Another thing that sparks my attention was a debut trailer for Settlers: Paths to a Kingdom. The legendary Settlers returns to PC in 2010. I remember playing it many years ago and enjoying the green hills and medieval music motifs playing at background. The debut trailer is very and very interesting in terms of creativity. Who knows, maybe somewhere in the future classic table top based games (like Warhammer) would be played like that?

Make sure to check the developer diary with Fumito Ueda, creator of The Last Guardian and experience new bits of footage from his epic adventure.

And if you’re in the creative mood, there are some nice threads goin’ on at ConceptArt.Org. First, check the massive art dump by Marko Djurdjevic with tons of artwork from Marvel universe. This dude is insane you know. But Guild Wars 2 guys are still goin’ crazy with loads and loads of conceptual art. If you’re a fan or prefer hard copies don’t miss their new artbook featuring all that stuff!

Wakkawa a.k.a. Jace Wallace got some nice chicks in his thread. There are some nudies so be warned!

Ooops! Almost forgot! Sergey Kondratovich throw a ton of stuff from Magesty 2 and other projects. Your mouse would suffer, I promise!

ps. In conclusion, you could experience JFBuckner’s MEMORIES SANCTUS Chapt.1 online manga and get some sleep. Cheers guys!

You can see the trailer from Norwegian website Dagbladet.no or try a direct link (.flv, ~7.7 Mb).

For Digic Pictures credits and info, check http://www.digicpictures.com/

Two guys Martin Bergquist and Tony Holmsten started their own freelance illustration/design business presenting a portfolio with Fortress stuff as well. I’ve seen some art dumps at deviantart (arcipello, tonyholmsten) and such things are quite common when big company collapse.

Well losing jobs isn’t that great and I feel sorry for the guys. At the same time I think it’s naturally following from the fact that lots of videogame developers doing the same things. How many times you were fighting against the SWAT guys in futuristic settings? To survive on market and attract players you need something fresh and different.

What was cool about that project is it’s visual design approach. The technology is moving very fast but design could be timeless. Project Offset offers you heroic fantasy adventure in a vast, exotic world forged with magic and sorcery. Some of the locations actually reminds me of the things I’ve imagined while reading Conan novels by Robert Howard.

If you’re a techy geek then visit the technology section and see all the possibilities and features of Offset engine. For artistic folks, well concept art section and especially environments would definetely put you on fire.

Don’t miss Khang’s Video Blog – Part. 1! Khang Lee is a conceptual artist who has started to visualize Project Offset from the beginning. Now holding an Art Director position he’s still responsible for Project Offset look and feel.

There are also some sort of competition is going on. If you’re familiar with 3D and in-game models creation techniques then you can submit your model(s) to the guys and pray for the best. Looks like talent hunt but someone may be interested anyway.

http://www.projectoffset.com/

Take a look at Jill Nabato, a character from the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII game:

Where is your attention focus? Glasses, face or something else…?

The same works for in-game models though they have more technical restrictions (poly count etc.). Few days ago I was amazed to see this:

TERA is one of my favourite Korean MMO’s speaking of visuals (frankly I don’t play games), and it’s great to see some good character design and modeling work. I strongly recommend you to check the official website for more cool stuff from TERA.

And it’s off topic, but how do you feel about zombies?

Some time ago I saw a videogame called Undead Knights. It’s a PSP action-horror game developed by Tecmo. The gameplay is a bit unusual: your characters are kinda dead and have to fight against the living ones turning them into zombies. The process is straightforward hack’n’slash but you can grab and throw your minions onto the enemy or bosses (these big dudes are also can be raised as zombies). Well it’s not a zombie flick but a fantasy tale with a story and drama behind it. But seriously speaking the thing that caught my attention was that shot from an official trailer:

After all, it’s Tecmo.

Oh and if you aren’t afraid of bunch of dead dudes populating your browser then visit the japanese website for Undead Knights.