Baby I’m back!!!

I know it’s been a while… what, like two years or so… but that is how life goes sometimes… I don’t have time for playing games like I used to… but I want to get back into doing more interviews with artist in the industry and posting about some great games soon…

I have been more an artist who digs games lately… but believe me I am still a gamer who digs art at heart.

Here are some samples of the works I have done in the game area… as you can see there has been a big progression over the time.

This was my first digital piece done back in 2009 trying my hand with some fan art…

A sketch from Blue Dragon that I need to color…again done in 2009

Some sketch work from Team Fortress

Ryu from street fighter

A sketch of a jackal from Halo series

Kratos Sketch

Crack Down vs Infamous digital illustration

Mega man digi painting

Big Daddy sketch

Master Chief lite

Chris Redfield vs the infected from Left 4 dead

Little Sister from BioShock

Grunt Sketch

Gravity Hammer Grunt

Nariko sketch

Kratos vs Link Sketch

ODST sketch

Bayonetta digital illustration

Blanka and Sloth break Dance

The flood Tank Form

Elite

Johnson

Skirmisher

Halo Reach

Brute Chieftain

Han Juri

Bioshock

Gears

Locust Horde

Marvel Kombat colored by vic55b

2010 The Year that was Part 1…

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The year 2010 is coming to a close and we have had some stellar games released this year.  I can’t really say if it was better than 2009, but it sure wasn’t worse.

January of 2010 started off with some major releases right after the holidays, which makes sense since there are a lot of gamers walking around with Christmas money and gift cards.

There is no correct way to describe Bayonetta.  The music is like no other game on the market.  The action is non stop and the combat is as intense as in any game you ever played.  I will admit, as for the story I was lost….lost lost lost as in Jack on the Island…yet I still played and continued to play because it was fun and looked cool.  It’s real cheap right now (20-30 bucks u.s.d.) and a great game to add to your collection.

Bayonetta

Darksiders made its debut in the gaming world and came with a nice mix of Zelda and God of War series.  The game had it’s moments of fun, frustration, repetition, and then became fun again for me near the end.  The art direction of the game (headed by Joe Mad ) was fantastic.  The story started off pretty good with a nice epic battle between Heaven, Hell, and Earth but the next 10 hours were kinda dry.  Mark Hamill’s character was kinda of annoying, fast forward to the last 4 hours of the game and the heat is on again.  If there was a way to keep the excitement of the first 2 hours and the last 4 hours of the game it would have scored higher for me…but overall if you got nothing on your gaming queue check it out!

Darksiders

For the full Article click here

What are you waiting for?

Halo Reach is coming soon and all you have to do is sign up and leave a comment on the site here!

Win your own copy of Halo Reach!!!

How much do you like the Halo universe?  How much do you like playing Halo 3?  What if I told you and three friends could win your own copies of Halo Reach here at Gamersdigart.com It is very possible and easy to do. Starting August 13th, 2010 there will be a Halo 3 4 vs 4 tournament here on the site.

There is a will be a small registration fee of $5.00 USD.  The tournament will be open of anyone who can participate.  There is no age limit on this battle… but kids have your parents pay the fee (don’t swipe their card without them knowing about it!)

This is a great chance for you and your friends to put your team work and skill to the test.  We have given away multiple games here on the site, but this is the first time we are offering a contest that is not art related.

For registration details click here!

Gears…Grind Baby Grind!

It is known by many as the game that defined the third person shooter for this generation of gamers.  There are many games that have spawned based on the cover system but none hold the popularity as the Gears of War franchise.

The first game introduced us the world of Sera.  More importantly it introduced us to the Locust.   A deadly force that has attacked mankind not from the skies, but from underneath their very feet.  The game was a smash to play through.  The cover system (new for 2006) was fun to play and battle in, the enemies were tough as nails and the experience was very memorable.  It was kinda on the short side, but the multi-player was plenty of fun.

In 2008 Gears of War 2 hit.  It was an instant classic here! Epic took all the things that were great in Gears 1 and gave it the ‘ol sequel steroid shot of bigger action, better graphics, and more game play.  The campaign made the first one look like a walk in the park.   It introduced a new enemy type to the game…a sort of flood like third army type.  The game finished with a whole lot of death on the human’s side and the Locust’s side.  The main attraction of this sequel turned out to be the Horde mode.  It was truly a “bonding” experience as players were forced to fight together or die alone.

