Is The Humble Indie Bundle V The Best One Yet?

Yes. I often talk about the Humble Indie Bundle but it's something that makes me feel like I've done something pretty amazing, so the karma fairy awards me when in reality all I've done is added more video games into my ever-expanding collection. If you have no idea what the bundle is, the idea is that you pay what you want to recieve a number of indie-developed video games at WAY below the normal asking price, with the money being divided between the great charities Child's Play and the EFF & the developers. But why is this year so amazing? Well, each game is a critically acclaimed indie masterpiece.

For any amount you feel like putting down, you'll receive a copy of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, LIMBO, Psychonauts, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and, for customers who pay more than the average price Bastion is thrown in, and the original soundtracks are included as part of the incentive. The games alone cost $110, and that's not including the soundtracks. Right now you can get the entire bundle for the average price is $7.11! Go donate through the official site! 14 days left to take advantage of this awesome, charitable offer.

Hitman: Absolution Trailer Raises Some Eyebrows

Hitman, unlike most IP's in this current generation has been dormant since 2006, an exception among a sea of sequel happy franchises. The last installment that we saw, Blood Money garnered good reviews and was just as enjoyable as all the other titles, offering an open ended approach to solving the same problem/assassination. What I loved about the franchise is that it offered so many variables to play with, including disguises, stealth, and sabotage which made it possible for each replay to offer a completely new experience. And if you thought you could go in, guns blazing it typically resulted in a hasty death.

Square Enix just released this trailer for 2012's Hitman: Absolution, which seems to imply that Agent 47 might be finally trying to move on from his assassination career, while his past continues to catch up with him. People were pretty outraged at the whole 'latex nun assassins' aspect of the trailer, which really didn't seem to fit the typically stealthy, grounded in reality nature of the Hitman franchise. However, I'm willing to reserve judgement till I actually see some gameplay, which I'm sure will feel familiar to the previous titles.

Kapow! 2012: Lucha Britannia!

One of the most interesting aspects of Kapow! comic-con this year was the intergration of a wrestling ring on the main floor. Though we saw no giant battles between Bane & Batman, we were offered something oddly unique that most Comic-Book fans could really appreciate.

The group who used the ring were called Lucha Britannia. The London-based Mexican wrestling promotion team would put on a show at every hour and drew large crowds. Like the "Lucha Libre" wrestling style? Like wrestling bouts with a submersive and interactive environment? The wrestling match involved the typical over the top signature tagteam wrestling moves, and they took advantage of every inch of space inside and outside the ring to slam each other into. Audience participation was pretty popular. The show was entertaining for me enough to do some research into the group, and I've certainly got my eye on future performances.

The group perform in London, and have regular monthly shows called "The Lucha Underground from the Resistance Gallery" in London's East End. Check out for dates over at the the official site! For everyone else I took a selection of photos of a few matches at the convention, and they can be viewed after the jump. ¡muchas gracias!

We Cut Corners - The Male Mind

We brought you the video to We Cut Corners' single "Pirates Life" back in October, and now we have the new video for their track "The Male Mind". Also animated, the art style is equally unique, bizarre, yet really cool. This more colorful video has a style and color scheme that, to me, is reminiscent of stuff I saw in the early-mid 90's; it has that retro, vibrant feel to it, courtesy of artist Rémy M. Larochelle.

Awesome-Robo: Podcast 10 Finally Arrives!

After an extended podcast hiatus, we return with episode 10 of the podcast! Its been a few weeks but we've been INSANELY busy with getting the AwesomeRobo shirt line started up and running. Did you have a chance to check out our awesome wares just yet? We'll be back on schedule following the craziness of E3 coming up. Let the madness continue.

In this tenth installment of our podcast we discuss our new AwesomeRobo shirt line, blog happenings, Battleship's unintentional hilarity, Iron Sky, E3, Kapow Comicon!, Japanese artists cooking their own privates, the Torchlight 2 beta fiasco, Diablo 3 and other relevant topics. Don't forget to take a moment to send RoboGal the answers to the extra special podcast question this week!

Les Miserables Trailer

With a December release, it's a bit far off, but I couldn't wait to share the new trailer for the new Les Miserables film, this time the highly popular musical version (you might remember the 1998 non-musical version starring Liam Neeson). In time for the holiday season (and general Oscar bait season), this film has been highly anticipated (especially by musical theater nerds such as myself) for quite some time now. If you aren't familiar with the story, the trailer is perfect because it gives you a minimal idea about what's in store, without actually giving away too much plot (which seems to be a common practice these days, we've started to notice).

The Iron Sky CG Reel Is Amazing

Iron Sky is a great example of a movie that really got the most out of their 9.3 million dollar budget (District 9 comes to mind). With a team of 20 insanely talented VFX artists, 8 months and 800 shots, these guys pulled off a miracle, especially with the type of visual fidelity these guys were able to pull off. The movie still isn't slated for US distribution just yet, but after what I heard from our UK correspondent about the movie during Podcast 10 (Coming tomorrow), I'm pretty damn hopeful that we'll at least get a DVD or on demand release. Go show some interest in getting a screening on the official Iron Sky website, and keep those fingers crossed!

Into The Pixel Contest WInners

Gravity Daze By Takeshi Oga (Via)

Into The Pixel is a yearly juried art exhibition which is meant to select some of the finest game art produced over the year, before being unveiled and displayed gallery style at E3 annually. This years winners were just announced, covering art created for over 16 separate titles. From indie titles like Journey to blockbusters like Guild Wars 2, every title, no matter the budget or scope was given a chance to shine based off their art.

We're looking forward to seeing these pieces at the E3 exhibition. Check out 15 more awesome pieces from talented industry artists after the break!

Urban Outlaw: The Trailer

Urban Outlaw is an awesome look at an up and coming figure/legend in the Porsche customization scene, known as Magnus Walker. A self made millionaire who started his path to fortune by selling hats on Venice beach, he's made it his hobby to collect Porsche 911's from every year imaginable and customize, optimize and race them. This guys obsession is on an entirely new level.

Prometheus: A Look At Space Travel Within The Universe

We thought we'd been provided with enough information at this point to blow our minds with hype for the upcoming Aliens prequel, but we were wrong. This featurette, solely focused on the thought and choices that went into developing the design of the Prometheus.

