The Download Munkey : Download This, Download That :)

Wallpaper from the anime Afro Samurai starring Samuel L. Jackson as the voice talent for the main character of the same name. 30 wallpapers in total with my favourite 8 below.

© Funimation / Gonzo

It seems rather concidental that Afro Samurai’s nemesis Justice (top) looks rather similiar to Hellsing’s vampiric Alucard (bottom) - the same aquiline nose, bulging eyes, pointed chin and a set of extremely white (and clenched) teeth.

© Gonzo

Image from baike.baidu.com.

Found Afro Samurai by chance while googling for “Afro” after listening to an absolutely catchy remix or bootleg of the 1978 number one disco single Boogie Oogie Oogie in one of DJ Bone’s brilliant mixes (Attack #30 - around 56 mins to be exact). Here’s a 30 second sample of the remixed version, please drop a comment if you know the exact remix. The closest I got was this white label by A Taste o Money but it’s only remotely similar.

Download Afro Samurai wallpapers (Look under Fanfare).

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Samurai Shodown V UFS Wallpapers
Samurai Wallpapers from Age of Empires III : The Asian Dynasties
Sengoku Basara Wallpapers
The Story of Hero Yoshitsune Shura Desktop Wallpaper
Official SNK Samurai Shodown Wallpapers
Official Tenjho Tenge Anime Wallpapers
Quality Anime Wallpapers @ Madman Entertainment

A wallpaper of the command squad of the Ultramarines 4th Company from the Sony PSP/Nintendo DS Warhammer 40,000 tactical game Squad Command developed by Finnish developers RedLynx.

The heavily adorned armour of the central Space Marine probably indicates that he’s a Space Marine Commander - could he be the legendary captain of the 4th company Uriel Ventris?

Anyway I believe that the shoulder trim for the 4th company should be green instead of gold. Then again, who really cares when these Space Marines look so cool?

© THQ / Games Workshop

I’m still trying to identify the artist who did this amazingly detailed piece - might be Alex Boyd or Karl Kopinski but I’m might be wrong

Tried running the PSP demo for this game on some of the WIP PSP emulators PSP Player, PSPE and Potemkin but couldn’t get it working guess I have to add a PSP to my Christmas wishlist this year

© THQ / Games Workshop

The third wallpaper shows a derelict fortress wall (top) which is strangely similiar to the besieged fortress (bottom) on the cover of Horus Rising illlustrated by Neil Roberts. Pure concidence?

© THQ / Games Workshop

Download the wallpapers, check out the concept art (above) and view the official trailer @ YouTube.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator - Kevin Chin (King Mong)
BrikWars - War with Mini-Figs!
Chaos Space Marines Wallpapers + Japanese Codex Download
Games Day Chicago 2007 Golden Demon
Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator - John Gravato
Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator - Andrea Uderzo
Warhammer 40,000 Vehicles in Lego

I derived a simple equation while cleaning the desktop wallpapers archive on my harddisk recently. Coding too much makes you nuts at times

Girls & Mecha == Cool
Girls + Mecha ≠ Cool

Therefore Girls & Mecha ≠ Girls + Mecha.

To prove that Girls & Mecha = Cool, let Girls & Mecha = Demonbane.

© Nitroplus

Or maybe Girls & Mecha = RF Online instead.

© Codemasters

Now to prove that Girls + Mecha ≠ Cool, let Girls + Mecha = Busou Shinki.

© Konami

MMS Type Mermaid ‘Ianiera’ (above) and MMS Type Angel ‘Arnval’.(bottom) I find this fusion of girls and mecha quite disturbing at times - especially when they look more like human girls grafted to biomechanical limbs (ouch!) rather than girls simply wearing powered armour.

