Korsakovia is a Half Life 2 mod from research driven developer The Chinese Room. It melds the abstract driven story of their previous mod, Dear Esther (previously), with more traditional gameplay. The end result is an equally distinctive horror FPS with minimal narrative cues. [more inside]
posted by The Devil Tesla on Sep 25, 2009 - 16 comments

Concept Art World - For example: Michael Kutsche, Marek Okoń, 25 Inspiring Examples of Spaceships and Aircraft, Star Trek XI Concept Art by Ryan Church plus lots more.
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Aug 19, 2009 - 9 comments

The Path is a new independent horror-game inspired by the original Little Red Riding Hood stories, being developed by Tale of Tales (previously). The website is fun to explore, and the blog has many links to (and interviews with) their inspirations. They've also interviewed some other game designers. [via]
posted by empath on Mar 2, 2009 - 4 comments

Modern video game covers reimagined as Classic Books.
posted by ColdChef on Feb 4, 2009 - 30 comments

Counter-Strike, Vincent Van Gogh style - a curiously pleasing little video mashup. (via Milinkito)
posted by madamjujujive on Dec 10, 2008 - 29 comments

Aether: lonely boy befriends a mysterious monster, leaves Earth to explore the galaxy. A quick, relaxing, hypnotic, motion-aftereffect-inducing flash game. Programming/music/design by Tyler Glaiel with further art/design by Edmund McMillen. [more inside]
posted by Korou on Oct 7, 2008 - 14 comments

Pathologic sucked. Everyone said so. That doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile, of course; some art is flawed. (Games are art, right?)
posted by sonic meat machine on Aug 9, 2008 - 63 comments

It's been almost a year since Roger Ebert responded to Clive Barker on the debate over whether games can truly be "art." In support of Mr. Barker's position, here are some of the most artistic moments from games in recent years - the tragic, the trippy, the Saturday mornings, the darkly comic, the downs and the ups, and the rare phyrric victory. [more inside]
posted by Navelgazer on Jun 23, 2008 - 126 comments

Like sprites? The People's Sprites has the most extensive repository of old game pixel art I've ever seen.
Some good examples from:
Battletoads, Excitebike, Final Fantasy GBA, Mega Man, Metal Slug, Mortal Kombat, Punch-Out, River City Ransom, Shinobi, Samurai Shodown, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, and my favorite, Super Metroid.
Hundreds more at the site, plus original and public domain ones.
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Mar 30, 2008 - 17 comments

TechDawg's I Ride the Lines has the best Line Rider movies I've ever seen. Van Halen is nuts, as is this awesome video with an atrocious soundtrack. (Previously)
posted by mrgrimm on Feb 15, 2007 - 21 comments

Rosmarie Fiore is doing some fascinating and beautiful things with long exposures and 80's arcade games.

In the meanwhile, Patrick Dougherty is doing some fascinating and beautiful things with sticks and twigs. [more inside]
posted by wander on Feb 9, 2007 - 17 comments

Super Columbine Massacre RPG (previously discussed here) has been dropped from the Slamdance games festival, after being selected as a finalist by the jury. The festival's organizer cites "moral obligations." In response, at least 6 of the 14 other finalists and one of the festival's sponsors have withdrawn in protest. Ongoing coverage can be found at watercoolergames (1 2). Art games and game arts are proliferating in the videogame era. For those with an interest in this subject, the beautiful new Italian volume GameScenes: Art in the Age of Videogames is a must-read.
posted by jcruelty on Jan 10, 2007 - 25 comments

Boredom begone! There exist a preponderance of games which (mostly) require nothing but pen and paper, ranging from the relatively mild Fictionary and Word Association, to the more artistic Exquisite Corpse and Eat Poop You Cat (seen previously as an online game), and finally the downright nutty Dvorak and 1000 blank white cards. My favorite, by far: the elusive other foot.
posted by duffell on Nov 5, 2006 - 26 comments

Whether you love it or hate it, Ulillillia City is a fascinating site by fascinating person. It's a meticulously annotated, categorized and laid out record of one man's entire mental life: his colour coded daily life, his dreams (over 400!), his fears, his video game ideas (including the supernatural olympics), his unique personalized mind game, his extensive tips 'n' tricks, how he processes and listens to music, and far more...
posted by The Wig on Jul 30, 2006 - 42 comments

In Memoriam and in Protest --why not use an online deathmatch as a pedestal for speaking out against a war? Artist/Professor uses US Govt-developed America's Army (...placing Soldiering front and center within popular culture and showcasing the roles training, teamwork and technology play in the Army. ... ) as protest and art space. DeLappe's homepage (and jpgs) here
posted by amberglow on May 30, 2006 - 135 comments

A video game "based on Bob Ross' creative, unique and easy to learn painting techniques and TV show properties" is coming to the next-generation Nintendo system.
posted by AloneOssifer on Apr 5, 2006 - 31 comments

