- 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 - Uncategorized
GameStop Wants to Sell Second-Hand Digital Games
Seems the world’s largest specialist games retailer is keen on the market for “used” digital downloads. Not in a big way, at least not at first, but they’re definitely picking at the edges of the concept. I don’t know about you, but I prefer my downloads new. When the corners of my digital manual are…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedHoly Crap, These Guys Finished Portal in Eight Minutes
You’re about to see what happens when a team of “speed-runners” knows enough about the progress and timing of a game that they can finish something that normally takes hours in just over eight minutes. The run, with video slightly edited for your viewing pleasure, is above, while this online document is full of notes…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Nintendo Puts a DS Through Mechanical Hell to Make Sure it Works
Despite what some may think, Nintendo doesn’t just make a product, put it on the market and hope everything works. The company has a reputation for making stuff that doesn’t break easily, and these images show how that reputation is maintained. They give a rare glimpse behind the curtain at Nintendo, showing the various stress…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedIs That A Tiger In Your Boat Or Are You Just Glad To See Me
I had mixed feelings when I heard that they were making a film adaptation of Yann Martel lovely little book Life of Pi. I remembered reading that book right when I first moved to San Francisco in 2003—there was a period of time when 50% of the people on the bus were either reading it…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedTera‘s Next Exciting Update Reminds Me I Should Probably Log Into Tera or Something
The Argon Queen update for En Masse Entertainment’s action-packed massively multiplayer online role-playing game Tera drops next month in North America, bringing with it player-versus-player battlegrounds, a 10-man raid, new skills and a nagging reminder that I should probably log into the game sometime this month. It’s not you, Tera; it’s me. I still love…
By Mike Fahey Published July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
What Happens When You Take One Letter Out of a Game’s Name?
The goal was simple. Take a video game’s name and remove one letter. See what happens. What resulted this evening on Twitter was a collection of games that might make you think, might make you laugh, but most likely will just make you think, hey, I would actually play that. And then get you thinking…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Galvanizing Glory Of The Baldur’s Gate Theme Music
Just listen to it. Listen to that puppy. That groove in five, that sinister melody. The way it pushes you, onward. Onward to the character creation screen! In just a couple short months, we’ll get to play the enhanced edition of Baldur’s Gate. That’s extra good news for me, because I played more Baldur’s Gate…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Dead Space Series Composer Will Return For Dead Space 3
In light of the news that Hitman and Assassin’s Creed composer Jesper Kyd is leaving both series, it’s good to hear confirmation that Dead Space composer Jason Graves will be back for the third game. Graves’ creepy strings and dirge-like orchestrations lend a huge amount of atmosphere to Visceral’s first two outer-space creepshows. Good news!
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedGeeky Musicians Unite For The Humble Indie Music Bundle
We’ve had humble indie game bundles, and humble indie game soundtrack bundles… so I guess it only makes sense that we’d get a Humble Indie Music bundle by people who people who like games might like. That was a mouthful. Anyway! Now, you can pay what you want for six albums by OK Go, They…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedA Visual Instrument That Turns Colors Into Music
Music may be something that you hear, but it does have a visual element. That visual aspect is different for everyone—I see melodies and harmonies as shapes, with a chord laid out as a fragment of its parent-scale. It’s asily moved around and re-arranged, but it’s always a part of a larger thing. Other people…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Time MTV Turned Video Games Into Music Videos
MTV has always been at least a bit more in touch with the video game scene than most major cable TV stations. I mean heck, our EIC Stephen wrote for their video gaming site for a time! One of the most enjoyable/bizarre things the network ever did was Video Mods, an EA-sponsored series devoted to…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Planet Crashers Takes on Mario and Wario in This Week’s Nintendo Download
Which would you rather have, a grungy old black-and-white Wario game, a dollar off a classic Mario game, or a colorful action role-playing game from the creators of Dementium: The Ward? I have no definite answer. I just like asking long form questions. I will say, at least, that were I completely unfamiliar with all…
By Mike Fahey Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedPlaying Battlefield 3 When Suddenly OH GOD KILL IT WITH FIRE
Ok ok, that’s kind of mean. Here’s this guy, living with this disability, trying to fight a war. And then there’s the guy following him around, knifing and shooting him. We should all be a little more respectful. But keep the fire ready just in case things go bad. bf3 hulk glitch ftw !!! [YouTube via…
By Tina Amini Published July 26, 2012 -
Uncategorized1PP: Should We Worry About Preserving The Retro Games We Love?
Check out the second of our 1st Person Perspective videos, shot by our own Chris Person with Evan Narcisse taking the interview lead. They spoke with Robin, who is quite the retro games collector. They delve into the benefits of HD remakes, and the potential of digital distribution. Let us know your opinions in the…
By Tina Amini Published July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
There’s A Multiplayer Source-Engine ‘Slenderman’ Game In The Works
Are you a fan of the creepy ‘Slenderman’ game Slender, but maybe you wish it looked a bit better? Perhaps the game would be better in Valve’s Source Engine, no? Some folks over at ModDB agree, and they’re working on a source-engine game/mod inspired by Parsec’s Slender. Slender: Source is a work-in-progress now, with only…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Minecraft Creator Cancels First-Person Shooter
The studio behind Minecraft was working on a first-person shooter. No more! Mojang CEO and Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson told Joystiq that they killed the game, which they were co-developing with another company, because they “did not want more external dependencies.” “The success of Minecraft meant we could focus on projects fully owned by…
By Jason Schreier Published July 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedWant More Plants Vs. Zombies? This Technically Counts
PvZ Presents: Talking Zombatar, coming to smart phones and tablets later this year from PopCap Games, is decidedly NOT Plants Vs. Zombies 2. You will be able to buy new outfits for your pet dead thing, so I guess that’s something. *weeps*
By Mike Fahey Published July 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Report: Zynga Insiders Dumped Lots of Stock Before It Tanked [UPDATE]
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus dumped $200 million worth of stock this past April, three months before his company’s stock suddenly tanked last night, according to a new report. According to Yahoo News, Pincus sold $200 million worth of stock back in April, just when the year’s second financial quarter had begun. Other investors and executives,…
By Jason Schreier Published July 26, 2012
