Jason Schreier

Now You Can Make Your Own Damn Warcraft IV

So you want a fourth Warcraft RTS? Join the club. And although Blizzard doesn’t seem to plan on making Warcraft IV any time soon, it just got way easier for some enterprising fan to do it themselves. Yep, Blizzard just announced that Warcraft III models are now live on the remarkably robust StarCraft II map…

Sony Sells Off Studio Behind Everquest, H1Z1

After almost twenty years, the Sony Online Entertainment studio is no longer part of Sony. Sounds like we’ll be seeing games like EverQuest and H1Z1 on the Xbox soon. SOE announced their independence in a press release this afternoon, saying they had been purchased by a New York-based management firm called Columbus Nova and that…

Madden 15 Predicted The Exact Score Of The Super Bowl

Every year, the folks at EA Sports rig a game of Madden to predict the Super Bowl. They’re usually right—they’ve nailed something like eight of the last 11 winners. This time, it’s safe to say that EA just rigged the actual Super Bowl. As Madden 15 predicted, the Patriots beat the Seahawks 28-24. They called…

It Looks Like Katy Perry Wore A Wiimote Strap To The Super Bowl

Behold: singer Katy Perry, the only person on earth who actually listens to Nintendo when they tell you to wear the Wiimote strap. In case you’re not watching the 49th Super Bowl—Seahawks vs. Patriots—you just missed Perry flying in the air on a shooting star after dancing with a bunch of singing sharks. Uh. You…

Smash Tournament Relocates After Hotel Violates Safety Codes [UPDATE]

UPDATE (12:57pm): Apex 2015 has found a new venue and will still be on for this weekend. Original story follows: This morning at Apex 2015—a major Smash tournament held at a hotel just outside of New York City—the fire alarm went off. There was no fire, but when the marshals came to investigate, they discovered…

Game of Thrones Season 5 Trailer Leaks

From Tyrion’s “I don’t give a shit” beard to that great shot of Meereen’s harpy falling, this first trailer for season 5 of HBO’s Game of Thrones is full of fun moments. This is an unofficial, off-screen leak, but surely HBO will post the real thing soon. In the meantime, let’s just watch and cross…

Sega is firing some 300 people in their publishing division as they continue to shift away from consoles to focus more on smartphone and online PC games.

Torchlight 2 is FINALLY coming to Mac. I know at least a few of you have been waiting years for this one. It’ll be out Monday on Steam.

125 People Are Building All Of Game of Thrones In Minecraft

Look at this video. Just look at it. Forget the stilted narration by Bran Stark and just look at those goddamn cities and mountains. It is amazing what a group of driven people can do with enough creativity and time. We’ve been following Westeroscraft—the ongoing project to build all of Game of Thrones‘ world in…

Spotify is coming to PlayStation, Sony just announced. It’ll replace Music Unlimited on both PS3 and PS4 starting in a few months. More details over on the PlayStation Blog

Some Clarity On Microtransactions In The Next Resident Evil

This morning, the web exploded with rumors that the next Resident Evil game will charge you to continue the game after death, thanks to reports from media outlets at a press event in Spain today. “Capcom to charge money for continues in Resident Evil Revelations 2?” asked a NeoGAF thread. “They were just revealed at…

AOL Shutting Down Joystiq

AOL is preparing to shut down the video game website Joystiq after over ten years of publication, according to people familiar with the situation. It’s unclear exactly when Joystiq will close, but we’ve heard that this is connected to a larger-scale reorganization planned by AOL, the longrunning media company that has had more than a…

Sounds Like Destiny‘s Next DLC Will Be Way Less Cruel

When Destiny‘s first expansion pack came out last month, hardcore players were stunned. Not only did it ask them to upgrade their old exotic gear through a messy, convoluted process, it also rendered much of the loot they had acquired from the game’s first raid, Vault of Glass, totally useless. Suddenly you could buy better…

The Homeworld remastered collection will be out for PC on February 25, Gearbox just announced. Teaser trailer right here.

Best Buy Mistake Screws Some People Out Of Majora’s Mask 3DSes

Best Buy cancelled a number of pre-orders for the limited edition Majora’s Mask 3DS tonight, informing customers via e-mail that the demand had “exceeded the quantities made available” to the retailer. The 3DS, which has been in hot demand since Nintendo announced it last week, went up for sale on Best Buy’s website last Wednesday…

The Future Of Random Encounters

Hi. Welcome to Random Encounters. It’s, uh, been a while. When I first started this column, back in 2012, the JRPG genre was in a strange place. It felt like a lot of Japanese game developers were going through transitional phases as we all watched to see what would happen with next-gen consoles. Final Fantasy…

Square Sure Put A Lot Of Work Into Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Here, for your enjoyment, is an official Square Enix comparison video that shows how they’ve transformed Final Fantasy Type-0 from a dark ugly PSP game to a GORGEOUS new-gen console game. Well, OK, it’s not that gorgeous. Everything looks a touch too glossy, and a lot of the textures are clearly carried over from the…

Hope you’re ready for more tears. Episode Two of Telltale’s Game of Thrones series will be out the first week of February for all platforms, the developer announced today. PS3/PS4/PC/Mac on Tuesday, February 3; Xbox 360/Xbox One on Wednesday, February 4; iOS/Android on Thursday, Ferbuary 5. Episode One was great, so check it out if…

Filipino Village Bans Dota After Multiple Murders

A small village in the Philippines will no longer allow residents to play Defense of the Ancients following a series of violent incidents that culminated in two deadly stabbings. As reported by the Filipino news site Inquirer.net, the village of Salawag chose to enact this Dota ban after government officials met with computer cafe owners…

One Reason Nintendo Has Such A Hard Time With New Ideas

Over the past few decades, we’ve come to learn two important things about Nintendo. One is that they make brilliant video games. The other is that they make absolutely baffling decisions. Whether it’s the lack of a unified account system or their persistent Virtual Console stubbornness, Nintendo’s choices are frequently questioned by even its most…