The New Xbox Boss Is… Steve Ballmer?

Former Xbox boss and incoming CEO of Zynga Don Mattrick will not be replaced immediately at Microsoft, according to a memo issued to Microsoft employees from company CEO Steve Ballmer. The Microsoft chief says that Mattrick’s top lieutenants—those in charge of games, the hardware, etc.—will be reporting directly to Ballmer himself. Here’s the e-mail: From:…

Don Mattrick Is Now the CEO of Zynga [UPDATE: Mattrick weighs in]

After an earlier report said that he’d be leaving Microsoft, Don Mattrick has just been announced as CEO of Zynga. Here’s Mark Pincus’ letter detailing the changes at the Farmville company: To our Zynga employees, players and shareholders, Today is a big day. I’m excited to announce that Don Mattrick will be joining us as…

Game Designer Is Hometown Hero to Burglarized Game Store

About a week ago, burglars completely wiped out the stock of I Got Game, an independent game store in Ogdensburg, N.Y., a town of about 10,000 on the St. Lawrence River. The store hadn’t even been open a month. Nothing was insured. The owner was in a daze. Then Brenda and John Romero walked in…

He Forged An Orcish Battle Axe From Skyrim. Then, He Cut Stuff With It

Man At Arms’ Tony Swatton is back, this time trying his hand at a weapon from Skyrim. He does his best to make it look like an orc actually made it—which means making the weapon seem as if it wasn’t made by high-power tools. ‘Cause, you know. Orcs don’t have that stuff. They’d make the…

If you’re in or near New York City, you should go check out this Friday’s tournament centered on Killer Queen—the action/strategy multiplayer game that debuted in a spiffy arcade cabinet at New York University’s No Quarter exhibition. New sprites and a new map will be debuting at the event. Remember: you can cheer on a…

Local News Uncovers Adult Content in LittleBigPlanet 2 Two Years Late

In 2011, Sony released LittleBigPlanet 2 for the PlayStation 3. Two years later, Sacremento, California’s News10 uncovers the startling truth behind its misleading “E for Everyone” rating. Give players the tools to create their own game content, and sooner or later there’s going to be a penis, a phenomenon Stephen Totilo’s hard-hitting investigative report from…

How A Game Made People Think Half-Life 3 Would Be Released This Year

Bossa Studios never intended for Surgeon Simulator 2013 to become a part of a Half-Life 3 conspiracy theory—the ARG puzzle found underneath a medic figurine was simply another element in the game that would require the player to use some inference. “Surgeon Simulator is a trove of easter-eggs and references, this is a big part…

The Moneysaver: Rome II, Deus Ex, Anime, Your New Monitor, Blu-rays

The only thing better than saving on a game after it’s out is saving on it before it even releases. Today StackSocial has your hookup with $15 off future release Total War: Rome II, the eagerly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed Rome: Total War Today is also a great day to pick up Deus…

Just Like That, The Last of Us‘ Hidden Phone-Sex Numbers Are No More

Shortly after The Last of Us came out, we discovered something pretty funny. On a bulletin board in Pittsburgh hung a sign with two phone numbers for “Pest Control.” But if you called those numbers in the real world, you got phone-sex hotlines (Since I’ve seen enough people wondering about this in the comments on…

Top Fighting Gamer Arrested For Allegedly Hitting His Ex-Girlfriend

Orlando police arrested competitive gamer Noel Brown Saturday morning, charging him with “domestic violence battery” for allegedly hitting his ex-girlfriend and another competitive gamer after catching them in a hotel room together. Brown, who is ranked worldwide as a top player of the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 3, was competing in the Community Effort…

Report: The Man in Charge of Xbox Is Leaving Microsoft

Don Mattrick, who’s been the public face for all things Xbox for the last few years, will be leaving Microsoft to take a top leadership role at Zynga, reports All Things D Most recently, Mattrick’s been visible as the person who introduced the Xbox One, Microsoft’s next-gen successor to the best-selling Xbox 360. But the…

Nikola Tesla Battles The Undead In This Beautiful Platformer-To-Be

The evil Thomas Edison sabotaged Tesla’s latest invention, causing undead to rise all over 1800’s America. How can Tesla fix this? Archetype Games hopes to answer this question in some form with their upcoming platformer-puzzler hybrid, Tesla Breaks the World. Randomly-generated levels, unlockable inventions, simple but intuitive mechanics and truly gorgeous hand-drawn visuals will all…

Blood, Dragons, Somber Japanese Ballads–Yep, This is Drakengard

Number three, specifically. With this trailer, Square-Enix showcases the combat, setting, and characters of the latest installment in their Drakengard RPG series. The game is set to come out on October 31 in Japan, with no western release date announced yet I really hope it’s a “yet”

Nintendo has commented on its unsuccessful effort to take control of the WiiU.com domain from someone who registered it back in 2004. “We are continuing to review our legal options,” the company said in a statement.

Neil Gaiman (and Dave McKean) Return to Sandman This October

Writer Neil Gaiman’s first new Sandman comic in a decade will be out on October 30 from Vertigo/DC and will be shipping—sigh—every other month. The prequel series, Sandman Overture, will be drawn by J.H. Williams (Promethea) with covers by Williams and original Sandman cover maestro Dave McKean. Gaiman’s Sandman series, which chronicles the exploits of…

Our Monitors Show Us So Many Things. Now Show Us Your Monitors.

Unless you’re reading this on a cell phone or tablet, you’re staring at a monitor right now. They are glowing portals that take us to work and play every day. What does your window to the digital world look like? I’ll show you mine, you show me yours — that’s how this works, right? Meet…

Microsoft Sends a Halo Warthog to the Seattle Pride Parade

Is it cool that Microsoft turned out for the Seattle Pride Parade? Sure, but some support of diversity is a basic expectation of such a major employer. Now, what is cool is the fact Microsoft rolled in the Seattle Pride Parade with a Warthog and Master Chief. The folks in blue are wearing pride-themed T-shirts…

The Must-See League of Legends Match Of The Weekend

Over the weekend, many professional League of Legends, StarCraft II and Call of Duty players convened in Anaheim, California to compete in Major League Gaming’s Spring Championship. But one of the most riveting battles involved American pro Xpecíal’s incredible, 40-minute play displaying some of the most impressive unit-control and micro-management I’ve seen. For those of…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: More from JJtheTexan on Nintendo’s lost games. PyramidHeadcrab wants to know if you’ve ever had a video game crush. And, DamsonRhee shares a great post about the in-jokes and shared experiences that we overlay on top of the games we play And you can always…

Steam’s Fresh Batch of Greenlit Games Includes “Minecraft with Guns”

Of course, Guncraft is just one of the eight games (and three software titles) the community approved for Steam-driven distribution last week. We’ve got a jungle survival game, a supernatural adventure-thriller, and even a mining adventure set on Mars. Let’s dive right in. Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller An episodic point-and-click adventure game series starring…