GFX Generators – Sprites now have a “Direction” option. Default is the direction that the screenstyle wants the sprites to face (like a Vs Screen with P1 facing normally and P2 having a horizontally-flipped sprite).

Default is how the screen suggests the sprites should be pointed. Normal had the sprite facing its original direction and Reverse flips the sprite horizontally. Screen Opposite causes the sprite to face the opposite direction that Default would make it face.

The Minus World – The Bootleg Wrestlers feature just got a big update with a better design, added wrestler references and more. I was supposed to do this last year, but it got lost in the shuffle.

Tutorials – The article I made in 2008 about browsers’ forced anti-aliasing turning sprites into pixel diarrhea has been rewritten and moved to the tutorial section. You can find it right here. I also replaced the game sprites with my own pixel art so the page can stay up after any of those IP bills become law.

A new site has been added to the Quick Links on the side navigation: NXISTENCE.NET. Anyone who wants to read articles about gaming but don’t want the annoying schmucky smarm or baseline idjitry of commons sites need to check them out. The site is run by good people, so go give that place some love!

Custom Graphics: 2001-2011

Custom Graphics: 2001-2011

I don’t know what the future of this site will be if SOPA, Protect IP or any other misguided bill of that sort passes, so I figured I’d bundle everything up into a .ZIP and let you save a copy of those pixels. Anyone who downloaded this from the PCS board doesn’t have the NameGFX I just added with the regular and customized in-game nametags from X-Men, SFA3 and Vampire Savior.

ScrollBoss is on semi-pause until SOPA and ProtectIP pass or fail their trials of becoming bills. ScrollBoss will close temporarily if either bill passes and Illmosis will be purged of its fan art. Even if the bills fail, I’m not sure if I want to make or even show old fan work of companies that allowed their name to be on the official SOPA support list (a link to the current PDF can be found on this page). Trust me, ScrollBoss will live on one way or another. Thanks for visiting and have a great 2012!

edit: I forgot to post a link to this. Just a lil’ something I’ve been working on for a while.

PlayStation Store Update

You may know that Sonic CD hits this week, but there’s a big sale going on. Elevator Action Returns players can pick up a free new character:

PSN Games

Trine 2 ($14.99)
Sonic CD ($4.99)
note: there are demos for both games.

DLC

Elevator Action HD – Additional Character 3 – Original (free)
note: Yes, it’s a 3-D version of the original sprite. I’ll be downloading it after I finish this post.

UPDATES
(PS3)
Bionic Commando: Rearmed (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $14.99)
Final Fight/Double Impact (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
(note: Final Fight/DI and BCR2 have that DRM that requires an internet connection even in one player mode)
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Wolf Of The Battlefield: Commando 3 (Sale) (now $2.99, original price $4.99)
Earthworm Jim HD (Sale) (now $2.99, original price $9.99)
Bomberman Ultra (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Trine (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode I (Sale) (now $6.99, original price $9.99)

(PSP)
Activision Hits Remixed (Sale) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Capcom Classics Collection Remixed Umd Legacy (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Darkstalkers: Chaos Towers Umd Legacy (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Umd Legacy (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Power Stone Collection Legacy (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max Legacy (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $5.99)
Ultimate Ghosts N Goblins Umd Legacy (Sale) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)

PSP minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

P.O.W. – Prisoners Of War ($2.99)
note: This is one of the better post-Double Dragon/pre-Final Fight beat-em-ups, IMHO.

Do you enjoy fan art, game graphics, screenshots, game mods, sprite edits, tribute videos, game walkthroughs and anything of that nature? If so, time may be running out for you to do so. There are two bills currently being discussed in the US House Judiciary Committee that claim to be about fighting internet piracy, but many experts say that companies would gain the power to block US citizens from visiting sites they claim to be offenders of copyright law.

Who are these companies? You can find a list of them on the page called, “Who Wants To Break The Internet?” Viacom, one of the companies in the list, tried to sue YouTube for allowing videos from Viacom’s channels (like MTV) to be placed on the site, even though Viacom possibly uploaded some of those videos themselves. Yeah, Viacom lost. Universal, also on the list, had a celebrity endorsement-laced MegaUpload support video yanked off YouTube for featuring an unauthorized artist… who isn’t even in the video. A news show talked about that video, so Universal had the news show’s video yanked, too. Hell, these music companies have ordered the removal of videos posted by their own artists (and not just in the U.S.). For those who haven’t been irritated enough, here’s a story about how media companies somehow have the power to kill off public domain videos.

How would the U.S. government handle things? ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security) shut down five websites on the claim that they were counterfeits and bootleggers. As reported by TechDirt and the New York Times, one site was Dajaz.com, a site that provided downloads to songs purposefully leaked by the record companies for promotional purposes.

