SHINESS: The Lightning Kingdom Gallery

Posted on August 18, 2016 by geelw

French developer Enigami has been hard at work on its Action/RPG SHINESS: The Lightning Kingdom for about three years now and with publisher Focus Home Interactive set to bring the game to eager PC, PS4 and Xbox One owners later this year, it’s time to take a look at it in one big video and image gallery. Here’s the most recent gameplay trailer, or more precisely, a story trailer presented at Gamescom 2016:

More action abounds in this earlier gameplay trailer:

But, wait… there’s more! Continue reading →

Random Art: Not Mighty Oaks, But Mighty OK Is Fine By Me

Posted on August 10, 2016 by geelw

So, yeah. I haven’t been drawing a lot lately. A few people bug me about his, but it’s that eternal struggle thing, I guess. The old self-taught artist with no big ego who’s tried and failed miz-er-ah-blee* at a few things while having successes in others stuff. I think they call that “life” or something like that? I’ll have to look that up one of these days.

Anyway, some room was recently made in the upstairs vault and mouse in hand, I knocked these out within the past week between a few actual money-making projects. Full of imperfections, like that “life” thing I keep hearing about, but I’m still working out the ins and outs of digital art. I could use a good tablet, but funds need to go elsewhere for the tie being, as this year has been lousy for me and tech stuff falling apart, going missing (Phill Katz, I haven’t forgotten you) or just giving up the electronic ghost entirely.

This one? Ugh, but it was my first attempt at really trying out the revamped MS Paint in Windows 10. I don’t like that they changed the interface and added effects to the brush strokes, though. If I wanted to do watercolor or oil work, I have a bunch of aging art supplies stored here. Ah well. Perhaps I’ll change my mind with some more experimentation. Art classes would be great, but those cost money I don’t have at the moment.

That one? Better, but “done, with errors on page” as they say.

*or is it miz-er-ah-bleh? I don’t speak French other than a handful of none too helpful phrases. 😀

-GW

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The Last Guardian: Finally Dated, The Wait Gets Less When-ish

Posted on June 19, 2016 by geelw

Okay. I’m back. Sort of. Got a LOT of stuff going on up this way I’ll yak about in a separate post, but let’s all just watch this gorgeous trailer for the long delayed and finally has a release date soon to be instant classic The Last Guardian. Fumeto Ueda and his team’s game will indeed be worth the wait and in my mind, it’s one of the reasons I play videogames. For me, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were and still are two of the best game experiences from the past 20 years, and seeing this final game appear means I can stop worrying about whether or not it will be good. I trust the creator and his vision and that’s all one needs in this case.

The Last Guardian hits retail and digital October 25, 2016. Yes, that collector’s edition below looks mighty nice, doesn’t it? Yep.

Fossil Echo: How Odd.. Is There an ICO in Here?

Posted on June 8, 2016 by geelw

Gamers who love stuff like Team ICO’s games, the Oddworld series and gorgeous artwork would do well to keep an eyeball peeled for Fossil Echo, set for a July 1 release on Steam. You can also pre-order the Fossil Echo – Special Edition directly from the developer for 14.99 (the price jumps up to $19.99 in about 20 days) which includes a Steam copy of Fossil Echo for PC, a Fossil Echo Original Soundtrack by John Robert Matz (25 tracks + 1 bonus), a 20+-page PDF: The Making Of Fossil Echo, other extras (such as wallpapers, profile pictures) and yes, the dev team’s infinite gratitude.

As for what the game is all about, well read on… Continue reading →

READS: Star Wars Works Spectacularly As A Scrolling Infographic

Posted on May 25, 2016 by geelw

Many movie fans all know what follows this memorable opening image, but thanks to Zurich-based artist Martin Panchaud, we now have quite possibly the best illustrated retelling of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope to date. While not flawless (there are a few incorrectly translated lines), the scrolling infographic absolutely nails the storytelling beats, but from a top down perspective and using colored dots for human and alien characters. If you’re a big enough fan of the film, I’d bet you’ll be hearing that phenomenal John Williams score in your head at all the right moments. Go check it out (if this hasn’t been forwarded to your own inbox already today).

