Exquisite Vector Posters

I stumbled upon these Vector Movie Posters by Grzegorz Domaradzks a while back and I've been meaning to share them for a while now since they are absolutely stunning. This man is unbelievably skilled in Illustrator and Photoshop. The results, as you can see for yourselves, are exquisite displays of talent, as well as a profound understanding of the spirit of the different films depicted. My favorites are Blade Runner and Mulholland Drive but these small samples don't do them any justice, so I urge everyone to click the links below and behold these in beautiful high resolution.

+ Vector Movie Posters vol.1
+ Vector Movie Posters vol.2

My Most Anticipated Games 2011

The current year of 2011 is looking really spectacular for all of us gamers, with so many great games coming out that I probably won't be able to buy half of them, so I thought it would be appropriate to list the ones I absolutely can't wait to get my paws upon. Unlike last time I made a list like this I'm going to keep this list short with the absolute top games I want to try out, this does not mean I'm not interested in playing other great upcoming games left off this short list, games such a Battlefield 3, L.A. Noire, Shogun II: Total War, Batman: Arkham City, Mass Effect 3, Uncharted 3, RAGE etc. All of these games look great in their own way but since I'm an old bored gamer I've left my list exclusive to games which appear to be doing something intriguing and special.

Click images to see trailers.





Team Ico's neverending project is still my most anticipated games and even though the development has been covered in secrecy, every time a new piece of information is presented the game seems to be heading in the right direction. There is not much to say that I haven't said last time I put it on a similar list, but I guess I can repeat some of it. This game looks absolutely magical and reminiscent of the innocent creative experiences only possible in one's childhood. It simply looks unique and unlike any game I have seen attempted, except for other Team Ico games, and I guess that's what gets me so excited. The only worry cloud about this are the reports of trouble in development, but it's not something I really worry about since it's a Team Ico game and while they haven't made many games they also haven't made a bad game yet. I think Fumito Ueda is to gaming what Hayao Miyazaki is for animation and they are both needed in their respective formats, now more than ever since creativity seems attacked from all fronts these days. I think that many years from now when gaming actually becomes accepted as a legitimate artistic format we will talk about these games as the forerunners, rather than most of the big sellers of today's gaming.





Demon's Souls is my favorite game this gen, it was bold and broke most of the rules established in recent years when it comes to games and game design, mainly it's a great example of a game based around a single idea - an uncompromising vision that despite flaws took me on a ride I haven't felt in years when it comes to games. Dark Souls is looking to really earn the title of "spiritual successor" to Demon's Souls, it's looking beautiful but mainly it's looking to expand on things that made Demon's Souls great. The developers have mentioned that the game might be even harder than it's spiritual predecessor, a more open world has been established for greater exploration, and the whole thing just oozes atmosphere and a solid refined dark fantasy world. I'm getting the Deluxe Edition once again on day one if the developers manage to pull a game like this for a second time.





Speaking of role-playing games the sequel to The Witcher is also looking absolutely stunning. I never got into the original game because I had issues running it as well as the world having some juvenile elements such as collecting naked cards and other quirks that I found did a disservice to the otherwise great dark fantasy world. Don't get me wrong however, I do feel sexual content is appropriate in a dark fantasy game but not in the silly form of collecting cards with daring pictures of your conquests. Now with the sequel it seems like the developers are making a game truly built on the strengths of the PC with unbelievable art-direction and graphics that look to make this the best looking role-playing game this coming year. This game as a whole shines brightly in the coming year judging by all the preview material which has only made me more and more excited. I think these guys are close to pushing Bioware off the role-playing throne, and I at least will not be surprised if they succeed judging by how laughable Dragon Age II looks compared to this.





The first Deus Ex from 1999 is among my absolute favorite games of all time. It was a unique mixture of genres in a world filled to the brim with darkness and conspiracy - an unforgettable game many years ahead of its time. This sequel/prequel to the first game is not being developed by the same studio as the first two games; which is a bit concerning I must admit. However everything I've seen from them and this game has helped ease me into actually believing that they might just pull off making a great sequel to one of the best games ever made. I get the distinct feeling that these guys actually get it, they get what Deus Ex is all about, while at the same time bringing the game design up to today's standards. My only fear are the few reports that the game is still buggy, something which I'm really hoping will not be a problem upon time of release.





Another sequel in a year filled with them, however picking on this sequel as unimaginative would be pretty crazy considering all the information that has been shown to date. It looks to take the tech-demo status of the first Portal and actually make a huge and great game from that basic idea. So far this looks to be an actual puzzle game being given a huge budget because the production values shown so far have really appeared to be amazing with the lab test chambers literally being constructed around the player. I expect that I will once again be getting a headache from a game that will make me think too hard with it's often time confusing and extensive puzzles. What worries me about the game is the inclusion of co-op multiplayer gameplay, since I'm not sure puzzle games are a greatest setting for such modes, but as long as it doesn't affect the single player I'll be satisfied.





