Aliens Motion Tracker Wallpaper

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So even though Aliens: Colonial Marines seems to be getting bashed, everyone still loves Aliens, the classic James Cameron film. The game’s release, however bad it may be, sparked some excitement about the franchise, so I decided to make some iPhone wallpapers. Enjoy the motion tracker!


Tracker - iPhone 5 / iPhone 4

Tracker with Signal - iPhone 5 / iPhone 4

Top 10’s of 2012

GAMES

10. LEGO Batman 2 (Xbox 360)

SO. MUCH. FUN. I’ve always loved the LEGO games, and this is my second favorite next to LEGO Star Wars 3. The new open-world formula is great, and some of the set pieces were incredibly fun.

9. Gravity Rush (PlayStation Vita)

One of the most charming games of the year. It’s got a thrillingly unique gravity-shifting mechanic, beautiful art direction and fantastic music. That, and its open world gameplay was a welcome sight on a handheld.

8. Tokyo Jungle (PlayStation 3)

Holy shit. How many games can you say you played as a Pomeranian and survived in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo? Hide, hunt and play as every animal you can think of. So unique and super challenging.

7. Hotline Miami (PC)

Brutality and beauty. Amazing gameplay with equally amazing music. Hotline Miami is extremely challenging & haunting, I couldn’t stop thinking about the game and its music for weeks after I finished it. Actually, I still can’t stop thinking about it.

6. Halo 4(Xbox 360)

343 hits it out of the park with their first Halo game. Gorgeous graphics, super-tight gameplay and exciting multiplayer.

5. Mass Effect 3(Xbox 360)

The finale to one of my favorite game series ever. Despite the ending being a bit rocky, the game itself was an ending, and a fantastic one at that.

4. The Walking Dead (PC)

Probably the most immersive piece of interactive storytelling I’ve ever participated in. An incredibly haunting, moving and beautiful experience.

3. Dishonored(Xbox 360)

Dishonored hit that “Deus Ex” nerve that rarely gets hit, and it hit it well. I felt like I accomplished things in ways that the devs never intended, and that feels great. One of the most satisfying endings and lore/worldbuilding I’ve seen in a while.

2. Max Payne 3(Xbox 360)

Gameplay. Style. Story. Music. Graphics. Best in class all around.

1. Far Cry 3(PC)

I would have never guessed that Far Cry 3 would be my Game of the Year. It sucked me in like a whirlwind and I couldn’t stop playing. While Ubisoft has expertly crafted some of the most unlikable characters around, they also managed to craft a game so fun and well made that I didn’t even mind.

Best of the Rest

Lumines: Electric Symphony - Best Puzzle/Music game ever.

Persona 4: Golden - Best JRPG ever?

Tiny & Big - Oozes charm, and has an amazing core mechanic.

Trials Evolution -  Infuriating and elating at the same time.

ZombiU - The brightest glimmer of hope on Nintendo’s new system. Intense, scary, difficult and fun; not to mention the best use of the Wii U Game Pad yet.

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MOVIES

10. The Master

A harrowing character study that can best be described as fascinating. Showstopping performances, beautiful cinematography and an overwhelmingly haunting soundtrack.

9. Wreck It Ralph

I was smiling ear-to-ear the entire time. A fun tribute to video games with a ton of laughs.

8. Cabin In The Woods

I had no idea what this movie was going in, and that made it all the better. Great genre piece with hysterical twists & turns and awesome gore & action.

7. Prometheus

Love it or hate it, but I loved it. While Scott didn’t craft the sci-fi masterpiece we were all expecting, being back in the Aliens-verse was very cool, and the visuals were incredible.

6. The Raid: Redemption

Have you ever seen one dude kill like 150 other dudes with his bare hands? No? This movie is for you.

5. The Avengers

Marvel/Disney absolutely nailed the comic-to-screen feel something like The Avengers needed. I remember talking to my Dad when I was a little kid if we’d ever see huge scale comic book movies. This is the exact movie my 8 year-old self was thinking about.

4. The Hobbit

I was so pleased to be back in Peter Jackson’s version of Middle Earth. I laughed throughout the entire thing. I, for one, love the “prequel to LOTR” approach he’s taken with The Hobbit.

3. Dredd 3D

My expectations could not have been blown away any further. This movie was a roller coaster from beginning to end. Great world-building  gorgeous visuals, supremely executed (wink) action, excellent music, tight direction and AWESOME 3D. It’s a shame this didn’t do better, because I want a sequel so, so badly.

2. The Dark Knight Rises

Bane. C’mon. BANE. Also, the last fifteen minutes was one of the most expertly executed endings to a series (or any movie) I’ve ever seen. Loved it.

1. Django Unchained

Tarantino edges up once again as my favorite director. I feel like he’s maturing and making better movies as he goes. I sat in the theatre awestruck at the elegance that this flick managed to exude. As gratuitous as Tarantino can be, there are subtleties and “master at work” moments in his films that just can’t be denied. Not to mention excellent performances all around. I got emotional at least two or three times during this one…and one of them was during one of the goriest shootouts I’ve ever seen, which I can safely say has never happened to me before. There was something so poetic and finely crafted about the shootout (and the film overall)… As visceral as it was, the composition and execution just left me speechless and overwhelmed.

Best of the Rest:

Skyfall - James Bond meets The Dark Knight meets Home Alone.

Looper - Great sci-fi.

Jeff Who Lives At Home - A poignant and emotional dramedy.

