Don’t Scream During Zombie Games. The Cops Might Turn Up.

Reader Mathue sent us this clip over the weekend, captured while he and his friends were playing some DayZ. It shows, he says, the kind of language – shrieked at the top of her lungs – that caused the cops to reportedly turn up to one of his pal’s houses, fearing MURDER. From 0:56 onwards,…

If You Grew Up in the ’80s, Your Soul Cries Out for This Space Shooter

Nerds and geeks of a certain age fondly remember Macross/Robotech, Star Blazers and other spectacle-filled, emotionally overwrought animated space operas from the 1980s. These Japanese series remain touchstones for a generation and some folks miss them quite a bit. Jake Kazdal is one of those people and the game designer decided to make a game…

It’s a Kitty Collision as Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub Finally Meet

This is the one we’ve all been waiting for, friends. Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub, two of the biggest celebrities in the feline world, have finally met. To be fair, there’s no actual collision. Bub mainly wags her tongue around like a little weirdo, while Grumps just does what she does and appears generally unhappy.…

StarCraft‘s Locusts Are Deadly, Cute in This Animated Short

Episode 16, season 2 of StarCrafts, the animated YouTube series that turns everything and anything StarCraft into something adorable, deals with the problem of locusts. Spawned intermittently by swarm hosts, locusts are persistent and deadly in large numbers. And in this episode of StarCrafts, they’re deceptively cute. (Favorite YouTube comment: “The locusts look like cupcake…

Double Fine’s Adventure Stars Commander Shepard, Jack Black

Picking up where he left off with Brutal Legend, it’s been announced that comedy actor Jack Black will be appearing in a sort of “cameo” role in Double Fine’s upcoming adventure game, Broken Age. Joining him will be Jennifer Hale – aka Commander Shepard – and a range of other actors, some of whom have…

This May Be the Kookiest Game to Reach Its Kickstarter Goal Yet

Octopus City Blues is the kind of game in which an enormous, bloody millipede is used for public transportation and the protagonist is married to a pink octopus named Daisy. And it just reached its Kickstarter funding goal of $7,000. The developers at Ghost in a Bottle describe it as “a surreal adventure game about…

Here’s That Sherlock Footage. It’s Kind of Disappointing.

I sort of regret talking up this new footage from Sherlock season 3 yesterday, because with all said and done today there’s not really that much to it. Still, a little Cumberbatch is better than no Cumberbatch at all, right? There are a few shots of Holmes looking smug and contemplative (his typical moody M.O.)…

Minecraft Xbox 360 Getting Mass Effect Mash-Up DLC

Minecraft is generally about exploring your very own world, hollowing it out, hoarding its resources, and building a utopia for yourself and your farm animals. That’s about to change, though, with the expansion announced today. Microsoft, Mojang and BioWare revealed in a press release this afternoon that the Mass Effect “Mash-Up Pack” for Minecraft on…

All These People Are Waiting to Play the Remastered Wind Waker at PAX

Remember when Nintendo unveiled The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker back in the day, and everyone lost their minds because of its cel-shaded graphics? And there was basically a storm of hatred until the game was released, at which point everyone played it and realized it was incredible? All those people are at PAX right…

Hayao Miyazaki Is Retiring

The famed director of My Neighbor Totoro and numerous other classic anime is retiring. The recently released Kaze Tachinu will be the 72 year-old Miyazaki’s final feature film. According to Japan’s Cinema Today, Studio Ghibli exec Kouji Hoshino announced the news this Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, where Kaze Tachinu is being shown. “Please…

Maybe A Dark and Gritty Pokemon Wouldn’t Work

Oh, sure, many of us would love to see Game Freak try for a more mature Pokemon, just to see what it’s like. But could it even work? Or would it just seem ridiculous to take the elements of Pokemon and try to make them dark? I’m starting to have my doubts after looking at…

Playing Blackbar is Like High School English Class, And I Love It

Because there’s nothing you love more than when strangers recommend random iOS games to you, here’s one that its creator calls “serious,” “artsy,” and “texty.” Sound up your alley? The game is Neven Mrgan and James Moore’s BlackBar. It’s a purely text-based experience, with old-fashioned typewriter font letters outlined starkly against page after white, white…

LocoCycle: It’s Like KITT, GLaDOS and Spy Hunter Had a Xbox One Baby

Talking cars. Who doesn’t like talking cars? And talking cars that can blow stuff up? Even better. Except in this case, the vehicle in question is a super-smart sentient motorcycle that got hit by lightning and decided it doesn’t want to work for The Man anymore. That’s the basic plot of LocoCycle, a racing combat…

Thank Goodness: Octodad Sequel on PS4 Uses PS Move Motion Controls

I don’t always enjoy motion controls, but if there’s one game that I feel shouldn’t be without them, it’s the one where you control a wildly flailing octopus masquerading as a human husband and father of two. Young Horses COO Kevin Geisler confirmed on the PlayStation Blog this weekend that Octodad: Dadliest Catch will indeed…

Mega Man Designer Says Capcom Hasn’t Reacted to New Mega Man-Like Game

Last night, Keiji Inafune blew the gaming world’s collective mind when he announced Mighty No. 9, a game that closely resembles the iconic Mega Man franchise that he was associated with for more than a decade. Today, he said that he hasn’t heard anything from former employer Capcom, the company that owns Mega Man In…

The Week in Games: Ray of Sunshine

At long last, Rayman Legends arrives this week, on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and, ahem, Wii U. Diablo III likewise ventures onto consoles, along with Total War: Rome 2 for PC. Tuesday • Total War: Rome 2 (PC) • Rayman Legends (360, PS3, Wii U, PC, Vita) • Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (360, PS3)…

A Generic Name Wouldn’t Do Justice to Secret Ponchos‘ Outlaws

Secret Ponchos features outlaws. It features guns, it features shootouts, it features eight-on-eight free-for-alls. It features exactly one poncho, however, and zero secrets. So what’s in its name? “When we started work on the game we put up a development blog, and we needed a name for it,” said Caley Smyth, a developer for Switchblade…

Double Fine is Making Free DLC for the PS4 Pack-In The Playroom

The developer behind Broken Age, Massive Chalice, The Cave, Brutal Legend, and of course Double Fine Happy Action Theater is developing content for the PlayStation 4 tech demo known as The Playroom The Playroom is the augmented reality and mini game application that Sony’s been using to show off the ways the DualShock 4 controller…

Are you in Seattle for PAX this weekend? Come watch me geek out about Final Fantasy with some other cool folks at our panel,The Good, The Bad, and The Moogles: Final Fantasy Funtime Geekout

The Only Reason I Still Own An Original Xbox

Every girl I date seriously must eventually pass a trial. It happens at a certain point in every relationship I have; by then she basically knows what she’s getting with me, including my tendency to get weirdly obsessed with things. The bands Titus Andronicus and Belle & Sebastian, for one thing, or Game of Thrones.…