had Some Amazing Artwork Inside

After I posted those amazing old Zelda images from Nintendo Power the other day, I got an email from reader Yannick, who just so happens to run a blog that collects all kinds of awesome old Nintendo Power artwork by Katsuya Terada. Double Dragon, Contra, there’s all kinds of old NES games Terada has brought…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

Culture

The Art of Prototype 2

Because Prototype 2 is out this week, artists involved in the game are now able to share their work. One of those is Venezuelan César Rizo, who did a lot of environment pieces for the game. Rizo has been a professional concept artist since 2005, and has worked with companies like Radical Entertainment and Relic.…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Batman…Why so Serious? It’s Just a Video Game!

If you’re sensitive to unnecessary amounts of drama in your video game advertisements, a word of caution: this contains an unnecessary amount of drama for a video game commercial. If anyone ever tells you the 1990s weren’t the golden age of video game advertising, you slap them, hard, and tell them they are wrong

By Luke Plunkett Published April 25, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The Third World War Brought Clinton and Saddam Closer Together

The Sega CD was home to some terrible things, but it was also home to some wonderful curiosities as well. And few are as curious as Micronet’s 1993 strategy game The Third World War. Let’s start with the cover art. That amazing cover art. Sadly, it was only for the Japanese edition of the game…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 25, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

Why Did This Game Store Fail? Hilariously Awful Training Videos, Perhaps

Game Crazy, a now-defunct minor player in the US games retail space, operated for around a decade, kicking off in 1999 and winding down in 2010. Those involved with the chain, a subsidiary of Movie Gallery, will tell you its because increased competition squeezed it out of the market. They’re wrong. It’s because a generation…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 24, 2012

CultureTotal Recall

The Making of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

In the late 1980s, Nintendo’s internal development teams set out to make two games that would forever define its classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System. One was Super Mario World. The other was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Work on both games began almost simultaneously. “At Nintendo, we don’t spend a long…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 24, 2012

Culture

More Killer Concept Art From Korea

Not content with showcasing the talents of one Korean artist this month, I’m now going to feature a second, NCSoft’s Tae Won Jun. Also known as “Taega”, he’s an artist at the company behind games such as Lineage, Guild Wars, Wildstar and City of Heroes To see more of his work, visit Taega’s personal page…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 24, 2012