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Archive for ‘gaming’

“Super Sabacc Challenge” Art by Nathan Hamill

November 18, 2010

words: Bonnie Burton
art: Nathan Hamill

Artist Nathan Hamill recently blogged about a cool piece of custom Star Wars game-themed art he made for So Analog’s “10-DOH!” Show. StarWars.com chats with Nathan about his art piece and how it came about.

What is the So Analog’s “10-DOH!” Show all about?

So Analog is a series of resin figures made by Squid Kids Inc. that focus on “old tech items that everyone used to use,” such as video game cartridges, floppy discs and cassettes tapes. They asked several artists to customize these blank resins however we saw fit to be included in a show at Designer Con 2010 in Pasadena. Based on the pieces I’ve seen, I’m really looking forward to it.

What’s the backstory on your Super Sabacc Challenge art piece?

I love Nintendo. I’ve been a fan since I was five or six. The NES was a huge part of growing up for most people my age. We ate, slept and breathed these games. They permeated our psyches. I saw Tetris pieces falling from the sky and tried to arrange them correctly on the side of the school bus and school buildings. Star Wars was another childhood love so it seemed a good fit. Two great tastes…

What is it about “old school” gaming that makes it so cool?

There’s a certain charm in their design. The developers and composers had work with limitations in technology that made them extremely inventive. I enjoy modern games as well but 8-bit and 16-bit games have a purity and beautiful simplicity that I miss. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past and Super Metroid battle over the title of greatest video game of all time in a no holds barred arena in my mind. But there will never be a winner. The fight is eternal.

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Be sure and check out Nathan’s official site at NathanHamill.com.

No Comments » | Star Wars Art, crafts, gaming | Permalink
Posted by bonniegrrl

Star Wars Shout Outs in “G33k & G4M3R Girls” Music Video

September 10, 2010

Words: Bonnie Burton

Move over fellas, the geek gals & gamer girls are in the house! The ladies of the award-winning Star Wars fan film Saber are back with a few of their friends including actor Seth Green, comics legend Stan Lee and Starbuck herself Katee Sackhoff — in a music video to celebrate geek girls everywhere.

“G33k & G4M3R Girls” — sung to the same tune as the hit song “California Girls” by Katy Perry — features Team Unicorn which includes actresses Michele Boyd (The Guild, How I Met Your Mother, Cold Case, Sons of Anarchy), Clare Grant (Walk the Line, $5 Cover, Black Snake Moan, Saber), Milynn Sarley (EA, TheGamerChick, LTA, Street Fighter High School), Rileah Vanderbilt (Hatchet, Frozen, Saber), and actor Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Family Guy) remind us all why geek girls rule!

There’s plenty of shout outs to Star Wars, Doctor Who, Marvel comics, Halo and more!

WATCH VIDEO: “G33k & G4M3R Girls Song”

StarWars.com chats with the ladies of Team Unicorn (they answer as a single unit cause that’s how they roll) about their awesome music tribute to geek goddesses everywhere!

(Milynn Sarley as Psylocke, Clare Grant as Lara Croft, Rileah Vanderbilt as The Baroness and Michele Boyd as Han Solo)

Why did you decide to do such an awesome remake of Katy Perry’s song “California Girls” but as “Geeks and Gamers?”

We’d all become friends because of our shared love for geeky stuff and bonded even more cosplaying as Sailor Scouts during Comic-Con this year. Milynn, Rileah and Michele actually all play in the same guild in World of Warcraft!

Milynn and Michele were on the way back from the beach when they started singing along to the Katy Perry song and had the idea for the parody! We all know geekery the best, so it seemed a natural idea for the new version. They started coming up with lyrics in the car and then got Rileah and Clare involved, and it all snowballed from there!

(more…)

9 Comments » | Celebrities, Fan Films, fan fun, gaming | Permalink
Posted by bonniegrrl

Halo Master Chief’s Date with a Stormtrooper

February 23, 2010

Who says spartans and stormtroopers can’t get along? Check out this fan-made video of a stormtrooper spending some quality time with Spartan Master Chief from Halo.

WATCH VIDEO:
Halo Spartan Master Chief goes on a Date with Stormtrooper
(by Adam Grumbo)

5 Comments » | Fan Films, costumes, fan fun, gaming | Permalink
Posted by bonniegrrl

Father/Son Lightsaber Battle in Heavy Rain?

February 23, 2010

It’s always interesting to see Star Wars references pop up in different video games, so when we found out about this lightsaber bonding moment between a father and son in the game Heavy Rain we couldn’t help but smile.

GamesRadar.com reports:

Your reaction to the opening hour of psycho-thriller Heavy Rain will put you firmly in one of two camps: it was either poignant and sentimental, or an onerous slog that couldn’t end soon enough. The only sure way we know to remedy such divisiveness is comedy. Case in point, the adding of lightsaber sound effects to an otherwise schmaltzy scene of father/son bonding. We present the swordfight as it should have been, if only Skywalker Sound had handled the foley work.

WATCH VIDEO: Star Wars makes Heavy Rain better

1 Comment » | gaming | Permalink
Posted by bonniegrrl

This Droid’s Got Game

September 24, 2009

HacknMod.com (and plenty of other sites that jumped on this story first) points out an impressive custom made R2-D2 gaming droid. Its ingredients include a refurbished R2-D2 cooler, a whole bunch of fans, and eight gaming consoles. No rusty innards to be found inside this astromech, just hours and hours of nostalgic gaming joy.

More to see here.

