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World of Tanks introduce pixel-tastic Winter Showdown
Ready to take on some blocky other tanks in blocky arenas with your own blocky tank? World of Tanks wants to endorse your readiness, not block you. The development team behind the game has announced the approaching Winter Showdown mode, an homage to the simpler games of youth -- assuming that you were growing up between 1985 and 1995 and the games of your youth featured online connectivity and pixels rendered in three-dimensional space, anyway. This mode is more than just a simple graphical overhaul, featuring three exclusive tank types, platoons of five tanks, and special gold rounds that hurt enemies or heal your allies. If you can't wait to start rolling in your pixel-based tank, good news: The mode will be available for play starting on January 26th in the United States. Take a gander at the trailer just past the break to see the blocky action in... um... action. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
The Daily Grind: What art style resonates the most with you?
The first time I saw the art style of both World of Warcraft and WildStar, I found myself enchanted. Bright colors, bold strokes, and exaggerated designs have always appealed to me, from movies like Beetlejuice to games like MediEvil to places like Disney World. So when I encounter similar styles in MMOs, I'm drawn to it like a toddler to power tools. That's not to say that I don't appreciate more realistic art. Guild Wars 2's "painterly aesthetic" was a treat for my eyes, and I'll never get tired of Lord of the Rings Online's world. I really want to hear about what you prefer in a game's art today. What game or art style resonates with you the most? What visuals draw you into these fantastic world and make you look around in wide-eyed wonder? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
TUG wraps up Kickstarter, shows off art video
TUG has crossed the finish line of its Kickstarter with its fists thrust triumphantly toward the sky, as the little sandbox that could has raised its funding goal and then some. While it fell short of its first $300,000 stretch goal, over 7,200 fans have thrown their financial support behind this quirky "social experiment." Break out a bottle of the bubbly to celebrate if you must, but we'll be drinking in this new art style video by the TUG team. At six minutes long, the video shows off TUG's concept art and models while the team discusses how it's trying to create a unique look for this title. Check it out after the jump!
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar style
There's no two ways about it: The way that WildStar looks is just plain going to turn some people off. And while I'm hesitant to say those people are wrong, exactly, I think they're missing the mark something fierce. When the game's first trailer hit, the look was what immediately attracted me to the game. Not that it had a whole lot of competition; back then, we knew the name, we'd seen a couple of vague concepts, and we had a wonderfully animated trailer. Picking the last item out of those three was almost just choosing the more substantial option. But I won't lie -- I loved the visual style, and when it became clear that the game was bearing that out all the way along, that just made me pleased as could be. Some aren't as fond of it, that's for sure. But I can think of some good reasons for the game to look how it does and at least one major flaw in the arguments against the look. I might be wrong, but heck, I'd be doing a disservice not to speak my mind on the subject.
Nicalis wants your input on The Binding of Isaac's makeover
Nicalis is proposing four different art styles for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the console remake of Team Meat's bizarre PC game. Fans can vote on the four mock-up 16-bit art styles seen in the gallery below to determine which direction Nicalis will take the remake in.According to The Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen's Tumblr blog, the game is getting a face lift "because I think the art is tired and I'm sick of looking at it." The survey also asks for input on which platforms the game should appear on, with 3DS and Wii U listed as options.Nicalis will begin development on the project in January and hopes to launch PS3, Vita and PC (Steam) versions of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth by the end of 2013, with Xbox 360, iOS and Nintendo console ports a possibility. %Gallery-172447%
Massively Exclusive: An interview with WildStar art director Matt Mocarski
WildStar doesn't look like anything else out right now. We're not just talking about the game's mechanics; the game's stylized graphics make it look distinct. There's a lot of unique visual elements in the game, from its opening cinematic to the most recent screenshots, and while you might not like the more stylized approach, you can't say that it lacks personality. This comes with its own set of challenges, though. After all, creating stylized graphics for a game means you're not just making the best-looking environments possible; you're also creating a whole new aesthetic and making environments that make sense within that style. We had a chance to ask WildStar's art director Matt Mocarski a few questions about the process of putting the game's unique look together, and he provided us some excellent insights into bringing the visuals from concept to reality. Whether you're a fan of the game in specific or stylized art in general, take a look at the full interview past the break.