I found Charlize Theron's brief comment about not having to 'act' at around especially important, due to the fact that it emphasizes the need for physical sets for the actors to actually immerse themselves in their role and environment. If you think about all the movies filmed heavily on green screen, there is typically a disconnect present when the actors have nothing but verbal descriptions of whats around them to go off of (Think Star Wars, the new trilogy). One week to go! Unless you're in Britain, of course (May 1st).

Hyper Tryptich by Zeitguised

Zeitguised, an international visual development house just recently released this creepy preview for an experimental animated tryptich, a series of three images which tie into each other. Ever since seeing the animated portraits in Harry Potter, I've wanted to see the concept executed in real life for gallery display, which it looks like Zeitguised pulled off. Still no word as to how these portraits will be presented, but I hope they'll actually frame each individual portrait and present it like a fine art piece for added effect. They definitely have a knack for the surreal, which is definitely present in their body of work like their earlier promo for VIVA Bits And Pieces. Dig it.

LORN: GHOSTT(S)

This somewhat unsettling animated music video from Lorn's upcoming ambient/electro album 'Ask The Dust' covers themes of decay, death, rebirth and a slew of other abstract concepts. The somewhat cryptic visuals of the music video perfectly accompany the slow, haunting, moody sound of Ghosst(s). Get a taste of the awesome album on Ninjatune prior to its release on June 19.

RoboGal's Weekly Cute Mixtape!

POOF! (Via)

You've made it through the holiday weekend (well, a holiday weekend if you're in the US), and now it's back to work. Screw everything about that, and take a 5 minute break to feast your eyes upon my hand curated, adorable and fluffy offerings .

More cute from this week's installment after the break!

A Jaw Dropping Look At Soft Body Physics In Crytek's CryEngine 3

Well, looks like its time to start putting aside money for a brand new PC rig! Just in time for E3, Crytek dropped this trailer for just one of the new features from their upcoming engine. The showcase centers around soft body dynamics, an area of their engine focused on simulating the motion properties of objects that are deemed 'deformable.' When I first saw the pickup slam into a wall my jaw dropped, because it looked so damn realistic with individual components crumpling, deforming and breaking off. If this is just a small taste of the type of destructibility we're going to be seeing in future engines, its definitely something worth getting excited about.

The Avengers Concept Art: A Look At The Chitauri

Avengers Chitauri Chariot(Via)

People smarter than me figured out that in the Avengers, the damage caused by the aliens to Manhattan would have cost approximately $160 billion in tax payers money. Recently, Josh Nizzi and Justin Sweet released some concept artwork that they created for the alien race that gets unleashed onto the earth realm. Justin Sweet focused on the overall look and feel for the race, whereas Josh Nizzi created several concept designs of the Chitauri chariots.

Even though we never got a clear look at the vehicles in the movie due to them blazing through Manhattan at high speed, I'm sure these guys will be making their debut in comics soon. Check out their combined preproduction efforts after the break! On a side note, what did you guys think of the movie?

Strange Market Gardener : Path to 100 Kills

I haven't been this impressed with a videogame trick video since the rocket jumping madness days of Quake 3, but this video from the professional Team Fortress 2 player known as Star blew my mind. On his quest to garner 100 kills for his rare shovel, he demonstrates rocket jumping shovel takedowns which seem absolutely impossible. Pretty damn incredible, and I pray I'll never have to play a match with this guy on the opposing team.

Starship Troopers : Invasion Trailer Brings Hope

To this day, I kind of think its tragic that 1997's Starship Troopers didn't do better. For a franchise it had a ton of potential, but due to being unable to live up to its box office potential, it sent the franchise into a downward spiral resulting in terrible low budget sequels. It also fell into a special category which I'd call 'unrebootable,' because the original still holds up so damn well, especially in a visual effects sense (Thanks Phil Tippett). After 2008's Starship Troopers: Marauder (which I couldn't even get myself to watch) it was pretty safe to say that the series was done for.

However, lets not forget that when the B-movie card is no longer an option, you can always opt for CG, and this installment actually looks like it might be promising. Shinji Aramaki of Appleseed fame will be directing, Joseph Chou of Halo Legends will produce and Flint Dille, a screenplay writer with a long history of writing for videogames (Diablo 3, Chronicles of Riddick), movies (Transformers) and an insane amount of TV shows will be providing the script. It looks like this iteration will draw more qeues from the 1997 adaptation (Nice to hear that music again), while adding to the universe. With a cast like that, I'm hopeful they'll be able to spark some interest in the franchise again.

As a bonus, did you guys know that prior to the 90's film, the studio behind Gundam created an OVA (Intended for home video) series in 1988 based off Robert A. Heinlein's original 1959 Starship Troopers novel? Check out a small snippet of that series after the break!

Stairs To No End

One of the more unique, original animated shorts that I've ever come across, Stairs To No End tells the story of a young girl on a journey for a "light", or knowledge. Her father brushes her curiosity aside, and tells her to stop asking questions. Her uncle, however, gives her the exact opposite advice: Ask questions, for each question is a step towards the "light". Daniella Koffler's art is absolutely gorgeous, with a style all her own. 

Robot Death Monkey : Gary Dunham

Sometimes you don't need thoughtful lyrics to make a good song, all you need is a good dose of solid rocking out to let people know what you're about. The relatively new UK based outfit called Robot Death Monkey just look like they're having a damn good time, while pointing out that their guitarist is called Gary Dunham, which got a good laugh out of me. I can appreciate the minimalist approach to lyric writing.

The Model Kit Universe Of Dokuzaru

Godfather IV (Via)

Did you know that Geocities still exists in Japan? Well I was baffled by this discovery myself, and I still have no recollection of how I ran into Dokuzaru's archive of incredible miniature mashups. I recall seeing his work, before realizing that he had been published in Hyperweapon, a yearly collection of fantastic custom modelkit mashups from the best in the hobby.

The Geocities blog, which dates back to 2007 features all his odd experimental pieces, stories behind his models and his process for creating them (Just remember to use Google Translate). I thought it was pretty damn cool to see how these types of customs were created, by mashing together a large number of odds and ends from various model kits, electronic junk and other sources. Check out a large selection of his awesome work after the break!

