Awesome Videos

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is out in Japan; this runnin’ / flyin’ / jumpin’ opening cinematic is both gorgeous and torture for North American fans, who will have to wait until mid-year 2009.

The Kickass Christmas Tree award goes to The Klip Collective, whose TreeWaxHD video above is a groovalicious feast for the eyes and the ears; Saint Nick got moves!

Connecting the real and virtual worlds, Mightier is an indie game where players draw the solution to a puzzle on paper, draw the main character and scan both of them into the game.

R2-D2 has always been cool cute (unlike Ewoks, who were annoying cute); this chorus line by the R2-D2 Builders Club in California is a uber cool homage to our favorite droid.

We have a weakness for tower defense games, so it’s no surprise we’ve wasted countless hours on Viking Defense; there’s nothing like a horde of pillagers to get your heartrate up.

“What if Uwe Boll made Contra?” will send shivers down the spine of any old-school gamer, but the hilarious parody above is so spot-on we wish it was made into a full-length movie.

Designed by Reuben Margolin for Switzerland’s Technorama science center, Magic Wave is a 25 m^2 piece of kinetic art that demonstrates wavelength, amplitude and frequency.

Above: the digital artists at Realtime:UK have released a group of stunning cinematic sequences from Stormbirds, a near-future fighter combat game that was unfortunately canceled.

Fans of car chases should checkout this trailer for Wheelman; set in Barcelona with your car is your primary weapon, the racing game stars Vin Diesel and is due out 2/16/09.

From the creators of Star Wreck, Iron Sky (currently in pre-production) has a deliciously b-movie style plot: Space Nazis from the far side of the moon invade the Earth in the year 2018.

Fight Night Round 4’s trailer is an aspiring boxer’s dream, pitting Muhammad Ali against Mike Tyson; imaginary matchups aside, it’ll feature more realistic knockouts and fighting styles.

A less violent, more vertically oriented version of Bionic Commando, Frost Bite 2 uses a grappling hook that lets you catapult your way up walls and cliffs; it also doubles as a weapon.

Skate 2’s intro movie is a who’s who of pro skateboarders, with everyone from Rob Dyrdek and Big Black to Jerry Hsu; it’s pretty well directed, even with the quirky prison setting.

With a spaghetti western setup followed by trippy euro beats, Anders Backman’s video of the Gotland Ring in Sweden is pure automotive sex; Lambos and Porsches never looked so good.

As much as we love our iPods and MacBooks, this Mactini commercial had us in stitches; it’s a skit from the BBC’s Peter Serafinowicz Show and part of his Christmas special.

The University of Hertfordshire must be cloning brilliant digital artists, because Veni Vidi Vici not only has the looks but the humor meets heartwarming plot of a Pixar short.

Like GTA IV sans any pretenses of doing good, we hope Mafia II will be half as fun as the premier trailer above; it’s a nice 50s pastiche of car chases, gunfights and Little Richard.

Available 12/18 in Japan (Q1, USA), Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 may be the bastard child of two franchises, but hordes of enemies + mecha + tweaked AI = one sexy bastard.

It may not be a speed demon, but this six-legged Hexabot chair may be ideal for career couch potatoes; it was constructed by CMU student Rich Pantaleo for his final course project.

We’re skeptical about God of War 3’s “Everything must come to an end” tagline (profit equals endless sequels), but Kratos packin’ a pair of armored wolf gloves is pure awesome.

Filled to the brim with agitprop, Money is a starstudded collab (David Byrne, Chuck D, N.A.S.A.) that becomes particularly potent when mixed with the artwork of Shepard Fairey.

Fans of the 80s cult classic cartoon Heavy Metal, your time has come: Jack Black plays lead in Brutal Legend, an action/adventure game that mixes hard rock with Nordic fantasy.

Minotaur China Shop takes a bad career choice and turns it into an unusual physics-based game; it’s a bit like walking on pins and needles, but the Rage mode is strangely satisfying.