Freedom Is A Snazzy Orange Glider

In a previous instalment of Fine Art, we highlighted the work of Ninja Theory’s Alessandro Taini. So it’s cool today to get the chance to show off another of the studio’s talented artists, Dan Baker. Having previously worked for studios like Free Radical and Blitz Games, Baker has been at Ninja Theory since 2009. You…

The “Father” Of The Computer Mouse Has Passed Away At Age 88

Douglas Engelbart, one of the great pioneers of computer science, has passed away at his home in Atherton, Calif. He was 88 years old. While he’s credited with helping bring about several fundamental computing innovations, from graphical user interfaces to hyperlinks, his most lasting achievement was the work that led to the invention of the…

Nintendo’s Region-Locking Excuses Are Pretty Weak

In an interview with IGN, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was asked about the company’s insistence on region-locking its current hardware. His responses would be funny if they weren’t so tragic. “From some people’s perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we’re selling our products…

Japan Getting Sweet Pokémon X & Y 3DS Handheld

On October 12, Japan will be getting this very sharp custom Pokémon 3DS XL, bearing illustrations of the two new legendary creatures – Xerneas and Yveltal – making their debut in Pokémon X & Y.

Zynga Mistake Puts Random Stranger In Customer Support Role

In select circumstances, until earlier today, the Zynga game Coasterville told users to email a certain address @themepark.com if something went wrong. The problem is, that email address didn’t belong to a Zynga employee. Instead, it belonged to Eric Mueller, who owns the domain themepark.com, which he uses for his web design firm. Now, Eric…

Reminder: You Can Now Watch Some of the Swimming Anime

Here it finally is, people—after being teased with a 30 second clip which few people believed would become a full-fledged show, the Swimming Anime is real. In fact, you can watch it right now over at Crunchyroll; they’re streaming it starting today. Here’s some vague info on the plot, along with some of the people…

Thesecond “Molyjam” will be going down this weekend at a ton of locations around the world. If you’re interested in joining up and making a weird, amazing game, head on over to their site and find a spot near you

Convos About Who Should Be In Smash Bros Get Pretty Ridiculous

You can’t mention Super Smash Bros without a discussion erupting about which characters should be in it. It’s all in good fun; the characters are the point of the game! But as this video by videogamedunkey highlights, dang if those conversations can’t get a bit silly sometimes. I for one would love for “Tetris,” “Vice…

Sony Cancels Bargain Beyond Two Souls Preorders

A few weeks back, Sony’s own online store was offering insanely cheap preorders for upcoming PS3 exlcusive Beyond Two Souls. It seemed like a deal too good to be true! It was. Sony has today begun cancelling those preorders, offering $5 coupons as a means of apologising for the mix-up. Which is a little disappointing;…

The Lone Ranger Game Is A Red Dead Disappointment

If Red Dead Redemption were a free-to-play social game, it would be pretty horrible, filled with mundane click quests governed by an energy meter, constant pressure to bug your friends to join your posse, and brief spurts of action that amount to little more than timed tapping. It would be The Lone Ranger. First off,…

Breakout Inside of Breakout Inside of Breakout

Playing a game embedded inside another game isn’t a new idea. But few games have done it as simply or as well as BRICK[bricksmash]SMASH. Alan Hazelden’s Breakout homage multiplies the action so that you’re playing 17 bouncing-ball-and-paddle games at once. The end result is hypnotic and brilliant. When I reached him by e-mail, Hazelden said…

Life Behind Bars ‘Extremely Traumatic’ For League Of Legends Player

According to the parents of the 19-year-old facing eight years of prison for making threatening Facebook comments, jail has been a horrible experience for Justin Carter. Maybe that sounds like a no-brainer, but reading the specifics of what Justin Carter is undergoing while jailed is kind of shocking. Yesterday, we learned that Carter is on…

Send Her A Video Game Thing, Or Anything, And She’ll Paint It For You

I do not know where Ali Spagnola gets her energy, but I’ll have what she’s having. We first met the musician/artist/writer/all-around-dynamo upon learning of her“power hour” drinking game/album, which came with 60 one-minute tunes, each of which must be accompanied by a shot of beer en route to drunktown. Amid the drinking and the concerts,…

SimCity Survey Gropes About For Ways To Keep Folks Playing

It seems a few players were a little upset with the way the most recent installment of SimCity turned out. Today a survey is making the rounds suggesting several potential features and expansions that might transform Maxis’ train-wreck into the game we wanted in the first place. What sort of improvements and changes? How about…

The Walking Dead: 400 Days Is A Clever, Successful Experiment

Just like that, there was a new episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. And guess what? It’s good! More than that, it’s interesting. A collection of five interwoven short stories, The Walking Dead: 400 Days is just the sort of experiment that smaller downloadable episodes make possible. Telltale appears to be running with that, putting…

The Visual Evolution of the Halo Series This Generation

We’re nearing the end of this console generation—which makes it easy to reminisce about where this generation has taken us. In the graphical department, it’s hard to deny how far we’ve come. Look no further than the Halo franchise, which has had multiple iterations this generation, to see evidence of a visual leap in the…

A Day Before Egyptian Coup, Protestors Flashed Giant ‘Game Over’ Sign

Pinball machines and video games (oh, and the movie Aliens) popularized the phrase “Game Over.” Those two words are also used at times of political unrest. Google Images turns upplenty of examples. And here’s a new one, via Facebook, photographed on July 2 during a laser light show on the side of a government building…

Every Game Would Be Better With Blink From Dishonored

The best part of Dishonored—a phenomenal game in just about every way—is the Blink spell, an ability that lets you instantly teleport a short distance in front of you. Blink is really, really cool. So cool that we think it should really be in every video game. Witness: See? Feel free to make your own…

CNBC Calls Zynga a ‘Buy’ Now That Former Xbox Boss Is CEO

Sure, some people think that former Xbox czar Don Mattrick isn’t going to turn Zynga’s miserable fortunes around. But, other individuals— business-minded folk—think the exact opposite. The most interesting thing about this clip is the perceptions being quickly flung around about the executive leaders of companies like Microsoft, Zynga, EA and Activision. It’s one thing…

College Humor Takes On The Xbox One

Best part of this wonderful video, produced by the very funny folks at College Humor? The blurb: “Microsoft is screwing everybody, especially us by retracting all these policies one day after we filmed this.” Whoops. Still, this is awesome. “Alls I wanna do is be sad and alone in my basement!”