The idea of games as art has been a discussion point within the industry for a while now. We’ve had researchers claim that games are as valuable as books in terms of literary value, while Tale of Tales, developer of The Path, has outright stated that they believe that “games are not art”, and are “largely a waste of time”.

This last sentiment was expressed at the Art History Of Games conference last week. On the face of it, this is a remarkably bold statement for the developer of a number of games considered as close to literal translations of art. In fact, it seems to fly in the face of statements they have made in past interviews, where they claimed that The Path was created as a work of art. It would seem, then, that they’ve had a bit of a change of heart. So are games art? More importantly, what exactly do we mean by ‘art’?

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About six years ago, a massive project was undertaken by single ultra fan — to arrange the entire Ocarina of Time soundtrack into a giant orchestrated production. This Christmas, Santa dropped a big gift on our laps when it was announced that Zelda Reorchestrated was ready for Jesus’s birthday!

I would have posted this news up yesterday but it wouldn’t have made a difference. It seems that the poor guy’s site has been hammered into oblivion. I’ve provided the link above for whenever the page returns, but there are probably a few torrents of the 82-track behemoth floating about already.

From others’ impressions, it’s marvelous. I can’t wait to download it myself!

That’s right ladies, gentlemen and llamas of all ages, your chance to get your art in a game is here. Ruffian Games are on the lookout for some talented artistic chaps to get Pacific City all dirtied up with graffiti. Read on to find out more information, such as the slightly important “How to enter” part.

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[Make sure you check in every Saturday, as Gamer Limit will always have an interesting editorial for you to read. Feel free to also check out our full schedule right here!]

In an ideal Ayn Rand-ian world, the good guys are pretty, and the bad guys are ugly.  The internal beauty of virtue and wholesomeness manifests itself on a perfectly flawless external visage.

Conversely, the baddies have scarred, twisted features.  The rare smile of a villain is not a product of happiness but malice.  Games used to be this clear-cut.  Games used to be this black-and-white.

Now, however, game developers have the technology to make their characters actually look human, as opposed to being mere embodiments of ideals.  This helps gamers empathize with their increasingly realistic in-game avatars; but this shift away from a black-and-white game development ideology did not happen overnight.

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Back in December 2008, Gamasutra reported that Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios could be working on a new game staring the most famous mouse in the world, Mickey Mouse.  This top secret project, referred to as “Epic Mickey”, is supposedly a collaboration between the Austin-based game studio, Disney Features Animation, and Pixar.

While plenty of games starring the iconic mouse have been made in the past, this new one stands out from the crowd due to its rumored steampunk look and style.  Kotaku has apparently done some digging and discovered a large collection of concept art, which they believe to be from the game.  To check out this incredible looking art, and to find out more about this rumored game,  hit the jump.

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Photographer Greg De Stefano, has put together quite possibly the most awesomely twisted collection of Smash Bros’ Brawl cosplays. Check out my favorite ones below.

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Mario and Luigi are two of gaming’s biggest icons. Show a picture of Mario to anyone who doesn’t play games and you can safely guess that 7 out of 10 people will recognise him. Over at thedesigninspiration they have gathered a collection of the top 45 stylish Mario and Luigi pictures. Hit the jump for the highlights.

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Today I’d like to share with you a bit of artwork from a budding artist named Chris Sweeney. Sweeney goes by the online alias SuitcoatAvenger, and frequents the Destructoid.com community blogs. Personally, I’d refer to his art as “Samurai Jack on crack”, but he has some more professional, artsy sounding terms for us.

Sweeney himself describes his style as “an art deco mosh pit. It’s grounded on the basic foundations of the graphic arts that were popular throughout the 60’s, but lends itself to being much more random and free. Realism takes a back seat to conveying a basic idea, and the linework tends to find its way to where it needs to go largely on its own.”

Check out some of his samples below! Read more… »