AJ Glasser

How To Throw a Gamer Party

Believe it or not, you can play games with other people. Like people in the same room as you. All it takes to throw a party centered on the greatest thing in entertainment since Pictionary is a bit of effort and a little planning. Before The Party: Day Before – Pick out what games to…

Battlestations: Pacific Blows (Up) My Mind

I blow up a ship and I win, I blow up a ship and I lose. What the hell is going on here? Battlestations: Pacific is one of those games you need an instruction manual to operate. Those little plastic control cheat sheets for games journalists don’t cut it. Between controlling battleships and navigating a…

A Whirled All Its Own

My impressions of Puzzle Pirates developer Three Rings’ new project were colored by the minor car accident I got into on my way to check it out. Escaping into a virtual world was just what I needed after filing an insurance claim in a San Francisco parking lot. I began the process by walking through…

A Night on the USS Hornet

The Battlestations: Pacific event yielded a good look at the game, excellent (if eccentric) sushi and some decently sweet swag. The embargo for my impressions expires on Monday morning, so check back then for the full rundown. In the meantime, I present you party pics and a swag report: Pictured: One “medium” t-shirt that fits…

Study: Gamers Aren’t Fat, Illiterate Manchildren

A new study suggests that gamers are older, more active and more often female than previous industry figures have suggested. The Adult Videogame Market in the US: Tapping Into the New Diversity of Video-Game Players is a pricey consumer analysis put together by Packaged Facts. I don’t have three grand to drop on buying the…

Ex-Force Unleashed Producer To Tackle MMOG

Ex-LucasArts producers Isa Anne Stamos signed up with Berkeley, CA game developer MindFuse Games today to work on their “advanced-casual MMOG” Gatheryn. I don’t know much about Gatheryn or what an advanced-casual massively multiplayer online game is supposed to be. But I gather (get it?) from the screenshots that it’s set in a steampunk fantasy…

Video Games Are Not Recession-Proof, Says NPD

GameDaily reports that Michael Klotz, senior account manager at the NPD Group, says the video games industry is already feeling the effects of the recession. Gee, I could have told you that, looking at the list of recent industry layoffs. But Klotz pointed out in a Game Business Law summit at Southern Methodist University’s law…

Coraline Screens Creep Me Out

I’m thrilled Neil Gaiman children’s book Coraline is getting the Nightmare Before Christmas treatment. But I can’t say the same for the video game tie-in. Something about these screens just seems too happy to me. No spoilers, but suffice it to say Coraline is not a tale of bright, shiny, happy things. So why does…

FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 Grand Final goes to Barcelona

FIFA, Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced that the 2009 FIFA Interactive World Cup is going to go down in Barcelona this May. There’s still time to enter the tournament before the March 31 cutoff date. Qualifying rounds are going on worldwide via PlayStationNetwork and at FIWC 09 Live Qualifier Events. Check…

AJ’s Datebook: Battlestations, Street Fighter, Spore & D3

Now that the holiday rush has officially died down, it’s time to get back to business – the business of game showcases. This week, I’m off to a Battlestations: Pacific multiplayer event on the USS Hornet anchored in Alameda, CA. The game is an action RTS for the PC and 360, featuring “28 major battles,…

How Seriously Should We Take Game Addiction?

A Chinese gamer swallows razor blades in a suicide attempt, Daniel Petric shoots his mom and Brandon Crisp runs away from home – anyone see a pattern here? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not game addiction. It’s media coverage. That’s not to say that 17-year-olds have been committing matricide since time immemorial. Or that…

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Site Launches

Invitations to “slash it up!” on the freshly-launched X-Men Origins: Wolverine site make me distinctly uncomfortable. That’s probably because I associate the word “slash” with the tender love expressed between two men in fanfiction written by thirteen-year-old girls. Not with the beloved Canadian X-Man who’s getting his own movie and accompanying game later this year.…

New Day-Old Dark Void Screens

I was kind of excited about Capcom’s Dark Void until I realized that the Watchers your human character fights against in the parallel universe he’s transported to aren’t this guy. Worse still, the main character seems to be suffering from hackneyed hero syndrome. It’s a tragic affliction among male leads these days. Oh well –…

Federal Trade Commission Weighs In On DRM – Gamers, Speak Up

Now’s your chance to tell the FTC how you feel about Digital Rights Management technologies – the Commission has opened up a comment form to the public. “All timely and responsive public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, will be considered by the Commission, and will be placed on the public record of…

Guitar Hero World Tour Country Rock Pack Drops Today

With CES going on, nobody’s got to time to check for new DLC – so Activision’s done it for us with a press release on the new Country Rock Pack for Guitar Hero World Tour. Details and sarcasm after the jump. “We wanted to let you know that the Country Rock Track Pack for Guitar…

Serious Games Competition Is Serious Business

Whosegame is right in the middle of their first annual Serious Games competition which runs from Dec. 8, 2008 to Mar 31, 2009. To enter, you have to be a student or someone who really, really wants to make a Serious Game. The jury prizes are 5000, 2500 or 1000 euros worth of gift checks…

Three Things I Liked About X-Blades

The last game in the world I expected to like anything about is X-Blades – it’s a blatantly sexist, shallow anime rip-off with a paper-thin plot. But it turns out that this blatantly sexist, shallow anime rip-off game does a few things so well that I can almost overlook the sexism, the shallowness and even…

X-Blades PS3 Trophy List

Hot of the presses, it’s a full list of PS3 Trophies for X-Blades – complete with easy accomplishments and balls-hard feats. Hit the jump for the full list. And check out the new screens that dropped today. Easy Walk
 – Complete game on Normal difficulty Everyday Business – 
Complete game on Hard difficulty Oops, are…

New X-Blade PS3 Screens – Get Your Russian Booty Fix

I had the great good fortune to check out X-Blades for the PS3 today and have fresh screenshots to share with all of you. Hit the jump and ogle away. X-Blades is scheduled for a Feb. 10 release on PS3.

Puzzle Quest Patch On the Way

TransGaming has gotten back to us with a response to our story last week about Puzzle Quest iPhone randomly deleting heroes. According to Paul Nowosad, Marketing Director at TransGaming, an update is being submitted to the Apple Store this week. This “version 1.1” will fix the bug “as well as address some graphical issues.” Hit…