The abuse I’ve mentioned is what they can do without SOPA or Protect IP, so imagine what they’ll get away with if this bill passes. They already have the Chappellian “Shoot first, sprinkle crack on the corpse later” method down to a science when it comes to using the DMCA and site-specific kill switches. The fact that I’ll have to shut down this site if the bill passes isn’t the main reason I’m bothered by this. Many of us have turned to the internet because we don’t like what most media companies are pushing in our direction. Creative people and independent reporters are using it to avoid dealing with the same shady companies that have been spending money to push these bills and own the news channels which won’t tell you the same stories I’ve linked to here. Piracy may be hurting them, but their biggest problem is how the internet is giving us options. No, it’s not a c-o-n-spiracy as much as it’s the kind of typical corporate dick-move you’ll see happen when groups think a form of technology, like VCR’s, will threaten their money flow. They’re paying a lot of money to screw up the internet in the hopes that you’ll run into their open, greedy arms after they close off every other option you have now.

More about the topic:
Mozilla: Protect the Internet
BoingBoing: stories about SOPA
GameRanx – How SOPA Affects Gamers: SOPA Will Pass Unless You Help
Kotaku – The Stop Online Piracy Act and You: A Primer
Next Web Insider: 29 Tech Companies who back SOPA through a front group

There was an update earlier this week with the Baroness sprite pack, a Passion Tanaka sprite and other additions to the Image Generators. I just added Endless Duck to the generators and updated the Variable/Create-a-scene options with five more backgrounds: Bison, Chun-Li and Dhalsim from Street Fighter Alpha 2 along with Final Fight’s Steel Cage and Sodom’s fighting ring.

Character Updates:
SNK – Duck King and Eiji Kisaragi added. Kim Kaphwan gets some KoF 2000 sprites added.
Toys ‘n Toons – Baroness (separate from Cobra character, new sprites & SFA 3 items. Storm Shadow gets a new SFA3 Vs. Name Graphic.
Illmosis – Passion Tanaka (with mini-logo) added.

Custom Sprites: Passion Tanaka was added to the PrimeOp gallery page and more Baroness sprites were added to the G.I.JOE page. Speaking of Baroness sprites…

Custom Sprite Downloads – I added the VERY incomplete Baroness sprite set from the long-dead project. I also added some of the sprites from this project to the G.I.JOE Custom Sprite Page and now has her own character slot in the GFX image Generators.

There will be another small update soon to make up for having to rush this one out.

BTW: Elevator Action Deluxe fans, don’t forget that the free DLC Time Gal character is now available along with Sayo-Chan and an extra level.

Graphic Generators
New Characters: Rocket Raccoon for Marvel. Charlotte, Galford, Hattori Hanzo, Jubei Yagyu, Kyoshiro, Shiki, Ukyo Tachibana for SNK. Donovan for Capcom. The Ox for Data East.
Updated characters: Strider Hiryu (added sprites including a pose in his original outfit + new UMvsC3 palettes)
Style updates: GroupShot 160×192 box (classic European Mega Drive box added), backgrounds added to the 384×244 pixel variable styles for the GroupShot and VsMaker screens

Mini-Logos – Strider (Genesis & EU Mega Drive cover) added to Capcom. Burning Fight and King of Fighters 98 added to SNK.

Custom Sprites – Rocket Raccoon was added to the Marvel page

Game Index – Alien vs. Predator (arcade), Rival Turf (SNES) added.

Sega is having a big sale on multiple classic (or classic-based) titles on PSN and X-Box Live. PSN has Golden Axe, SoR2 and Comix Zone on sale for $2.99 until November 29 while Live has SoR 2 and Phantasy Star 2 on sale for 200 MS points each from November 22 to November 28. There are other deals going on so check out their news post for details.

Shadi has updated his Arcade Quartermaster site with a lot of new game shrines for various Neo-Geo titles, CPSIII games and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. As always, Shadi comes up with inventive ways to use game graphics to make interesting shrines, so give his site a visit to see what he’s come up with this time!

Kiwi has written an article that I’m sure quite a few fans of older games will agree with. Check it out on his 2D Will Never Die site and prepare for a possible flashback when you get to the second paragraph.

BTW: I added a sprite of Nutroll, one of my own characters, to Illmosis earlier this week.

edit: Nutroll, with his new sprite and mini-logo, are now in the Graphic Generators.

… and this incredible MUGEN stage for the classic Tower of Omens from ThunderCats…

… finally has his own pixel art website with a very appropriate title.

