Amazing artist round-up: video games and geekery!

With the internet being the vast expanse that it is, I go back and forth between feeling amazed that I find good things at all, and miffed at the number of ridiculous things that I encounter. This is most evident in the amazing game-based artwork that crops up from time to time. 

Two artists I very much enjoy: Zac Gorman of Magical Game Time esteem, and Wednesday Wolf, with his drippy, macabre, watercolor Pokemon masterpieces. With their inspiring works in mind, I set out to try and find additional dedicated art masters to keep an eye on, and in the process I want to (hopefully) share some new artists with you as well!

Zac Gorman: Magical Game Time

I'm pretty sure most people have seen his work by now, but I'm including it anyway!

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Sonic running like an idiot is the first Zac Gorman piece I ever saw. It was on tumblr, such a wonderous place, and after that I found his Magical Game Time haven. I've been enthralled with his whimsical, slighty-gif'd, game-based pieces ever since. And, if there were any doubt, his UH-mazing 'Joust' piece sealed the deal for sure.

Wednesday Wolf

I found this guy (name unknown!) while cruising through video game items on Etsy. His pieces are all so awesome and unique, I hope to purchase one someday! He does paintings that aren't Pokemon, of course, but it's hard to deny how great it is seeing some of my favorite pocket monsters in twisted, badass form.

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It would appear that no popular culture subject is safe from his wicked brush and mind, and I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief and thanks for that fact. His work is all for sale, and you can bet that I WILL own that Oddish piece someday. Oddish for life.

Pixel Paradise

These little gems are created by Mel K., and I commend her for her variety and talent! I really love perler bead art, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience for it. One of my favorite aspects of her work is the diversity of use: coasters, decoration, pins, magnets, dioramas, and more. With glue and any number of backings, you can have her work anywhere in your house, office, car, boat, airplane, spaceship, etc. 

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All of her items are reasonably priced and look very well made! It's tempting to buy a bunch and create my own Mario World play set on my fridge! Actually, that's an amazing idea. Time to update my wish list!

Canvas and Paints

A Penny Arcade forumer by the name of LewieP's Mummy runs Canvas and Paints, and it's a chronicle of the art commissions she paints for people, as well as charities. All proceeds go toward either Oxfam or Child's Play. Her paintings are really well crafted and very diverse because of her client's requests. If you'd like to commission something from her you'll have to wait a while, she's usually backed up!

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The Professor Layton and Limbo pieces are but a small sampling of her work. I definitely recommend that you check out her site and follow the progress of current pieces from pencil to finished painting!

botjira - deviantART

Sometimes I forget that deviantART is still a buzzing hive of artistic activity, and the times that I do remember I am generally greatly rewarded. Case in point: botjira from deviantART. botjira makes these wonderful paper collages, with the more popular pieces being Pokemon related. As a budding paper artist, it's exciting to see the medium being put forth into the video game world! These pieces differ in that they're entirely two dimensional, but they have no less talent or beauty to them.

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Be sure to click to embiggen and see the detail! I am just in love with the textures and separation of subject and background. The diverse paper types and everything are blowing my mind. They make me want to dabble in collage sculpting! Great art is inspiring, after all.

Those are my artist picks for today! I know I've hardly scratched the surface, so I'd just love it if you told me YOUR favorite gaming artists! Or your favorite artists in general. Comment or tweet @abitofgeek with your wonderful, arty information :D

-MJ

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PAX 2012 Was Amaz-O-Matic! Part 1: Games

It's not enough to simply say that PAX was wonderful, or awesome, or that I met a lot of incredible people, saw cool things, hugged the tenth Doctor, and played unreleased games that I've been excited about for close to two years. These separate moments add up to something much greater than their sum. Any PAX attendee will understand, and those who have been unable to go, well, it's not an easy task attempting to explain the unexplainable. I'm going to give it an honest try though! Today will be all about the games I played, complete with tiny previews/reviews, and Friday will bring the rest of my experiences.

