Kirk Hamilton

This Game Lets You Leap Your Way Through A Swinging History Of Jazz

On my iPad’s home screen, the title of Jazz: Trump’s Journey is just one word: “Jazz.” That about sums it up, I guess. Trump’s Journey is a game about jazz, more or less—it’s a two-dimensional platformer starring a gentleman who looks a bit like a cartoon version of Louis Armstrong. His name is “Trump,” and…

I Read Game of Thrones. I Watched Game of Thrones. And So I Will Read This Behind-The-Scenes Book About Game of Thrones.

There aren’t too many TV series that I’d go out and actually buy a book about, but HBO’s Game of Thrones is one of them. This mini-documentary about the making of a book highlighting the work of the art teams that bring George R.R. Martin’s world to life has sold me. Just imagining whose job…

Should Video Game Fans Care More About Sports?

Sometimes it feels like gaming has two camps: Those who play sports games, and those who don’t. It’s not unlike the jocks and nerds in high school, really. Could non-sports gamers find something to love in sports games? Should Mass Effect players give Madden a shot? How do sports tell stories, and how are story-based…

Get A Load Of This Amazing Angry Birds Slingshot Controller

One of the reasons that Angry Birds is such a success is that it just feels good to play. Particularly on touchscreen devices, the feeling of pulling back the angry bird and letting ‘er rip is uniquely satisfying. But even a touch screen is no substitute for actual tactile feedback. If you use this tangible…

Make Your Own Tunes In This Incredible Interactive Beatbox

Somehow or other I had never heard about incredibox, an interactive beatbox application that lets you drag-and-drop your own perfectly in tune, quantized grooves. Initial thoughts of “Oh, this seems cute” quickly gave way to “Man, this is brilliant.” The animations on the little beatbox dudes, the way their eyes follow your mouse pointer as…

Your Fate Does Not Concern Death In This Latest Darksiders II Trailer

Perhaps you’ve heard that Darksiders II will star Death. You hadn’t heard that? Well, it will! But sorry to say, he cares more about his brother War than he cares about you. This latest trailer is narrated by Skull-face himself, and it even ends with a roar, which as we all know is the key…

A Whole New Way To Play Video Games: Standing Up

It’s not every day you discover a whole new way to play video games. Yet over the past month, I’ve done just that—I’ve found a way to play games that makes me feel better, more alert, healthier, and more involved. How have I accomplished this? I’ve started playing video games while standing up. “Oh, damn…

The New York Times Puts The Fastest Olympians In History Into One Massive Race

Here’s something for history nerds, Olympics nerds, and track and field nerds. The New York Times has put together a startlingly cool multimedia presentation that puts all of the past winners of the 100 meter sprint into a single virtual race together. (I’ll also take this opportunity to remind you to watch out for more…

A Lovely New Musical Theme From The Composer Of Journey

Even in a banner year for great game music, Austin Wintory’s living, breathing score for Journey stands apart. I’ve been looking forward to seeing what he’s been up to—as it turns out, he’s been working on the soundtrack to Horn, an upcoming game by Phosphor Games (that, yes, will be published by Zynga.) Wintory has…

You Wouldn’t Like Hulk When He’s Angry About People Who Didn’t Like Mass Effect 3‘s Ending

At this point, just about everyone has weighed in on the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy. But there is one gentleman, a certain gigantic, green-skinned guy in purple shorts, who has yet to make his opinions known. So when Hulk starts talking, people tend to listen, particularly when he’s sounding off about the people who…

Looks like Amazon’s making games now; their new studio has launched the social game Living Classics. Interesting.

How Dawnguard On The PC Can Help You Rediscover Skyrim

Like many PC-owning Skyrim players, I spent the last month silently berating Xbox owners who got to play the game’s first add-on, the Vampire-laden Dawnguard, before I did. And now that it’s been released on Steam, I spent a good chunk of the last weekend finally playing it. After Jason reviewed Dawnguard on 360 and…

Oh Hey Look It’s Prince Harry In An Angry Birds Hat

In the spirit of kindness and sharing, here now, some pictures of Prince Harry wearing a hysterically goofy Angry Birds hat. Was this a dare? A promotional tie-in? Does he not know he’s wearing it? Who knows. All I know is: That sure is Prince Harry wearing an Angry Birds hat. (via Buzzfeed)

You Can’t Explore Mars For Yourself, But You Can Play Waking Mars For Really Cheap

And for really cheap, too! In celebration of Curiosity’s landing on Mars, Tiger Style’s super cool iOS game Waking Mars is on sale for $1.99 on the App Store. It’s worth it. I did Waking Mars as my Gaming App of the Day back in March, and always felt like that kind of short writeup…

Shaun of the Dead, The Side-Scrolling Brawler

You’ve got red on you. Sure, there may be one too many zombie games out right now, but I think we could all agree to make some space for a side-scrolling brawler based on Shaun of the Dead This piece by Aled Lewis will be featured in the Gallery1988 “Crazy 4 Cult” show opening in…

Here’s To Ginger, Our Favorite Dog With Person Arms

Tina started this week’s off-topic posts with cats, and I kept it going, but I thought I’d close out the week with some dogs. Not just any dog. Ginger, one of the internet’s greatest dogs. Look, I don’t know why it’s so funny. I mean, I know why it’s funny. But I still don’t know…

How Skyrim Should’ve Ended

I’ve been digging back into Skyrim, updating my mods (and downloading some sweet new ones) and getting ready to really get into Dawnguard now that it’s finally out on the PC. I also finally beat the storyline a few weeks ago. Considering that I didn’t love the story to Oblivion, the Skyrim finale was pretty…

Your Favorite Superheroes Re-Imagined As Guitars. You Know, ‘Guitar Heroes.’

Do you get it? DO YOU? I’m not sure if you get it. This lovely print by Biotwist wonders not “What if Wolverine and Batman played guitar… what if they were guitars?” The results, as you can see, are a lot of fun. I like that Superman is a Les Paul, and Hulk appears to…

Here Are The Trophies For Metal Gear Solid 4, From Murder-Puking to Ocelot-Kissing

Metal Gear Solid 4 has always felt a tiny bit incomplete. It’s a game that offers a ton of hidden secrets and alternate paths, and leaves itself open to a big variety of gameplay styles. And yet there are no trophies to unlock for finding those secrets, or for playing the game in difficult, uncommon…

Finally, Someone Mashed Up The Theme Music To Game Of Thrones And Skyrim

The themes to Skyrim and Game of Thrones have a lot in common—they’re both driving, building melodies with a kind of “Nordic Triplet” groove going on. Sure, they’re in different keys, but that’s never stopped enthusiastic mashup artists in the past, so why should it now? GeekRemixed has put together this mashup by Fatboy Roberts,…