Rockabilly Batman Characters By Denis Medri

Robin : Indy 500 Edition (Via)

I've always been a fan of throwing familiar characters into different periods in comics, like when Superman was presented as a communist superhero in 'Red Son.' When done correctly, these types of mashups really offer a breath of fresh air to these superheroes, presenting them in an all new light and offering them an entirely new set of challenges.

Denis Medri, an Italian comic book artist did an amazing job with these sketchy redesigns, showcasing the quintessential DC heroes with a 50's Rockabilly flavor. Ever wanted to see Batman as a slick mechanic with a bat themed Ratrod? Well check his redesign out, along with 13 more redesigns after the break!

The Tim Burton Caketrope

Ever heard of a Zoetrope? Its a typically circular device that is used to simulate motion, typically by placing the frames for the animation around it and actively spinning it to create a rapid succession of images. This Tim Burton flavored 3D 'Caketrope' by Alexandre Dubosc features a more 3D approach, using elements typically associated with Tim Burton's distinct visual style. Despite our opinions of Tim Burton (He needs to take a break, especially from Johnny Depp), this is a cool tribute to the visual footprint his style has left in the creative world.

Create

Stop motion animator Dan MacKenzie created this awesome short while a senior at SCAD. Create tells the story of a boy creating a pet monster for himself, yet told in two parallel worlds: The one he lives in (a boy in his bedroom), and the one of his imagination (a mad scientist in his laboratory, a la Frankenstein). It's a universal concept that everyone can relate to, as we were all once children living in our own highly imaginative worlds. MacKenzie really did an amazing job at putting together such a fun, happy, and nostalgic piece.

SteadyO

Vimeo user Joey123Jaera absolutely nailed this motion tracking experiment, which set out to frame a Yoyo as the central aspect. All this while the user is pulling off a full suite of complex tricks, set to Bjorks 'All Is Full Of Love.' When the Kaleidoscopic elements kick in, that's when it gets hard to look away. Love how this turned out.

Arrow Trailer: The Green Arrow TV Show Doesn't Look So Bad

Poor Green Arrow. The new 52 reboot really tried to make the character hip and young, based on his appearance on the "Superman" TV Show Smallville. The Oliver Queen I knew was a left-wing vigilante with social conscience, not some rich young kid in a Green hood. When I first heard about the TV show I was very fearful they would take the character down a similar route but as it seems the writers have actually done some research.

The trailer had references to the original comics, mainly Green Arrow: Year One, written by Andy Diggle. The story has the origin of Green Arrow which involves Oliver Queen, a frivolous playboy and a thrill-seeking activist, being betrayed and marooned on a deserted jungle island. DC have made some pretty poor adaptations for television before, though this one has certainly peaked my interests.

Mechwarrior Online Continues To Amaze

Mech Warrior 2 was my first introduction to PC gaming back in the day, and it indirectly kickstarted my path towards becoming a videogame developer. Following some rather disappointing sequels and spinoffs that I didn't care about, I was left wondering whether I'd ever see another installment of the BattleTech mech simulation series. Unlike the other mech title coming out this year, Adhesive games' Hawken, MechWarrior was always better known for its more hardcore approach to the genre with aspects like heat management, location based damage and heavy customization aspects.

Based off these videos, it looks Piranha games might finally do the franchise some justice after over 15 years of stagnation. In conclusion, for every yin there is a yang. This year will bring us a fantastic variety of mech titles that will appeal to the hardcore(Mechwarrior), arcadey (Hawken) and casual mech heads(Steel Battalion for Kinect). I'll be playing the entire gamut for sure.

Corgi Causes Explosion, Followed By Fire

In an attempt to capture her corgi's weird habit of attacking whatever is under the kitchen, this pet owner invited a camera crew into her home for a web series called The Pet Collective. In what could be described as one of the most hilariously random/dangerous bloopers ever, the feisty corgi manages to A) Bite into a can of black spray paint, making it explode everywhere B) Causing the fumes to ingite the pilot light in the gas oven. The natural result was a gas explosion. I mean seriously, what are the chances of such a series of events occurring, let alone being captured on camera? Thank the viral gods, everyone.

Thankfully, no one (pup included) was injured, and all that resulted was a decent amount of damage to a kitchen. Check out the post explosion interview (aka "What the f*** happened?!") after the break!

The People Of The Grass : Talking About The Crash

We don't typically post music from overseas unless its lyric-less, but this French track from Le Peuple De L'Herbe has a cool enough music video to warrant an exception. Following a human 'architect' overseeing the mass industrialization of a city and its turning into a police state, he sees his creations revolt and rise up against him. I really liked the look of the music video, which was executed with a slick paper cut out style look. If you're interested in giving these guys a listen, you can find their 2012 album 'A Matter of Time' on Spotify.

Happy Food

As the holiday weekend (well, holiday in the US at least) edges nearer and nearer, we're finding ourselves more and more mentally checked out. For a fun, silly break we break you Happy Food, the animated short about a man with a common dilemma. Sure, it's repetitive and not a lot happens. But for some reason, we just have to know if he'll accomplish his task of getting ketchup on his hotdog. Also, if you've come across this same dilemma, protip: Use a knife to get the process going. MAGIC.

Art Of HArvest

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'Harvest' is a 27 year old Japanese artist who engaged me with his environment pieces, inhabited by roaming giants, unsettling monoliths and lifeless cityscapes. There's a wonderful sense of atmosphere to his work, which is enhanced by his choice of colors and usage of soft edges. It gives his pieces a somewhat dreamy quality to them, although some of them border on nightmarish.

I don't know if this is a stretch, but I feel like Harvest's work might be inspired by Beksinski's work, a famous Polish artist renown for his surreal paintings. I'd recommend checking out both, as I'd be curious to see if you guys see similar parallels. More of his work after the break!

