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CultureTotal Recall
GameStop’s Trade-In Program, the 1993 Edition
Here’s a flyer for Electronics Boutique’s (now part of GameStop) fledgling trade-in scheme, which not only warns you that the program could end at any time (oh no!), but demands you bring the instructions in. No manual, no trade-in. Compared to the “sure we’ll take any old piece of shit” policy the company has now,…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 1, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Only Game Where You’ll Find James Bond, Capcom and Rob Lowe in the One Place
You don’t need me to tell you how awful most FMV games from the 1990s were. But amidst the wreckage of bad racing games and even worse adventure games, I have a soft spot for Fox Hunt. Mostly because, over 15 years later, I can only now appreciate how batshit crazy the whole thing was.…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 1, 2012 -
Culture
The Art Of Jaime Jones
I’m in love. This is the art of Jaime Jones, an illustrator and concept artist who has worked for clients like Bungie, Blizzard, Wizards of the Coast and Warner Bros. It’s pretty damn special. Lovers of Fine Art may have already caught a glimpse of his work previously, in these Guild Wars 2 clips, but…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 31, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
How Video Game Development Has Changed Over the Past Twenty Years
The video game business isn’t what it used to be. You know that as a gamer, but what you my find even more interesting is the way it’s changed for those actually involved in making the games. Cory Bloyd is a veteran programmer who works at Munkyfun, and who had previously done stuff like helping…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 31, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Konami’s Cheat to Get Around a Silly Nintendo Rule
Did you know that, before 1993, Nintendo of America had a rule that limited the number of games a publisher could release on one of it systems? Yup. In a calendar year a publisher, or “licensee”, could only release five games. No more. It was a rule with its heart in the right place: the…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 31, 2012 -
CultureFrom Making Star Wars Scenes to Making His Own Animated Movie
Lance Myers has been working in the games industry for well over a decade now, mostly in the field of animation. While he’s currently at Spacetime helping on the upcoming Arcane Legends, his last role was at BioWare, where he worked as a storyboard artist for Old Republic’s cinematic sequences. Before that, though, he worked…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 30, 2012 -
Culture
The Week in Games: Say It Three Times Fast
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance on the 3DS headlines another light midsummer week. Other names arriving Tuesday include the Risen and Orcs Must Die! sequels. On Wednesday, Awesomenauts comes to Steam and Deadlight continues the Summer of Arcade on Xbox Live. Tuesday • Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (3DS) • Risen 2: Dark Waters (PS3,…
By Owen Good Published July 29, 2012 -
Culture
Sunday Comics: The Bad Old Days
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. Legacy Control by Javis Ray published July 25.—Read more of Legacy Control Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published July 23.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by…
By Owen Good Published July 29, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallEA’s Best Game of the 1990s Also Had the Worst Acting
People bug EA all the time to bring back vintage old series like Wing Commander, Road Rash and Jungle Strike. All great games, and all worthy of t least a token attempt at mmodernisation. But there’s one game that, for whatever reason, is always left out. Forgotten. And that’s EA’s Crusader series. The first game…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 27, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Awkward Charms of a 1984 TV Show About PC Gaming
This is an episode from Computer Chronicles, a dusty old TV show about…computers. This one is all about games, and features appearances from guys like Atari legend Chris Crawford, EA founder Trip Hawkins and even a guy from Activision. What’s great is that, being a show that’s normally about computers anyway, it doesn’t have the…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 27, 2012 -
Culture
Fantasy Art so Beautiful it Should be Painted on a Crumbling Old Church
Michael C. Hayes is a fantasy illustrator whose work may be familiar to fans of Magic: The Gathering. He’s also worked with Sony Online Entertainment on the Legends of Norrath franchise. Hayes’ work is, well, beautiful. Unlike most other artists we feature here on Fine Art, who specialise in dark environment pieces, basic character art…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 27, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Mario’s First Kart Was, Well, a Little Crap
I’m guessing this is an advertisement of some sort for NES Open Tournament Golf or, as it was known in Japan, Mario Open Golf, a Nintendo Entertainment/Famicom golf game first released in 1991 One of the earliest attempts by Nintendo to shoehorn its platforming characters into a console sports game, it’s perhaps notable these days…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 26, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Let’s All Read This Terrific 1992 Star Fox Comic
If you think everything Nintendo did in the early 1990s outside actual video games sucked, well, no! Sure, there were some awful TV shows, but not everything was bad. This Star Fox comic, for example, was great. It ran in Nintendo Power magazine in 1992, and had – considering the scale of the project –…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 25, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallGamers “Really Loved Killing” Lara Croft, Because She Was a “Strong” Character
There’s an interesting interview with Toby Gard, the creator of Tomb Raider, over on Critical Path’s site. And it reminds us that, for all the platitudes heaped on the series for portraying a strong female character, the fact is a lot of men enjoyed playing as just such a woman for the wrong reasons. Eerily,…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 25, 2012 -
Culture
How The First Death Star Was Built
You see the Death Star being built in Revenge of the Sith, but only from a distance. You see the second Death Star under construction during Return of the Jedi, but you don’t actually see it being constructed. There’s no extended footage of imperial workers swinging space hammers, popping galactic rivets or doubling their efforts.…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 24, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Hey Link, It’s Also Dangerous to do Business With Men Who Look Like Toothless Hobos
Link really is the hero of time, because here he is, in the 1980s, with a take on the Resident Evil 4 merchant meme years before Resident Evil 1 was even a twinkle in Shinji Mikami’s eye. [via VG Junk]
By Luke Plunkett Published July 24, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallStar Wars Used to be Uncool. Pinball Helped Bring it Back.
This Star Wars pinball machine wasn’t released in the 70s, or 80s. It was released in 1992, which makes it very special, because that makes it part of the great Star Wars renaissance. After the hype over the original trilogy died down after the mid-80s, as weird as it is to imagine now, Star Wars…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 24, 2012 -
Culture
The Futuristic Landscapes of Concept Artist Josh Kao
Josh Kao is a concept artist and illustrator who over the years has worked with studios like EA, Irrational (BioShock Infinite) and Microsoft (Halo 4). He’s also contributed to Firefall, God of War: Ascension, Playstation All Stars Battle Royale and Black Ops II so, yeah, he’s very good at what he does. In addition to…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 24, 2012