PAX Prime 2012 street banners along Pike in Seattle, WA.

This PAX was my first year joining the Enforcers, and my eighth year attending (I'll never get over missing PAX Prime 2010 because of my Ireland trip). This added a whole new depth to the already overflowing show experience. My afternoon shifts in the handheld lounge allowed me plenty of time to explore the expo hall and play some upcoming Nintendo titles. If you were following me on twitter then you received a lot of exclamatory tweets regarding Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii U.

Giant, exciting banners at the Nintendo booth at PAX Prime 2012.

It's a relief to finally have played the Wii U. Mario looks just wonderful in full HD, and the built-in screen for the game pad is sharp sharp sharp. I was concerned about the games looking squished or crowded, but there's not a chance of that happening. The game pad is also extremely comfortable to hold. The size of it facilitates comfort for long gaming sessions, and guys especially will be glad that their hands won't cramp up like on slimmer DS systems. The buttons and joysticks were easy to access and not too close together. One of the best aspects of the game pad is that it's incredibly light and does not feel cheap. Nintendo really covered all of my concerns! I found it to be more comfortable than the regular Wii remote (when held sideways).

New Super Mario Bros. Wii U was a real treat to play. My short experience showed me that it's pretty much exactly like NSMB Wii, but I guess that's not a bad thing. There are some new power ups to play around with, and obviously new levels. I don't have much to say except I'm disappointed that designers decided to keep in the "freeze" mechanic when another player dies in multiplayer mode. That split-second freeze really messes with the players that are still alive. Why is it there?! I suppose I'll make a house rule: Dying In Mario Is Not Allowed.

Nintendo split their booth between the expo hall and the 2nd/3rd floor. Source

All of the 3DS demo systems were the new XL versions, and they were just gorgeous. I already own five DS systems so I initially imagined that I wouldn't be purchasing an XL. After playing one, however, it has become apparent that the hardware upgrades are totally worth it. I feel that the 3D was sharper, better, more enjoyable to look at. I generally play my 3D titles with the 3D slider set to off, so that's a good indicator of how impressed I was. Perhaps it's that the upper screen is so much larger. The stylus has been moved back to the right hand side (more sensible) and the 3D slider can be clicked into a fully off position, eliminating the ability to accidentally turn it on.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon translated beautifully to the 3DS XL. The controls were a little overwhelming at first, but after a few minutes of play everything fell into place. The game starts off with a sly demo section, allowing the player to become familiar with Luigi and his vacuum without the stress of a lot of ghosts. Players walk around a dark and creepy mansion, pointing a flashlight around to inspect rooms, and holding down the B button if they want to run instead of slowly walk. Once the ghost vacuum has been acquired, the game becomes a delicate mix of strategic flashlight pointing, followed by rapid suction action to capture ghosts. Progression to new rooms is facilitated via hidden keys, and I have to say that the developers hid each key quite cleverly, making Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS a sleuthing, challenging adventure.

Vigilant fans could collect these special Paper Mario: Sticker Star stickers at PAX 2012!

Paper Mario: Sticker Star was falsely advertised by Nintendo as being playable at PAX. I made a beeline for the 3DS stations on Friday morning so that I could play first thing, and was a little devastated to see that there was only a live demo being played for viewers. Admittedly it was the first time the demo was ever being played and gameplay footage couldn't be found anywhere else, but still! Disappointing! I wanted to experience it in all of its glory for myself. While the name 'Sticker Star' still rubs me the wrong way, the stickers look to be a fun mechanic in the game. I'm relieved that the developers returned to the turn based battle system, and I was surprised to see that travel from town to town now takes place on an over world map like the traditional Mario titles. I hope that this doesn't make the world feel small, because I genuinely liked traveling through each location and enjoying the paper-y graphics.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, the first 3D iteration of the series, came at me with the same cast of characters from The Last Spectre, similar beautiful music, and a familiar suitcase interface. The story is very elaborate, causing the beginning of the game to move at kind of a slow pace. Visuals change back and forth from the traditional old world 2D drawing style to a newer, three dimensional cel-shaded character design. I'm not too fond of the cel-shaded versions, I feel that they're lacking the charm normally found in the Layton designs. Miracle Mask looks to be a longer gameplay experience than previous versions, and I base this off of the new exploration mechanics. Environments are much larger, with more areas to search. There's also a zoom option to see specific locations in greater detail. If players hope to find all Hint Coins and puzzles, they're going to have to search very carefully! Miracle Mask will also offer daily new puzzle downloads.

