Luke Plunkett

Portal Guns Beat Chocolates This Valentine’s Day

Or, they do in this clip for Valve’s upcoming first-person puzzler, anyway.

Flight Stick

These Video Games Are Now Art

For the next week, the CRG Gallery in Chelsea, New York, will play host to an artist who slips video games like Civilization and Street Fighter into his work. By “employing the visual language of engravings writ in the modern medium of ballpoint pen”, as the exhibition’s press release tells us, artist Butt Johnson “generates…

This DualShock 3 Wasn’t So Lucky

For this controller, the war is over. By Lee Bevan, as seen on svalts

Why Can’t Video Games Crash The Grammys?

Say what you will about their relevance for popular music these days, but the fact remains the Grammys are still the world’s biggest music awards. So why can’t video games get their own nomination? Currently, the only way an original composition for a video game can win a Grammy is if its nominated alongside other…

Bionic Commando Didn’t Really Need To Be Re-Rearmed

In 2008, GRIN released Bionic Commando Rearmed, a remake of the original 1988 NES version of Capcom’s platformer. It was homage, and it was good. Why, exactly, did we need a sequel? I mean, Bionic Commando Rearmed was a remake of the first game. There was a point to that. A second “Rearmed” game, though,…

See How Portal’s Heroine Has Changed

Chell, the player’s character in Portal, was never really the star of the game. You barely even saw what she looked like. Seems that approach is out the window for Portal 2. French PC mag Canard features Chell on the cover of its latest issue, and the dorky, jumpsuit-clad lass with the funny robot chicken…

Won’t Anyone Let This Man Sell A Sarah Palin Xbox 360?

Poor David Morrill. All he ever wanted to do was sell an Xbox 360 that had, inexplicably, Sarah Palin’s autograph scrawled on the side of it. Instead, all he’s getting is trouble. First, unable to sell the console for one million dollars on auction site eBay, he had to drop the asking rate to a…

You Wouldn’t Like Pikachu When He’s Angry

Probably my favourite artist in the world right now — Dan Hipp — gives us his take on Pikachu.

Nothing Says “I Love You” Like Portals And Evil Robots

Valentine’s Day may mean chocolates and flowers for most, but for Valve — and fans of its spatial puzzler Portal — it means falling through orange and blue holes and tender moments with maniacal AI overlords. In honour of Portal 2, the developer has released this range of Valentine’s Day cards for you to customise,…

StarCraft “MMO” Returns With A New Name

The fan-made Starcraft MMO, which was recently forced to change its name in order to avoid being struck with a large hammer, is now back. And its new name is just fine. The mod, which was previously known as “World Of Starcraft”, is now branded “StarCraft Universe”. Having been flown out to Blizzard HQ to…

Cult PC Game Being Remade For The 3DS

Cave Story, an indie PC game released over six years ago, is still winning new fans today following subsequent releases on the Wii and DS. Now it’s being remade, in 3D, for Nintendo’s newest handheld. Cave Story 3D is a complete remake of the original platformer, with every character and every level transformed from its…

Why You Shouldn’t Threaten School Massacres Over Xbox Live

A teenager from Maryland thought it would be a good idea to get hold of somebody else’s Xbox Live login details then send over 100 messages threatening to turn up to school with a gun and start shooting. It wasn’t. Instead, the boy has been arrested, after police (with help from Microsoft) were able to…

All The Winners From The 14th AIAS Awards

The 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards aren’t there for comedy. They’re there for the giving out of awards to 2010’s finest games. Let’s see who won big at this year’s event. As you’re about to see, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Heavy Rain and Limbo (!) have been the big winners on the night,…

The Battlestar Galactica Game Is Still Spooling Its FTL Drives

Earlier this week, the new Battlestar Galactica game went into open beta. Being a massive BSG fan, I figured I’d jump right in and see how it was shaping up. In these two clips, I’ll walk you through the two main parts of the game — on-foot and space combat — and show you what…

Activision Blizzard Loses An Ancient European Court Appeal

In 2009, the EU let Nintendo (slightly) off the hook when it reduced the company’s fine for engaging in price-fixing during the 1990’s. Well, Activision asked for a similar reduction in its fine (same case), and has been denied

This Strategy Game Could Be The Best Of Both Worlds

Indie studio Brain Candy is working on a game called Fray, which it describes as a “turn-based, multiplayer, real-time strategy game”. Hrm. Let’s see how they explain that little contradiction. Fray sounds a lot like Bullfrog’s classic Syndicate, at least in terms of general setting: the world is a dark place, corporations are running the…

Nintendo’s Trinity Of Classic Beauties

From left to right: Peach, Samus and Zelda. By Megan Lara. Also available as t-shirts!

Kinect Can Be Used For Real Games After All

The first bunch of games for Microsoft’s Kinect were…crude. Resulting in a fear from many gamers that the peripheral may not be cut out for more complex titles. Well, this Dead Space 2 footage might convince you otherwise. In it, you can see the guy – if this is legit – is almost literally playing…

The Origins Of Nintendo’s Game & Watch

Nintendo may have been around for over 100 years, but the Nintendo we know today does video games. And it first hit the handheld gaming big time with its line of Game & Watch units. Here’s how they got their start! A new “Iwata Asks” Q&A on Nintendo’s website goes into great detail on the…