Random Art: The Return of Frankenstein’s Monster? Sort Of… Maybe?

Posted on July 23, 2013 by geelw

I forget if I’ve posted this piece here before, but what the hell – I need to up my post count a bit, as it’s way down this month thanks to all the stuff going on around here. Anyway, this one’s a MS Paint experiment (yeah, done entirely with a mouse) from 2011 when I was really bored yet inspired to fiddle around with that stupid program just to see if I could get it to do stuff in as simple a way as possible but look somewhat hand-drawn. I have a Wolfman pic that’s been sitting around unfinished for a while, but I may start it over, as it wasn’t coming along well at all (the layout is OK, it’s just in need of some scaling of the figures and I haven’t had the time to get back to it since. Eh, perhaps I’ll just redraw the whole thing… we’ll see.

Ten One Design’s Pogo Art Contest: Draw Something Cool, Win Cooler Stuff.

Posted on July 23, 2013 by geelw

Hey there- got an iPad? Do a bit of art with that thing? Feel like showing off your skills for fun and prizes? OK, here you go: Ten One Design is running its third annual Pogo Art Contest for digital artists armed with iPads and any model Pogo stylus to draw that potential masterpiece with. Entries are due by August 31, 2013, but before you get all doodly with yourself, here are the categories they’re accepting art under:

Current Events

· Satirical or thoughtful explorations of world events, politicians, daily news and journalistic expressions

Wildly Creative

· Thinking outside the box, pioneering digital artwork that has never been seen before, using an application not intended for drawing purposes, application mashing with multiple programs in a unique way or even collaborating with multiple artists

The Way You See It

· Realistic, impressionist and representational artwork of a person, place or thing

Obviously Abstract

· Nonrepresentational interpretations of reality, exploring forms, space, depth and colors

Now, I probably won’t enter (hey, I’d be a ringer here as I’m reviewing a Pogo stylus for the site and I use a different capacitive screen device that Pogo I got works on just fine), but I won’t stop YOU at all. So get creative and go show off your digital art skills. You just may walk away with some nice gear…

Earthbound Finally Re-Released… But Nintendo Devalues It Once Again…

Posted on July 23, 2013 by geelw

While I’m happy as hell that Earthbound has FINALLY been deemed worthy of a re-release, I’m not at all pleased that Nintendo has given it the cheapest treatment possible, tossing it onto the eShop as a digital-only download and missing the cool strategy guide and scratch & sniff cards packed in with the original boxed Super Nintendo version. Actually, the major beef I have is how Nintendo passed up the opportunity to do this up right as a combination physical/digital product that would have made them MORE money at the end of the day had the company merely polled its rather large user base with the following idea for a premium-priced retail Earthbound collection:

A fully localized Mother (the first game in the series) updated for the Wii U Gamepad
Earthbound (Mother 2)
A fully localized Game Boy Advance version of Mother 3 also updated for the Wii U Gamepad
voucher codes for eShop versions of all three titles for the 3DS
An art gallery, soundtrack download and perhaps unlockable images and movies from the cancelled Nintendo 64 version Mother 3
Perhaps even an interview or three with staff members from the development team about the making of the games for good measure.

Hell, I’d pay fifty bucks for that and I’d bet YOU would too. I could also see Nintendo making all of the games available as separate digital download titles for the 3DS and/or Wii U at about $10 each and raking in a profit on those with no problem. By treating the SNES game as a disposable commodity instead of giving it the respect it’s earned over time from folks who’ve either held on to the original cart, paid rent money for a vintage or used copy or (yuck) even illegally downloaded a ROM (and yes, that includes you folks playing those fan translations of the first and third game who don’t own and never intend to own the original carts because you’re too lazy to learn Japanese).

Granted, it’s hard to say if this set of games on a disc as noted above would even drive stagnant Wii U sales at all, but I’d bet if Nintendo announced my stupid idea as a project and asked the fans if they’d buy in, they’d see a great deal more interest in that new console they’re having a very hard time getting more of you out there to buy.

Just a thought… tough love, Nintendo. Tough love…