Brian Crecente

Sony Working Around the Clock To Restore Playstation Network and Online Gaming

Sony officials continue to work around the clock to bring the downed Playstation Network back online after an “external intrusion” forced the company to take the system down. A Saturday night update said that the company is rebuilding their system to “further strengthen our network infrastructure”, further delaying the return of PSN and ability of…

No Shirt, No Network, No Problem

COACHELLA | INDIO, CA: A view inside the Playstation tent during Day 3 of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival… several days before the great PSN outage of 2011. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images) Playstation Network Outage Continues to Keep 70 Million PS3 Gamers Offline After days of intermittent service, the Playstation Network’s complete…

SOCOM 4’s Silent, Deadly Stealth Play

Slinking through shadows solo, tossing bullet casings to distract, hiding bodies: SOCOM 4’s few stealth levels offer a completely new take on the 9-year-old squad-based shooter series. While a bulk of the levels in Playstation 3 exclusive SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs still fall back on the classic squad command mechanics that helped the series…

Why Frozen Treats and Squirt Guns Just Aren’t Good Zombie Defense

LucasArts classic, and somewhat nonsensical, zombie game Zombies Ate My Neighbors doesn’t really play out well in real life. [Thanks Chris]

EA Earthquake Aid Fundraiser Tops $1M

Electronic Arts’ fundraiser in support of Japan earthquake and tsunami aid just passed the $1 million mark. [EA]

One Transforming Wii 2 Controller That Will Never Happen

We do love our fan-made mock-ups of rumored future consoles. Take for instance this one, which includes a detachable screen and four ways to poke an eye out. [Thanks Andreas]

Mortal Kombat on Ice

GET OVER HERE | HOLLYWOOD, CA: The unleashing of Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat Legacy at Saint Felix II and its lovely ice sculpture. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Warner Bros.) Korea Institutes National Curfew For Kid Gamers South Korea this week passed a new law that would ban children under the age of…

PlayStation Outage Makes Some Capcom Games Unplayable Offline

The ongoing Playstation Network outage also makes a couple Capcom games unplayable, even offline. Capcom confirmed with Kotaku that Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 and the Final Fight/Magic Sword game pack are unplayable without an online connection. The issue is caused by Capcom’s use of a particular form of copy protection for the games which requires…

Father and Son Bonding Over Hateful Robots and Edgeless Cubes

In a darkened room filled with boxes, we sit side-by-side and play. We talk. We laugh. We think. Time spent with my son is always a joyful, bonding experience. Sometimes it’s outside, sometimes it’s over a book, and sometimes it’s with a game controller in our hands. We’ve played through every LEGO game together, we’ve…

Rising Through the Ranks of L.A. Noire

As Rockstar’s L.A. Noire approaches release, we’re getting a closer look at how you’ll rise through the ranks of the L.A. PD and solve “unassigned cases.”

Korea Institutes National Curfew For Kid Gamers

South Korea this week passed a new law that would ban children under the age of 15 from playing online games between midnight and 6 a.m., The Chosunilbo reports. The National Assembly legislation is aimed at “protecting children from game addiction”. It’s still unclear if this will be for computer games only or include all…

That Garage Band Version of Portal 2’s Theme Song You Haven’t Heard

You know what this Dean’s List Dropouts version of Portal 2’s Want You Gone wrap-up song is missing? Johnny Rotten screaming the Jonathan Coulton-penned lyrics. Oh, to dream. [Thanks Jer]

Freek Out!

CONTROL FREAK | NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Kontrol Freek’s new TeeFreek button toppers. (Photo by Crecente) Digital Dragnet Cast For More Possible Victims of Accused Xbox Pedophile Police are calling for parents to search the Xbox Live friend’s lists of their children for the user name of self-professed furry and accused sexual predator Richard Kretovic.…

Department of Homeland Security Spends $286K on a Bad Video Game

Backed by a Department of Homeland Security grant, The Day The Earth Shook is meant to be a video game that teaches children about surviving an earthquake, but it’s more likely to educate them about the dangers of bad game design. In the free PC and Mac game, players are meant to help Allen and…

And Here Come The Flood of Fake Wii 2 Mock-Ups

It’s always fun to see what the smarties of The Internet come up with when rumors hit of a new console. This “leaked” set of images comes straight from the folken at 4Chan’s /v/. Fake? Most likely? Fun to look at and speculate, hecks yeah. Whats this? [4Chan via TechnoBuffalo thanks Joey]

How Virtual Cog-Driven Machines Made Game Of Thrones Awesome

Inspired by ancient self-operating machines and driven by clever computer animation, the opening credits for HBO’s Game of Thrones is packed with Easter eggs and miniature marvels. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Angus Wall, founder of Elastic, says that his company used computer graphics to create an opener packed with hidden details for the fantasy…

Digital Dragnet Cast For More Possible Victims of Accused Xbox Pedophile

Police are calling for parents to search the Xbox Live friend’s lists of their children for the user name of self-professed furry and accused sexual predator Richard Kretovic Greece, New York police say the 19-year-old sexually abused an under 13-year-old in the basement of his house after the two met on a gaming site and…

iPad 2 Racer Delivers High Def Gaming to Televisions

The latest update for killer iPad racing game Real Racing 2 HD adds the ability to play the game in 1080p at 30 frames per a second using your iPad as the steering wheel. While the update is free, you will need some hardware to get this to work. Developers Firemint say you’ll need to…

You Killed Carmine! You Bastards!!!

This Is Not Your Master Chief

CONDUIT | PAWLING, NEW YORK: Up close with the Conduit 2 collectible figurine. (Photo by Crecente) This Is How a Portal 2 Turret Is Made While frantically escaping through this factory inside the Aperture Science testing facility, I stopped to enjoy these robots making sentry turrets then boxing them up for sale. More » A New…