Izbor - A Bite Sized Scifi Thriller

Space and loneliness- two things that simply seem to go hand in hand. Space and madness? By pop culture's defintion, inseparable. Created as part of Mehdi Aouichaoui's fourth year project at the Supinfocom animation school, Izbor plops us into a crucial moment of a scifi expedition gone horribly wrong. Clutching a photo of someone dearly beloved, we witness an astronaut's final moments of utter fear and hopelessness.

Izbor is noteworthy for Mehdi's usage of a hybrid style, mixing elements of 2D (Like the astronauts head) with CG environments. From a narrative standpoint the choice of making the creature a completely organic, 2D entity also strengthens the fact that it's an otherworldly, alien entity in this vessel. Short but sweet, a fun romp through a variety of scifi tropes.

What Lies Below? A New Glimpse At Capybara's Upcoming Roguelike

What lies Below? That is the question that the folks at Capybara games have been asking for a few months now, ever since their triumphant reveal at last years E3. The same company behind the beautiful Sword And Sorcery adventure game and the upcoming Super Time Force action puzzle shooter, it looks like we'll be getting more atmospheric exploration with rogue like elements this time around.



This latest trailer for Beyond, the first one since it's unveiling close to a year ago is more of a musical one- Giving us a taste of Jim Guthrie's original score while offering us a glance at some of the environments. What I found really curious was the ultra zoomed out perspective that the game will use, offering players a nearly god like view of the action. If death lurks around every corner, I don't mind this design choice..Zooming out the camera nearly seems like it might end up ramping up the tension significantly. Below will be releasing sometime this year on PC and Xbox One.

Black Desert Online - A Korean MMO That Has The West's Attention

I've had a chance to play a wide range of MMO's over the years, never fully delving into them but limiting myself to 2-3 week playtests to get a feel for what each game had to offer. And during this time I really got a chance to develop an appreciation for Korean MMO's especially, which time and time again seemed to be a few steps ahead of their western developed counterparts in regards to gameplay ideas and innovations.

One of my most memorable experiences was playing Granado Espada a few years back, which allowed a player to control three characters simultaneously in a baroque styled setting (The awesome character concepts by Limha Lekan drew me in). My only frustration was that there was a generalized stigma against any Korean MMO for being 'too grindy,' a reputation that a few games managed to cast on that entire scene as a whole.

In the last few years it seems like developers have taken note of this reputation and have been trying to address it with newer games, including NC Soft's upcoming Blade and Soul and Black Desert Online. The latter recently caught the interest of the western gaming community for it's efforts to truly evolve online combat with a more dynamic action oriented approach rather than the rather outdated 'roll' based systems featured in games like World of Warcraft.



Black Desert is just one of many next gen MMO's being developed overseas, and hopefully this game will be able to make a transition to Western shores once it's released. I've seen so many games with truly amazing potential absolutely fall flat due to bad marketing, but hopefully this will be one of the exceptions. If you're in the mood to get a feel of how this game might play while we wait for Black Desert to released, I'd recommend giving the free to play Vindictus action MMO a shot (The only Korean MMO developed on Valve's source engine).

Tha Kool Kids

Animated by Shaz Lym as part of a possible series development (Check his other videos to see why I reached that conclusion), Tha Kool Kids is a fun showcase of various characters dancing to some classic 90's tracks. Boys II Men's Poison, the Nae Nae and the Carlton dance are all featured. Tons of personality in just a few frames! You can pretty much tell how these characters will carry themselves simply by their choice of music and signature dance.

Million Dollar Extreme Returns With "Stuff"

The folks at Million Dollar Extreme have been quiet, but just recently appeared again with a new faux film trailer simply called Stuff. While it starts off pretty slow with Sam Hyde simply talking nonsense about different types of weed, we quickly transition into some absolutely insane territory. A whirlwind of madness unfolds: Buxom babes, switchblades, slow motion, spraying blood, gnarly romance, domination, ultra violence and everything in between set to Parachute Ending by French electro outfit Birdy Nam Nam.

The entire thing feels like something that Harmony Korine and the collective creative force of the 80's would put out, and at the end of it I was kind of left wishing it was something real. That's the power of Million Dollar Extreme, they always leave you wanting more. I really hope these guys someday get the chance to direct something more long form, their carefree attitude to everything they make is refreshing in the Youtube landscape of overproduced, overly thought out garbage.

Bruce Timm Returns With "Batman: Strange Days"

Created to commemorate Batman's 75th anniversary, Bruce Timm produced a brand new, highly atmospheric short featuring the Dark Knight tracking a strange, Solomon Grundy-esque creature back to the lair of Dr. Hugo Strange. Touted as a 'lost tale,' the short seems to imply that this was one of Batman's early exploits, especially noticeable with the low tech feel and retro garb based off of the 1939 debut of the character. 

Featuring the same iconic style that made Batman - The Animated Series one of the most memorable cartoon adaptations of the dark crusader, it's an awesome romp into the past. On a side note, I did kind of laughed when Batman didn't even blink when firing teargas directly at the hostage. Bruce Timm also offered a really cool inside look at the development of this short, so check out the interview after the break.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 Gets A New Trailer

The excitement builds for the long awaited sequel to 2010's Dreamworks feature that well..Didn't feel like the average pop culture filled feature we'd come to expect from the studio. Continuing where the first movie left off, the sequel will follow Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) as he stumbles onto a mysterious ice cave filled with hundreds of new dragons. Along with an encounter with his estranged mother (Cate Blanchett) and a power hungry individual named Drago, who seeks to harness the power of dragons for his own bidding, it's shaping up to be an excellent follow up.