Power of Illusion was playable at PAX 2012, much to my delight.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is a title that I was very anxious to play. I haven't seen a lot about it online, and I was hungry for gameplay videos. I'm pleased to report that it plays like a dream, looks super sharp, and is a truly wonderful spiritual sequel to Castle of Illusion for the original Sega. The graphics are a total throwback to the 16-bit era, and the developers even included iconic sound effects from the older title. Power of Illusion is a perfect fit for the 3DS, and players will also get to play in well known Disney locales, very similar to the formula for Kingdom Hearts. The paint/paint thinner mechanic from Epic Mickey for the Wii carries over well, especially with the touch screen and stylus. The upper screen hosts all of the action, while the lower screen serves as a map with hints to puzzles. During my play through there wasn't a shortage of paint and thinner to collect, so players won't have to worry about running out. Any fans of Castle/World of Illusion for the Sega are really going to love Power of Illusion.

Games I wanted to play but didn't get to: Adventure Time for 3DS, Pikmin 3 for Wii U, and Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two for Wii. I can't even count how many other games I was unable to play. The expo hall was just enormous! For any people that attended PAX, which games did you get to play? Did you have any favorites?

Check back Friday for the second part of my post PAX 2012 summary: enforcing, tabletop games, The Doctor, and merchandise!

-MJ

*all photos are property miranda eubanks/abitofgeek unless otherwise noted

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Pondering on gaming.

I miss my Wii. I don't know what I would even play if I had access to it, but I miss not having it available to me. There haven't even been any particularly large urges to play video games. Look at me, taking it for granted and now that I don't have it I'm all sorry and wanting to buy it flowers.

To my knowledge, Epic Mickey and Kirby's Epic Yarn are coming out this holiday, so I'll be able to give my Wii some serious lovin' in my down time. I'm looking forward to it. I've been wondering... does it make sense to bring it to Ireland with me? There will be games that I want to play in the coming year, and off the top off my head I can't remember if the Wii is region coded or not, but I could always send money to someone in the States and have them ship me a US version. Decisions decisions. Isn't there supposed to be a Professor Layton for the Wii as well, and of course I can't forget about Zelda.

There's suddenly so much to be excited about. Maybe I should bust out my DSi.

For the plane rides I brought along Picross 3D (which, sadly, I don't enjoy as much as the original Picross), Pokemon SoulSilver and um, something else >.> Ouendan, maybe? I'd have to look, but I am far too lazy to get out of bed.

My WoWing has been extremely infrequent. I think I've played three times since arriving in Ireland. I'm doing a good job of keeping myself social so there hasn't been too much time to delve into Azeroth. Plus, I have the most fun when I'm playing with James and the 8 hour time difference is difficult to maneuver. We'll have to play a lot while I'm back in Washington to make up for it. Although, we did play about two weeks ago and now that our 3x XP is over things felt as though they were moving awfully slow. Heh. That's OK though. He should have his rocket soon and we'll just zoom around the countryside.

I've played the Cataclysm Beta a few times (once I was finally able to get it running). It doesn't run so hot on my machine though. I find this odd, because the non-beta game runs perfectly fine! Wish I knew what the deal was there. My goblin is a classy little lady, by the way. So far I like a lot of the in-game changes. They threw me off a bit at first though. The menus look a lot different.

