Breaking Down The Absurd Anatomy of a Video Game Scare Piece

Yesterday, Katie Couric did an hour-long exposé on the dangers of violent, addictive video games. While at times it attempted to be sympathetic and contained actual moments of pathos, it was essentially a maudlin, fear-mongering and clichéd piece of television meant to provide easy answers and scapegoats to very real, complicated problems. Here’s the whole…

Why Hasn’t Nintendo Turned The Wii U Into A ‘Nintendo Paradise’?

The Wii U is struggling because it has so few games. Nintendo has a massive library of amazing classic games. How have they not put two and two together yet? Last week, Nintendo finally launched the Wii U’s Virtual Console, which allows you to download and buy classic games so you can play them with…

You Can Keep A Game of Tetris Going Forever. Here’s How.

Provided some tips—like those from tetrisconcept—you can keep a game of Tetris going forever. All you need is a Tetris game that randomly generates piece sequences, a hold feature, and at least 3 piece previews. Not all Tetris games work like that, though ‘good’ ones are supposed to (apparently). You might need to check if…

That Tiny Tina Borderlands 2 DLC Will Release on June 25

Today Gearbox acknowledged the next piece of downloadable content coming to Borderlands 2 is indeed named Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep. It’s coming out on June 25, either for $9.99 (aka 800 Microsoft points) or for free as part of the Season Pass purchase. The game centers on narrator Tiny Tina, the rambunctious little…

The God of Schemes Acts Natural in The Elder Scrolls Online

Daedric Prince Molag Bal, is the Cobra Commander of Tamriel, always trying to enslave the souls of the world to his will, always going about it the wrong way. He’s the god of schemes, after all — not the god of carefully crafted plans. For instance, there’s an ancient prophecy in the Elder Scrolls that…

I loved Comics Alliance, the AOL nerd-culture site that was just shuttered this week. Over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald has a great write-up about why the site mattered, what might be next for its former staffers and what its closing might portend for other similar outlets.

Occupy Movement-Style Superheroes Are in My Favorite Panel This Week

The Movement #1 – I was skeptical about The Movement at first back when DC comics announced it as part of a pair of new series focused on the fractious class and political divides in modern-day America. These could be comics that felt horribly out of touch if the execution stumbled. The first issue’s out…

Two Meme Creators Are Suing The People Who Made Scribblenauts

Oh man. The guy who created Keyboard Cat (Charles Schmidt) and the guy who created Nyan Cat (Christopher Orlando Torres) are suing Warner Bros. and 5th Cell for using the two cat memes in their game Scribblenauts This complaint comes a little bit late: Scribblenauts came out in 2009. But hey, trademark lawyers are gonna…

The Moneysaver: Call Of Duty: Ghosts Deals, Plus Blade Runner

I’ve seen prices you people wouldn’t believe. [laughs] Circuit Cities on fire across the country. I watched people kill for $3 waffle irons on Black Friday. All those discounts will expire, like [cough] tears in rain. Time to save. The ghosts are real. Call of Duty: Ghosts is officially the next installment in the biggest…

This Is The Prettiest Game On iTunes, But Looks Aren’t Everything

I stare at the glorious handcrafted world of Blitz Games’ Paper Titans for hours, lazily rotating each colorfully cobbled-together stage. I would gladly take a large stack of proto-form Titans, popping them out of their paper prisons and folding them to life with a flick of my finger. This striking setting cries out for interaction…

Borderlands 2 Writer Leaks Name Of New DLC

Whoops! Looks like the next piece of downloadable content for Borderlands 2 is called “Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep.” Borderlands writer Anthony Burch tweeted this picture, which has since been deleted (but not before the folks at Stealthy Box got a screengrab). There in the background is a poster that sure looks like the…

Bento Makes A Case For Why You Should Play With Your Food

Bento makes for an adorable lunch—many of us knew that already. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that bento also makes for adorable stop motion animation. YouTuber Mari Miyazawa has a channel full of bento. Some of it features tutorials, and some of it is what she calls “Bento Theater.” Here are a few more of…

I’ve Seen Grand Theft Auto V. This One’s Radically Different.

The things that stick out to me about Grand Theft Auto V are not the major things I was supposed to focus on when I saw the game in action at Rockstar HQ this week. But I’ll tell you those smaller things first, anyway. There’s a nine-hole golf course in this game. You can play…

Oh, Good: A PlayStation Vita Game About When Guys Need to Pee

The rise of smartphones and mobile gaming means that there’s also been a rise of bathroom gaming. (Don’t act like you don’t do it.) But there hasn’t been an uptick in games about bathrooms. If you’ve been waiting for one, Men’s Room Mayhem offers you some relief. MRM looks like it’s going to be fairly…

Another Quirky RPG Is Coming To The 3DS eShop

Remember The Denpa Men, that cute 3DS RPG that was sort of a cross between Dragon Quest and Pikmin? It must have done well in the U.S., because the sequel is coming here too. The Denpa Men 2 will be out on the 3DS eShop on May 30, thanks to the folks at localization company…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: A pair of reader reviews covers recent downloadable titles. Contributor AzureGuy offers his thoughts on trippy first-person brawler Zeno Clash II and Tjoeb123 takes Black Rock Shooter out for a spin. And PsychoSmiley looks at games that had great ideas but failed to garner enough…

That iOS Game From The Makers Of XCOM Is Out Today (And Free)

I love free things, especially when they are free strategy games from Firaxis, the development studio that brought us XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization V, among many other great games. Firaxis’s next game, the spooky, free-to-play strategy title Haunted Hollow, is out today for iOS. Our very own Mike Fahey downloaded it this morning, and…

It’s a old-school-centric line-up for the Nintendo Download this week as Pac-Man, Mega Man and Balloon Fight all show up on the Wii U Virtual Console. Here’s the full-list

I Think I’m In Love With This Dreamy StarCraft II Dating Sim

Someone just made a faux dating sim—in line with a game like Katawa Shoujo—using Korea’s top StarCraft II players. Thank god the StarCraft esports scene is full of great personalities and players, because a funny dating sim like this would actually work. The two guys featured here—SK_MC and Marinekingprime—have been competing since the launch of…

Unemployed Gamers: ‘I’m Not A Thief’

Last week, we asked readers to submit their stories of gaming while unemployed or underemployed. We received over 100 submissions. Today we’d like to share some of them. When you don’t have much money, gaming is more than just a hobby: it’s a necessary distraction. Games can help you get through the day. We heard…