Dreamworks also released a new poster for the flick, featuring Hiccup's friends all slightly grown up: Snotlout, Ruffnut, Astrid and others. The movie will be hitting theaters around June 20, so get hype for some more Toothless action.

Katushiro Otomo's "Short Peace" Opening In US Theaters Next Week

This is awesome news. Thanks to the efforts of the LA based distribution company known as Eleven Arts, Short Peace will be rolling out to over 50 theaters across the US on Friday, April 18th with Canada to follow in May. The compilation will have a total of four short films, including the Academy Award-nominated Possessions, directed by Shuhei Morita. Featuring a mixture of CG and hand animation, Short Peace covers a broad range of themes and narratives, and like other compilation features serves as a celebration of animation and some of the most successful animation directors of that era.



This will be the third anthology feature that Otomo (Director of Akira, Steamboy and author of countless iconic mangas) will contribute to over the course of his career. If you're interested in checking out the other two, there's Robot Carnival (1987) and Memories (1995). The latter has the distinction of solely being based off of three of his own short, one off manga stories (Magnetic Rose is a must see).

Jack White - "High Ball Stepper"

Former White Stripes frontman Jack White has been at it again, making waves with rumors of a new LP called 'Lazaretto.' With High Ball Stepper we're given a pretty electric taste of what's to come, with an instrumental sound that beckons to the bygone days of Led Zeppelin's audacious sound.

From a visual standpoint, the music video is an experiment in reverberation, vibration and frequency - featuring paint and other materials taking on an absolutely alien consistency when placed inside booming speakers.

The Stylized Art Of Niking

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Niking was an exciting find because of the fact that Thai illustrators are really few and far between. We really try to find artists from different regions, but the lack of easily accessible communities (As well as language barriers) sometimes makes this process a little prohibitive. Niking's style is colorful, highly stylized and quite dynamic. His work really reminds me of Alex Ahad, who contributed his distinct style to developing Skullgirls. 

What I like about this certain style is that it feels like anime run through a western coffee filter, it ultimately contains the best of both worlds. His pieces aren't ultra tightly rendered either, which gives them a nice organic feel and preserves a nice sense of movement to his work. Check out some more visual stimulation by the talented Thai artist after the break!

Morning Ritual

Eric Power's Morning Ritual is a heart-warming short that takes a daily routine that all fathers and parents have in common and puts a wonderfully whimsical spin on it.

Combining stop-motion animation, puppetry, photographic backgrounds and ambient early morning sounds from his home, Power animates the early morning ritual of a monster dad who just wants his little one to catch some shut-eye. The construction paper DIY aesthetic definitely reminds me of nickelodeon's early live-action programs like Blues Clues or Gullah Gullah Island. Massive nostalgia moment right now.

The Curious Art Of Tsutsu-Di

(Via)

Tsutsu-Di aka Shiho Tsutsuji is a Japanese video game developer, illustrator and pixel artist, honing his skills across all three mediums to round himself out. I found his illustration work especially intriguing thanks to his stylistic choice to always illustrate in a square format, something we've honestly never run into before. His work ranges from graphic to painterly, and thematically it's fun from start to finish.

Dragon riders run amok across a sparse city, a race of pig people make an offering in their temple and a girl creates shadow creatures from her fingertips- This is the type of work you'll run into with Shiho's work, which definitely has a Japanese flavor all it's own. Check out more of his awesome square illustrations after the break!

The Serpent Princess

Barbarians, buxom babes in distress and giant serpents: The three ingredients for The Serpent Princess, a short film created as the opening for the 19th Russian animation festival called Suzdal 2014. Playing out like a scene straight out of a Frank Frazetta painting, mighty beasts are felled, battlecries are heard, and a bound prisoner looks on, hopeful to be rescued.

The absolutely fluid animation seemed a little familiar, until I realized that it was created by Team Arctq17, who also directed an earlier opening for the 2013 Suzdal festival called The Goose. If anything I wish The Serpent Princess was something a little more long form after getting a taste of this particular barbarian's utter badassitude.

Helium Harvey

Animated by Daniel Savage (With the help of a few folks), Helium Harvey is a fun romp into the wild imagination of a child called Harvey. Amidst playing with helium balloons on a sunny day (Who hasn't done that at least once), he accidentally ingests the contents of a full balloon and takes off on an incredible journey around the world (And through time).

Over the course of his journey he witnesses some truly fantastic sights, before ultimately concluding his wonderful journey where he originally started. The fantastic orchestral soundtrack really did wonders for this short, elevating it into something truly magical. Check out the making of Helium Harvey after the break, featuring everything from preproduction to foley work.

Pure X - "Heaven"

Produced and directed by Ben Kitnick (Who directed that lovely Photo Man documentary), this experimental film walks a fine line between a documentary and music video. This somber video follows a solitary destruction derby driver at a traveling fair of sorts. While it starts off very much as a slice of life video, things get really dark in the second half made ever creepier by the fact that his activities are superimposed on the background of colorful state fair imagery and the idyllic sound of Pure X.

A Look At The Original Predator Costume With Stan Winston Studios

For all you VFX and behind the scenes aficionados out there, this was just too good not to share. Presented by Stan Winston studios, we're given a glance at an early version of the Predator that would have featured Jean Claude Van Damne as the bounty hunter alien in the movie. Upon realizing though that he would simply be a guy running around in a rubber suit, he realized that this gig was not what he expected and left the production.

Compounded by some serious doubts about the original design (Which looked pretty damn goofy), his departure ultimately prompted a complete redesign that gave us the iconic Predator that's come to be loved in modern pop culture. VFX innovator Steve Johnson (Ghostbusters, Species, Blade 2) shares his inside story on what went wrong with the original design. I can't even imagine how the movie would have turned out had they stuck with the original pitch.