Life's A Jungle: Africa's Most Wanted

Movies of this caliber are typically found in the $5 bin at your local low-priced mega superstore. But $25 on Amazon?  I'm not entirely sure how the production company was able to justify that price, but after viewing the trailer, I'm a bit curious. We're big fans of bad movies here at Awesome-Robo, but good-bad movies, not bad-bad ones (make sense?). It's a hard distinction to make, but with an extra long weekend coming up, we might find the time to find out. With an art style similar to animation computer programs that my dad bought me as a kid in the late 90's, this familiar looking movie (Madagascar, anyone?) might be a winning loser after all.

Planetside 2: Massive Air Combat

Being a huge fan of sandbox style FPS games like Battlefield 3, seeing media slowly trickle out for Planetside 2 has been an absolute treat. The followup to 2003's Planetside is looking absolutely incredible, with active day/night cycles, dynamic lighting and ridiculously large scale battles.

This latest video showcases just a small taste of the air combat that players will be able to engage in set to Flight Of The Valkyries, and the quantity of fighters is just awe inspiring. Can't wait to give this game a whirl at E3. Check out the alpha highlights video after the break!

The Dark Knight Rises Posters Are....Cinematically Stunning

Holy Cinematic Batman! (Via)

The Batman promo items have been flowing like wine this week! Though the last couple of Dark Knight Rises posters have been pretty lackluster, with the last poster being one of the worst poster rehashes I've ever seen, this set of four promotional posters show the true cinematic style and scope of the film. I honestly thought that Warner may have hired some of the worst designers in the history of film advertising; what a difference 24 hours can make.

The story certainly seems to be taking elements from the Knightfall storyline (involving a mass Arkham breakout by Bane to wear Batman down before famously breaking his back) and the Contagion storyline (where two factions & Batman fight over a destroyed Gotham, hit by a lethal disease). It feels like such a long wait for the film but it's going to be worth it. Whatever doesn't kill us just makes us.....stranger. Check out the collection after the jump.

Friends: Mind Control

Director Hir Muir conjured up a retro-dystopian vision of the future full of awesome cyberpunk notes for the music video to the single from the up and coming quintet known as 'Friends.' The Brooklyn based quintet will debut their album, dubbed 'Manifest!' June 5 via Possum Records. Mark the date!

Theo Jansen's Lego Rhinoceros Needs To Become A Reality

Remember Theo Jansen? He's a Danish industrial designer who left many in awe when he unveiled his 'strandebeests,' incredibly intricate large scale kinetic walkers powered by none other than the wind. The Rhinoceros, which premiered in 2007 blew many minds with its incredibly fluid, yet complex motion.

Fast forward a few years later, and a Lego enthusiast/industrial designer called Kvanb recreated the Rhinoceros in Lego form as a tribute to Jansen's genius. With Jansen's blessing he hopes to get enough interest on Cuusoo (Kickstarter for Legos) to make his project a set for the masses. It doesn't cost a thing, just a show of interest. If you're interested in contributing, head over to his project page! A brief video of the Rhinoceros in motion at Jansen's workshop below.

Step Draw

The recent passing of the Beastie Boys MC Adam Yauch still feels really fresh, but this little tribute piece brought a smile to my face. The Lithuanian choreography team known as Step Draw decided to film a synchronized dance piece to 'Make Some Noise' starring all their members dancing through dozens of different locations. After watching this a few times and reading how much footage they had to capture (52 gigs worth over 15 hours of filming) all I can conclude is that this must have been a nightmare to plan out and film. Props to them for taking on such a challenge, and paying tribute to the greats.

30 Vintage Vaudeville Photos

Oh dear. Not creepy at all.

While it's not too difficult to stumble across old photos online, coming across really interesting, borderline bizarre ones can be. Similar in feel to the well-loved vintage Australian mugshots that we unearthed last year, these old-timey Vaudevillian photographs have that quirky, somewhat off look to them. From children to little people (or the more history-appropriate term, midgets) among many others, Vaudeville ran the gamut of performers during it's heyday from the 1880's until the 1930's. We've gathered 30 of the more interesting Vaudevillian photos of the archive that we stumbled upon. So brace yourself for looks that'll stare straight into your soul. Or at least make you feel kinda uncomfortable.

Check out the rest after the break!

Kapow! 2012: Cosplay In Pictures

The Might Thor-ette and Female Loki!

I have returned! This past weekend I was kindly invited to Kapow! Comicon, a convention created with the intention of bringing the US convention experience to the UK. Over the next week, you can expect all sorts of coverage from the convention, including photographs, previews and reviews, but I thought I would start my coverage with something special.

As with all conventions, cosplay is an important staple, showcasing a fans true love for a character from videogame, comics, movies and so forth. I appreciate the art form, and I thought I would share a selection of photographs I took over the weekend of some of my favourite costumes. Check them out after the break!

Primus: Lee Van Cleef

After declaring a hiatus in 2000, Primus decided to come back together in 2011 to release Green Naugahyde, which received overall positive reviews and was touted as a return to form. 2012 brings us our first music video of the basstastic Lee Van Cleef track, directed by Chris Lenox Smith. As a bonus, Chris posted a link to an awesome behind the scenes blog chronicling the development of the music video.

The Art Of Robot Punch!

138 (Via)

Robot Punch, aka Vlad Gusev was truly an amazing find (Thank you Ronald H). Its been a while since I found an illustrator that threw so much chaos into his pieces, yet somehow found a way to make it all work together. The only style I could equate Vlad's to is Spanish folk art, well known for its colorful, at times jarring style remixed with modern pop culture themes to create something altogether new and exciting.

And make no mistake, despite the Evangelion theme present here his work encompasses a wide range of subject matter. His styles range from highly geometric and angular to loose and free flowing, while always retaining an incredibly colorful look. Check out more of his awesome work after the break!

Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master

While the Great Gatsby remake has been causing a ton of buzz, my eyes have been firmly set on Paul Thomas Anderson's intriguing new film, 'The Master.' For those of you unfamiliar with his work, he's directed some classics including Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and his fantastic Daniel Day Lewis driven period piece, There Will Be Blood.

The plot centers around a charismatic, intellectual man running a faith organization/cult known as 'The Master,' and a young drifter who crosses his path. The choice of using analog cameras was an awesome choice in my opinion, giving the movie that vintage look to match the era. And just like In There Will Be Blood, it looks like the excellent, foreboding musical compositions of Jonathan Greenwood will make a triumphant return. Looking forward to October.