You’ll find some beautiful pixel art, tutorials, tips, links and some excellent articles about 2-D gaming. Those who are as inspired by Kiwi’s work as I am (hint: A LOT) should bookmark the new site and follow the site’s account on Tumblr to see pixel art from Kiwi along with many cool pixel art reposts. Those of us who know Kiwi have been hoping that he’d make a site like this for a long, long time and we knew he wouldn’t disappoint. He did a great job and I can’t wait to see what else he has planned for this site after an amazing start like this.

GFX Generators – The main engine for this was upgraded a lot since the last update. The picture style options have been upgraded so much that a lot of separate picture styles that were almost the same (like the various 160×196 box/art/poster tributes)are now in one choice slot on the first menu. The engine is getting close to what I’d call version 1.00 but I still have many small things to iron out. Let’s get to the content.

New chars: Andy Bogard, Billy Kane, Blue Mary, Duke Edwards, Fio, Genjuro, Marco, “(more) Metal Slug characters,” Leona, Maxima, Rocky, Robert Garcia, Sie Kensou for SNK. Anakaris, Baby Bonnie Hood/Bulleta, Firebrand, Huitzel/Phobos, Lilith, Rikuo/Aulbath, Q-Bee, Sasquatch, Victor for Capcom. Metroid for Nintendo. Elevator Action spy for Taito. Riki, Sabu (Super Dodge Ball sprites) and Nekketsu/Kunio-Kun enemies (Shinji, Kenji and Misuzi in one character slot) for Technos. Black Lightning for DC Comics.
Updated chars: Andore/Hugo (added 2 sprites), Aquaman (new sprite), Iron Man (new MvsC3 armor edit), Kunio-Kun (SDG Neo Geo graphics added), Morrigan (MvsC taunt & Nurse edit), Phoenix (Classic Phoenix costume sprite), Robin (classic Dick Grayson sprite)

KoF/SvC sprites & sprite edits were added to:
Athena, Clark, Joe Higashi, King, Geese Howard, Haohmaru, Mai, Nakoruru, Ralf, Ryo, Terry Bogard for SNK, Andore, Balrog, Dan, Demitri, Chun-Li, Guile, Ken, M.Bison, Poison, Ryu, Sagat, Vega and Zero for Capcom. Billy & Jimmy Lee for Technos.
Samurai Showdown 5 sprites added to:
Haohmaru, Nakoruru

GroupShot styles merged: Boxes, Flyer & Posters 160×192 (merged version of the Capcom, Genesis, SNK and Konami boxes, Playstation 2 added), Create-a-Scene 384×224 (many scene boxes merged + new scenes), Justice League Task Force (bigger screen with Superman, Batman, WW, Aquaman & Darkseid sub-choices)
Vs.Maker styles updated: Create-a-Scene (384×224 pixels) (new background system)

Custom Sprites

Capcom: Firebrand (scratch-made hovering sprite)
Nintendo: Metroid (new scratch-made sprite)
Sega: Blaze Fielding (new sprite)
Taito: Elevator Action Spy (two scratch-made sprites)
Technos: improved KoF-style edits of Billy and Jimmy Lee
DC Comics: Scratch-made sprites of Black Lightning (90′s) and Robin (classic) and a new edit of Aquaman.
Marvel Comics: Iron Man (MvsC 3 armor), Phoenix (Classic)
PrimeOp: A new gallery with most of the scratch-made sprites I’ve created that aren’t completely embarrassing.

The site will update now semi-regularly but updates will be a bit light for a while. I have commission work to finish and another website to “start” **looks shifty** but I’ll have enough updates to keep you from thinking that this place is dead. You wouldn’t believe all of the things I didn’t get finished for this update.

Elevator Action Deluxe will be adding four DLC characters FOR FREE starting this week. First up? SAYO-CHAN from Kiki Kaikai/Pocky & Rocky! Hit up the official site to see who else will be joining in on the fun.

Anyone who likes to use create-a-character formulas to bring their favorite characters into other games should visit GameLabor, a new website with formulas for Mortal Kombat Armageddon, Soul Calibur III & Soul Calibur IV. There’s even a YouTube channel so you can see the creations in action.

Mini-Logos
Capcom: Forgotten Worlds
DC Comics: Black Lightning
Jaleco: Hachoo, Rushing Beat
Marvel Comics: Rocket Raccoon
Nintendo: Link (Zelda II style)
Square Enix: Moon Diver
SNK: Metal Slug, P.O.W., Psycho Soldier, Robo Army
Taito: Elevator Action, Elevator Action Deluxe, Kunoichi (Ninja Warriors & Ninja Warriors Again)
Technos: River City Ransom

Thursday’s update: Custom sprites (including two monster/horror themed sprites) and the GIANT GFX Generator update. Be ready!