Amazing artwork!

I stumbled over this incredible artwork on Tumblr, by two different artists. I know nothing about art, but I know that I loved these. Check it out:

Gwydion and Manannan from King's Quest III

The gang from Maniac Mansion

Grim Fandango. *Sigh*

Roger Wilco!

I absolutely fell in love with these drawings. I love the colors. Hopefully the artist, Jón Kristinsson, will make lots more! Check out his Tumblr-page Use Verb on Noun for even more drawings. 

Another artist which caught my eye was Kristoffer Zetterstrand. He mixes up pixelated computer game images with beautifully painted backgrounds. It looks incredible. 

Check out Graham. Looks like he fell into a Dali painting.

I would definatly hang this on my wall.

Check out his homepage for more paintings. Most of the Graham-related ones are in 2006, but I would look through everything if I were you. So cool! 

So, what do you think? 

Poor Han Solo!

I think my eyes just exploded in my head, and I couldn't even get through this video.

Someone needs to be stricter on that Star Wars license.

Mass Effect in reverse

I've recently started playing Mass Effect 1 on my laptop. This is my second time around starting this game, I gave up once before because of technical issues. Now (several years later) those issues have worked out, and I'm back again! Thing is, in those interim-years I've also finished Mass Effect 2 on my PS3, so I now know how the story goes. Well, it's still fun!

EA Games certainly has been prominent in the media lately. First, the received lots of letters from homophobes (in my words) who complain about the LGBT content in EA's games, like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I think it's sad, that people are so adamant on fighting something that is just really love. What about using that energy towards something that REALLY needs attention? It means a lot to gay gamers (and there's plenty of us) to have the opportunity to play as a gay character. A great big THANK YOU to EA for answering those hateful letters with these words:

EA has not been pressured by any groups to include LGBT characters in our games. However, we have met with LGBT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and harassment of players in online forums. In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don't tolerate hate speech on our forums.


So if you don't want to see Shepard gettin' it on with another dude, DON'T PLAY IT! Djiz! Gamesindustry has a great article on this, read here.

According to some, this is the worst thing to happen to video gaming. (I'm pretty sure this is a fake picture, though)

Unfortunately for EA this is not the only controversy for them these days. EA was also voted worst company to work in in America. Ouch.

Well, back to more important stuff: My second playthrough of ME1. The first time I chose a male Shepard. To switch things up on this playthrough I chose a female Shepard. So far I've played about 16 hours, and as of now I'm on the verge of the suicide mission. Who will die? I'm loving the scope of the story, and I'm hating the controls of the Mako - it's gotten stuck several times and I've had to reload. Turns out I'm just as bad driving on foreign planets as I am driving the streets of New York.

My paragon Jane Shepard

I can't wait to play Mass Effect 3. Hopefully I will be able to avoid finding out just what's so bad about the controversial ending. I'll just have to wait till August, when I move back to Norway, where my PS3 patiently awaits. I have sooo many games to catch up on!!

The Walking Dead game

I found these comic books in my library a couple of years ago. I read the first 5 in one sitting, and fell in love with the story and the characters. I loved how nothing felt safe, anyone could die. I've been a fan ever since.

The AMC-show surprised me in a good way. I've only seen the first season, and liked it. The writers took a different route and changed the story quite a bit. It worked, in my opinion. Great direction, amazing acting and fanastic zombies helped make this show a success. I'm excited about season 2, especially after all the behind-the-scenes-drama, and Frank Darabont's departure. From the reviews I've seen, it seems like the show is still good. The ratings are also great.

So, then it was only a matter of time before a computer game showed up. I've been a big fan of Tell Tall games, the creators behind the Walking Dead game. They caught my attention with their revival of pet detectives Sam and Max some years ago, and I've been so happy that they brought the adventure game back. Tell Tale continued with the amazing Tales of Monkey Island (where's season 2?!), and then the Back to the Future games. Unfortunately, the quality of these games got worse for each episode, and I only played the first two. I will finish it someday. Then came Jurassic Park, which I haven't played, but it wasn't received very well by critics or gamers.

Therefore, I was a bit sceptic about this Walking Dead game. But my hopes have been slightly raised after IGN showed some video footage from the game. Check out the first 4 minutes of the game, courtesy of IGN.

I'm loving the look and mood! Also, it seems they have taken to heart the criticism from the Jurrasic Park game. I am still slightly worried about playability - I don't want it to be a 100% QTE-game.

I'm especially intrigued by this clip, where the player can choose who to save. Hopefully this will change the course of the game throughout several episode, and create an immense replay value.

Take a look.

Looking cool, right? My expectations for this game are starting to go through the roof.

By the way, Tell Tale? Where is the promised King's Quest? I can't wait to see some footage from that game!

So, who's excited about this game?

The Return of Al Lowe and Jane Jensen

This is officially my first post on this blog. And what better way to start, than help promote a couple of gaming projects I really hope will see the light of day. We all know that Kickstarter really found it's spotlight after Tim Schafer's gigantous success with his Double Fine Adventure. Good for him, I was a backer of that project as well and just recently watched the first episode of the documentary following the game. Loved it, and can't wait to see how it unfolds.

Anyway, other game creators have followed in Tim's footsteps. Sierra On-Line, my favorite gaming company from the late 80s and 90s, fostered a lot of famous names in the gaming industry, thanks to the successes of King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Quest for Glory, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry and other series. The people behind these games have become heroes for many in the gaming industry. Ken & Roberta Williams, Lorey & Cory Cole, Jane Jensen, Al Lowe and so on. Well, now Jane Jensen and Al Lowe has turned to Kickstarter for help to make new games. Kickstarter-fatigue you say? Well, I can understand that some may be getting a Kickstarter overdose, but Lowe and Jensen both have proved themselves capable of making amazing games, and they deserve a chance to do so again. I'll gladly help them both!

Al Lowe, Leisure Suit Larry's father, asks for 500 000$ to help fund a remake of the first Larry game. Initially I was a bit disappointed that it's just a remake of a game we've already have remade once. But if this game is a success, Al and Replay Games will remake ALL the Larry games, and hopefully make new ones as well! Larry Lust in Space, anyone? Fingers crossed!

Larry outside Lefty's, version 3.0

As of right now the project has gotten 245,572$, almost halfway there, with 22 days to go. Go Al!

Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight's mother, has a bit of a different approach to Kickstarter. She's asking for 300 000$ to help start a gaming company, Pinkerton Road Studios. Here gamers can pay a yearly fee, and they'll get the games for that season. One season is one year. For the first season, gamers can vote on three games, at 300 000$ one is made, at 600 000$ two games. This weekend backers who give at least 16$ will be able to vote for the game they want first, from three games. They all look interesting, check them out here. I think my vote is on Moebius. If Jane's company is a success, she's hoping to get the rights to Gabriel Knight 4! *swoon*. So far, Jane has gotten 109,078$, with 39 days to go. Go Jane! 

I must say that I'm loving this revival (hopefully) of the adventure game genre. Yes, one could say that it never really went away, the other genres just became bigger, but new old-style adventure games from Al Lowe, Tim Schafer and Jane Jensen sounds amazing. Also, Tell Tale is working on a new King's Quest game. And Replay Games stated that if this Larry game is a success, they'll try to get license for the other Quest-games as well. Here's hoping!