Trolli's Gay Fortress 2 (NSFW)

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As the current political campaigns in the US have turned their ear towards the pro/anti gay rights issue, rabid debates have engulfed internet communities, airwaves and television with people offering their different points of view. But us? We really don't care, as long as people have the chance to live the life they want. We support Clint Eastwood's sentiments.

Seeing that these mind blowing images of wonderfully illustrated Team Fortress 2 fanart have been sitting unused in our art archives for a few days now, I saw it fit to share them as a result of recent developments. I added a NSFW tag for the overly sensitive, but rest assured its all pretty tasteful work created by some very talented artists. These images surfaced during a search in a strange corner of the internet for Japanese/Korean fanart of Western videogame franchises, and lets just say we were surprised with what we found. We've thrown in a few Assassin's Creed images for good measure after the break. Venture forth with open minds!

RoboGal's Weekly Cute Mixtape

Dry mouth. (Via)

Yes, I'm a day late with this week's Cute Mixtape. We've been losing quite a bit of sleep getting our store set up, getting the word out about it and planning for E3. But hey, better late than never, right? In honor of hump day and these chaotic, this week I bring you the sleep edition of the cute mixtape. Check out more images after the break!

Dedans by Odezenne

The music video for Odezenne's "Dedans", animated by Vladimir Mavounia-Kouka, marries together old-time and modern in a fun and somewhat bizarre fashion. It was the perfect choice of style to mesh together with the style of the song.  The video tells the story of a marketing revelation, and takes us on a bit of a visual trip as well.

Blockboy : Survive

The Munich based Blockboy hit the spot with his 'Survive' track, especially after a stressful few weeks. His chill , ambient track covers just a small aspect of the sounds he covers with his work, including hip hop, big beat, funk and even dubstep. Its a work in progress for the artist in my opinion, as he strives to find his true style by dabbling in many genres. His upcoming EP, 'Heartbox' will be available on August 6, 2012. Keep an eye out for this one.

Amazing grace

This wonderful little slice of life minidoc delves into the life of Terry Beeman, an aspiring gymnast who found his calling in dance and choreography. I've never been sure about what to think of interpretative dance, but after seeing it from Beeman's perspective, its just another form of expression with the stage as his canvas. Its an insightful, well edited and intimate portrait of an artist practicing the craft he loves. Kudos to the directors, Alexis Wanneroy and Emilie Heckel for bringing proper light to this art form.

Art Of Kaktuzlime

Colonel Cyanide (Via)

Kaktuzlime, aka Johannes Helgeson is a Swedish concept artist that caught our eye with his awesomely stylized characters. Unlike other artists who tend to work a lot more stylized, his rendering style emphasizes form and light incredibly well, giving his work a very volumetric feel. With careful consideration to his lightsources and his saturation, he achieves colorful, appealing characters that I could easily picture as real toys.

Kaktuzlime now works at Red Steam studios, a Singapore based pre-production studio with a wide range of international talent from different backgrounds. The studio is part of Gameloft international, one of the leading mobile developers. Check out more of Kaktuzlime's awesome work after the break!

Bronies Confuse Me

 

My Little Pony has evolved into a cultural phenomenon in more ways than one. On one hand it's a well made children's show, but on the other it quickly spawned one of the most confusing groups of fans. Their interests towards the show range from harmless enjoyment to a full blown sexual fetish.  While the Brony culture is all too confusing for me to even attempt to understand, I can't really hate on them for sticking with something they enjoy so wholeheartedly (I'd be a bit of a hypocrite considering my Evangelion obsession). Still, there's no reason not to poke fun of them with a little bit of satire, which is precisely what we've given in the newest Busted Pixel skit.

Woodkid: Run Boy Run

The followup to Woodkid's amazing 2011 EP, Iron is finally here. Following up with the same epic, narrative style that made Woodkid explode last spring, Run Boy Run follows the journey of a boy finding his way again and becoming a legend. Its a fantastically uplifting song with a heavily percussive base, which made me feel like I was listening to an orchestral score to a film with lyrics. Absolutely incredible all around, Woodkid knocked it out of the park again. Pick up the EP here!

Scott Scheidly's Fabulous Portraits

 Fab Stalin (Via)

Scott Scheidly is a San Francisco based artist who came up with the idea to create this series, simply dubbed 'Portraits: a series of fabulous depictions of tyrants, dictators and popes.' The series was created to shock and offend by taking some of history's most notorious figures and showing them in a new, pinkish-purple light. Check out three more of these gems after the break!

Graffiti 6: Stare Into The Sun...And Illuminati

Three years after the British indie-pop duo known as Graffiti 6 hit it big with their groovy 'Stare Into The Sun' track, an official music video has finally materialized. Full of psychedelic visuals and symbolism, its a colorful music video which truly suits the upbeat track well.

However, the music video has drawn a hilarious amount of conspiracy theorists to it due to its supposed illuminati imagery and references. If you're looking for a laugh, the comments section is filled with gems like this:

'Illuminati symbolism is everywhere and nothing is sacred to these "elites" and the artists are certainly not to blame due to their lack of a spine. Selling your soul to the devil sounds good to anyone at any given time and most can do it without ever being the wiser. These are what we like to call 'Sheeple.'

So alright Sheeple, enjoy the music video!

Phil Tippett's Mad God Kickstarter

Its really cool to see Phil Tippett and his crew return to form with this Kickstarter project, an experimental stop motion short called 'Mad God.' The short was originally thought up close to 20 years ago, but was shelved due to the advent of digital techniques. From what Tippett mentioned, its a way for them to take a step back and do everything they can't do at their 9-5 jobs. So if you choose to back this, prepare to be thrust into a seriously dark, twisted, distorted post apocalyptic world.

If you'd like a taste of what Tippett's been up to over the last year or so, I'd highly recommend checking out his Mutant Land short.

Skyfall trailer releases : sparks my excitement for James Bond once more

Unlike most people, I loved Quantum of Solace. While it may not have been quite as good as Casino Royale, it was still a fantastic entry in the Bond universe (despite the heavy lack of gadgets). After the release of Quantum of Solace the future of the Bond series was looking rather bleak as MGM drew closer to it's final days.

