Saturday Star Control: Otus' glassy-eyed pilot

Erol Otus' aliens make another appearance in the Star Control I game manual--this piece is called "Fighter Pilot Considering its Options." The names on some of these pieces make me wonder if Otus delivered a number of untitled pieces and the dude laying out the book came up with the captions. 

Of course, the picture doesn't map to any of the alien races featured in the game, so that might be why "it" (not he or she!) has been relegated to a laserfire magnet in a nondescript starfighter. Either way, he's freaky cool lookin'!

Our lives are all poorer without "Star Wars 1313"

This one's a heartbreaker.

First-person shooter/RPG, Star Wars 1313 was one of the casulaties of the LucasArts acquisition by Disney. Though deep into development, it was axed and the dev team was let go.

It's a terrible tragedy on a number of levels. Besides the loss of employment for hundreds of staff, the game itself looks (looked?) incredible. The graphics and motion capture appear cinematic--and I say that without an ounce of hyperbole. This would have been a truly immersive action/adventure game with the story points flowing seamlessly into gameplay.

While the game won't be released, at least we have this video to see some of the more intriguing concepts that would have been introduced into the Star Wars universe.

Here's a rundown of elements that you still could use to inspire your Star Wars or sci-fi pen-and-paper RPG campaigns:

• Game takes place in the underworld of Coruscant (captial of the galaxy)--more than a thousand levels (1,313 to be exact!) below the surface of the metropolis-laiden planet. There's a quick line about how the environment is different below the surface (maybe needing a mask filter to breath?)
• Giant conduits allow for small-to-medium sized vessels to move between levels (think Cleopatra 2525!)
• The game was invisioned arounds bounty hunters, specifically Boba FettMid-air ship-to-ship battles! Zip line raids! 18th century pirate-style combat!
• Seems to be a "streetwar of mercenaries," I'd wager that deciding who to be alligned with and when to switch sides would be a big factor in successful mission completion

Here's some recovered imagery from the game's development:

Hover shafts lead to the subterranean city levels...

Denizens of the underbelly...

A bounty hunter's paradise...

• Video via The Nerdist
• Kotaku has more info on the erstwhile plans and cancellation
• Images from IGN, MakingStarWars.net, and others.
• Update: Gustavo Mendonca did some brilliant concept art for the game

TRAILER: Teaser for Chris Nolan's "Interstellar"

Well the bumpercrop of new movie previews should tell you that trailer season is in full bloom! Here's the teaser (which uses mostly historical footage) for the much-anticipated-around-these-parts Interstellar from director Chris Nolan. As a big fan of Inception and his interpretation of Batman, I'm really looking forward to this one. My guess is he's setting up the tone of the film with this first teaser.

Here's the official description:

In the future, governments and economies across the globe have collapsed, food is scarce, NASA is no more, and the 20th Century is to blame. A mysterious rip in spacetime opens and it’s up to whatever is left of NASA to explore and offer up hope for mankind. Mainly based on the scientific theories and script treatment of renowned theoretical physicist, Kip Thorne.

Looks like it's set to come out around Christmas of next year.

Via Laughing Squid

Interstellar official movie site

Saturday Star Control: Alien nursery by Erol Otus

Here's another Otus piece from the Star Control I game manual, "Mycon Growing New Crew."

TRAILER: Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise

In a previous existence "Edge of Tomorrow" was called "All You Need is Kill," and based on the novel of the same name. It's a fitting turn of events, since the story revolves around re-living the day of an alien invasion. But this time our Bill Murray in "Groundhog's Day" is Tom Cruise. And instead of a weather man, he's a power-suit wearing dude. Emily Blunt also stars.

So, can we just get him a helmet? Seriously dude, you keep running around like that and you're gonna get yer 'ead blown clean off!

Release date: June 6, 2014.