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Over 70% of the Games at the Tokyo Game Show Are For Phones And Tablets
There has been a lot of news coming from the Tokyo Game Show this year. We’ve heard about Metal Gear and Phoenix Wright and a host of other games for and from Sony and Nintendo, as we have come to expect. And yet the console and handheld games that so many of us are fans…
By Kate Cox -
Here’s What Will Happen When Blizzard Throws The Switch For Mists of Pandaria
Boxes containing World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria are making their way out into the world. That’s all well and good, but the panda-themed expansion won’t be accessible until 12:01 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday September 25, no matter how soon players install it. What can players expect, though, if they’re live, sitting in Azeroth,…
By Kate Cox -
The One Man Left In The World Who Hasn’t Heard Portal Spoilers Plays Portal, And It Is Glorious
Mark Oshiro does things. He has, in a sense, made a professional life out of being a fan. For several years, on his sites Mark Reads and Mark Watches, he has tackled fan favorite TV shows (like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who) and novels (Harry Potter, His Dark Materials) one episode or chapter…
By Kate Cox -
An Extraordinary History of the Modern First-Person Shooter and its Unsung Heroes
Level designer and writer Robert Yang has written up a fascinating “People’s History of the FPS” as a three part series at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. In it, Yang posits that first-person gaming and first-person-shooters are not, as we tend to think of them, just an industry-dominated gorefest with a linear evolution, but rather, have always…
By Kate Cox -
This Gun From Borderlands 2 Is The Most Annoying Weapon Ever And I Love It
I have not played Borderlands 2. But this gun—this delightfully obnoxious, bizarre gun—is actually kind of making me want to. A gun that shouts at you, and can only be captioned as “annoying sounds?” That’s the kind of silliness I appreciate in my games. Even if it makes me take off my headphones for a…
By Kate Cox -
League of Legends Will Soon Reward Players For Being Good To Each Other
Competitive games like League of Legends tend not to have reputations for particularly nice or well-behaved communities. In short, players are often foul-mouthed jerks to each other. The environment can be daunting to new players and can begin to wear down even the more experienced folk, after a while. Ignore and report functions, while vital,…
By Kate Cox -
These Mario Clones For Android Are Ridiculous
I love my Android phone. I really do. It feels personalized, it does everything I need it to do, and even though it has its flaws, I still like using it better than I like using iOS and iTunes (which I experience with my iPod touch). Apps for Android, though, are rather infamously a minefield…
By Kate Cox -
The Most Evil Man Of Them All Is The Rollercoaster Tycoon
Amusement parks: they should be fun, right? Cute, quirky, maybe scary in all the right ways, but ultimately, amusing. Well, what if you build a whole amusement park and your patrons aren’t amused? You could improve the park… or you could remove the patrons. A little taste of power—horrible, terrible power—goes a long way. And…
By Kate Cox -
Guild Wars 2, Log Four: Ten-and-a-Half Lessons I Learned From My Adventures
In my weekly summaries of Guild Wars 2, I’ve looked at exploration, combat, and crafting. I’ve been chasing vistas, leveling slowly, and getting sucked into events as they pop up around me. I’ve even been cautiously exploring the big, boisterous, overwhelming experience that is world vs world PvP. In total, I’ve learned a lot of…
By Kate Cox -
Obsidian Starts To Dole Out A Few Details About Their Project Eternity Game
The Project Eternity Kickstarter campaign, which launched just last Friday, had easily surpassed its $1.1 million goal before the weekend was out. Clearly, people are excited about a new, “old-school” RPG from Obsidian. We had a glimpse at the world map and a description of the game’s combat from the initial Kickstarter pitch. That, though,…
By Kate Cox -
Even The Single-Player Mode In Need For Speed: Most Wanted Is About One-Upping Your Friends
The Need For Speed team has been busy showing off Need For Speed: Most Wanted for a few months now, particularly the multiplayer aspect. Now, they’re turning their attention to the game’s single-player mode. This quick overview shows off Fairhaven City, Most Wanted‘s setting, and also details how some of the mechanics that can make…
By Kate Cox -
Mass Effect 3 Will Be Heading to Omega This Fall
It’s no secret that I really liked Mass Effect 3. But as I wound into the last acts of the game, I began to feel like something was missing: I’d really hoped that Aria would demand Shepard’s help in retaking Omega. Lines from the leaked script supported that theory, as did unearthed dialogue. That mission,…
By Kate Cox -
BioWare Co-Founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk Retire
BioWare announced the departure of co-founders Muzyka and Zeschuk today on its website The two, informally known as the “BioWare doctors,” first founded the company in 1995. Over the years the company became well-regarded for its Baldur’s Gate and NeverWinter Nights franchises, as well as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Over the past…
By Kate Cox -
Borderlands 2 Really Does Boast An Impressive Array of PC Settings
The PC version of the first Borderlands was not considered a particularly good port, by any measure. Developer Gearbox took the feedback to heart, and promised PC players an improved experience for Borderlands 2 So did they deliver? It certainly seems so. British gaming commentator TotalBiscuit has created the video above, which takes an exhaustive…
By Kate Cox -
Even An Olympic Gymnast Should Probably Not Play With a 3DS While Standing On Her Hands
Nintendo has a long history of getting celebrities—honest-to-goodness non-gaming celebrities—into commercials for their handheld systems. Nicole Kidman, Sir Patrick Stewart, Liv Tyler, Carrie Underwood, Beyonce, and America Ferrara have all appeared in ads for the Nintendo DS over the past five years. Those ads were actually pretty effective. Mostly they just showed people, if famous…
By Kate Cox -
The Studio Behind WipEout Is Gone, But The Game May Still Be Alive And Well
When Sony Liverpool (once Psygnosis) was shut down earlier this year, it looked like the end for the WipEout series. However, earlier today it seemed that rumors of WipEout‘s demise were greatly exaggerated. Earlier today on the game’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, a piece of art appeared with the clear but ambiguous message, “WE. ARE.…
By Kate Cox -
That One Kid’s Adorable Cardboard Arcade Has Inspired A Global Cardboard Arcade Nonprofit
Nine-year-old Caine Monroy became an internet sensation earlier this year, when filmmaker Nirvan Mullick captured his painstakingly made cardboard arcade and posted it online for the world to see. The film went viral, and donations to Caine’s college fund skyrocketed. Many months later, young Caine has apparently provided inspiration world wide. The team behind the…
By Kate Cox -
What We Do And Don’t Know About Dragon Age III: Inquisition
Today’s announcement from BioWare, confirming and naming Dragon Age III: Inquisition, came with startlingly little other news about the game. We’ve known—or at least suspected—for many months now that it was in production, but so far we’ve seen almost nothing official about it. And yet what we have seen, from the story as it’s evolved…
By Kate Cox -
I Can Never Look At Pac-Man The Same Way Again
In fact, come to that, I may simply never look at Pac-Man again. It’s just too horrifying. Zach Weiner’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic crosses the generation gap between an arcade-loving man and a desensitized modern-day kid. Arcade games? Boring? Oh no. Arcade games are terrifying “Pacman,” the man explains, “is the story of a…
By Kate Cox
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