Luckily, the end of MGM never came to fruition and four years later we're treated with the next entry in the James Bond Universe. Yes, it's a teaser trailer and it doesn't show a whole lot, but the movie is still looking god damn sexy and that Bond remix at the end really stirred up some interest. Color me excited.

Tokyo Compression : Portraits by Michael Wolf

(via)

As most of my fellow citizens, I commute through subway to get to work. It was the cleanest safest transport system my city had, you could go anywhere, fast. Those were the good days.
Michael Wolf photographic series deals with a rising topic in many cities worldwide; quality public transport is becoming a major issue as skyrocketing gas/fuel prices are nowhere near  going down and the global economy is putting many on a ''narrow pocket policy''.

Tokyo compression gives a stark look at one of the most claustrophobic, crammed, subway system in the world, brilliantly putting faces to the otherwise anonymous mass of bodies that every day endures the odyssey of a day's work at the city. Enjoy.

Yann Benedi's Giant Series

Illustrator/animator Yann Benedi put together a really cute, simple short series, each about a different kind of giant. The giants are gentle, and unintentionally destructive. Though lacking a whole lot of color, the art style is really soft and warm, very unoffensive to the eye. Check out the other two after the break!

THE ART OF DRIGZABROT

Hot chicks, tattoos and mechs... What could go wrong? (Via)

Drigz Abrot is a California-based illustrator/designer that has the healthy habit of putting girls and mecha together. Though a bit abstract, his work seems to revolve around a main concept, and everything in that concept has a different take on mechanically grafted humans, tattoos, semi-naked girls and street style aesthetics.

A sample of Drigz coolest illustrations after the break. Enjoy!

WAY TO WAR - KIRIN J CALLINAN

Siberia Records just released this new music video to celebrate the launch of Kirin J Callinan's new upcoming single. For those of you unaware of this relatively unknown label, Siberia was founded by the Australian alt/prog/dance group Midnight Juggernauts as a way to release their own work and that of other Aussie talent. The music video, directed by Kris Moyes is a truly jarring series of eerie animated vignettes set to Callinan's somewhat unsettling, muffled track. The single is set to debut on June 21, which you can preorder directly from Siberia's website.

Parking Douche!

This ad was created for a Russian website called 'The Village,' which supposedly advertises a shaming app for people who park like idiots. Based off all the awful experiences I've had with people boxing me in, taking up two spaces and other such parking incidents I would pick this up in a heartbeat. Despite being a fun, somewhat passive aggressive concept, such a service would never fly in the US for the fact that the shamed parkers would  probably barrage the service with lawsuits. What's even funnier is that the blog behind this promo has no mention of the service, and is a completely Russian website. So why the English ad? So many questions, but I'm probably going to write this off as yet another strange faux viral video.

On The Shelf

For three art students (Kevin Njoo, Hannah Joe, and Sarah Wolfe), their senior project saw them interacting with other seniors. Senior citizens, that is. The student trio made their way over to their local senior center, and interviewed a few different people. Recording their conversation, they later put together an short animation based off their chat with two different gentlemen. Realizing the vast generational gap, especially where technology is concerned, they decided to give each gentleman their own old-school, well-used household appliance as a character. Though short, I loved the idea and concept behind it.

Sharp's NERV edition Phone is Every Evangelion Fan's Wet Dream

(via)

I'll basically lose my sh*t over anything Neon Genesis Evangelion related, but this is an entirely new level of sh*t losing. Earlier last month, Sharp announced their limited edition NERV branded Android phone. While I was excited, there wasn't a whole lot to show other than one or two pictures, but it looks like some lucky folks got their hands on the device to give us a closer look. "HOLY F*CK" were the first two words that released from my mouth upon seeing the newest footage, because god damn, that is one sexy phone. Sure, it's not running Ice Cream Sandwhich like most of the current releases, but I couldn't care less because it's f*cking Evangelion.

While I know I'll probably never get the chance to get my hands on the device, it's nice to know something this damn cool can exist. I'll continue crossing my fingers that we get some form of this phone stateside (or at least a relatively inexpensive way to import).

Hit the jump for a closer look at the phone's specs and a hands-on video for the device!

Your Cat Probably Has A Drug Problem

 There's absolutely no way I can deny my (and most of Awesome Robo's) love for The Midnight Show. Everything the group puts out is gold in my eyes, upping the game of comedy with each new video. Their newest sketch takes a look into the horrible truth behind your cat's probable drug problems, and when I say probable, I mean most definite. Seriously, get that sh*t checked out.

Torchlight 2 Beta Key Giveaway: Results

Well after an update from Runic, we decided to end the beta giveaway tomorrow to give people the chance to play over the weekend before the end of this initial beta. Winners and non-winning participants alike have been contacted via email. (Please see update at the end of the post, the giveaway has ended).

First off, we tallied the results after filtering out duplicate entries and people who didn't answer the questions. Why did we ask for who your favorite class was? So we could do a mini class popularity contest. The hybrid Engineer and the Embermage were the favorites, with the Engineer edging out on the Embermage to take 1st place. Despite being at the bottom of the totem pole for a while, the Berserker climbed up the ranks to be neck in neck with the Outlander.

Second off, we forwarded all the responses to Runic as to give them a little boost as they continue to grind away on ironing out all the bugs and polishing the experience. Thanks to everyone for the kind words to the devs, I'm sure it'll put some smiles on their faces. Thank you guys for participating, and why not preorder the game already? $20 is one heck of a steal.

(5/22/12 Update - Hey guys, as this post indicates, the giveaway has ended. Comments requesting beta keys will not be answered. However, if you participated and commented on the original post during the dates of the contest (and actually left an email, as many people didn't) and you didn't receive an email for participating, go ahead and let us know in the comments section below. Thanks!)

Singles By Rebecca Sugar

For a weary individual at the end of their work day, this is either the best or worst short to watch (my vote's for best, though). Trip-inducing craziness at it's finest, Singles (A reference to everyone's favorite processed cheese slices) shows us a man. Within a man. Within a man. Who just wants to make his sandwich in peace, without having to deal with the fact that his reality and existence is nothing short of mind blowing, inception quality material. I especially liked the animation style, which really reminded me of John K's work (Ren & Stimpy, etc). Truly one of the most unique animations we've seen in months on the blog, and kudos to Rebecca Sugar for taking on such an animation challenge to boot.