Prometheus iPhone wallpaper

Unlike a lot of folks, I’m in the camp of deeply enjoying Prometheus. I thought it was a gorgeous looking film and had beautiful art direction and cinematography. When I saw the newly revised Blu-ray artwork, I fell in love with the Engineer cover. I took it into Photoshop and removed the title for use as an iPhone wallpaper. Enjoy!

Download

DREDD

I recently saw (and loved) DREDD 3D, and inspired me to create some neat stuff I wanted to share. I designed Dredd’s mask in Photoshop and I’ve created a few wallpapers, an icon and an avatar template for everyone to download.

Here’s the stuff you can download individually:

Or you can download a zip file containing everything. Enjoy!

Saving The Sci-Fi

It’s no surprise to anyone that knows me how massive of a science fiction fan I am. From an early age, I’ve loved traveling to different worlds, be it by book, video game or film and television.

This has me excited to announce that I’m going to be helping with a very special sci-fi related project. Last week, a Kickstarter was brought to my attention called “Singularity & Co. - Save The Sci-Fi!”. The group of passionate sci-fi fans running the project were determined to preserve out of print science fiction novels any way they could, primarily by obtaining the copyrights and publishing them as ebooks. Not only is that an amazingly exciting thing for sci-fi fans, but it’s a pretty important and exciting historical venture. Preserving the past is important, especially when it involves our (fictional) future!

Immediately upon finding and backing this project, I sent them a message with an idea: Wouldn’t it be cool to feature unique interpretations and fresh renditions of each novel’s cover art? Some books might be missing covers, have badly damaged covers, or have covers that are protected under separate copyrights and impossible to reproduce. This seemed like a perfect opportunity for artists like myself to contribute original cover art designs to a wealth of retro sci-fi books. Luckily they were keen to the idea. After talking about it more in depth, I designed my first cover to show them. 

And that brings us to now. They were so impressed with my work that they asked me to assist with the art side of things for the entire project, whether it be designing new covers, or helping to find guests to contribute along with me. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Singularity & Co. to deliver creative and enjoyable supplementals inspired by these classic stories. The covers I design will be included in the eBook releases, and will probably include other downloads like wallpapers for various devices. The possibilities are endless, and I think we could see some really unique stuff come out of this.

If you’re interested in backing this project, there’s still time! Don’t get left in the space dust. Back the project now and you’ll be primed to receive tons of awesome sci-fi classics to read and some nifty art to look at too. (If you look below the post, you can see a special preview of an upcoming cover!)

Thanks for reading!

Mass Effect 3 - Retina iPad Wallpaper

After getting my new iPad, I immediately needed a cool wallpaper. I didn’t find much I was thrilled about online so I set out to make my own. I decided on making a Mass Effect 3 wallpaper since I’m playing it now and love the series.

Finding art in the right resolution wasn’t as tough as I thought, but finding the right art was. Essentially the original version of the art had a giant logo which I wanted to nix, and the other version cut off right on top of his head. I wanted to see the grand background art with Reapers flying down to Earth and the stars in the distance, so I set off combining the two pieces. I also had to recreate an additional portion of Earth, and more stars, Reaper trails, etc. 

Altogether, the wallpaper consists of four different sources all merged together into one, including some painted in colors. Click on the thumbnail above to see a larger version of the progress shot, and the link below to download the final wallpaper.

I think it turned out sweet, and it looks amazing on the iPad’s gorgeous new screen. Enjoy!

Download Full Sized Wallpaper

Gorgeous

Gorgeous

Garage Sale, Round 1.5 - MacBook Pro!

Hey there everyone! I’m selling my 17” MacBook Pro! It’s awesome and in perfect condition. There isn’t a single scratch or dent or even a speck of dirt. It’s like the damn thing is brand new. 

It has the latest version of OSX Lion installed (10.7.3) and has been freshly wiped and formatted for sale.

All the original packaging is included, along with the original charger and documentation. Also included is a custom fitted black sleeve by Radtech and a Clear Speck SeeThru protective case.

I’d love to sell it for $1,000 but I’ll listen to offers.

Garage Sale, Round 1 - Superhero Toys!

Round one of my virtual garage sale has begun! I’m not sure how many rounds there’s going to be, probably like 100. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I have some toys up today and I wanted to offer these here first before eBay or Craigslist.

If you see something you like, send me a note and we’ll work something out. These prices aren’t set in stone, feel free to make me an offer for anything you like, including multiple items, etc.

Without further ado:

Superhero Figures (Click an item to view a photo)

Marvel Legends Icons: Venom (12”) - $10
Marvel Legends Icons: Captain America (12”) - $10
Marvel Legends: Captain America (7”) - $6
Marvel Legends Universe: Planet Hulk - $5
Marvel Legends Universe: Red Hulk - $5
Marvel Legends Universe: Ultimate Thor - $5
Iron Man 2: War Machine (7”) - $6
Iron Man: Iron Man MKI and Iron Monger - $10
Diamond Select: Marvel Zombies Set w/ Display Stand - $35
Minimates Marvel Zombies Set - $20

Batman Begins: Deluxe Figure - $6
JLU Figure Set (Doomsday, Lex Luthor, Rocket Red, Ultra-Humanite) - (Darkseid) - (Accessories) - $20
DC Direct: Darkseid - $10
The Dark Knight Movie Masters: Joker - $6
Superman Returns: Ghost of Jor El - $5
Superman Red Son: Set of Superman, President Superman and Batman w/ Accessories - $30

Hellboy: Kriegaffe - $10