Culture

Sunday Comics: With Friends Like These …

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Nerd Rage by Andy Kluthe. Published May 24. Read more of Nerd Rage Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published May…

This Week in the Business: ‘I Would Say, Hang on to Your 360.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “I would say, hang on to your 360.”—Albert Penello, product planning boss for the Xbox One, talking about the genesis of the Xbox One and its lack of backward compatibility with Xbox 360 games QUOTE | “There has to be some…

Some Of The Best Video Game Concept Art On The Planet. Enjoy.

There are very few artists working in video games who I’d label truly “top shelf” without a moment’s hesitation. There’s Craig Mullins. Sparth. Jaime Jones. Daniel Dociu. Oh, and today’s subject, Jesse van Dijk. Formerly of Guerilla Games, the studio behind the Killzone series, van Dijk is now working on Bungie’s Destiny, and is behind…

I For One Welcome The Return Of Our Cyberpunk Overlords

Today’s Fine Art is all about the work of Robin Chyo. An artist who’s mostly worked in the games business, Chyo has either worked for or contracted with clients such as Activision, Fantasy Flight, Microsoft and Universal Pictures. If you remember we actually featured his Modern Warfare 3 work a few years ago. You can…

Ever Wonder Who Does The Art For Game Posters, Ads And Boxes?

Sometimes, the art behind a video game is done by the people making the game. Other times, some of the creative process is handled by an external party, like Massive Black, or Atomhawk Two Dots are another such company, a team of artists who help behind the scenes on everything from a game’s world design…

“It’s Like EVE Online, With Guns!”

Jeff Miller is a 3D artist who works for CCP, the developers behind EVE Online and its FPS spinoff, Dust 514. Previous to that, he’s worked at places like Lucasarts and Ensemble, the Age of Empires and Halo Wars studio closed by Microsoft a few years back. Jeff has also done freelance work for stuff…

Iron Man? More Like Golden Man

This morning we’re looking at the art of Justin Fields, who over the last few years has worked at some of Hollywood’s best concept and effects studios, such as The Aaron Sims Company, Amalgamated Dynamics and Halon Entertainment. If you’ve been to the movies lately you’ve probably seen his stuff; Fields got the chance to…

The Week in Games: Revised Revelations

The console port of last year’s Resident Evil: Revelations leads the list of this week’s new titles, accompanied by the Wii U version of LEGO Batman 2, a downloadable sequel to Call of Juarez, and an adaptation of the latest Fast and Furious movie. Tuesday • Sniper Elite V2 (Wii U) • Resident Evil: Revelations…

Sunday Comics: The Eyes Have It

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published May 14. Read more of Brawl In The Family Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week in the Business: ‘What a Bunch of Elitist B.S.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “That idea of saying, ‘you’re not allowed.’ What a bunch of elitist bullshit. Go [expletive] yourself.”—David Jaffe, veteran designer, talking about consulting on a Kickstarter for Autoduel and why critics of some Kickstarters annoy him QUOTE | “The downside didn’t appear…

Adventure Time’s Jake Is Giving Me Nightmares

Thomas Lishman is a British-based freelance artist who specializes in digital sculpting. You’ll find a selection of his work below. The Adventure time pieces are a definite highlight. “Real” Jake will be serving as nightmare fuel for many a day to come. You can see more of Thomas’ work at his personal site and DeviantArt…

And Now I Have To Pay $25 For A Bag Of Chips. Happy, Lay’s?

Last week Lay’s decided to award the U.S. potato chip prize to Cheesy Garlic Bread, the least interesting of the three “Do Us a Flavor” competitors. A little over a third of America voted for it, allegedly. That leaves a little under two-thirds of America to the mercy of price-gouging jerks on Amazon and eBay…

The Frenchmen Of The Future Have Enormous Heads

This is the art of Fred Augis, who works at French developer Dontnod entertainment, the guys behind Capcom’s upcoming Remember Me. It’s a beautiful game, and Augis is part of a very talented team, so this is a real treat. Prior to joining Dontnod, Augis worked freelance, and has also been employed at places like…

The Realest Ninja Turtle You’ll Ever See

Today on Fine Art we’re looking at the work of Ian Olsen, an artist at Terminal Reality, the developers of games like Bloodrayne, Ghostbusters and…Kinect Star Wars. Previously, he’s been at Sony and Retro, where he got to work on Metroid Prime 3. It’s not every day a Western artist gets to work on a…

Robot Apes, Robot Ladies, Robot…Robots…

Freelance British artist Darren Bartley has worked with companies like Crytek and Runescape developers Jagex. Don’t let the Runescape links fool you; you’re about to see a lot of killer robots. And animals turned into killer robots. You can see more of Darren’s work – including more lemurs – at his personal site and CGHub…

The Week in Games: Metrospecial

THQ’s bankruptcy couldn’t kill it. Now, Metro: Last Light finally arrives for the big three—PC, PS3 and 360. Manhunt resurfaces on PSN and Zen Studios’ awesome pinball simulator debuts on Steam. The Week in Games is brought to you by Dealzon Tuesday • Metro: Last Light (360, PS3, PC) • Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton…

Sunday Comics: Tama-Gotcha

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Nerd Rage by Andy Kluthe. Published May 10. Read more of Nerd Rage Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published May…

This Week in the Business: A Second Chance to Make a Bad Impression

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “‘We realize that those negative impressions exist.”—Precursor Games CEO Paul Caporicci, explaining that the company, composed mostly of ex-Silicon Knights employees, will make better games than the critical and commercial dud X-Men: Destiny QUOTE | “The disappointing launch of the Wii…

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Turtles With Guns Are Top Of The Evening’s Food Chain

Based in Germany, Markus Lovadina currently works as both a freelancer and in the advertising business, but has previously helped out companies like Ubisoft, Activision and Acclaim. Lovadina’s done everything from environments to character design, so there’s a nice mix of styles and types of work below. To see more of his stuff, you can…