Six Comics That Introduce Trouble This Week

If you’re here in the Panel Discussion programming block, you might be a lapsed comics reader, trying to find a way back to the JLA Satellite. Or you might someone killing time until you pick up your weekly Wednesday pull list. Or maybe you’ve said goodbye to dozens of longboxes to embrace the promise of…

A Defense of Aquaman—From the Voice of Aquaman

I heard from many of you after this lip-curling, anti-Atlantean tract last week, in which I explained my soft bigotry of no expectations of Aquaman. Your complaints were printed out, read and thrown into my fireplace to warm my home. Then I took a phone call. From the voice of Aquaman. “This is Jens Andersen,”…

Here’s The Fantastic Launch Trailer For StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

Oh man. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is coming out in two weeks. The sequel to 2010’s Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm promises to continue the story of marine Jim Raynor, alien-human-crazy beast Sarah Kerrigan, and all of the other fascinating characters that inhabit the StarCraft universe. Blizzard—the folks behind StarCraft—have always…

One Comics Fan’s Cosmic Quest to Collect All of Jack Kirby’s Covers

Jack Kirby earned his nickname. The man known as the King of Comics drew incredibly fast, incredibly well and with incredible imagination. He had a hand in creating many of Marvel Comics’ most well-loved characters—including Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, and others—did ground-brealing work at DC Comics and also drew comics in the romance, Western…

The excellent Blade Runner-esque adventure game Gemini Rue is coming to iOS this spring. Some iOS screens here

Kingdom Rush, Anodyne and Receiver Head Up The Latest Games Greenlit On Steam

Valve has announced the fifth set of games and applications to be approved through their Greenlight community review system. The list includes Anodyne, the game that successfully embraced piracy to get noticed, and the wonderful iOS game Kingdom Rush. Receiver, Wolfire’s intricate gun-detail FPS that I’ve been meaning to play, has also been approved. (A…

Why the New Tomb Raider Works

The reboot of Tomb Raider was a big dice roll. It takes Lara Croft—one of the most recognizable characters in all of video games—and puts her back to the beginning, with a new look in a game that’s markedly different in tone. But the gamble works. In the video above, video editor Chris Person and…

A Game Where You Have To Talk Characters Out Of Committing Suicide

What if someone on the verge of suicide came to you, and you had to talk them out of it? Could you do it? That’s what Inner Vision, a choice driven narrative game, gives you as a challenge. There are three characters, each with a different set of problems. Someone is wrestling with their sexuality…

‘Nintendo’s Doomed, They Should Go Third-Party!’—Said Everyone, Ever.

Yesterday, former Epic Games designer and Dead Space aficionado Cliff Bleszinski was quoted by GamesIndustry International about what he perceived as the worst turmoil the industry’s experienced since the eighties. The situation was so bad, he suggested, that even Nintendo might throw in the towel and go software-only, like Sega did after the Dreamcast’s meager…

FarmVille 2 Celtic Kitchen Recipes: Everything You Need to Know

As we continue our look at the Celtic item theme in FarmVille 2, we now head into the game’s Crafting Kitchen with the theme’s three new recipes. These recipes will only be available for the next 27 days, while the themed ingredients themselves are available in the store for the next 20 days. Without further…

Assassin’s Creed IV Is All About Pirates, According To This Poster

Is the next Assassin’s Creed all about pirates? A tipster just sent over marketing materials for something called Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Ubisoft hasn’t announced anything about the next Assassin’s Creed just yet, other than the fact that it will star a new character and a new setting, and it will be out next…

Uncharted 3‘s multiplayer goes free-to-play this week (well, it caps you at level 15.) Sony has all the details here.

Preorders for Razer’s Edge PC gaming tablet start 3/1 at RazerZone.com, with systems shipping later in the month.

I Swear, Backflip Madness, I Will Throw You Out The F**king Window

You control a man in very fetching leotards. You’ve got to make him backflip. And that’s it! Sound easy? Hahahah. Hahah. Hah. No. No, it is not easy. Requiring a similar level of timing and “rhythm” to something like, say, QWOP, the whole trick to the game is that you control each aspect of the…

Start packing your gaming PC for a roadtrip. QuakeCon will be happening August 1-4 in Dallas this year. More info here

Revitalized Steampunk Saga Edge of Twilight Starts on iOS

I’ve been following the development of Fuzzyeyes Planescape-esque steampunk adventure Edge of Twilight since 2007‘s first teasing glimpse of a world that seemed torn from the pages of one Dungeons & Dragons‘ most underrated settings. In 2009 there were rumors that the entire project had been scrapped, and development slipped into limbo. Then, in December…

New Caps, Old Parks Welcome You Back to The Show

Do sports video games deserve a spoiler alert? If I don’t put one here, I’m sure someone will complain about it. Over the weekend I heard various reports of MLB 13 The Show being sold before it’s supposed to hit shelves next week. Someone got their hands on a copy and have been feeding Operation…

‘You’re not a bad person if you play a shooter’ – Keighley, Crecente and Totilo On The Fear of Violent Video Games

I appeared on this week’s episode of Game Trailers TV with host Geoff Keighley and former Kotaku Editor-in-Chief and current Polygon news boss Brian Crecente. You’re not going to see any of us attacking violent video games, but I think you might enjoy seeing and hearing some level-headed discussion about the topic. Take a look…

The Angry Birds Cartoon is Launching Next Month. Take Cover.

You know what the most recognizable characters in mobile gaming are lacking? Character. Debuting March 16 and 17, Rovio’s Angry Birds Toons series will define Red, Black, Blue, White, Yellow and the pigs by their story arcs instead of their parabolic arcs. Yeah, I’ve been waiting to use that forever. As much as many of…

I Used To Smoke Pot Every Time I Played A Video Game. Here’s Why I Stopped.

I started smoking pot during my junior year of college, after a loud and messy breakup with my first girlfriend that sent me into an absolutely manic rage. It was shortly after she left, bawling, that one of my roommates asked if I wanted to get high. I guess that was his way of trying…