Are MOBA Games Too Fast? Go Turn-Based With Arena Of Heroes

The multiplayer online battle arena genre started off as a fast-paced variant of real-time strategy games. This week Sneaky Games dials back the action and ramps up the strategy with Arena of Heroes, a turn-based cross-platform MOBA jam for iPad, PC and Mac. What a difference taking turns makes. It’s MOBA meets chess. Players take…

Civilization V: Brave New World Gets An Excellent Early Launch Trailer

It’s even narrated by Captain Anderson Keith David. Anything that man touches is gold. The newest expansion to Firaxis Games’ turn-based strategy title, Civilization V: Brave New World, will feature nine new civilizations, eight wonders, and introduces several new mechanics to the main game, such as trade routes and the World Congress. Expect it to…

The Best Games of 2013’s Amazing First Six Months

The year could end right now and we could already declare 2013 one of gaming’s greatest years. Have we ever had a first half as stacked as this? Let’s celebrate by having some friendly debates about which games were the best. First, to remind you of how good it’s been, lets marvel at this horn…

The daily Smash Bros. screenshots on Nintendo’s site can easily compete with anything the internet at large has to offer. Take, for example, the one uploaded today. We’ll probably never know what’s going on in the pic between Mario and the Wii Trainer. They are not fighting, that’s for sure.

The Devil is a Part-Timer! is Clever, Witty, and Just Plain Fun

When the spring anime season was reaching its mid-way point five weeks ago, I listed The Devil is a Part-Timer! as one of the five anime you should be watching. And while the second half of the series didn’t quite live up to the quality of the first half, it is still an anime that…

Contrast Gives Us 5 Screenshots Before Stepping Back Into The Shadows

Indie platformer Contrast sure is coming along nicely. We first caught glimpse of the game earlier this year, when we got a taste of the unique shadow-platforming mechanics behind the game. Now, with these screenshots, we get to see the moody, film-noir inspired world in greater detail. Have a look below. Contrast is expected to…

This Is “Tank Sushi”

And it kind looks like a tank. Well, one covered with dead fish. It does. See? The world has already seen battleship sushi (here), and now, here is “sensha sushi” (戦車寿司), or “tank sushi”. As pointed out by Naver, a sushi restaurant called Kurisakiya began offering a tank sushi in honor of Japanese anime Girls…

Ghost in the Shell‘s Product Placement Pisses Me Off

This last weekend marked the Japanese premiere of Ghost in the Shell: Arise border: 1 Ghost Pain. Needless to say, I enjoyed the film. What I didn’t enjoy was the incredibly blatant and distracting product placement surrounding the film—like this three-minute commercial for the Microsoft Surface. The commercial stars the cast of Ghost in the…

20 Great Artists Want To Make An Album Celebrating Video Game Music

“Game audio is still something that’s not really recognised for what it is,” muses Rik Ede, composer for Wipeout HD and organizer of a Kickstarter to fund a brand new album created by some of the biggest names in video game music. The people involved in the project represent a wide variety of genres, be…

Toshiba Commercial Called “Racist” [Update]

Toshiba is not just a Japanese corporation. It’s an international one, with offices all over the world. But one of its commercials for the Japanese market is being dubbed as “racist”. Below, you can watch the ad. It’s for rice maker called “SuiPanDa” that doubles as a bread maker. The ad was spotted by Debito.org.…

Pokémon is getting its own game show. On August 17 and 18, the Pokémon Game Show will be held at Tokyo Big Sight and will offer fans the first playable Pokémon X/Y demo. Admission will be free, so expect long lines.

All The Serious Sam Games, In One Convenient Package, On The Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 will be getting an on-disc compilation of every game in the Serious Sam series of first-person shooters. Well, almost every game. The aptly titled Serious Sam Collection contains the HD versions of First Encounter and Second Encounter, Serious Sam 3 BFE along with the Jewel of the Nile DLC, and Serious Sam…

Nintendo Boss Didn’t Say He’d Quit, Yo

Earlier this year, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said he felt “strongly responsible” for a two-year string of Nintendo losses. Strong enough to resign? Um… Asfirst posted in January, Iwata mentioned his “commitment” to a business profit goal of ¥100 billion (US$ 1.1 billion) by the end of the next business year ending in March, 2014.…

Does the Internet Get More Awkward Than “Eye to Eye”?

Meet Taher Shah. He’s here to melt your mind and rule the internet. According to Propakistani (via TechInAsia), the singer is becoming an online sensation in Pakistan with his new music video, “Eye to Eye.” The title’s hash tag is already trending there, and internet people seem ironically amused and somewhat bewildered by the video,…

Princess Crown is an Interesting Piece of Gaming History

With Dragon Crown’s upcoming Japanese release only a few scant weeks away, I decided to take a look back at one of its spiritual predecessors—the similarly titled Princess Crown. And while it is by no means a perfect game, it was a trail blazer for some of the most beautiful and beloved games of the…

The Red Dead Movie Is Out, And It Sure Is Something

First teased earlier in the month, a 14-minute Red Dead Redemption movie is now ready for viewing. And it’s…yeah. Put together by fans, it puts the map icon on “70s schlock tribute” and doesn’t stop riding towards it the whole damn time. Red Dead Redemption Fan Film [YouTube]

Well, This Indie Combat Game Continues To Blow My Socks Off

Strike Vector is a game that’scome out of nowhere. Worked on by four people, it’s a multiplayer aerial combat game that looks like a whole bunch of people’s dream game ideas from the 90s made real. Screw the combat (OK, not really, because it looks fun), but the game could just be about flying through…

Ten Years Later, A Terrible Game Is Not So Terrible Anymore

In a rush to cash in on the popularity of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, publishers Bethesda and developers Akella released in 2003 a very strange game. It wasn’t really a Pirates of the Caribbean game. It had been in development as a sequel to Sea Dogs, a 2000 game that itself was…

Forget Call Of Duty, I’m Hanging Out For This Hardcore PC Shooter

Bohemia Interactive’s ArmA III is out later this year, and while for many the series’ super hardcore simulation slant is off-putting, for me it’s just about the perfect implementation of a military shooter. Or tank sim. Or jet combat game. Or truck driving simulator. While the finished game isn’t out for another few months, an…

You Can Now Buy The Internet. The Whole Damn Thing.

If you’ve never seen The IT Crowd, I feel bad for you, son. I also suggest you watch this Up to speed? OK, awesome. Aussie artist Mike Jenkins has started building his own replicas of The Internet, complete with blinking red light, and is selling them for roughly $30. $30, for the entire internet. Bargain!…