SpyParty's graphics leap from 1998 to 2012 in one gallery
Up until now, the most interesting thing about SpyParty was its ridiculously deep gameplay. That remains the case, actually, but the game's new look is certainly something to write home about. We've got a full feature with Chris Hecker detailing how the changes took place, but if you just wanna take a looksy, here you go!
New Rusty Hearts dev diary delves into delicious design decisions
It's time for another dev diary from the fine folks at Perfect World Entertainment, this time detailing the art of Rusty Hearts. We're sure that by now most of you have seen Rusty Hearts and its crisp cel-shaded anime style, but the dev diary goes into detail on what the team is aiming for with the art, and outlines the inspiration behind it. The team is careful to note that while the overall vibe of the game is decidedly dark and gothic, that by no means insinuates that the world will be dull or muddled. Taking inspiration from popular anime such as Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist, Rusty Hearts aims to carve a niche for itself as a "living comic." For the full dev diary, hop on past the cut!
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite use of heavily stylized graphics?
In the earliest days of gaming, games were by their very nature pretty much abstract in graphics. The Atari 2600 couldn't really handle photorealistic human faces, after all. But even though we're now in the era when realism is not that far off, many games still employ intentionally stylized looks. LEGO Universe people look nothing like actual human beings, after all -- but they're not supposed to, representing instead the ubiquitous minifigures given motion and character. Some players really don't like stylized appearances, feeling that they look cartoony or artificial. Others prefer them to realistic graphics out of a sense that the style makes the game stand out more. MMOs have run the gamut from the detailed and realistic humans of All Points Bulletin to the intentionally unreal graphics of Super Hero Squad Online. So what game has stylized graphics that you think really work? Whether or not you like the style overall, where do you feel they add to the game's atmosphere? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
GenCon 2010: Fantasy fencing with 38 Studios
One thing is for certain: When you are sitting in the crosshairs of Curt Schilling and R.A. Salvatore during an interview, it's easy to become bowled over by their collective intensity and passion, especially when it comes to their interest in games and fantasy worlds. While GenCon Indy lacked its usual MMORPG presence this year, Massively was able to grab a few minutes of face time with 38 Studios' founder and lead writer as they passed through the convention. It was a bit of an odd interview, however, as two of the biggest topics -- 38 Studios' move to Rhode Island and any solid details about their top-secret MMO -- were off the table for discussion. Do not fret, as that certainly didn't stop us from trying to pry for a few hints along the way. Schilling and Salvatore were obviously eager to spill the beans about Copernicus, but they are still biding their time until the right moment. Happily, the duo didn't mind us fencing with them for facts, and were quite open about their single-player RPG lead-up to Copernicus, their general philosophy of designing the MMO, and why they've waited so long to unveil it to the public. Read on, gentle gamers, for a few ripostes, parries and lunges with two of the biggest figures in the industry right now.
EpicWin aims to turn your real-life tasks into a social game
Given the amount of iPhone and iPad apps coming out these days, I'm not all that interested in getting excited about an app before it comes out. There's already plenty of games and apps available now, so worrying about not-yet-released apps isn't all that important. That said, this app called EpicWin is gaining quite a bit of attention -- it's a very originally designed to-do list masquerading as a game that gives points for accomplishing things in real life. If this idea sounds familiar, it's because we've seen it before -- Booyah Society was supposed to be a game that rewarded you for real-life accomplishments, and there have been a few other apps like it poking around. Most of them haven't worked very well -- the issue has always been that there's no validation, no proof that you've done what you said you did in real-life. But EpicWin has some solid developers behind it (the folks that worked on Little Big Planet for the PS3, and MiniSquadron for the iPhone), and a very intriguing art style and tone, so maybe it'll be more intriguing than what we've seen along these lines in the past. EpicWin is "coming soon" to the App Store -- we'll keep an eye out for it, and let you know when it's out.
