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Culture
The Future is Either Clean and Glorious, or Dead and Busted…
Artist Dan Blomberg has worked with just about everyone who’s anyone at the top of the concept art food chain, at least as far as video games are concerned. From studios with a history of investing heavily in their own internal talent (Eidos) to firms who do nothing but concept art (Massive Black), Blomberg has…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 19, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Atari’s Awesome Arcade Prototypes
Companies like Sega and Namco tend to get all the credit when it comes to weird and wonderful arcade cabinets, but even all the way back in the 1970s, Atari was trying its hardest to be different. To that end, it came up with a number of prototypes for cabinets that went a little further…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 18, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallMicrosoft Already Has a Computer Called “Surface”, and it Makes Board Games Look Awesome
The unveiling earlier today of Microsoft’s new “Surface” tablets was a strange one for me. Not because of the nature of the product, but for its name. It’s one Microsoft has been using for years, only, for an entirely different device. One that, for a while there, we thought could change the way we played…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 18, 2012 -
Culture
Gods and Heroes
Two heavy-hitters step up on Tuesday—Civilization V and LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. Others of note include the Avengers Chronicles suite of four Marvel-themed tables in Pinball FX2 and Marvel Pinball, and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Monday • Pokemon Conquest (DS) Tuesday • Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles (PSN) • Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Gods…
By Owen Good Published June 17, 2012 -
Culture
Sunday Comics: Chews Your Poison
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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published June 12.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published June 14.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by…
By Owen Good Published June 17, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallBefore Journey, There Was A Game About The Rock Band Journey
Ha, ha, Journey reviewer. You think you’re so clever, inserting Journey lyrics into your game review. Well as it turns out, there once was an arcade game based on the band Journey. Well, it was something of a minigame collection, telling a somewhat awesome story of the band reuniting with their instruments, do a show,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 16, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallA Super-Spy Intro Worthy of Solid Snake
Since I had not played Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater until recently, I had also not seen its introductory credits sequence and accompanying movie. How? I ask you. How had I not seen this? This song, performed by Cynthia Harrell, was a classic almost from the moment the game was released. When the song…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 15, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThis Video Digs Into Our Love Affair With 8-Bit Art
You don’t have to be a regular Kotaku reader to know that “8-bit” has become one a hugely popular aesthetic. 8-bit art, 8-bit music, 8-bit everything. This terrific mini-documentary at PBS goes in-depth into the origins for the trend, pulling together all manner of artists familiar with the movement, from Dr. Octoroc to Anamanaguchi to…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 15, 2012 -
Culture
Time for More Terrific Korean Game Art!
I don’t know what, specifically, it is in the water in South Korea that makes so many of its artists so damn talented, but if they ever feel like bottling it, they could make a fortune. Latest example: Sang-heun Nam, who works at Korean developer Nvius, and whose cheery style is brightening up my dreary…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 15, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Sega, You Can’t Show Hairy Balls in an Advertisement
Sega earned itself quite the reputation during the 1990s for its bold advertising, especially in the European market. Sometimes, though, the company went a little too far. Like these British ads from 1992. Which had dick jokes, masturbation jokes, pissing, enormous breasts and, well, pictures of a guy either rubbing his junk on the back…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 14, 2012 -
CultureThis One’s For Fans of Blizzard’s Cinematic Trailers
David Luong is an artist who, aside from helping out on a number of big-budget Hollywood movies, has also been involved with several Blizzard titles, including Diablo III, World of Warcraft and StarCraft II While he’s done visual FX work as a compositor on some of Blizzard’s best cinematic trailers, he also does matte paintings,…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 14, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
An Evolving History of Old Video Games For Girls
Think back to the video games of the 80s and 90s and most characters, let alone protagonists, were dudes. But not all of them. Which is where the delightfully-named Femicom comes in. It’s a website that’s looking to “collect information about 20th century electronic games and toys, especially video games and computer software, that feature…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 13, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Secrets, and Threats, Lurking Behind Pokémon Games
This is the first episode of Did You Know Gaming?, a new series close to my heart because it does exactly what I try to do here with Total Recall: not necessarily dwell on the known history of games, but the more interesting stuff hiding in the background. It’s off to a good start, with…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 13, 2012 -
Culture
Thundercats, and Concept Art, Ho!
Tyler Breon is an artist who has previously worked on properties such as Spider Man, Uncharted and God of War, including the most recent title in the series, the upcoming Ascension He’s currently employed at Big Red Button Entertainment, who are working on unannounced projects. If you like what you see here, you can check…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 13, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallSee How Tron’s Original Arcade Looks Today
In the 1982 film Tron, nearly everything takes place, in one way or another, inside a joint called Flynn’s Arcade. While at E3 last week, video game historian Scott Patterson decided to skip the noise and light and go and see how the building used for filming is looking today. It’s…not bad! It’s still clearly…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 12, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Nintendo’s Early DRM Was Simple (And Didn’t Work)
DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is in many ways the great scourge of modern gaming. Designed to limit the effects of piracy, it’s often more of a pain in the ass for paying customers than it is a hindrance to pirates. It’s usually associated with PC games, but Nintendo is no stranger to it either.…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 12, 2012 -
Culture
The Beautiful Final Fantasy Art of Yoshitaka Amano
Say the name “Yoshitaka Amano” to a longtime Final Fantasy fan and they may well go all weird behind the eyes, before telling you how much better the games were when he was designing things. I don’t know about that – the current “buckles on EVERYTHING” aesthetic has its fans as well – but there’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 12, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
How Well do You Know Your 90s Video Games?
Reader Saybox has made this terrific timewaster of a browser game, which tests your 90s game knowledge by asking you to “name that tune”. There are 93 games in total listed, and if you’re stuck, there are a limited number of hints you can get. I have little shame in saying I could get less…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 11, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
The Wii U’s Awesome Zombie Shooter is (Sort of) a Reboot of a 1986 PC Game
ZombiU was one of the surprises of E3, taking the boring old zombie shooter idea and using the Wii U’s controller to make something new. The thing is, ZombiU might not be as new as you think. While Ubisoft didn’t trumpet the fact (only mentioning it briefly to attendees waiting for their E3 press conference…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 11, 2012