Take a look at many of the board games, miniatures, war movies (?), sculptures, video games, discount/outdated/unpopular collectible card games (a box of Highlander CCG for $11, hell, yeah!), and more fun items at the Origins Game Fair stores.



BlipTV: http://thescarletspider.blip.tv/#1378356

YouTube: http://www.insidethebox.com

This is Justin Brunetto and Curt Covert from Smirk & Dagger describing their game Cutthroat Caverns, an excellent collaboration/backstabbing/fighting monsters game.




BlipTV: http://thescarletspider.blip.tv/#1378356

YouTube: http://www.insidethebox.com

Here is Dead Space's Isaac Clarke, recreated for your amusement in paper craft form. Download Isaac's PDF here

Daniel Cottle, an aspiring comicer attending Hampshire College, was handing out copies of his book the invisible college (1) at SPX this year. The book, which features 3 of Dan's stories, is a large format, 12 page, black and white comic.

Dan's first story (pictured above) is a single page gag piece. It's cute, it's short, and it has almost nothing in common with his other pieces narratively or stylistically. That isn't a bad thing, but I did end up assuming the the invisible college (1) was going to be more experimental, and slid it deeper in my review pile than I otherwise would have.

Dan's second story Grettir's Saga is a norse flavor tail of a dying man, his doting younger brother, and a cringing slave who appear trapped on a small island. Dan's characters are rendered fairly simply and over all the panels could improve with a greater attention to positive and negative space relationships.

That said, Grettir's Saga hits its mood dead on. The bleakness of the island in particular, is expressed through a well paced sequence of panels which slowly zoom away from the figure, slowly losing detail as they grow in scope. The first 4 panels of the zoom are each 1/8 the page size and the final 2 panels, which contain the vast expanse of the landscape, are each panoramic 1/4 page size.

Toss in several nicely hatched and toned panels, and Grettir's Saga definitely stands as Dan's best piece.

Dan's third and final story is titled the harrassing of kilt guy endevours to remind us that Dan is still a student, or at least was at the time that he drew it. The story is somewhat unclear, many panels feel like 'cheats' to avoid actually drawing content, and in the 3rd panel, which introduces us to the titular kilt guy, Dan's made amusing rendering error that places kilt guy both in front and behind the same two students. (kilt guy's arms and torso over lap the other boys, which puts them behind him, but his feat are higher in the picture frame, which makes him behind them)

Over all, Dan's work is decisive and cleanly laid out. He's still got a lot to learn, but definitely well worth checking out.

You can download a high quality creative commons copy of Dan's work here: conventioneers.wordpress.com/dan/comics

The Playstation antigrav-combat racing series Wipeout hits the current generation with Wipeout HD. This is the series' return to consoles after two games on the PSP, where it was known for stunning visuals, and steep difficulty. So can this classic from the PS1 era live up to the PS3?

Yes, it is a Wipeout game through and through. Beautiful graphics, insanely fast racing, intense combat all topped off with a difficulty curve that, even on novice, can make a series vet grit his teeth. Though the game was delayed, the added content makes up for it, especially on-box competitive racing; although, it's more then a little busy when a 13 inch screen is split horizontally or vertically.

That all being said, there isn't much new here. Like GranTurismo HD, this is not the next installment of the series, but more of a trial run on the current gen console. A solid package with more then 20 dollars worth of content, but nothing is ground breaking. Veterans will be satisfied till a true Wipeout 4 is out, and new players will be able to experience the thrills without feeling totally lost: thanks to an extremely generous pilot assist.

Having not played the PSP titles I cannot comment if HD is a port of Pulse and Pure, or if it stands alone as a separate product.

Wolfgang score: solid B

Like most conventions, a number of free items were available at SPX. While the majority were post card style advertisements for the various artists or companies that support the industry, a reasonable number of comics were free to grab too. The most bewildering of these was the Lost Ones, a comic presented by Microsoft's Zune.

The Lost Ones is a 48 full color comic that features work by 4 artists (Morning Breath, Dr Revolt, Gary Panter, and Kime Buzzelli) and writer Steve Niles. The book was available in 4 variant covers (one for each artist) and focuses on a group of 4 characters, and the importance of sharing.

The artwork is all over the map, but stays somehow consistent, due to an overall experimental feel. The cover shown above is by Gary Panter, while the image next to it is by Morning Breath.

I don't really know what to make of the book. On one hand, its nice to see a corporation like Microsoft sponsoring a high quality production for indie artists. On the other, that sponsorship cheapens the work and, due to the way it is presented, fails to really advertise the Zune or Microsoft in the process.

It will be interesting to see if more corporate books like this appear next year.

p.s. I ended up with a few of these. If you want one, drop me a line in the comments

Here is the next interview in the series: Geoff Battone of Slugfest Games.

BlipTV (best quality): http://blip.tv/file/1348276/
YouTube (good quality) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW6wA9_ko9E

Revver is dead. No future videos will be uploaded to Revver. From now on, please check YouTube & BlipTV for future episodes as well.

Joe Flood is a semi-mainstream comic artist, who self publishes and appears in art books like PopGun.

Knee Deep Showcase volume 1 is a 22 page full color comic, which features a gun toting man-duck, frankenstein, and a hip-wader clad young girl as they hunt crocodiles across a two partial stories. From the character designs, to how the artist composes his scenes and draws his action sequences, Knee Deep's artwork is great.

In a way, Knee Deep reminds me of French graphic novels. Perhaps itss his character design. Perhaps it's that his toning is simple and his colors are under control. (unlike post 1990's US comic styles)

My only criticisms of the book are it's low production values, which make some of the colors muddy, and that its two stories are short and clearly unresolved. To be fair, selling the book for $4 and keeping production cost low is probably the right decision.

Check out Joe's website here: http://www.kneedeeppress.com