NintendoWare Weekly: Art Style: Rotozoa, Bearsworth Manor
Nintendo follows up a thrilling E3 with something that it didn't mention much at the show: WiiWare and DSiWare. A new Art Style game leads the offerings on WiiWare, joined by two of Square Enix's weirdest games in recent memory -- two games about tossing paper bears underhand. Read more about these games, along with a wide selection of new DSiWare games, after the break. We don't have anything illuminating to say about this week's Virtual Console selection, because there is none. %Gallery-86441%
NintendoWare Weekly: Art Style Light Trax, Viral Survival, Metal Torrent
There hasn't been a new Art Style game on WiiWare since October 2008 -- they've all gone to DSiWare since that platform launched. Today, the series returns to Wii, in much the same way as it started: with a fancy update to a GBA Bit Generations game. It's accompanied by a compelling, odd-looking game from NIS America. Meanwhile, DSiWare has poker, a vertical shmup, a puzzle game about racing, and a hidden object game about historical crime. See all the new downloads after the break. %Gallery-86440%
WiiWare First Look: Art Style series Light Trax, Rotozoa
Nintendo's house brand of "minimalistic mechanics" downloadables, the Art Style series, is growing its ranks with two new titles: Art Style: light trax and Art Style: Rotozoa, both for WiiWare. The games were present (and looking close to finished) at the Big N's media gathering in San Francisco, and I took both for a spin -- quite literally in one case. Catch my thoughts after the break.
WiiWare screens and trailers from Nintendo Media Summit
Nintendo had a few awesome new WiiWare announcements at its Nintendo Media Summit, most notably, Cave Story! Most notably in the field of games we didn't know about, new Art Style games! The series hasn't been on Wii since the DSi came out, but now we've got Light Trax (a Wii version of the original bit Generations game Dotstream) and Rotozoa (a game about multi-tentacled organisms absorbing creatures of the same color) to look forward to this spring. Check out the trailer for Light Trax above, and see a trailer for Rotozoa, as well as screens of Max and the Magic Marker, WiiWare's WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase, Rage of the Gladiator, And Yet It Moves, Super Meat Boy, and Cave Story after the break. Oh, man, Cave Story!
Gearbox: Borderlands art style helped 'make a certain leap of faith'
The Borderlands crew at Gearbox Software is making the post-mortem interview rounds, and this time Aaron Thibault, Stephen Palmer and Matthew Armstrong stopped to chat with G4. The interview has some excellent insight into the making of the game: The team originally was finishing up the Halo PC port when they realized that Bungie had dynamically coded their guns, and wondered what you could do if you dynamically created guns from that code. "Halo meets Diablo" was the answer, and that was Gearbox's premise from the beginning. They also talk about the famous art style change, and say that the current animated look actually helped players get into the game -- they could "make a certain leap of faith into an understanding that the crazier and wackier and more fun things can exist in this world." And they say that for future installments, they are taking player feedback into account: Both a mini-map and more levels are two things that they didn't quite expect such a call for, so it's a safe bet that we'll see those features in any future installments of the "important" franchise. Please?
NintendoWare Weekly: WiiWare demos, Pokemon Rumble, Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
This week, we get our first taste of Nintendo's new WiiWare demos. Surprisingly, it didn't take Nintendo that long to flip the switch for North America, considering the company revealed the long-overdue feature -- and day-one annoyance -- only earlier this month. And on top of the free trial versions of select WiiWare titles (five total this week!), there are also two new Virtual Console titles to enjoy, as well as three new DSiWare games. Hit the break for the full list.
NintendoWare Weekly: Overturn, Sexy Poker, Tecmo Bowl
This week is a special one for Nintendo fans. Not only do we finally see an end to the Virtual Console drought, but we also get fighting robots and a new Art Style game. Oh, and then there's Sexy Poker, Gameloft's odd strip poker game for WiiWare. We guess the company never heard of Google image search?%Gallery-35205%
NintendoWare Weekly: NEVES Plus brings Art Style to SimEarth
This week's star of the show is undoubtedly WiiWare, which receives the very rare "three-title-update." Playing second and third fiddle are DSiWare and the Virtual Console, which both get the usual one new title. So, without further ado, let's check out what's available to download this week across Nintendo platforms in the latest NintendoWare Weekly. %Gallery-48138%
VC Friday: A 'sleeper' Art Style game
This week, another new DSiWare Art Style game appears on the PAL DSi Shop -- one that was overlooked upon its Japanese release, due mostly to the fact that it was released at the same time as the much more eye-catching PiCOPiCT. Somnium has been renamed NEMREM for Europe -- still sleep-themed, but ... weirder.On the Wii side, the arcade version of Space Harrier is now available on Virtual Console and the "arcade" fishing game Fish 'em All has been added to WiiWare.Virtual Console: Space Harrier (Arcade, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) WiiWare: Fish 'em All (1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) DSiWare: Art Style: NEMREM (1 player, 500 DSi Points)
