Rip Off Alert: Half Life Box Art

I found this Half Life box art today on Bit Mob linked from a site called VG Box Art.com, but funny thing is ... I've seen this before. My friend, Arcade Art made a couple of Half Life NES bead sets a while back and along with them she designed box art for the original NES.

This box art design is composed almost completely of her original sprites and even her original box art concept. And though the artist, Grand on VGBoxArt.com mentions he saw bead sprites for Half Life, he doesn't link to Arcade Art's original work and the way he phrases his description of the box, it sounds like he made everything.

Saw some Half-Life bead sprites, so I went ahead and made a sprite of Gordon Freeman & a headcrab. Made the 'black box' NES template from the ground up, and I created the screenshots myself.

I'm happy with the result and I'll definitely keep on doing these retro boxes.

Overall, most artists don't mind people using their original work but for God's sake, give them credit for it if you don't ask for permission. This guy is getting all the credit for Arcade's hard work on the picture design & sprites and that's not fair.

Epic 8-Bit Art: Half Life 2 - NES Style

Half-Life 2 - 8-bit Retroactive - NES style Magnets, originally uploaded by Arcade Art.

What if Half-Life 2 was created for the NES?

Arcade Artist has gone and answered that question with her NES style bead sprite magnets. The set includes four large magnets: Alyx Vance, Gordon Freeman with his faithful Gravity Gun (with glow in the dark action), the Black Mesa administrator turned Combine collaborator Doctor Breen, and everyone's favorite de-beaked headcrab: Lamarr.

You can currently buy these magnets on Arcade Artist's Etsy store.

Epic 8-Bit Art: My Little Gordon Freeman

My Little Gordon Freeman by ~customlpvalley on deviantARTStill amazes me that people are turning My Little Ponies into these incredible pieces of art. Makes me wish I hadn't sold all mine at garage sale a long time ago.

I always pack away the wrong things. Anyone wanna buy some Dungeons & Dragons cards?

If Freeman was a Chick ...

The One Free "wo"Man by ~daydreamjunkie on deviantART

Epic 8 bit Bead Art - Half Life on the NES

Half-Life Set - 8-bit Retroactive, originally uploaded by Arcade Art.

So what if the Half Life series had started on the original NES system instead of the PC? Well, Arcade Artist and Infinity Wave believe the game would have looked a little something like this.

This cool little art set is created with fused plastic beads and contains a Gordon Freeman, G-man and lab coat headcrab zombie bead sprite. It also comes with a collectible card featuring the "what could have been" NES box art for this Half Life game.

You can purchase this set at Arcade Artist's Etsy Store for $20 plus shipping or check out more of Arcade Artist's work on his flickr page.

Dr. House as Gordon Freeman?

I was checking out Phia's 1up blog when I came across a post about celebrity and videogame character look-a-likes. Though her comparisons were good, the best one came in the comments.

Review: The Orange Box

With the holiday season fast approaching it is now a great time for gamers. A flood of high quality releases is upon us for all game systems. With so many good titles out already and many biggies soon to be released, picking and choosing which ones that will be occupying your immediate free time can be a real challenge.

Luckily for me, one of those choices has been made simple with the recent release of The Orange Box by Valve which is hands down easily the best value in gaming out there for this year. The Orange Box contains five fantastic games all on one disc – Half Life 2 and its subsequent episodes one and two along with the puzzle game Portal and multiplayer title, Team Fortress 2.

Now I should preface that I’m not normally a huge fan of first person shooters, they often make me dizzy after an hour of playing but anything Half Life makes me wanna down a bottle of Gravol and stay up late with my Xbox 360. I played the original Half Life on my PC back in the day and loved it as well as the initial release of Half Life 2 on the original Xbox so I was familiar with the storyline surrounding the game’s main protagonist, the crowbar wielding scientist turn badass Gordon Freeman who is on a mission to save humanity from enslavement by an evil alien race.

While HL2 may have already made an original Xbox appearance this will be the first time the series is on the 360 and the first time episodes one and two are available to 360 players. HL2 holds up unbelievably well in the next generation. Valve did such a great job with the game’s graphics, sound and storyline that it matches or exceeds anything out there currently. Episodes one and two add brand new seamless content to the series and continue the player’s adventure onward past the cliffhanger ending of HL2.

Episode one features a lot more puzzles and challenges for you to overcome instead of just blasting your way through combine forces but don’t worry Episode two will keep you busy killing a host of new enemies as well as a very challenging driving mission and finale. Hours and hours of great gameplay here people and Valve has also thrown in some extra content that allows you to play the episodes through featuring commentary from the developers at many points in the game, an awesome idea.

The Orange Box also features the long awaited game Portal, a first person action puzzle game built on the Half Life engine. Set in the mysterious Aperture Science Laboratories, you’ll be required to navigate a series of challenging puzzles and rooms where you use a gun to create portals from which you use to navigate to different points and directions. This game is definitely a mind bender and will make you think but the whole experience is deep, unique and fun the whole way through.

Portal features only single player action however Valve hasn’t forgotten about multiplayer fans and has included a fantastic multiplayer game in The Orange Box, Team Fortress 2. TF2, is a class based multiplayer team shooter that provides you with a wide variety of combat classes with a large selection of tactical abilities and personalities. The game has a cartoon like visual style look to it based on the art of J. C. Leyendecker but don’t let that fool you into thinking this isn’t one of the most advanced and fun multiplayer shooters out there! While I admit that I’m not the greatest player at multiplayer mayhem, I do love the original visual presentation and humor in this game and find myself having a great time online.

With all these great games in one package, its no doubt The Orange Box will be a favorite among all types of gamers from the casual to the hardcore who are looking for something with a lot of replayability. The Orange Box is now available for PC and Xbox 360. The Playstation 3 version will be out on December 11.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Games I'm Playing

This week I've finished Cloning Clyde on XBLA, played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii, played The Orange Box - Team Fortress, Portal, Half Life 2 & Episode One and played The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

I love all these games. So many good ones to choose from. Good thing I'm off tomorrow. Time to play more than one. The Orange Box and Phantom Hourglass look good.

Gifts for Gamers #1

Looking for something to give to that Half-Life 2 fan on list?

Well, how about giving them their very own Head Crab from Half Life 2? The Valve store is now selling Half Life 2 Head Crab Plush Hats for only $29.95 US.

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How about a stuffed Head Crab for $24.95 US or Vortigaunt for $29.95 US? Nothing says I love you then giving your half-lifer a Headley of their very own.

Check out the whole Half Life line at The Valve Store.

Half-Life 2 set for 2007 Xbox 360 release

By James Orry - 30/05/2006 - 11:41am GMT

The Buzz: A listing of Half-Life 2 for the Xbox 360 on EBGames and Gamestop has fuelled speculation that the FPS is heading to the Xbox 360.

Half-Life 2 for the PC may have arrived towards the back end of 2004, with the game also appearing on Xbox in 2005, but that hasn't stopped talk of Valve's genre defining shooter making its way to the Xbox 360.

Well now it appears that there may be some more truth in the rumour, with the US retailers EBGames and Gamestop listing the game for release on Xbox 360 in February, 2007. Valve has responded to the listing, neither confirming of denying the game's existence.

"We've only announced development for 360," said a Valve rep. "No specific titles to reveal just yet, but folks can expect to hear more before the end of this year."

We'll keep you posted of any more information regarding the release of Half-Life 2 for the Xbox 360.

SOURCE: www.pro-g.co.uk