Culture

I Didn’t ‘Get’ DOTA 2 Until I Watched It Live

I’ve tried watching DOTA 2 online. I’ve tried playing it. It just wasn’t for me. Going to a big pro event changed that. Walking into the Red Bull Battlegrounds DOTA 2 event at The Warfield in San Francisco (it’s a venue, not a, er, field of war) was kinda surreal. For one, I’d seen countless…

Heads-up: retrolicious metroidvania Axiom Verge is now available on Steam It’s basically a nostalgia volcano, so beware of nostalgia lava, which corrodes new ideas. However, it’s still quite good, as our own Mike Fahey explained in his review

An Unfinished Game About Finishing An Unfinished Game

Sometimes, the stars align a little too perfectly. The Magic Circle, from former BioShock 2 director and recent Kotaku Asks participant Jordan Thomas, is now on Steam Early Access. This means that it’s unfinished, which is wonderful when paired with the fact that the game is about these things: “You are the protagonist of an…

Time For Some Badass Art

Maciej Kuciara was last featured solo (there have been cameos) here on Fine Art over two years ago, which is too damn long. So here’s an update, with a ton of amazing art. In those two years he’s been busy, working on everything from Jupiter Ascending to The Last of Us. You can see more…

Malebolgia Is Dark Souls‘ Frustration Without Dark Souls‘ Fun

Should I care about Malebolgia? I wish I could say yes. It’s a Dark Souls-alike with its own intriguing world and atmosphere, but it feels awful to play and treats the player like garbage. What’s it about? I was gonna put its Steam description here, but its a monster-sized hairball of untanglable lore. Basically though,…

Valve Isn’t Evil, They Just Don’t Understand People

In recent times, people have taken to calling Valve “evil.” Not negligent, not out of touch with their fans, but evil. I do not think Valve is evil. But I think it matters that people have started to view them—once gaming’s do-no-wrong golden child—that way. I think Valve’s brand of “evil” comes from a place…

Assassin’s Creed Guy Seems Fine Without A Head

On today’s Highlight Reel we have Call of Duty sprees, grenade throws, headshots, headless (yet alive) guillotine victims and much more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below. Bloodborne – Bloodborne Clerical…

Fallout: New Vegas, Turned Into A Hardcore Survival Game

No quests, no factions, people and places you knew and loved reduced to ash. This is a new Wasteland. This is a meaner Wasteland. One of the things I loved about Fallout 3 was how hostile the wasteland felt when you first emerged from the comfy, radroach-infested confines of your Vault—even on lower difficulties. The…

Hot Pockets Ad Better At Gaming Than Hot Pockets

Last night, the legendary purveyors of bread-and-cheese injection systems at Hot Pocketstweeted a photo of a bro playing a Nintendo 64 while another bro helped him eat a Hot Pocket. The tweet has since been removed from Hot Pockets’ timeline. Were they embarrassed about using a dated cultural reference like an N64? I can’t say…

Please, Make A Cartoon About This Football Team

Soon Sang Hong is an artist who has worked for companies like Eyedentity, the Korean studio behind games such as, um, Dragon Nest I’m a fan of everything that gets posted here on Fine Art—it wouldn’t be posted otherwise—but Good Lord, this is something else. There’s so much character, and style, and colour going on…

Awesome Dragon Age Cosplay Is The Real Deal

I’ve seen some good Dragon Age cosplay in my time, but holy cow, this Cassandra Pentaghast is good Cosplay by HydraEvil, photo by D.Eugen (via Cosplay Blog) Here are some more shots by Angy Bell

Dying Light Goes To Outer Space. Thanks, Mods

This isn’t the Dying Light you played when the zombie parkour mash-up first came out. This isn’t that game at all. OK, it is that game a little bit, if only in the sense that there is jumping. Thanks to Steam user Pawciak, though, the rest is nearly unrecognizable. Dying Light, as you likely know,…

What’s The Craziest Thing You’ve Done For A Video Game?

You’ve probably been to your fair share of midnight launches and spent long nights replaying previous titles in preparation for sequels. But dig down deep and share your more shameful stories. Did you steal a friend’s game? Fly to Japan? Mug an old lady for the cash for one? Sleep with a hooker and then…

Dragon Age, You’re Lookin’ Good

Matt DeMino is a freelance artist and illustrator from Texas. Aghast at the fact his own player character’s card in Dragon Age was just a green hand, he set out to fix it, and drew this series of fantastic Inquisition cards. You can see more of Matt’s work at his personal site and DeviantArt page…

The Origins Of Nintendo’s Trademark Box Art

From the very first days of its home console business, Nintendo has given its box art a trademark standard, a border or frame that clearly marks the title as being for a Nintendo system. Did you know, though, that this trademark is a lot older than the NES or Famicom? In the 60’s, Nintendo was…

Darth Vader, Modded Into DOTA 2

“Luke, I am your father and for the love of god stay in your lane.” Steam user RustardGaming has modded DOTA 2’s Juggernaut into Dark Vader, complete with his own little R2-D2 to remind him of better days. He also has his trademark red lightsaber, which presumably reminds him of worse days, like the time…

Please, Steam Dinosaur Game, Don’t Suck

Goodness gracious, ARK: Survival Evolved looks cool. So of course, I’m worried. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but well, we’ve been here before. A bunch of times. With survival games specifically—especially ones headed from the frying pan of hype into the sloooooooow burning fire of Early Access. And for some reason, double-especially when dinosaurs…

Beware The Most Dangerous Trash Can

On today’s Highlight Reel we have terrifying psychic deer, Black Mesa trash cans, dramatic deaths, crotch-damage and much more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below. NHL 15 – Player gets stuck…

Transformers Fixes A Pair Of Glaring Combiner Wars Errors

Two of the biggest problems with Hasbro’snostalgia-fueled Combiner Wars Transformers line so far were a helicopter named Alpha Bravo and a pickup truck named Off-Road. Thanks for filling in, guys—your replacements have arrived. It’s not that fans were intolerant of a helicopter filling in for a fighter jet in the Autobot’s Aerialbots team or a…

Slave Cersei Wouldn’t Choke Jabba, That’s Too Obvious

Cersei Lannister vs Slave Leia. Not the most obvious cosplay crossover, but it works! Cosplay by AlyCat, photo by WeNeals