Also, someone call Guinness (no, not the ghost of Alec, silly!)- I think at 123 meters (or 403.543307 feet), it just may be the longest infographic you’ll see for a while. Anyway, go revisit a classic film from 1977 in a whole new way.

Now, There’s a Film I’d LOVE to See…

Posted on May 18, 2016 by geelw

Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz

Yep. You’d pay good money to see Helen Mirren and Judi Dench in a period piece with those outfits, too. They could be a 40’s er Holmes and Watson, an older Thelma and Louise (having not stomped on the gas in that flick), two ladies out shopping or anything else a writer’s room could bust out in a few weeks that still manages to read like drunken fan fiction. My ticket would be bought and so would yours. Don’t lie, either. Hell, you’d be pushing me out of the line just to get in first, grrrr. Anyway, my brain is still fuzzy after today’s… er, YESTERDAY’S busyness. Go write up your own plot for that photo above. See you later today at some point.

READS: Bombshell: The Pin-Up Art of John Gladman

Posted on February 6, 2016 by geelw

Bombshell_cover Thank goodness the art of the glamour pin-up book isn’t lost forever, particularly given today’s endless supply of overly raunchy and more easily accessible content the internet has to offer. The fine folks over at Schiffer Books have been putting out a nice selection of pin-up titles for some time, but this is one of the best they’ve published to date.

Award-winning photographer/artist John Gladman is one of those thankfully still carrying the artfully positioned cutie torch and in Bombshell: The Pin-Up Art of John Gladman (Schiffer Books, $34.99 – BUY IT!), there’s a whole lot to appreciate. Continue reading →

READS: Alternative Movie Posters II Is a Must for Film (and Art) Fanatics

Posted on December 9, 2015 by geelw

Hey. I have an important question to ask you all:

(Thanks, modelcitizen72 and MOVIECLIPS!)

If you do (and even if your name isn’t Joey), Alternative Movie Posters II: More Film Art from the Underground ($34.99) is going to make you smile until our face cracks. Well, okay – there’s only one actual gladiator movie in the book (which just so happens to be a poster variant from Ridley Scott’s 2000 film), but that quote jumped out and bit me as soon as I saw the poster and I had to use it as an opener. Anyway, author Matthew Chojnacki has put together a fantastic collection of 200 more film poster variants done by a wide assortment of artists in many different styles that will make any film fan want this on their gift list. Continue reading →

READS: More Scary As Hell Stuff From Dark Horse Comics

Posted on December 6, 2015 by geelw

‘Tis the season to still have some scary reads handy if one likes such stuff and thankfully, Dark Horse Comics has been delivering the goods all year long. I tend to wait until assorted trade paperbacks drop over buying single issues due to cost and space reasons, plus it ends up smarter reading stories in collected form (for me, at least).

One of the better horror comics I’ve read is Harrow County, a nice southern gothic tale from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Tyler Crook. In the first collection, Harrow County – Countless Haints ($14.99), the pair have concocted up a terrifying tale that from the very first page of the very first issue will have you hooked in and turning pages with wider eyes and a growing sense of dread. The amazing thing is as great and chilling as the first issue is, the rest of the stories in this first volume only get better. If you’re prone to nightmares, don’t read the whole book in one shot unless you like sleeping with both eyeballs wide open looking for vengeful witches in the corners.

Talk about killer openings, folks…

Continue reading →

Land Of A Thousand Gransys II: Daily Dragon’s Dogma: DA Gallery? Sure, Why Not?

Posted on December 1, 2015 by geelw

While I’m waiting for a few important things to iron themselves out (tech and otherwise), I’ve been killing time going back to some older game saves just to see how certain titles have held up over time. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is one of those games that keeps on giving since it’s 2012 release, much to the surprise of Capcom I’d bet. Anyway, as the game is finally hitting PC next year, I figured I’d poke through a bunch of screenshots I’d taken while playing the PlayStation 3 version and post one a day until the new version launches. So, here you go. It’ll be a mostly random set of screens taken with the game’s Photo feature with the occasional caption when I find something amusing to say.

Um… that’s it for now. Oh yeah, it’s DECEMBER already. Yikes. If my poor brain doesn’t blow up from having so much to do, I’m going to have quite a busy rest of the year. Back in a bit.