In less than a year, Gears of War 3 will be upon us all.  Many of the core elements in the story have changed drastically from the first two titles.  The first game was COG VS Locust.  The second game was COG VS Locust as well along with “who the hell are these discolored locust” mixed in.  Both titles were heavily militarized.  In the third title the Military might of the Cog has been broken with the sinking of Jacinto.   A major new game play mode will be a new 4 player campaign mode and a new arcade mode.

The Locust Horde has seen it’s own set backs as well.  There is an emergence of the Lambent.  Imulsion is having a bad affect on the Locust introduced us to the Lambent in  the second game.  Now in the third title we get to see the evolution of these creatures.  As they attack and become more of a threat don’t think the Locust are gone forever.  Think Halo Series with the triple fighting going on between Humans,  Covenant, and the Flood.

The third title is easily going to be Microsoft’s Big hit of 2011.  It will represent 360’s first trilogy to start and finish on the system.  It will represent the the graphical and technical leaps from 2006-2011 and will represent what the 360 can do as a system.  The Gears franchise has always set the bar for what this generation of games can accomplish.  Set your calendars for Tuesday April 5, 2011, it’s gonna be one hell of a ride!

more Gears coverage here!

Gamerspot Light ~Left 4 Dead

Games are classified as great for many different reasons.  Some are good because the graphics engine used is the new industry standard (Uncharted 2) others are good because of what they do for a genre (Mass Effect 2) while some are great because they let you play with friends (Halo Series).  Left 4 Dead is a great series because it takes 2 things gamers love and combines them…co-op gameplay with Zombie killing!

Even on paper the game sounds like a recipe for for success.  The game relies heavily on cooperative action.  Let a zombie killing player get too cocky and stray from the group he will become zombie fodder for a  smoker.  The enemies of the game can attack you if they get the slip on you, and unlike most games, there is no offensive attack you can personally do to get them off you…you will need the aid of your mates.

The sequel was equally as fun with new characters and new challenges.  So what’s better than 2 awesome titles that includes 2 sets of four memorable characters?  Crafting a story that lets all the characters overlap in a story called the passing.  This will be a DLC that have the characters from the first game meet the characters from the second game…then there will be a second DLC for the first game that explains how they all meet.

Full article here.

Sony…on the Ropes?

Sometimes it’s hard to believe how the once and mighty have fallen.  How a powerful system slayer of the Playstation brand, could garnish so much criticism.  Originally released in 1994 the PSX (PLAYSTATION) took the world by storm.  It offered an alternative to the cartridge based game format and showed the world SONY as a leader of new technologies.  (Sounds familiar…blu-ray) The idea of having a game console that could play music cd’s as well seems trivial by today’s standards…but it was new in 1994.

Full article here.

The Last post from the Gamer who digs art…

Yes it is true….but with the death of this blog comes life anew.  New site.  New features and more importantly new art!

The blog has been a blast…but when it’s time to move on its time…

Come visit us at Link to continue the stories and adventures of more gamers who dig art!  Thanks for all the support for those who left comments!

Xbox360 vs PS3…at this point who really cares?

***I know the Wii is selling like hotcakes going out of style but when your average person buying the system looks like this…

I will leave them out of the discussion. (it was a joke…not just elderly people buy the wii!)I know other gamers play and own the Wii, but seriously, the real games are on PS3 and 360.

Really Sony and Microsoft should have no beef with Nintendo, and I believe they realize they are not competing with the Wii.  They each know their true opponent is each other.  Nothing is wrong with Nintendo and the direction they have taken…I want a Wii and will own one soon…but it will never be home to the hardcore games of today….here are some killer titles for the Wii

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. Mario Kart Wii (with wheel)
3. Wii Play
4. Wii Fit (with Balance Board)
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)

Fun Casual games….

Probably every hardcore gamer secretly cares who wins this console war.  The true winner will be who delivers the goods on the games! I believe in good quality games.  It doesn’t matter which system I play it on.  Sony doesn’t pay me to play their games neither does Microsoft. Yet we as gamers forge some sort of unofficial alliance with these large multi-billion dollar companies like they care about us.

