Kirk Hamilton

Xbox Live is currently down. Microsoft says they’re looking into the problem.

Brian Reynolds, designer of Civilization II, has left Zynga, where he’d headed up development on FrontierVille

The Characters From The Cave, Now Available In Charming Toy Form

The characters are the highlight of Double Fine’s new adventure game The Cave. Seven wanderers, each with his or her own selfish journey to undertake (and lesson to learn), each drawn in the game’s groovy art style If you’re a fan of the game (like Tina came to be when she reviewed it), you might…

The Endless Possibilities Of The Best World-Map Music

No doubt about it: we all love video game world-maps. That moment when you first set foot into a game’s wide blue yonder and see just how far the horizon goes… it’s magic. While video game world-maps are often plenty beautiful-looking, it’s also important how beautiful they sound. We’ll often spend hours and hours exploring…

This Insane Torchlight II Mod Adds A New Class, New Regions, And More

Months after players have eked the last drop of content out of the vanilla version of Torchlight II, modders are still going strong, twisting, re-vamping, and moulding the game into whatever they please. But while there are many fine mods out there (more than I could hope to keep track of, really), the Synergies Mod…

A neat article at The Atlantic looks how the brilliant iOS game Hundreds is its own sort of haute couture cool.

One Simple Ni no Kuni Tip To Help You Catch ‘Em All

I’m a sucker for sidequests in Ni no Kuni. I blame the stamps. In the game, each time you do a sidequest, you get a number of “merit stamps” on your stamp-card, and if you fill out a card, you can trade it in for power-ups. The tougher the sidequest, the more stamps you get.…

This group of fully-grown businessmen has been engaged in the same epic game of “Tag” for 23 years. Sounds fun.

This Sure Is A Homemade Star Trek: Into Darkness Trailer

From the guys who brought you that homemade version of the Man of Steel trailer comes this latest adventure in sweding, applied to the trailer for J.J. “TrekWars” Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek: Into Darkness. Highlight for me: the guys trying to vocally re-create the Inception horn. I actually rewatched Abrams’ Star Trek yesterday. I think…

Sony is teasing… something. What? Hard to say. Could be something terrible. Or something cool. What do you think?

Thank God, A 3DS XL Case For Adults

If you, like me, recently dropped a couple hundred bucks on a 3DS XL, you probably have thought about picking up a case to keep it safe. The challenge is finding a case that is even remotely acceptable. For some reason, the majority of non-Nintendo-made 3DS accessories are poorly-made hunks of junk, a problem is…

I Spent Saturday Morning Solving Puzzles In The Belly Of A Naval Battleship

If you’ve played a Zero Escape game like 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors or its sequel, Virtue’s Last Reward, you’re no stranger to the idea of a “room escape” game. You’re placed in a room, probably with a team. The room is locked, and the only way out is to solve the puzzles…

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Is The Same Weirdly Wonderful Game, Minus A Few Rough Edges

Like many of the finer things in life, Deadly Premonition is an acquired taste. It’s a very cool game, but in a very specific way. The oddball open-world mystery/horror game, which came out for the Xbox 360 in early 2010, will likely never find an audience like those enjoyed by, say, a Halo or a…

Crytek has snapped up several members of the now-defunct Vigil Games for a new Austin-based Crytek studio.

You can now watch game developer Clint Hocking’s phenomenal GDC talk about dynamics and “how games mean” for free.

This Handy App Turns Your iPhone Into A Remote Control For Your Living-Room PC

It’s great to plug your PC into your TV, but it can be tough to interface with the damn thing once you move it to your living room. After all, the ubiquitous mouse & keyboard setup is designed for the desktop, not the coffee table. You know the deal: your sweet PC, plugged right into…

Get a load of Brynden “The Blackfish” Tully, as played by Clive Russell in the upcoming third season of Game of Thrones

Reminder: The very good PC Version of the very good DmC is out today.

Get out your bulldozers, EA reports that the SimCity closed beta is now live.

DayZ Standalone Update: Reworked Servers, Improved Graphics And More

The people working on DayZ have posted a chunky update about the game’s standalone version, along with some lovely-looking new screenshots. (You can see a nice comparison between the original game and the new one using the slider up top.) Here’s the full thing, as posted by DayZ creator Dean “Rocket” Hall: This is the…