All gussied up for a party.

Next time I'm logged into my main account I'm going to restructure my skill points. A friend changed them around (for the better, it would seem) on my WoW character app on my iPod and it just seems sensible to make the switch in-game as well. I need more experience with my Hunter.

Since the new Professor Layton comes out this Sunday, I'm considering buying it from the GameStop here. In reality, that is a terrible decision for more than one reason. The main one would be price. The dollar is horrendous against the Euro right now, and I wouldn't get a discount here (I'm pretty sure). The secondary one would be that I believe I have it reserved at my home base GameStop. I could always swap it to another game but that'd be like a cancel and no one wants that.

-MJ

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Computer clean up.

I have today and tomorrow off to do whatever I want, so I'm choosing to do nothing! Well, I'm relaxing, y'know, taking it easy. It's been nice so far.

The biggest item on my "when I have free time" list is getting the freaking Cataclysm beta to work! First attempt, it installed correctly but wouldn't install the patches. Second attempt, my hard drive ran out of space and even after clearing space I couldn't get the Loader to start installing the patches. Third time's a charm, right? That's what I hear. Currently I'm 38% into the patches, with 10 gigs and 5 hours to go. JUST WORK PLEASE.

I've spent a good portion of today begging with my computer to go faster. I ask so much of it. I've been deleting a bunch of things and moving items I don't use regularly to my external drive. A few games went bye-bye, as well as some music. I went through my downloads folder and deleted all dmg and zip files. My last effort to clear space resides with my Aperture library. The file is impossibly large. I don't want to delete anything though because I have spent a lot of time cataloguing and adding metadata. I was seeing if it was possible to move the monstrous file to my external drive and still load it properly when I saw this option in the File menu: delete trash files. Hmm! How had I never noticed this before? I have deleted a lot of things from my library before, lots. According to the warning dialogue box, a little over 11,000 files/previews/versions. Hot damn! I don't know how long it's going to take to remove all of them, it has been going for a while though. So far it has cleared up about 4 gigs of space.

I wish I had some windex, my laptop is dirty.

With the downtime that I have had here I've been thinking a lot about what I would be doing were I at home. I hardly know. I do wish I had my Wii here. What would I play, you might wonder? I don't know, really. Maybe Mario Kart. I've hardly touched my DSi. I brought games that I like to play, it just isn't where my mind is I suppose. I'm going nuts waiting to play the new Professor Layton. What do I do with my spare time? What a question. Here I spend a lot of time staring at the wall and just thinking. It has been interesting.

If I can get this beta to work then I don't have to think too hard to figure out what I'll be doing the rest of the week. I could be playing my regular character but that's most fun when James is on too. With the beta I'll feel powerful and OK with being alone. Ha!

-MJ

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I have a lot to be excited about.

Currently I'm watching the Sony E3 Conference for Jake and I'm sending him text updates. So far Sony, I am not impressed. Killzone 3, not for me but alright. Gran Turismo 5, people have only been waiting 6 years. A sorcery game. Golf? A long video about 3D? I wish I had something good to report.

Let's just move onto my own excitement recap of Nintendo's Conference.

First and foremost?

Um, fuck yes. I have been reading a whole lot of rumors and speculations and a lot of people really aren't happy with the direction that the series is going in. I'm a fangirl through and through and I guess that means Zelda is almost incapable of disappointing me. I don't really care for Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks but the portable version dislike doesn't really bother me. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword looks promising to me. I was very surprised to discover its graphical truth. A cross between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker? This sounded very strange. I think I'm happy with what the game looks like overall, except for its especially pastel color palette. When I saw my very first screenshot I immediately thought I was looking at a pull from the Kirby level in Smash Bros. I kinda went... "??? hmm". After seeing actual gameplay footage and the game trailer I started to feel better. My biggest issue, I think so far my only issue, is the fact that the life hearts are pink. Pink? Why pink!? Just make them red please.

