Geometry Wars as art
by Vladimir Cole 
{ Dec 24th 2006 at 5:55PM }
It's no secret that some of us at Joystiq love Xbox Live Arcade title Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved a whole bunch -- so much so in fact that we declared Geometry Wars the Xbox 360's best launch title. A year later, we're still finding the time to fire up the 360 for a quick run at Bizarre's masterpiece. It still holds it down.
And so I didn't hesitate to snap up Anastasia M. Wong's work titled "Geometry War," (shown above, click for a larger image), when I spotted it at a charity art auction held at the University of Pennsylvania earlier this month.
After I sent her a note thanking her for making the art, Anastasia responded, "I got some really great screen shots of the game. they are really beautiful and the more i look at them the more i see them in prints or drawings."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
qbix @ Dec 24th 2006 6:17PM
Very nice, but where on her site is this piece? On a related note, the most recent 360 kiosk discs let you play the Geo Wars demo and every time I fire it up people ask me what that game is. Of course, they don't start asking until after 100 or 200 thousand points :)
uberartist @ Dec 24th 2006 7:03PM
FYI, that is a print from an etching, you can tell because of the impression around the border. You carve into a metal plate (or acid etch it) and then cover it with thick ink, wipe off the excess (ink is trapped in the cavities) and you run it through a roller press on top of a piece of heavy, wet paper. Usually artists number prints but I don't see one here--maybe just a proof?
Anyway, nice find.
WillyFourEyes @ Dec 25th 2006 12:38PM
Imprint from etching or no, but that is definitely an awesome print. I wish to know where I could get something like that (or make something of my own).
hunterxaz @ Dec 24th 2006 9:02PM
You need to be more accountable when it comes to updating on Joystiq.
buba @ Dec 24th 2006 10:00PM
MEH! I'm under impressed, seems like something I would of done in 6th grade not university.
Anehii @ Dec 25th 2006 1:02AM
yah but #4 or buba, Did you actually come up with the talent and the imagination to comprise this sketch?
No.
In my opinion it's a very cool sketch and something that really shows the true artistic value of Geo Wars.
Matt @ Dec 25th 2006 4:23AM
#5, you mention talent and imagination as requisites to compose this work though clearly neither are required. The developers of the game supplied both. If this is art, then I'd better open my own gallery; I have tons of video game related doodles in my notebooks.
Alex @ Dec 25th 2006 1:25PM
I took a look at her portfolio, and I love her work. This print, however, isn't something that stands out. I'm sure she didn't want it to gather all this artificial spotlight in the first place.
It lacks a point of focus, contrast, and the print is overall amateurishly executed. Those ink bleeds at the edges shouldn't be there. This obviously isn't a piece, but rather a quick experiment.
Also, to those who said she carved the plater in metal, I'll wager she did it in Plexiglas, not that it has anything to do with the quality of the print.
Honestly, just because someone sketched a screenshot of a game with a needle on a plate of plastic doesn't mean it's the next Gioconda. I did better prints when I was 15 :)
- Alex