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CultureTotal RecallThe Star Warsploitation Film That Deserved a Crummy Atari Game
If you’ve never seen 1979’s Starcrash, boy are you missing out. It’s basically a collection of awful special effects, Flash Gordon-style pulp science fiction and a lot of attractive women in small bikinis and thigh-high boots. Of all the bad Star Wars clones that emerged in the wake of George Lucas’ classic, this was one…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 -
CultureMcDonald’s Fish McBites: The Snacktaku Review
In all my 38-plus years on this great spinning dirt ball of ours I’ve never once heard a person exclaim, “Hooray, fish nuggets!” Can McDonald’s Fish McBites make that happen? Of course not. No single corporate entity possesses that much power. The best the fast food giant can hope to achieve is assuaging the powerful…
By Mike Fahey Published March 26, 2012 -
Culture
The Tail of a Tiger
Tiger Woods, who just won his first PGA Tour event in two years, dominates a very thin week for releases at the end of the quarter. Tuesday • Supremacy MMA (PS Vita) • Myst (DS) • Country Dance: All Stars Kinect (360) • Warriors Orochi 3 (360) • Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 (360, PS3)…
By Owen Good Published March 25, 2012 -
Culture
Sunday Comics: There Goes the Neighborhood
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. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published March 22.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published March 19.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by…
By Owen Good Published March 25, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Fantastic Mass Effect 2 Music That Didn’t Make The Cut
We know that some really cool music from the first Mass Effect is hidden in the background of Mass Effect 3. As it turns out, there’s also some great unused music from Mass Effect 2 that’s hidden… in the background of the internet! Okay, that was an awkward transition. At any rate, the video above…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 24, 2012 -
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