Skyward Sword will be released in 2011! I'm very excited. I don't think I'm wrong to not be yearning for innovation. I just want a fun game. I want a game I know I'll enjoy. I want familiarity in new areas. I want the characters that I love. I will be very surprised if I'm disappointed by this new Zelda. Oh, one more thing: I think the subtitled "Skyward Sword" is strange and I hope it grows on me.

What else am I excited about?

I didn't realize I was excited about Epic Mickey until very recently. I know nothing about it, but I know that I want it. I love Disney and Mickey Mouse and also rockin' Wii exclusive titles. It certainly looks amazing, graphically speaking, and since I don't care for Kingdom Hearts I'm pumped to have Mickey Mouse back in my gaming life. I can only play Castle of Illusion and World of Illusion so many times. Plus, Epic Mickey has painting in it and I was really really bad at Okami *shame on me* so maybe here's a chance to prove myself?

I knew about the 3DS, but this new information is great!

It doesn't look stupid and that's a relief, plus it comes in blue and black as well. The 3DS looks like it'll be able to do a lot of great things and relatively well. Only the top screen is 3D, apparently touch and 3D aren't compatible in one screen. There should be a pretty good lineup at launch! I look forward to owning one. HOLY WHAT THE EFF!? Paper Mario is going to be on the 3DS? WHAT!? I was just exploring more features to write some more information about the 3DS and I came across this!

Under Nintendo Titles there's Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Paper Mario and more! AHHHH!! I have no idea when the 3DS is supposed to be released but a portable Paper Mario is honestly more than I can handle! *SQUEEEEEEEE!!!*

OK, phew, sorry about that. This wasn't a major announcement and it's freakin' awesome news to me.

Moving on.

I know this is shameful but I didn't enjoy the original Kid Icarus. I really wanted to but it's so damn hard it made me angry. I have it on my Wii if I ever want to give it another go, but I'm hoping that this new Kid Icarus will change things around for me! Another AAA title for the upcoming 3DS.

This really piqued my interest:

I'd like to be a bigger Kirby fan than I actually am. I love the idea of Kirby but I haven't played very many games. I loved Canvas Curse and was kind of ehh on Kirby Super Star Ultra. I have one of the original Kirby games on my Wii but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Kirby's Epic Yarn is a new platformer and I love platformers! Plus it looks freaking adorable and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. This new Kirby looks like the beautiful love triangle child of Paper Mario, Yoshi's Story and Kirby Canvas Curse. HEAVEN! It even has a two player feature.

I managed to miss this announcement and then saw it on Nintendo's site:

I am a HUGE Professor Layton fan and you should be too. The first two were a lot of fun and I've been eagerly awaiting the third! I'm glad that the games have proven popular over here in the States, it'd be a shame to miss out on such a gem. Plus the graphics, man! I love the styling. Good on them. I look forward to more mind bending puzzles and a great storyline to follow.

These last ones are exciting but I don't have a lot to say about them.

A kick back to old school with 2D side-scrolling. Awesome? Awesome. Donkey Kong rocks. Maybe my sister will play? She always loved the series.

Here we have an expression of my love.

I am just a sucker for Pokemon and I know I'm not the only one!

So I guess that was my wrap up of Nintendo's E3 conference. I've never done that before. Obviously I just focused on the things that I care about, but hey I'm not getting paid so I can report whatever I want :D

There is so much to be excited about! It's a great time to be a Nintendo fan. There are things happening that don't appeal to me but I know are good, like Metroid Other M, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, Resident Evil Revelations, Dragon Quest IX, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and so many more titles.

Thank you Nintendo, I love you! I'll always have faith.

-MJ

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How many match sticks?

I love Professor Layton. When this comic was first released in 2008 I absolutely cracked up. I should purchase a print of it.

-MJ

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