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The Periodic Table of Game Controllers

We've seen a good number of "history of game controllers" charts and graphics over the past few years, but none of them has captured my attention quite like this new one from Michael Vasilev, the Periodic Table of Controllers.

Clearly inspired by Squidspot's Periodic Table of Typefaces that hit the 'net earlier this month, this table arranges the control input devices of most of the major gaming consoles and handhelds in chronological order, along with information regarding their designer, CPU and more.

Posted Mar 23 2009, 06:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: derrick sanskrit, art, controllers, design

Artist Updates Classic Game Characters

Over at a blog named Plan to Fail, there dwells a Canadian illustrator named Tom Rhodes. When Reading Week temporarily sprung Tom from the shackles of higher learning, he decided to celebrate by “updating” classic video game characters.

His first revisions centered on the characters from Earthworm Jim and Star Fox:

”I've never played [Star Fox] for more than 20 seconds, because I'd been spoiled by flight simulators I liked a lot more, but I always thought the character looked cool, so that's probably why he came to mind.”

The introduction of Krystal may have turned Star Fox into generic furry pin-up material, but in my heart, Fox is the last stand for genuinely cool animal-men.

A few more examples of Rhodes' work follow after the jump.

Posted Feb 26 2009, 09:18 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s)

Filed under: street fighter, earthworm jim, star fox, sonic the hedgehog, art, fan stuff, nadia oxford

WTFriday: The Great Final Fantasy VI Breast Challenge

I hope that Mackey will find it in his heart to forgive me for borrowing a “WTFriday” from him, but I'm afraid there is no other suitable phylum for that which I have recently...experienced.

I admire people who set goals for themselves and follow through, as long as those goals don't involve killing, maiming, raping, or smashing kneecaps with a roque mallet. But I admit my ol' brain shuffled through a deck of mightily confused emotions when an Internet friend (the best kind of friend) told me about an online artist's recent project.

See, this artist aims to draw every Final Fantasy VI boss character—male, female, neuter, and mechanical—with a plump pair of breasts.

S/he has an admirable head start.

Master Typhon? That's Mistress Typhon, you insolent pup.

Death Gaze? Of course. How else is s/he going to keep that Bahamut magicite shard warm while gliding through frigid, blood-tinted skies?

Phantom Train? Why the fuck not?

The most humiliating aspect of this project lies not with the ambitious artist, but with me. My friend wasn't able to provide a name or web address, so I've been desperately looking for this project's home base. If I'm ever pulled in for a heinous crime, the Mounties are going to find the following Google searches on my computer:

final fantasy vi+breasts

final fantasy vi+tits

final fantasy vi+tits+bosses

final fantasy vi+project tits

Posted Feb 06 2009, 09:56 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s)

Filed under: snes, final fantasy vi, retro, art, breasts, fan stuff, game boy advance, nadia oxford, boobs, bosses

I'm 28 Years Old And I Think Nintendo Wall Decals Are Awesome

Time to grind up Michelangelo's "David" and line a few kitty litter pans: art has a new standard to live up to.

Parents are so quick to decorate their kids' bedroom walls with clowns and bunnies and other terrifying shit, but heaven forfend they even consider slapping up some Nintendo characters. Well, thanks to Blik, I'm going to make sure my kids know their roots, right down to the littlest babe.

The choices for the decal sets ($75 each) include Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros. Personally, I'd love to see more of a choice from Blik (and chances are that I will, someday), because I've never been fond of New Super Mario Bros' art style.

Posted Sep 30 2008, 03:23 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s)

Filed under: art, parenting, nadia oxford, koopas, game art, decals, blik

Yahtzee and the Webcomics Plague

Yahtzee, possibly the only game reviewer capable of out-talking a five-year-old with a new Poekmon game, recently made clear his feelings about gaming webcomics. To give you the five-cent summary, Yahtzee believes that video game webcomics are the putrid nesting grounds of wannabes and hacks.

What do you think, class?

Personally, while I have no love for the webcomic that served as the primary target for Mr Yahtzee's rant (Ctrl+Alt+Del), I bear little ill will to webcomics in general. There's a popular opinion going around this here Internets stating that only kings and God should be allowed to produce creative work because humanity is generally not very good at anything. I don't think that's the case.

Posted Jul 03 2008, 10:35 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s)

Filed under: penny arcade, yahtzee, zero punctuation, webcomics, art, rant, writing, creativity, ctrl+alt+del, internet

Screen Test: Diablo III

I came home from a weekend holiday to find a buttload of Diablo III info had been released.

Apparently some Blizzard fans are nonplussed, concerned that the series's art direction has taken a turn for the cartoonish. This online petition, which looks like it was composed by someone with a tenuous grip on written English, has gained some traction (nearly 5K signatures as of this writing!). Is Blizzard aiming for WoW's widespread appeal by toning down Diablo's gothier design or does someone need to call a whaaaambulance? Whatever the case, this petition is sure to go nowhere, as Diablo III has been in development for four years now. Making these changes would surely require a massive design overhall.

Some of the screenshots are darker...

than others.

Posted Jul 01 2008, 06:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 3 comment(s)

Filed under: world of warcraft, cole stryker, diablo iii, art, blizzard

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.