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CultureTotal RecallHeavy Rain‘s Finale Was Never So Hilarious
This isn’t the newest video in the world, but hey! This is Total Recall! We play older stuff here. (Note to those who haven’t played Heavy Rain: This video spoils the living crap out of the game and the ending.) I have no idea how this thing came into existence, but it popped onto my…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 23, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
From Bully to Persona, I Love a Game With a Schedule
I’ve been thinking a lot about why it is that I love both 2008’s Bully and 2010’s Persona 3 Portable, which I’ve recently started playing on my Vita. Both games are set in high schools, and while I’m on the record as wanting more High School games, that’s only part of the reason I like…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 23, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
No Total Recall Tonight, Sorry!
Due to local historian Luke Plunkett being away for the rest of the week, drinking himself under a table somewhere in Australia’s Snowy Mountains, there will be no Total Recall tonight. It’ll return on Friday evening with Kirk Hamilton at the wheel.
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2012 -
Culture
The Sexy, Sword-Swinging Art of Yusuke Kozaki
Yusuke Kozaki is a Japanese artist who, aside from work on comics and anime, has also done some stuff for the No More Heroes series of games. He’s also done character design on the latest Fire Emblem game, Awakening If you’ve played those games, or even been around their marketing, you’ll know their art is/was…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2012 -
Culture
Gorgeous 3D Art From Old Republic, Arkham City & Resident Evil
The fine folks at animation house Blur make some of the best video game trailers and cinematics in the business. So it’s a treat, as always, to be able to feature their work here on Fine Art This morning, we’re looking at Jason Martin, formerly of Blur but now working at Doom creators id Software…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 21, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall1990s Adventure Game Wash-Up Wants Reboot, Begging for Cash on the Internet
If you played PC adventure games in the 1990s, you may have come across detective Tex Murphy, star of the absolutely badass Mean Streets and four more games that weren’t anywhere near as cool. Murphy was one of the first FMV “stars” in video games, which was a lucky break for the character’s creator Chris…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 20, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallBefore LA Noire, There Was This 1996 Noir Adventure Game
Part of the appeal of Rockstar’s LA Noire was the fact it was set in a time period that video games normally avoid like the plague. The hats, the music, the black & white, it should be poison to a generation of gamers accustomed to wars, aliens, sports and fast cars. But as LA Noire’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 20, 2012 -
Culture
The Battlefields, Hangar Bays and Future Guns of Mass Effect 3
Brian Sum is a concept artist who has worked for Canadian developers BioWare since 2007. Before that, he’d been at Sierra and Microsoft’s FASA Studio. As a senior concept artist working on Mass Effect 3, Sum has produced some stunning vistas for many of the game’s galactic locations, ranging from the inside of alien starships…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 20, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallWhen French Musicians Make Love to the Video Games of the 1980s
Teaming up with French band Sna-Fu Grand Desordre Orchestre, artist Pierre Manry has made a clip for the group’s song Dream O Rama that is one enormous tip of the hat to the video games of yesteryear. If you like what you see, the band has alternate versions hosted on their site, like one as…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 20, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallAnd You Thought Mass Effect 3’s Ending Was Bad…
When people get all misty-eyed about the amazing, original Syndicate from 1993, they often overlook something. The game’s ending. Or, to be more accurate, its complete lack of one. Maybe they never finished the game, I don’t know, but I did. And it was a tough game. So getting to the end I was expecting…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 19, 2012 -
CultureChocolate Creme Twinkies: The Snacktaku Review
Consider, if you will, the Twinkie—that classic combination of golden sponge cake and creamy filling. It’s a solid, dependable snack cake. You always know what you’re getting when you sink your teeth into one of Hostess’ legendary creations. But what if you don’t? What if, in the throes of an uncontrollable snack attack, you reach…
By Mike Fahey Published March 19, 2012 -
Culture
In the Gaiden of Good and Evil
Ninja Gaiden 3 and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City lead the list of console releases this week, joined by Armored Core V and the return of Kid Icarus at the end of the week. Tuesday • Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PS3, 360) • Ninja Gaiden 3 (PS3, 360) • Armored Core V (PS3, 360)…
By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012 -
Culture
Sunday Comics: Get Well Soon
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. Special note: Please do keep Matthew Taranto, creator of Brawl in the Family, in your thoughts. You may have noticed his comic has not published for a…
By Owen Good Published March 18, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
I Have a Hard Time Believing This Duke Nukem 3D Map Was Drawn From Memory, But Okay
We’ve written about Mapstalgia a couple times before. On the tumblr, people submit maps of classic games that they’ve drawn from memory. This map of the Red Light District from Duke Nukem 3D, strains the whole “from memory” aspect of things, but it’s still impressive. (You can view the full version by expanding the image…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 16, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallBioWare’s Least Awkward Love Scene
But when it comes time to seal the romantic deal in a BioWare game, do things really need to be so awkward? Because damn, things have gotten weird. As Tom Bissell puts it in his Grantland critique of the game—”In fact, could we, as gamers, maybe politely band together to convince BioWare to can the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 16, 2012 -
Culture
The Boardroom Battlefields of the New Syndicate
Say what you will about the game’s departure from both the look and feel of the original, there were sections of the latest Syndicate that looked just great. Mostly anything involving an office from the future. Or anything that flew. Those looked awesome as well. This environment and vehicle art from the game is the…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2012