Concept art

When I was contacted by the PR firm handling Paradox Interactive (the fantastic TriplePoint PR, located right here in San Francisco), I got pretty excited. Partly because I'm an excitable boy, partly because I was coming off an intense sugar high, but mostly because I knew I'd get a chance to check out Majesty 2, out this Summer.

For those of you who might not remember the original Majesty, created by Cyberlore Studios in 2000, the game was called the Fantasy Kingdom Sim. You played the role of an omniscient ruler, managing your kingdom. However, you have little direct control over your units, instead using your abilities to guide them to complete your tasks. You build various structures to grow your kingdom -- a marketplace, blacksmith, temples, guard towers, etc. -- and your subjects make use of these buildings on their own. While it may sound as though the lack of control might be frustrating, in reality it provides a different sort of experience that's enriching on its own. So how does Majesty 2 improve on the original? Read on!

CCP's EVE Online is a spacefaring MMO held in reverence by its players, and a certain amount of respect/fear by those who haven't played it. One thing that both groups seem to agree on is that EVE isn't something to be taken lightly. Word of its complexity has spread among those who don't generally play MMOs, and even the game's developers sometimes refer to the learning curve as more of a Learning Cliff, which tempts the unwary with promises of gameplay riches, only to dash them to the rocks below.

With that in mind, we were hoping that our recent interview with Noah "Hammerhead" Ward, Lead Game Designer for EVE Online, would provide some clarification. Is EVE as hard as everyone says? How can new players manage the overwhelming number of features? What can players look forward to in the upcoming expansion, Apocrypha? What follows is all the information we could extract from Mr. Ward, gotten in much the same way as one might extract ore from an asteroid. See? You're learning already!

When was the last time you played a decent point-and-click adventure? Much less one with a Noir theme? Based on the collected works of Frank L. Baum? If the answer is "never", then feast your eyes on Emerald City Confidential, brought to us by Wadjeteye Games. First, it's difficult to do Noir properly. Second, the Oz series carries a reputation for being kids-only. Third, point-and-click adventure games have fallen somewhat out of favor since the days of LucasArts classics like Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road. For a game to try to tackle all three of these at the same time is awesome/lunacy. How well do they pull it off? Read on to find out!

Adventure game fans require no introduction to Jane Jensen. As the creator of the Gabriel Knight series Jensen has solidified her place in the annals of adventure game history. In a new blog Jensen revealed her latest title, Gray Matter, has been delayed while new developer Wizarbox reworks the infrastructure established by the previous team. Jensen's blog, creatively titled Jane's Blog, will detail the development cycle of Gray Matter and will be used as a launch pad for new information and media assets. Adventure gamers take note of the first post which includes a handful of exciting concept art and storyboard scenes.

If you're looking forward to jumping headlong into the comic book world of Champions Online, then this wallpaper pack should help ease the pain of waiting for a while longer. The high-resolution wallpapers individually feature the major Champions Online characters and come in both standard and widescreen varieties.

Download the Champions Online Wallpaper Pack (10 MB)

Most of the time concept artwork for games is of less interest to gamers than actual in game footage or screenshots. However, Blizzard's artists are developing the style for Diablo III which will likely be one of the best selling PC games in years (whenever it comes out that is). So we decided to go ahead and post up a gallery of art images from the game from the Diablo III web site.

As you can see there are character classes designs, designs for various monsters (lots of evil trees in the Diablo universe), visuals for massive battle settings, locations and lots more. Again we don't expect to actually be playing the game for a while but this will give you a chance to see what they are working on in the months (and years?) to come.

When it rains fire, it pours. Continuing our extensive coverage of the recently announced Diablo III we present the cinematic trailer for the anticipated sequel, a concept art clip that showcases the origin of its design and 19-minutes of gameplay footage. Yes, you read that correctly. No simple announcement and six months until you're tossed a morsel of information, Blizzard has let the cat out of the bag and it's running wild.

Instead of making you jump around to various sites for the footage while Big Download grabs it for ourselves, we've placed them here for your viewing pleasure. Jump in for your first look into the world of Diablo III and the concept art that helped create the upcoming sequel.

The post-apocalyptic world of the Fallout franchise has always been rife with humor and innovative imagery. While we all think we know what the aesthetic should resemble, it's up to the actual artists to try to find new ways to spin that aesthetic in novel ways, to keep the look fresh and appealing. Leading the charge is Bethesda's Adam Adamowicz, Concept Artist on Fallout 3.

In his latest Diary, Adam details the sometimes rigorous brainstorming sessions and countless revisions it takes to arrive at a truly immersive look and feel for the game, and presents several concept art sketches for our enjoyment. Included in this overview are the clothing, machines, architecture, robots, and assorted mutants and bad guys that populate the ravaged world of Fallout. If the finished product is anything even remotely like these sketches, we're all in for quite a treat. Enjoy!

Next-Gen Prince of Persia Producer Ben Mattes knows how to make an introduction. In the first, of a promised many, development diaries for the upcoming action-adventure title, the producer debuted an exclusive concept image of the Prince speed-painted by character artist Patrick. The art, other than being breathtakingly created before our very eyes, reignites our interest in the franchise's new cell-shaded direction.

While we're happy with the trailer, we can't stand the tease! The all-new Prince of Persia title, staring an all-new Prince, is currently in development at Ubisoft's Montreal studio and is expected to hit retail this holiday season.