They care about the dollars we shell out for games plain and simple.  Look at the roles we gamers play in the larger picture of console wars.  When gamers buy a system at a high rate, it creates an installed base that publishers look at.  When those developers see a system selling hundreds of thousands of units more than the competitor they will spend more time, money, and effort in getting games into the hands of those gamers.

Look at the advantage of the PS2 over the original xbox and game cube. Developers made games for the PS2 system and ported them over to the xbox and game cube.  Not all developers, but most developers.  The graphics showed  many games looked like ps2 games on all three consoles.  Even though the xbox was more powerful it didn’t matter.  It didn’t have the power where it mattered most, and that was the in the number of gamers who purchased new products.

Fast forward to this generation and roles have been reversed.  You have the xbox 360 in one corner dropping hits like crazy with mind blowing graphics and delivering heavy-weight-classics on a yearly basis.

Then you have the PS3.  It dropped in 2006.  Killer machine, powerful, blue ray built in…yet they were the red-headed step child to the gaming schedule.  Releases were coming to the 360 first, then were ported to the ps3.  So you have games built based on 360 architecture being turned over to the more “powerful” system but sometimes lacking muscle of it’s 360 cousin.  They have had some killer titles release.  The problem is…it still didn’t turn the ship for Sony. These titles shown below should have helped Sony…but did little to raise awareness for Sony’s cause… both are great titles by the way.

We gamers decide the winners of each console war.  Not the gimmicks or crazy plots or grand ideas of companies.  Numbers don’t lie, take a look at these.

Most current taken from www.vgchartz.com

7.02M Japan
16.31M America
13.28M Others

36.61 Million units sold.  47.9% market share (hardware)

0.79M Japan
13.38M America
8.75M Others

22.93 Million units sold.   30.0% market share (hardware)

2.49M Japan
6.40M America
8.00M Others

16.89 Million units sold.  22.1%  market share (hardware)

Now like I said before toss the Wii out of the picture.  They will get their money.  If you are a hardcore gamer and you have a Wii, you will also have a PS3 or a 360 (maybe both)  Nintendo is drawing a lot of new gamers to their system.  But if they bought the system to play Wii-fit…I doubt they will be purchasing games on a regular basis.

Last thing about the Wii~besides Mario galaxy, Smash Bros, and Resident evil 4 what games are good on this system??? Really I don’t know!

Ok moving on…you have around 22.93 million 360 owners. (more after this Holiday is over) and around 16.89 millions PS3 owners (not bad they are closing in on 360 sort of) Here is the thing gamers need to understand.  These companies make their money off of games sold.

I will take a third party publisher for example…Activision and their Call of Duty franchise.  Since moving the next gen (our current gen) Call of Duty games have made their mark year after year in every Holiday since 2005.

Call of Duty 2 for the 360.  It was the biggest game of 2005 for next generation of gaming. It sold 2.25million games to this date.  That isn’t too bad for being xbox 360 first ‘true’ next gen experience.  It made Activision a ton of money and Microsoft a ton of money.  Sorry Sony….no Call of Duty 2 for you that year.

Call of Duty 3 came out a year later.  Done by a different developer it still sold fairly well for the 360. 2.14 million copies isn’t bad.  This helped Sony get a chance to taste some of the action to the tune of 560,000 copies sold.  Not close at all to the 360 version. Still however Activision made some money.

Fast forward to last year 2007 holidays’ hits.  A year where Halo 3, Bioshock, The Orange box, Assassin’s Creed, and Mass Effect all dropped.  Yet who stole the show?  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It sold 6.58 million copies for the xbox 360 alone…and an additional 3.71 million for the PS3.  Activision knows it has a cash cow on it’s hands with the Call of Duty Franchise and they milk it each year rotating developers to churn out a new game a year.

Since 2005 Activision has made a game that produced: 15.24 million units sold on current gen technology.  With that in mind think about that in dollars.  That’s $914,400,000.00 dollars.  With 360 gamers spending $658,200,000 of those dollars over those three years…activison knows where to send games.

