Ahead of this year’s E3, the Into The Pixel judges have announced the 16 winners of this year’s competition. Chosen by a range of academics, artists and industry members with the support of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Scientists and Entertainment Software Association, the selected images come from a wide range of games across all the major systems and are, one and all, beautiful.

The competition each year is open to all artists to submit concept art from games which are released in the current year or will soon be, so Into the Pixel covers current games such like Mass Effect 3 and Journey, but also the upcoming Dishonored and Assassin’s Creed 3.

The chosen artwork also varies in what element of the game they attempt to capture. Dishonored’s street level landscape gives a (first-person) feel for the pomp and grime of its city, sinking you into the intended atmosphere of a region. Similarly, Wild East’s ‘Gunsmith’ places the viewer in a single room – a firearms workshop. DOTA2’s ‘Shopkeeper’ and Mass Effect 3’s ‘Aria’ capture a single character, showing you that one NPC in their element and in detail. Even though Diablo 3’s ‘Leah Close-Up’ is entirely taken up by one character, it plunges the observer into a moment of disbelieving horror.

In short, the winning artwork, taken as a whole, seems to describe as great a range of impressions as interactive media includes.

You can view the gallery of all this year’s (and the nine years of previous competitions’) winners on the Into the Pixel site here. The collection will be displayed for viewing in the concourse foyer of E3, if you are attending and care to give them a look.

Via Bethesda Blog.