Using Team Fortress 2 to promote a job listing

A company looking to hire recruiters decided that many potential hires played Team Fortress 2. They paid prominent players to become "ambassadors" and the players changed their names to the company's job listing url, where I found this swell widescreen wallpaper:



They also created a poster/advertisement for players to post throughout the game world. There's no mention of whether Valve objected. Via.

*Previously: Team Fortress 2 paper toys.

The space shuttle docked at the International Space Station

The space shuttle docked at the International Space Station. Via.

Star Wars: The Old Republic wallpapers

I meant to post this last night, but Blogger's image uploader wasn't working - - I cropped some wallpaper-sized stills featuring Darth Malgus and his master from The Old Republic's cinematic opening.

*Buy KOTOR toys at eBay.

Gotham City Impostors gameplay video

Gotham City Impostors gameplay video. I cropped a few widescreen wallpaper-sized stills:

Puzzle Agent 2 trailer

Puzzle Agent 2 trailer. Preorder the game for $8.99 and get Puzzle Agent 1 (usually $5) free.

I cropped two widescreen wallpaper-sized stills:

Spider-Man: Edge of Time wallpaper and trailer (plus two game reviews)

Here's the trailer for Spider-Man: Edge of Time. I cropped a widescreen wallpaper featuring Anti-Venom:



Which all gives me a good reason to finally mention how much I liked the DS version of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. I picked up Shattered Dimensions ($20 at Amazon) and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (also $20) for my boys. But after they asked me for help with the Spidey game, I fell in love with it and claimed it for my own. The game is a lot like Metroid starring Spider-Man. He controls so well and has so many moves that for quite awhile I simply enjoyed swinging and crawling on walls. I highly, highly recommend it. (You can watch a full playthrough here.) I can't think of any game I've actually enjoyed replaying this much. My 4 and 6 year olds have also come to love it as long as I help them past the two or three tricky parts.

What's strange is that it and the Ben 10 game were both made by Griptonite. And Ben 10 was abysmal in every way - - the characters control terribly, it's difficult to see where to go next, the next platform is always off camera so jumps are blind and often fatal, save zones are too far apart, and cut scenes are long, boring and unskippable.

Catwoman stars in the new Batman: Arkham City trailer

Catwoman (and her assets) stars in the new Batman: Arkham City trailer. Also, I cropped a widescreen wallpaper showing off Arkham Batman:



I'm guessing the trailer's by Blur Studio. Courtesy of, here's a wallpaper-sized still from the first Arkham City trailer:



And since I'm talking about Batman, check out this outstanding Joker illustration by Jock (apparently to be a Detective Comics cover):



Via.

*Buy Arkham Asylum toys at eBay.

Meet the Golden Mole

Wallpaper available at National Geographic (just scroll through the June offerings):

A survival strategy of the golden mole in Sperrgebiet National Park is to "swim" just below the surface of the sand. Despite its seeming barrenness, this coastal region is a biodiversity hot spot, home to reptiles, antelope, Cape fur seals, rare brown hyenas—and some 800 plant species, 234 of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

The video below shows off lots of strange desert creatures, including the golden mole at 2:44:

Illustration roundup

Batman wallpaper available in high-res here.




Oh, Betty!




Seriously, if this was just fan art by some random artist, would anyone have reposted it today? I mean, it's almost as ridiculous as getting excited over the news that George Lucas has written 50 hours of scripts of a Star Wars series.





Kate Beaton mocks a mermaid cover. (Speaking of, Hark! A Vagrant! can now be preordered for 37% off Amazon.)

New Alice: Madness Returns gameplay footage and wallpapers

This Alice: Madness Returns video really shows off how platforming-centric the game will be. (Hopefully those elements will be a lot more fun and forgiving than the first game.) I cropped some widescreen wallpaper-sized stills:






*Buy American McGee's Alice toys at eBay.

Image roundup

Bridge at night.




Four elements.




300.




The Skylon, Britain's new spaceplane.




From a gallery of worst Power Point slides. (Or maybe best?) Via these sites.




Puppy cuddles with his new chew toy.

Link roundup

1. How to use Amazon to self-publish.

2. FYI, it's free shipping plus 30% off everything at American Eagle this weekend.

3. Creepy tree wallpaper.

Illustration roundup

Rube Goldberg machine wallpaper by Roxanne Daner.





Captain America's great love - - Agent 13.




One of Dustin Harbin's $30 commissions.




Cool black and white art by Paul Neary in the comic story The Time Eater.




Tardis t-shirt by Rosemary Travale up for vote at Threadless. She created a wallpaper, too.

*Buy bullfight posters at eBay.

Jellyfish wallpapers

Gorgeous blue jellyfish wallpapers available for download.

Image roundup

Monster dog.




Finally, the Black Eyed Peas' secret origin revealed.




Ghost mountain. Via.





World War I-era ship's camouflage. Via.




Widescreen wallpaper-sized still I cropped from one of the new Star Tours videos.




Chicago, surrounded by fog.




Abandoned mill in Sorrento, Italy.