I guess this is something of a wild card, to be excited about a downloadable small art game but it's being developed by thatgamecompany - the studio which brought us FLOW and Flower. These games were more experiences rather than games and they really made me feel something new which is worth thousands of hours from a normal run of the mill game, at least to a bored gamer like me it is. The trailer for Journey has reassured me that this studio is going to deliver another great experience that I won't soon forget. The world looks more lonesome and melancholy in this game, but beautifully constructed and the idea of exploring it together online with another person is somehow appealing to me - but I guess that last depends on the company you choose to take your journey with. Simply put, this just looks special and unique and I'm looking forward to my journey.

Killzone 3 Single Player - Impressions

Killzone 2 is among my absolute favorite shooter this entire generation. It had some flaws however, like the minimal mostly uninteresting story, the few glitches here and there - such as hiccups and sometimes really long loading times. On the other hand it remains a fine example of a game being based around a single idea and approaching that idea in an almost perfect manner; the heavy sluggish controls everyone keeps complaining about I considered absolutely brilliant since they did what I think should be done to make first-person shooters on a console relevant - they were slower and slowed down the entire game and as a result we got some really methodic and brutal gameplay that erased the idea of "auto-aim" from a console shooter once and for all. It was a beautiful console game with a great art-direction and it was among the most intense, dark and horrible war experiences since the first Gears of War.

So you could imagine my excitement when I got my hands on Killzone 3 a week ago. I already knew the graphics had been improved but wouldn't impress me as much as last time around because the game is just not as a big of a leap as Killzone 2. I had also seen that the reviews weren't too happy with the story but I didn't pay that much mind since like I said; the previous game didn't exactly win any Writers Guild Awards two years ago. But none of these things disappointed me as much as the so called "gameplay improvements" that had been done to the campaign. I will give them some things which I found had been made better, I liked the slide mechanic, I also really loved the new sounds of guns blasting and some of the locations were exciting visually, but the biggest praise I can give the game is that despite being disappointed in it I ended up having a lot fun during large portions of the game with its basic gameplay.



However the game remains disappointing mainly because it feels like Guerrilla Games lost faith in their own vision - the vision and the world that they so well realized in the second game. I guess my biggest complaint with Killzone 3 is that it feels like a game made by Sony "Suits" and not by the great and passionate developers at Guerrilla Games. It's a game that has listened to all the expert critiques of the world that disliked the previous game, and completely ignored the fanbase of mentioned previous game who loved it and the way it separated from other games in a first-person shooter genre that has become increasing stale lately. We the fans of the second game suddenly got a game that feels more like a sci-fi spin-off Call of Duty game - with faster gameplay and shooting mechanics with auto-aim (on by default), a jumping storyline around different locations, huge set-piece moments every cutscene and a storyline delivered under the serious prolonged impression that it is interesting.

It's basically the definition of a game with an identity crisis and it's really sad that people like me who bought Killzone 2 for the exact reason to avoid twitchy retarded gameplay of a Call of Duty shooter are now being forced to play such a shooter in a Killzone game. I can imagine how the Suits from Sony had a field day with this game because it got put in line to appeal to the Call of Duty mass audience, and many of the other additions feel like pure business decisions made by Sony execs to push the many different hardware projects of theirs - PlayStation Move support, 3D-TV support. I get the distinct feeling that too many chefs were at work behind this game and that the soul of Killzone has been severely harmed by these design decisions. Because we now have a world that feels very inconsistent; the countless on-rain elements (probably for the sake of Move), the fact that Helghan all of a sudden has many different environments, lots of colour and is no longer the industrial hellhole which I learned to love, the fact that the Helghast all of a sudden have the most advanced technology known to man in the blink of an eye when in the previous game they were the sci-fi version of a decaying Soviet Union.



The list can be made long on why this game disappointed me but I think it's sufficient to say that it's just sad that another game was stripped down of the many elements which made it unique and interesting in the first place, and instead we have been delivered another run of the mill shooter with very few things that make it stand out. A big part of me hopes that this experiment fails on the sales front and that Guerrilla Games gets their chance to return to the root of the series with a hellish battlefield gameplay in the future and none of this trendy cinematic hold-your-hand watered down bullshit that's attempting to copy the shitty Hollywood. Oh, and I want to deliver one last complaint, while I loved Uncharted 2 and it was a great game and I can understand why Guerrilla is looking up to their achievement, I still think it's completely inappropriate that a Killzone game sports such a similar main menu theme music as an Uncharted game. It's sad though because the game is still good despite these shortcomings but that only makes it worse somehow; there is just too much lost potential I guess because the game could have been one of the best games this year.