Richie Valazquez's Grime

Han Solo

Pop culture remixes are awesome, while some are relatively lazy, others stand out among the rest. Richie Valazquez's Grime series happens to be some of the coolest I've seen in a while. By taking actual photos, Valazquez puts an entirely new twist on the subjects by giving a much needed makeover. I really dig his use of bright color, it really pushes his style to the forefront of the photos and puts an entirely new twist on the scene, it's awesome.

Check out 5 more of his pieces after the break and check out his website here (NSFW).

Tea Diver Makes Me Want To Pick Up tea Drinking

(via)

While I admit that I'm not the most experienced when it comes to drinking tea (hint: I've only ever used teabags, minus a few occasions), Yanko Design's Tea Diver really makes me want to reassess my life choices. The awesomely unique design mimics the look of Korean deep-sea diving suits know as "Meoguri" and increases the classiness of your tea drinking ten-fold (shush, it's a proven fact). Surprisingly enough, the clever tea strainer isn't that pricey, for only $20, you can you pick it up right here (but expect to pay a bit extra for oversea shipping).

Prometheus Viral - "Quiet Eye"

Prometheus gets slightly more mysterious! This viral video message stars Elizabeth Shaw (played by Noomi Rapace), one of the main protagonists in the film. It seems that there is an extra level of continuity to the movie, especially as it seems that the Yutani Corporation (a rival to Weyland Industries in the Alien universe) has a big role in the choice of Elizabeth as a member of the Prometheus crew.

The Prometheus project is run by the Weyland company, so it's a mystery as to why they might be working together. Though the two companies become partners and form the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in later film installments we don't know much about the why. Perhaps it has something to do with a shared skeleton in the space closet?

The video also has a link to Project Prometheus, the official site that allows you to 'Apply' to be part of the Prometheus crew. Though the wait for the movie is somewhat painful at this point we might as well have fun before the excitement really does burst out our chests...

ATM

Waking up thinking it was Friday, I thought a silly and cute animated short was in order. Realizing it's only Wednesday, we'll call this a Hump Day short. Rikke Asbjorn made this fun piece called ATM while doing a stint over at Cartoon Network. A plus-sized fella just wants to pull some cash from the ATM, but finds himself unable to enter his PIN due to his just-too-large fingers. Luck strikes him, and he finds himself in a dilemma. Ultimately, he finds a way out that works for everyone.

Torchlight 2 Beta Key Giveaway!

Well I'm guessing that a good chunk of you probably went out yesterday at midnight to pick up a copy of Diablo 3, and probably are already halfway through the campaign at this point (Myself included). Well how about the chance of getting a double dose of action RPG goodness? In collaboration with the Seattle based Runic games, we're proud to offer you the chance to get your hands on one of 20 keys to check out the awesome world of Torchlight 2! A world that in our opinion, improves on the original in every way imaginable.

Now I've seen a lot of pot shots being taken between the Diablo 3 and Torchlight camps, but after playing both I honestly can say that there really is no reason for such bickering. The games do things differently enough to stand on their own, rather than in direct competition with each other. Lets just say art styles, for one example.

The original crew. Alchemist, Destroyer, Vanquisher.

In terms of history, I can easily say that both games share a common thread, the fact that they were both born out of Blizzard pedigree. Specifically, the Schaefer brothers. Max and Erich Schaefer are the people we have to thank for Blizzard North, the studio that brought us the first two Diablo installments to begin with. Following the closure of the studio and their failed attempt at heading up Flagship and a new IP (Hellgate: London), they chose to partner with Travis Baldree and a small group of devs in Seattle who had worked on a popular low budget ARPG known as Fate. Through that fateful partnership Runic games was born, and Torchlight became a smash hit in 2009/2010, selling over 1 million copies with its very affordable and hardware friendly approach.

Fugu & Tako By Robot VFX

VFX companies typically tend to put out their own shorts at times to show off their capabilities to respective clients, like Fugu & Tako. The one minute short, which showcases the unfortunate effects of pissing off a sushi chef definitely shows off some excellent compositing and CG work by RobotVFX. Is there such a thing as sushi that's a little too fresh?

Living Without Laws: Slab City

For a few moments I thought Vice had done a documentary about California's once prosperous, now perilous Salton Sea hellhole, but I soon realized this city was a whole new level of crazy. Located in Southeastern California, the site is mainly used by offroaders, but is also home to thousands of 'campers' and marginal folk who have made the inhospitable, amenity free area their own home. Why Slab City? The name came from giant slabs left behind when Camp Dunlap, a WWII era Marine Corp base was decommissioned in October 1961.

Despite the madness, all the hippies, tweakers, vets and other folk that the Vice crew ran into during their time at the camp seemed pretty damn friendly and focused on one thing: Peace of mind. Can't say I couldn't use some of that myself as of late.

Ping Pong Country: Sabotage Edition

If you've ever had a chance to play a shooter with bizarre modifiers to spice up the gameplay, this Ping Pong concept will be right up your alley. Imagine playing ping pong with the threat of getting strobed, hit by wind gusts or having a few dozen balls dropped on your table at any time. The entire system is operated via a master board, designated to fulfill the inner troll in you.

Bioshock Gets The Mr. Potato Treatment

Bioshock just got adorable. (Via)

Bioshock & Bioshock 2's iconic Big Daddies got an overhaul that took them straight into Toy Story territory . The Flickr user known only as 'Ginger Troll' uploaded a selection of photos of his Mr. Potato splicings, into a form more befitting the guardians of Rapture Check out more views of this Potato monstrosity after the break!

RoboGal's Weekly Cute Mixtape

Omg, the world! It's so big! (Via)

Well, hello and welcome to this week's edition of the Cute Mixtape! After a hectic weekend of putting the finishing touches of our brand spanking new AwesomeRobo Shop, I know I'm definitely in need of a little cuteness. Relax, and enjoy with me!

More after the break!

