Catching up on the last week (Sep. 30 - Oct. 7)

Hello all. Sorry again for not posting on schedule, but school is straining my abilities to keep up on everything. So to catch up, here is an all-in-one post for last week.

First the Song of the Week:

This gem of a track comes from one of my personal favorite games, Earthworm Jim. This is the Sega Genesis version of this song, "Use your head", by esteemed composer of many games, and the brain trust behind the concert series Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico.

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Next up, the Art of the Week:

This is a little different from art I've previously showcased here, as this a direct copy of the Age Of Empires box art. I selected this piece because one, it has a really wonderful sense of balance and color, and two, the original Age of Empires doesn't get nearly the love it deserves. I understand why, since AoEII was a RTS masterpiece, but still the original deserves some love.

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Finally, we have last Saturday's (Oct. 6th) Replay!

In this Replay! we get to hear an intriguing debate about the merits of Banjo Kazooie vs. Mario 64, Ben Hanson declares his favorite N64 game is one he never played half of, and Tim Turi faces off with an obscure Japanese computer adaptation of Super Mario in a new installment of Stress Test.

This is one of the best Replay episodes we've gotten in recent months. ENJOY IT.

Replay Rating: 9.5

Art of the Week

Apologies for the wacky schedule this week. School is upon me, and things got lost in the shuffle. That said, here is your belated video game art of the week!

This incredibly vivid and creepy representation of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask comes from artist Stephen Emond, who's blog can be located here.

Art of the Week

This week's piece is a little different from previous selections. Instead of pulling some artist's masterpiece off the inter-webs absent of context, I decided to jump into the catacombs of video game advertisements in an effort to link the two. One of my favorite things about older games, looking back, is seeing the concept or box art of a game compared to the actual in-game graphics. Case in point, this ad for Golden Axe II on the Sega Genesis:

Sega Advertisement from 1992

This was the box cover to the Mega Drive version of the game, painted by fantasy artist Boris Vallejo.

These days, a character's concept art often looks more or less like the end product. Not so for our 16-bit protagonists. It's intriguing to see what the developers envisioned these worlds looking like, and what their technology would actually allow. Obviously, we've come a long way.

For more of artist Boris Vallejo's work, check out his page here.

Art of the Week

This week's piece of digital design comes from the 8bit NES classic, Punch-Out!!

"All Hail King Hippo" - Dan Santat

If you would like to see more of the exceptional work form this artist, check out his blog, here.

Video Game Art of the Week

Rough Night Out - Bob Dob

This painting was done by the talented artist, Bob Dob. To take a look at some of his other work, video game related and otherwise, check out his blog here:

http://www.bobdob.com/

Video Game Art of the Week

Metal Gear Solid Concept art - Solid Snake

Illustration by Yoji Shinkawa, character designer of the Metal Gear Solid series.

(Konami, 1998)