© Konami

Download the wallpapers for Demonbane (more at gpara.com and here), RF Online (more here) and Busou Shinki.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Keith Thompson - Mecha Illustrator
Mecha Image of The Day (miotd.com)
The Pepper Project : Girls & Mecha = Cool!
Classic Transformers Ladybird Books Online
WWII Mecha in Code Guardian
MechCommander 2 Encyclopedia
Gundam Papercraft Downloads
Gundam Musou / Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Game Intro Video Download

A beautiful orchestral theme from the Xbox 360 RPG Blue Dragon composed by Nobuo Uematsu who also scored the music for the Final Fantasy series.

© Microsoft Game Studios

If the character design of the boy Shu bears more than a passing resemblance to Dragonball Z’s Gohan, it’s because both characters were essentially conceived by the same artist Akira Toriyama.

My favourite character, Zola (below right), the girl wearing the black bandana with the Jolly Roger, reminds me of the violent alternative personality of Lunch/Ranchi in Dragonball Z.

© Microsoft Game Studios

Two wallpapers featuring Zola and the rest of the characters from the fansite kit.

© Microsoft Game Studios

The contents of the entire fansite kit are follows:
4 MP3s
9 Avatar Images in multiple resolutions
3 Banner Images
2 High Resolution Boxart Images
0 Concept Art Images (Really wondering WTH the concept art folder is for )
4 Logo Images (Blue Dragon, Artoon (Developers), Mistwalker Studios (Producers), Microsoft Game Studios (Publishers))
18 Screenshots
12 Wallpapers (800×600, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1600×1200 resolutions)
17 Assorted Images for building a Blue Dragon fansite.

Look in the Approved Music folder for the 4 MP3s - I heartily recommend the magical 04_piacon.mp3. The first track 01_open1.mp3 is essentially a shortened edit of the same track.

Download the 63 MB fansite kit via Xbox.com. (direct link)

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY
Dragonrain Productions Wallpapers
Warren Louw @GfxArtist.com
Anime Wallpapers @ Madman.com.au
Official Tenjho Tenge Anime Wallpapers
Ibara (鋳薔薇) Desktop Wallpaper

Some delightfully adorable Japanese festivities-themed wallpapers from the drumming game series Taiko no Tatsujin from Namco. I initially thought the pictures were random illustrations of traditional Japanese cultural icons until I read Danny Choo’s post about Hanami on Monday - apparently the pink flowers on the April 2008 calendar wallpaper symbolize the annual custom of admiring the cherry blossoms (sakura) that bloom from late March to early April - who says you don’t learn anything useful while collecting art or wallpapers (or reading blogs for that matter )

© Namco

Below are all the calendar wallpapers starting from the first one issued in Aug 2007. I’ll try to identify the festival or holiday represented in each with assistance from Wikipedia.

© Namco

Aug 2007 - Wasshoi Hyakuman Matsuri perhaps?

© Namco

Sep 2007 - Start of Autumn?

© Namco

Oct 2007 - Health and Sports Day - Yes, it’s a public holiday - I think it’s a great idea to implement something similiar in Singapore

© Namco

Nov 2007 - Culture Day?

© Namco

Dec 2007 - Christmas!

© Namco

Jan 2008 - Eating sticky mochi during Japanese New Year.

© Namco

Feb 2008 - End of winter? Or maybe the Sapporo Snow Festival?

© Namco

Mar 2008 - Japanese Doll Festival / Girls’ Day known as Hinamatsuri.

Hopefully, we’ll get to see the paper carp steamers that characterize Kodomo no Hi or Children’s Day for May’s wallpaper.

Below are the direct links for the Aug 2007 to Oct 2007 wallpapers since the links have been taken off the site.

Aug 2007
800×600
1024×768
1280×1024

Sep 2007
800×600
1024×768
1280×1024

Oct 2007
800×600
1024×768
1280×1024

Download the other wallpapers via the official Taiko no Tatsujin site.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Be Your Own One Man Band!
Domo-kun Wallpapers & Clock Widgets
Spiky Babies Deluxe Series - Cute Paper Toys
Drawn To Be Alive Wallpapers
CuteDeadThings Wallpapers