Galactaron: First Contact

After months of of work and anticipation, Galactaron finally put out this excellent debut music video, narrating the alien band's first contact with human life. I have a certain soft spot for artist that put an effort into trying to tell a story with their music or albums, so this hit the spot. Owen Dennis, the director and part of Galactaron spent a total of 6 months animating this excellent music video, which has an appealing style and perfectly delivers on the First Contact theme. It's been cool to see more people adopt the electro musical theme for their albums, a trend which was somewhat brought back to the limelight following the Daft Punk/Matsumoto collab we discussed yesterday during our coverage of Flight Facilities' With You.

I'd highly recommend checking out their debut album, simply dubbed 'Galactaron' on iTunes if you haven't already. Look forward to seeing more from these guys.

Mario Kart just got a little bit cuter

I'm not the biggest fan of Pomeranian's, they're loud, obnoxious, and their ear piercing yelps makes me want to kill myself. With that aside, I still can't deny that they're adorable, and when you mix a silent Pomeranian with Mario Kart, you've captured my heart. While ridiculously simple, I can't stop watching this video . . . It's just damn cute. What is happening to me?

AwesomeRobo Shop: Now Open!

Designs by Dan Hipp and Reyyy! (Via)

After 6 months of working our butts off, it looks like our AwesomeRobo shop is finally open for business! The idea came sometime around November of last year, when working on a post about the art of Dan Hipp, one of us said, 'This guy's designs would make for some amazing shirts.' And that simple statement set a 6 month process in motion of working with a select group of artists to create a Tshirt line. We currently have 6 designs in hand, and we look forward to unveiling them over the next few months. We were proud to give these artists a chance to show off what their style was about with their shirts, as they all had a unique style to offer.

If you purchase a shirt from our store you'll be directly contributing to help us expand AwesomeRobo, and you shall gain our neverending gratitude! You'll be helping us make our dream come true. We've been volunteer run since day one, but we needed to find a way to help us expand without plastering our website with ads. By pooling our funds together, we were able to put together our Awesome Shop, which we hope you've checked out by now. We've put together some info and behind the scenes after the break! Check it out and spread the word.

Thoughtlessness

We found this really cool mash-up of real life shots (filmed with a cell phone, reportedly) and 2D animation, to be an awesome student short. Thoughtlessness is about the carefree world of a child, wandering through busy crowds. Using the boundless imagination that seems to generally be reserved for the very young, new characters and beings are created to fill in between the lines of reality.

Tron: Uprising - Beck's Beginning

DisneyXD decided to release the first episode for Tron: Uprising to get people excited, and I have to say I'm pretty damn impressed, especially by how much the series directly ties into the last two movies and expands on the universe. The idea of showing off the general life of folks in Argon, a city located in the Grid shows off a side of Kevin Flynn's creation we never had a chance to see before. I honestly can't wait till June 7, as the quality of the episode ended up exceeding my expectations.

Disney released an official synopsis to accompany the 30 minute premiere:

Beck is a young mechanic living in Argon City, a growing metropolis in a far off corner of the grid that has just been occupied by General Tesler, a henchman of the notorious Clu. After his best friend Bodhi is ruthlessly derezzed by Clu's army, Beck seeks justice for his lost friend and launches a crusade against the regime. His rebellion captures the attention of Tron, the greatest warrior The Grid has ever known, who sees the potential in Beck and trains him to be his successor. Labeled with the moniker of The Renegade, Beck sparks a revolution to fight for the freedom of The Grid.

The Art Of Plastic Chamber

Orange Wedge (Via)

I've had a soft spot for model kit bashers since being exposed to them at a hobbyist convention, so finding the work of the Plastic Chamber truly made my night. The group, which is a collective of three Japanese artists: Gerusea, S3 and STEVEN is dedicated to the art of taking existing model kits and combining, painting and modifying them into all new designs.

I try to think of it as working with a much more complex, high end set of Lego pieces. Its an art in itself, which takes a certain mindset to be able to extrapolate the many different, unintended uses of different model kit components. Thankfully Plastic Chamber didn't hold back at all with their work, creating some truly fantastic pieces that you can check out after the break!

Flight Facilities : With You And La Boétie: The Head

Even if Flight Facilities music video might end up reminding you of Daft Punk's Interstella 5555 period, the ambient/disco house sound of this Aussie duo provides the perfect sound for easing into a week. With some retro visuals reminiscent of Matsumoto era anime, the video narrates a scifi tale of forbidden love.



La Boetie is another duo comprised of a female vocalist who spent her childhood traveling the world and a double bassist based out of a Paris and Barcelona. The group, which formed in 2009 is currently working towards putting out their first album, but this music video is a step in the right direction with a taste of things to come. These guys definitely have the potential to become something bigger. Enjoy.

Claycat's The Raid

Its been proven scientifically that cats and claymation are among some of the best things ever, especially when combined with ultra violent (But awesome) Indonesian action movies. This odd tribute to the recently released Raid: Redemption captures the spirit of the movie pretty well, with its neverending stream of brutal takedowns recreated in a cat-ified clay format. Check out the original trailer for comparison after the break!

Ghosts With Sh** Jobs

I absolutely loved the premise of this completed mockumentary, a project which was recently successfully funded on Kickstarter for a nation wide tour. The movie was created as a lofi-scifi feature with 50 volunteers, who contributed over 6500 hours to the project to narrate how the job market will look like 20 years after a complete economic collapse in the West. The result? People willing to do all the jobs that nobody would do in the East. From human spammers to data cloud silk harvesters to digital copyright janitors, its a pretty tongue in cheek vision of the future with a fun premise. If you're interested in pledging to the project to get an advanced copy, I'd recommend heading over to their Kickstarter page.

The Vinyl Throw

This is a fun, but ultimately fake viral created for a service called Music Bunk, an app that allows you to check out what your friends are listening to. Like basketball, beer pong or quarters trick shot videos, vinyl throwing should become a hipster sensation in an ideal world.

I honestly thought this was real till the messed up motion blur at 0:43, and then all the faux viral elements came into place, including perfect color correction, overly shaky camera movements and the obvious product placement. Nonetheless, its a fun idea that really didn't need any Aftereffects, just a few thousand hours of attempts.