Advertising firms have never really gone for photorealism, but rather a fantasy version of reality. Photoshop was just a stepping stone in their journey to using competely computer-generated images, which are often clearer and cheaper. The images are hyperreal: so perfect and realistic that we can’t
video In the just released trailer for the next Tomb Raider game, in which Lara Croft is transformed from a lone spelunker into an action figure pin cushion, Lara is shown killing a deer with a bow and arrow. The sequence appears to fit in between hyperbolic action set pieces, which has Lara creepin
Men are like / pantyhose / they either / run / cling / or don’t fit right / in the crotch -anonymous toilet graffiti Before the Internet, memes had to propagate through physical means like chain letters (laboriously hand copied), billboards, and graffiti. Bathroom graffiti in particular allows resea
Brighton-based artist Jim Harris has created a lovely new variation on sprite-art with a series of copper-plate etchings that recreate classic videogame sprites from Pac-Man and Space Invaders. The etchings are on display in The Brighton Five Pound Fringe show at The Rock Inn, Kemptown. Harris promi
Yesterday Activision and Call of Duty co-creators Jason West and Vince Zampella reached legal settlement a day before their trial was set to begin. “All parties have reached a settlement in the dispute, the terms of which are strictly confidential,” Robert Schwartz, attorney for West and Zampella, s
Star Wars 1313 is not a sequel to Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, the 2002 game that let players control Jango Fett as he tried to unravel a conspiracy. But it certainly feels like another pass on the same basic idea. Yesterday, LucasArts revealed Star Wars 1313 as the next major game in the franchise tha
Politicians have long used videogames to help themselves look better. In 2005 Hilary Clinton introduced legislation to make the sale of violent videogames to minors a federal crime. Before her, Joseph Lieberman never seemed to tire of making hyperbolic claims about the morally degenerative effects o
If you think about it, it’s strange that we should individually own games. No one can own a game of tag or soccer. But a game of Mario or Pokémon can be yours through the generations. The strange sense of privately owning of a thing that was once shared as a function of community togetherness has be