Help A Blizzard Dev Beat Cancer

Ron Nakada, a senior software engineer at Blizzard who has worked on World of Warcraft, got married earlier this year. He’s also been diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. Thanks to the wonders of the American medical and insurance system, Ron’s short-term disability insurance, which had been covering his treatment costs, has recently run out.…

Battlefield 4 Looks Awful Pretty From A Safe Distance

LEVOLUTION (groan) isn’t just the name of one of 2013’s dumbest marketing terms, it’s the name of this very pretty video showing that not everything in Battlefield 4 is dirt, explosions and shaky-cam. Seen from on high, these panoramic shots of Battlefield 4 matches show that there is beauty even in the multiplayer online shooter.…

At Least This Xbox One Is A Little Smaller

The Xbox One is a substantial piece of hardware, especially if it’s sitting near a PS4 and/or Wii U for comparison. So it shouldn’t surprise you to see people hard at work trying to make the thing smaller. This is an Xbox One laptop. With a built-in screen and a slimmer form, it “shrinks” the…

Today, The Inventor Of The AK-47 Died

Russian designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, creator of perhaps the world’s most famous firearm, passed away today at the age of 94. He leaves behind a somewhat complicated legacy. Born in 1919, he was a tank commander in the Second World War, but in his spare time was also a keen inventor. While spending time in a…

​A Highly Accurate Language Quiz That Can Tell Where You Grew Up

Do you pronounce it “Roof” or “Ruf?” “Water” or “Wuhter?” Are little river shellfish called “crawfish” or “crayfish” or “crawdads?” Depends on where you grew up. I loved this new dialect quiz at the New York Times, and thought you all might dig it too. It managed to place me pretty accurately—it had me in…

Report: ​Accused League Player’s Motion To Quash Denied, Case To Proceed

Justin Carter, the 19-year-old League of Legends player who earlier this year was imprisoned for making a Facebook comment that was flagged as a terrorist threat, has had his motion to quash the case denied, according to a report today by San Antonio’s KENS 5 news. In February, Carter was arrested for making comments on…

Hot Toys’ Ada Wong Is Lovely, But Can She Pull Off That Dress?

After my first whirlwind love affair with a Hot Toys Iron Man figure, I decided to go outside of my comfort zone for my second figure review. Someone a lot more vulnerable, but ten times as dangerous. Someone like Resident Evil‘s Ada Wong. Resident Evil fans know who Ada Wong is. All those who don’t…

​Robot Drummer Performs The Pacific Rim Theme, Aided By Lightning

I love the Pacific Rim theme. You love the Pacific Rim theme. And from the looks of it, this robot drummer loves the Pacific Rim theme. Check out this performance from Arc Attack Music in which a robo-drummer and some tesla coils bang out Ramin Djawadi and Tom Morello’s riff-tastic anthem to giant robots everywhere.…

Want to understand what makes Spelunky a great game? Over at Polygon, game designer Douglas Wilson (of J.S. Joust and more recently, Clusterfuck reknown) has written an in-depth, play-by-play analysis of one of the most amazing Spelunky achievements of 2013. Check it out

​Taking Down a Slave Ship in Assassin’s Creed IV‘s DLC Isn’t Easy

Boarding a slave ship and liberating its human cargo is probably the most satisfying thing you can do in the new Freedom Cry DLC for Assassin’s Creed IV. It’s also one of the toughest. Take a look at how this naval battle to free slaves almost ended in tears. The video here shows me taking…

The First Halo Game On Xbox One Looks A Little Different

Halo: Spartan Assault was originally banishedto Windows 8 devices, but now that there’s a shiny new Xbox on the market, it’s available on Xbox One. So just in time for Christmas, I bring you a look at how the game plays on Xbox One. We liked the original game, and the new version of Spartan…

Angry Birds Plus Beastie Boys. Listen To It.

There’s no reason that McMaNGOS should have mashed up the theme from Angry Birds and the Beastie Boys’ ‘Intergalactic’. Except that it works surprisingly well. via /r/mashups

The Year In StarCraft II

Esports and StarCraft II in particular had a pretty cool and eventful year. Here’s a clip, edited by YouTuber Soohyung Kim, with all the memorable matches and moments from this year’s streams from MLG, the World Championship Series and other tournaments. It’s nice to see that a lot of the great, veteran personalities like MC…