When Marketing Goes Too Far - Gundam ver. Chanel

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Has science gone too far? While using pop culture and anime to advertise popular brand is far from new in Japan, this custom built Gundam might be pushing the trend a bit too far. Yes, I admit the glossy black color is badass but do we really need a Mech plastered all over it's body? Despite the ridiculousness of the mod, SunyBuny has knack for creating some of the best looking custom built Gundams on the market, and Gundam ver. Chanel is a quality project.

SunyBuny's work on the Chanel branded Gundam isn't official, so if you're worried/excited about seeing a line of these lining the display window at your local upscale department store, don't fret because this is one-of-a-kind. For more images of the custom kit hit the jump. On a related note, don't forget to check out Chanel Gundam's mortal enemy that we covered a while back, Louis Vuitton Gundam.

Titanfall For Xbox One - Mechs, Parkour And More

Following the departure of Jason West and Vince Zampella from Infinity Ward following the Call of Duty 4 profit sharing fiasco where Activision attempted to fire the heads of the studio to avoid paying them royalties for the project, the duo, along with a majority of senior staff (38 out of 46) left to form Respawn Entertainment.

Following 3 years of relative silence, their newest endeavor was announced today at the Xbox conference, featuring a game rather similar in feel to the Call Of Duty franchise, albeit with a refreshing scifi theme to go with it. Featuring agile pilots who commandeer heavily armored Titan mechs, the game seems to mix elements of Mirror's Edge with more traditional FPS based mechanics, along with a dash of Hawken. As fast paced and hectic as it is though, the title's graphics arent exactly awe inspiring, although it looks like the game will be pretty damn fun. On an interesting note related to graphics, a source of ours speculated that the title was originally intended for the 360, but is currently being ported to Microsoft's next gen console with a spring 2014 release date.

The Art Of Talros : Mech Wonderland

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Talros (Aka Daniel Graffenberger) is one of the many artists to have been inspired by the iconic ship design of Relic's Homeworld, an award winning scifi game that was lauded for it's incredible art direction, music and gameplay back in 1999. Many scifi concept artists we've had a chance to talk to in recent memory have listed Homeworld as one of their influences for getting into the field, and in Daniel's case he's incorporated the unorthodox design language of the title into his own style, resulting in some truly cool designs.

Based out of Berlin, Daniel's current work is mainly from a hobbyist/freelancer perspective, but at this rate I wouldn't be surprised to see him break into the industry. Check out more of his industrial design goodies after the break.

Hawken Gets A Live Action Trailer

A fresh, and pretty damn cool new Hawken trailer gives us some glimpses into the overarching story of the conflict present in the universe the game is set in. It's a pretty safe premise, with an overarching plot of ruthless corporations, freedom fighters and downtrodden people. We still haven't heard if Adhesive games is going to be at E3, but we're hoping they'll have some form of presence at the convention we'll be attending next week. On a side note, if they can afford to make trailers worthy of AAA titles like these, I guess people shouldn't classify their game as 'indie' any longer.

Its Hawken Time

It looks like the brainchild of concept artist Khang Le and Adhesive games officially has a release date of 12.12.12 and a call for beta applicants! If you're interested in enlisting for the beta, head on here and fill out your name and email address to get early access to the incredible looking mech combat simulator. We've covered Hawken pretty extensively on the blog, and are looking forward to giving it a run and more coverage when it enters beta mode. Time to enlist!

Darren Quach's Scifi Goodness

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If you've ever played any of Insomniac's offerings from the last decade or so, you've probably encountered Darren Quach's designs in on form or the other. Darren's worked on Resistance, Ratchet & Clank and other Insomniac IP's for the last nine years or so, contributing his excellent industrial design skills to the studio. His understanding of how things are mechanically put together help give his designs a very grounded, functional feel whereas other concept artist usually just imply mechanical aspects. Check out eight more pieces after the break!

The Highly Mechanized Art Of St Theo

Sheperd Helldiver (Via)

Saint(?) Theo is a UK based artist with a heavy emphasis on really cool mech artwork based off a universe he's created over time. Each of his units fall into a category of 'Helldiver,' varying from orbital drop exosuits to various types of vehicles, each with its own distinct specialization. He puts a lot of thought into each of his units, breaking down all the functions, weapons and backstory to fully flesh out his characters. At some point, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole Helldiver series will get optioned for a movie adaptation. Check out 6 more concepts after the break!

Raytheon Sarcos's New Mimic Bot

Quite an incredible news report about a robot that mimics the motions of its controllers arms and shoulders. Its a damn cool extension of their earlier exoskeleton projects from years back. With this advancement, mechs appear closer than ever to becoming a reality. The only problem is the absolutely idiotic name for such an advancement: "Ditch Witch." Seriously guys? Is that the most badass name you guys could come up with?

Hangar

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Your mech art of the day, courtesy of the guys at the amazing freelance art studio known as SixMoreVodka. Great attention to light and especially texture in this piece. If you want to look at pretty art for a few hours, they've got it in spades.

An In Depth Look At Hawken

This two part developer walkthrough just popped up, featuring none other than Khang Le, the CEO and Art Director of the 6 man outfit developing Hawken called Adhesive Games. We gleaned quite a few details from the video, which now give a much more realistic idea as to the scale of the game. Check out our bullet points:

-Multiplayer only
-3 types of mechs (Light, Medium, Heavy)
-No ammo to worry about, replaced with an overheat system
-Life does not regen, you can go into mobile healing mode which makes you invisible on the radar
-Primary and secondary weapons, no dual wield
-Limited RPG style upgrade system for defense, offense and speed
-Limited jump/boost capabilities available

No word as to the number of maps, but I'm guessing there will be less than a dozen to make this feasible as an XBLA product. Check out part 2 of the walkthrough covering Khang's artistic choices and direction after the break!

Kid Walker Is A Badass

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I recently ran into these images of a kid manning some kind of mech floating around online, and set out to find who made it and if it worked at all. Turns out, its a fully functional mini mech made for the kid of a guy who runs an agricultural robotics plant in Japan called Sakakibara-Kikai . While making giant machines for farming purposes as their main source of income, these guys create mechs and robots for fun on the side. No really, they literally have a section on their website called 'Amusement,' showcasing fully functional mech prototypes. Japan, you never fail to make me feel stupid. Check out the video of Kid Walker after the jump!

Awesome Robots By Ukitakumuki

Some sweet mech and robot work by Ukitakumuki.