That is not even including this year’s World At War. (which sold 1.35 million units on 360 and 800,000 units on ps3) These numbers are great on both systems.  (I think the ps3 are really nice actually to be so close to the 360 version in sales)

But don’t count Sony out just yet.  With Little Big Planet and Metal Gear Sold 4, and Resistance 2  in 2008, also a Blue Ray built in…they are a few hit titles away from scoring gold.  BUT!!! They need to change 2 things that they are currently doing.

1.  Stop making hand me down games from Microsoft.  Dead Rising, Lost Planet, and Bioshock are some games that made a 360 worth while…in the past!  Now this holiday Sony is showing off Bioshock a year too late….Same with Dead Rising and Lost Planet.  While microsoft has moved on to new titles like Left 4Dead and Fable II.  I know Sony also has Resistance 2…but that game is not really turning any heads:350,000 units sold so far…Call of Duty: WAW has this title beat soundly…

2. Stop losing your exclusives!! Sony made a killing on having exclusives in the past. I remember Final Fantasy VII was the hotness back in the day. Same with Metal Gear Solid, and the Resident Evil Series. Imagine if Assasin’s Creed was PS3 only? You would have a Killer title for Sony…great way to show gamers thier system means business. Now as things stand they even lost FInal Fantasy XIII !!

Many gamers feel that as of right now the “cool” games are on 360.  There are many third party popular games available for both systems, but that game will sell more for the 360.  Take the mega popular GTA IV release this year.

Xbox 360 had 6.18 million takers and the PS3 had 4.84 million buyers (not bad at all!) But you are talking about a game the PS2 made famous (or is that the other way around?) and Microsoft not only getting in the mix but taking it over.  They bo-guarded thier way to two downloadable adventures yet to be released. (February 2009!)

That is business done right. Even though it had the RROD (xbox360) that crapped out on nearly everyone who bought one…(myself included!) and I’m sure they are kicking themselves on the billions they lost on the repair program, but they still have the strongest library of games out there. It makes sense for them to fix their clients system so they can play more games!

Gamers voice your opinions…who is winning…who cares right?  As a gamer I will say this; WE are the true winners with all the above mentioned gaming experiences out there right now!!

Enjoy!

Getting your girl into gaming…renewed!

A while back ago I wrote a post about getting your girl into gaming. (link)

Here is a follow up on that post.  Since I got my wife into gaming on the xbox360 her gaming IQ and knowledge of the genre has grown. So has her interest in games.  Since gaming on the xbox 360 can be such a social experience it has been a blast to see her meet fellow girl gamers.  But guys listen up.  There is another side, so to speak about getting your girl into gaming…not a bad thing just something to be ready for.

Let’s say I wanted to play a single player game…my wife would be left out with nothing to do.  Not because she wanted to play with me…it’s just that we have 1 360 system.  I have over 45 xbox 360 games and a lot of them are single player.  Or there would be times where she wanted to play one thing and I wanted to play another.  She loves Halo 3, I do as well, but Call of Duty 4 ws calling my name recently and there is no split screen options on that game.  So she would be left out.  This didn’t lead to any arguments but there were times when I wanted one thing and she wanted another.  Two gamers one system go figure.

The solution: BUY HER OWN SYSTEM!

I got her a xbox 360 system pro (20 gig) with a controller, wifi- adapter to go online from her studio, and her own copy of Gears of War 2.  (So that makes 4 copies of that game I bought!) I tell ya…it was one of the best purchases I made in years.

I may have bought a 360 for her…but in doing so I got me a 360 as well.  I have my own system again…not that sharing one with my precious wife was a bad thing…but gamers you understand, you need your own system…I know my wife is happy to have hers.

Here is a link to her latest post on gaming.

So guys listen up…getting your girl into gaming may lead to more expensive purchases down the road.  Now I have to get 2 copies of games that we want to play together.  The gaming experience is so much richer for us now though…when we played Gears of 2 last night she got to play with 1 group of friends while I played with another.  We played together, but we also have the choice to get our own gaming experiences as well.

Well I really looking forward to all of the co-op games coming out in the future especially Resident Evil 5 which will be perfect.  I character is a Girl (Sheva) and the other is Chris.

Happy gaming to all!!! (to you of all babe!)