5 Comments » | fan fun, gadgets, gaming | Permalink
Posted by Pabawan

Interview with Star Wars: The Old Republic Devs

June 19, 2009

Here’s a round-up of interviews about the upcoming video game that everyone is all a buzz about: Star Wars: The Old Republic.

From MMOgamer.com:

Daniel Erickson (Lead Writer on The Old Republic):

Because we did all class-specific stories for The Old Republic, we’ve allowed ourselves to basically make, Knights of the Old Republic: The Smuggler, its own game. Everything in there, when you’re playing a Smuggler, you feel like a Smuggler. The adventures are crazy, and madcap, and you’re flying by the seat of your pants, and there’s romantic stuff, and you’re spouting off crazy one-liners, etc., etc.

Then, when you’re playing as a Sith, it’s a completely different game. Everything is from that perspective, you come from a very dark world, you’re on Korriban, you’re dealing with Sith politics, you’re dealing with some very, very dark people who are allowed to do anything they want. It completely changes the way we do storytelling.

VIDEO: Giant Bomb Interviews Star Wars: The Old Republic Devs

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SOURCES: Slashdot, 1up.com

2 Comments » | LucasArts, gaming | Permalink
Posted by bonniegrrl

TFU Gets WGA Writing Nods; QFT, BRB, BBQ.

January 13, 2009

When people think of video games, they usually think of button-mashy, time-draining bits of visual flair. Usually, the writing does not live up the fun of the game. I mean, really, stomping turtles isn’t exactly a brilliant metaphor for world suffering or the trials of a hard life. It’s just stomping turtles, Freud.

But some video games can have those deep undertones. Gamers sat up and took notice with Bioshock in 2007, amazed at the story within the game. They weren’t alone. The Writers Guild of America were so moved that in 2008 they created an award for Best Writing within a Video Game. Dead Head Fred won for the 2007 span of releases – deservedly so, in my humble opinion. For the 2008 year, things hit a bit closer to home.

LucasArts is quite proud to have received praise from the Writer’s Guild. Regardless of what the critics said about The Force Unleashed, they all agreed the story is brilliant. And why not? Expanding the storyline of our beloved mythology, blazing ahead into previously unexplored dark times – who wouldn’t love that – gamers were hooked by the story as well as the brilliantly-crafted voicework and well-directed cinematics.

So, we extend congratulations to our friends Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford, and Cameron Suey. Give them some love – they worked incredibly hard on the game and deserve every bit of honor they are given.

25 Comments » | LucasArts, The Force Unleashed, gaming, in the media | Permalink
Posted by JediMudkip

Rogue Leaders is ‘Heaven’ for the Hardcore

December 3, 2008

As we here at LucasArts ramp up to the release of our history to the public in book form, our favorite fan sites are beginning to take notice. The much-beloved International House of Mojo has gone over the book itself with a fine-toothed comb and obviously fallen in love with it quite readily. To quote:

What will interest many people is the wonderful amount of previously unseen concept art, storyboards, puzzle flow-charts and other cool behind-the-scenes stuff for many of LEC’s games. There’s Steve Purcell’s alternate Monkey Island 2 covers, some of Peter Chan’s storyboards from Grim Fandango, the original Full Throttle logo and the notes for adjustment, designs for most of the creatures in The Dig, and even a letter from George Lucas praising the team after the success of Rebel Assault. For a lifelong Mojo reader, this is heaven.

I’m glad they enjoyed it as much as myself. Coffee table books are sadly rare for us gamers, and one as well-crafted as this deserves a place in any gamers home. To read the rest of their review, head over to MixNMojo.com and give it a read.

Rob Smith, the author of the book, should be proud. Even the most hardcore fans loved it. That’s saying something!

No Comments » | Collecting, LucasArts, The Force Unleashed, fan fun, gaming, in the media | Permalink
Posted by JediMudkip

Create Your Own Geeky Avatar

November 26, 2008

With the latest update to our 360’s worldwide, one of the odder features is the inclusion of ‘Mii-Like’ avatars. Sure, some of us bounced through the process very fast since we’ve been through it a dozen times with family on the household Wii. But some creative people decided to take it a step further.

One of my favorite gaming sites of late, Games Radar, decided to collect their favorites and show them to us. The Pris (remember her from Blade Runner?) and the Neo from The Matrix are good. But I’m not here for them. As they note – the hairstyles included are minimal, yet somehow – some way – they found room for historic buns.

It is worth heading over to their site to see the rest of them. Spock, Mr. T, and even a really, really creepy Michael Jackson. That one might be going too far.

1 Comment » | Celebrities, LucasArts, fan fun, gaming, in the media | Permalink
Posted by JediMudkip

Ye Olde-Timey Arcade Machine

November 25, 2008

In my home town the ‘The Gold Mine’, an arcade that closed in the early 90’s, was a haven for the socially awkward. On a bad day you’d fly through your change in no time flat, on a good day, you’d feel like a hero and only have dropped a single token. Alas, the days of quarters, tournaments and dark rooms filled with bleeps and neon lights are long gone.

But when it comes to reminiscing on these great days, my mind always drifts to the great vector-based games that still – to this day – mesmerize me. I know I’m not the only person who gets weepy staring at a good rendering of Tempest, right?

The crown of vector gaming, however, goes to Star Wars. I cannot help but smile when I think about its incredible controller, bright graphics and pseudo 3-D rendering of the battle on the Death Star.

Apparently, neither can the guys at Screw Attack, who feel the same way I do. Luckily, they decided to put their love for the game on their latest episode, which I proudly present to you. Be careful not to overdose on nostalgia, okay?

3 Comments » | LucasArts, gaming, in the media | Permalink
Posted by JediMudkip