It takes a long time to load, but Kol-Belov's "PU's_tota" is just so creepy and bizarre and awesome with really cool music. The artist is obviously deeply weird, also highlighted in the series of shorts, "Self-Destructing Organisms." There's also a game. These are Flash animations. Nearly all of them contain a modest amount of cartoon violence/gore; may not be safe for work. Also, the guy really loves his industrial music.
posted by Gator on Jan 30, 2006 - 4 comments

distellamap is a series of graphical representations of the code and data in Atari 2600 game cartridges, created using the Processing programming language. The results are rather pretty. Also by the same author: mario soup, a representation of the sprites in Super Mario Brothers. (via artificial.dk)
posted by whir on Dec 23, 2005 - 17 comments

Rock, Paper, Scissors: 11 year-old twins close 12 million dollar deal.
posted by alms on Apr 28, 2005 - 25 comments

I am 8 bit is a celebration of the pixelated graphics of 80s videogames, at LA's Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight. A hundred artists have produced paintings, sculptures and designs inspired by the two-dimensional imagery of the pre-PlayStation era. The exhibition runs from April 19 until May 20. More information, including highlights from the gallery, appear at Game Informer. It remains to be seen if the other ninety-nine artists can match the quality of Sean Clarity's exceptional reworking of the cover to NES classic Excitebike.
posted by nthdegx on Apr 3, 2005 - 18 comments

What I Did Last Summer --a graphic representation of blog posts generated by a blogbot. Pick Blue or Red, and watch and read (flash, i think)...this one use images from Civilization 3, and content from My War, written by a soldier in Iraq, and Dear Raed. A wonderful idea, from the mind of this guy, Alex Dragulescu
posted by amberglow on Nov 20, 2004 - 8 comments

bird and moon
posted by Fourmyle on Aug 11, 2004 - 14 comments

The Arcade Flyer Archive. A to Z.
posted by nthdegx on Jul 15, 2004 - 3 comments

Pac-Mondrian! Art hits the arcade. Play the classic game while enjoying the Piet Mondrian-style background. Who says art isn't fun?
posted by ifjuly on Jul 13, 2004 - 6 comments

A massive archive of Commodore 64 game covers. An extensive archive of C64 magazine Zapp64 covers, features, reviews and editorials. SLAY radio (C64 remixes - very cheesy).
posted by nthdegx on Jan 12, 2004 - 6 comments

Japanese Prints and the World of Go. Classic Japanese art meets classic Japanese boardgame.
'The purpose of this catalogue is twofold: to enlarge the understanding of print collectors who may be unaware of the long historical and legendary background of a game that has for centuries engaged the interest of many artists in Japan; and to enrich the experience of go players by presenting works that reveal some of the large body of traditions and associations connected with the game in Japan's cultural life. Although artists were inspired by the game of go to work the theme in several media--wood, ivory, metal, textiles, and clay, and while the motif appears on numerous scroll and screen paintings--it is in woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) that its image is most frequently found.'
'. . . there is a text that likens the world to a go-board. For those who see with their minds, it is the centre of the universe.'
Warning: Each sub-link in the article opens a new window.
posted by plep on Nov 19, 2003 - 10 comments

September 12: A Toy World
"September 12 is a free Shockwave game where players try to solve the terrorist problem - a sort of editorial cartoon rendered in simple simulation." It's not really much of a simulation, and the 'argument' is simplistic to the point of inanity. But as a new medium, interesting. (via gamegirladvance)
posted by jcruelty on Oct 2, 2003 - 18 comments

Tarkovsky's Stalker coming as video game in 2003. I always wondered how long it would take for a more artistically-informed bunch to come to the $18B/year video game market (bigger than Hollywood). Will our generation have its video-game counterparts to Faulkner and Fitzgerald? A David Foster Wallace or Don Delillo authored game? Are there other video games that can stand up as "Art?"
posted by minnesotaj on Dec 3, 2002 - 65 comments

World of Awe -- Through a portal on 419 East 6th street in Manhattan, a traveler passes into the Sunset/Sunrise--a desert terrain locked into the mindframe between night and day, in search of a lost treasure. The voyage is documented in a journal found on a laptop evidently built by the traveler in Silicon Canyon, which is a graveyard for old computer components. The journal contains letters to an absent lover, travel logs and descriptions of the unique navigation tools. Following a hi-tech/lo tech, double-sided map (Eep & Moo), the traveler describes a search for a treasure that keeps relocating. The only remains found are crumbs fallen from the body of the treasure that surprisingly resemble candy sprinkles.
posted by boltman on Apr 30, 2002 - 6 comments

If you've ever wanted your first-person shooter to feel a little less real, NPRQuake may be just what you need. The blueprint and brushstroke versions are nice, but for my money you can't beat sketchy Quake. Unfortunately, the NPR in the name stands for Non-Photorealistic Rendering, not that other NPR, so don't expect Robert Siegel or Linda Wertheimer skins any time soon. (via haddock.org)
posted by jjg on May 17, 2001 - 4 comments