Candy Corn Oreos and Pumpkin Spice Kisses: It’s the Snacktaku Halloween Variety Spooktacular!

For the children and children-at-heart that don fancy costumes for a night of fun and frolicking, Halloween is October 31. For the certified snack professional, the spooky festivities begin in September, when Cadbury, Mars, Hershey and Nabisco roll out their holiday-themed candy. Hold out your bags, boys and girls. Some snack manufacturers play it safe…

Zynga Buys Company That Made a Facebook Game I Really Liked

Last year, I praised the Facebook game Lucky Space, a space-mining strategy game, for being a) more complex than the average Facebook game and b) fun. Then I forgot to keep playing it, and at some point, perhaps recently, the game was yanked from Facebook? Why? (And isn’t that weird?) The answer may well be…

I Can Never Look At Pac-Man The Same Way Again

In fact, come to that, I may simply never look at Pac-Man again. It’s just too horrifying. Zach Weiner’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic crosses the generation gap between an arcade-loving man and a desensitized modern-day kid. Arcade games? Boring? Oh no. Arcade games are terrifying “Pacman,” the man explains, “is the story of a…

One Heck of an Easter Egg Waits For You in Borderlands 2

At a Borderlands 2 panel PAX Prime last month, Randy Pitchford teased attendees with an “accidental” glimpse of an easter egg paying homage to a super-successful indie game. Stop reading here if you don’t want to get spoiled. According to this thread on Reddit, there’s a bit of Minecraft in Gearbox’s hotly anticpated shooter. Screens…

This Is Easily The Greatest Xbox Live Beatboxing I’ve Ever Heard

We’ve all heard a lot of weird things over Xbox Live, and by “weird things” I mean “new and creative horizons in racism and homophobia.” But sometimes, just sometimes, we get to hear something truly amazing. This is one of those times. In the video above, beatboxer PinturaEFX (whose real name is Joshua Miranda) goes…

Three Black Mesa Scientists Have An Awesome Meta-Conversation About Black Mesa: Source

Black Mesa: Source, the long-in-development mod/remake of the original Half-Life, is now available to play. For free. I’m really liking it. Much more than I was expecting to, in fact. It plays like a loving, alt-universe version of Half-Life, which is the best possible approach they could’ve taken. Rather than attempting to pull off a…

Microsoft announces a renewed trademark for Killer Instinct. Wonder what that means for Rare’s cult fighting game?

This Piece of Clothing is More Exciting Than World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

The next World of Warcraft expansion is only a week away, which gives me something to do until November, when the official Mists of Pandaria panda hoodie I just ordered from Jinx arrives. I am a huge fan of hats with ears on them, but as a nearly 40-year-old 6’6″ bald man with a beard,…

Here’s Your First Look at Bad Piggies, The Next Game from the Angry Birds People

Swine are supposed to be one of the smartest species of fauna on the planet. So it makes sense that Bad Piggies-–the next big game coming from Rovio, the dev studio who created the hit Angry Birds franchise—will have players trying to be mad scientists who create all sorts of insane transportation to get from…

It’s Obama Vs. Romney In An Auto-Tuned Video Game Deathmatch

What if Obama and Romney were video game characters, and the national conventions were where they did battle? And what if it wasn’t just any video game, but a super catchy music game, where the candidates crooned and harmonized as they amassed a high score of hope-mentions and implications of faith? Well, I’d probably watch,…

Can You Tell The Difference Between Wii Mario and Wii U Mario?

One of these screenshots above is from New Super Mario Bros. U. The other is for New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Move the slider back and forth to compare. Can you tell which is which? Try this set, too. How about this one? And finally… The Wii U image is the first shot in all…

Why It Doesn’t Matter If This Incredible Looking Racing Game Is on an iPhone

Rob Murray knows you’re going to compare Real Racing 3 to the Gran Turismos and Forza Motorsports of the world. Those PlayStation and Xbox franchises stand as the two best exemplars of a certain kind of authentic racing experience on consoles. Their fans want to replicate being inside a car as much as possible. They…

In Airport Scanner, You Scan People’s Luggage

This is actually a clever idea for a smartphone game: you watch people’s baggage and try to spot weapons. See? Clever! But Airport Scanner is much more than that. In Airport Scanner, there are a variety of things you must keep an eye out for—from pistols and dynamite to ice skates and large bottles of…

A League of Legends For The PlayStation 3, But With Guns and a Lombax

The next Ratchet & Clank game may be the first important Ratchet & Clank game in many years. The new Ratchet, Full-Frontal Assault, is a modified MOBA or DOTA, and if you don’t know what that means then you may be unaware of one of the hottest genres of video games in the world. Two…

Dragon Age III: Inquisition Is Official, Will Use Battlefield 3‘s Graphics Tech

BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah announced the game officially on the BioWare blog today. The game, called Dragon Age III: Inquisition, doesn’t have much further information beyond the title, which we first heard floated in an earlier leak of some information from a marketing survey. BioWare added in a press release that they are targeting…

Five Reasons Not to Buy the Wii U from a Reputable British Newspaper

With all the excitement surrounding the upcoming release of Nintendo’s next console, Britain’s largest daily newspaper takes a hard look at the facts of the matter and warns the public against an early Wii U purchase. We should all cancel our preorders right away, as The Sun sets us straight: the GamePad is a Vita,…

Lots of Things Go Boom In Borderlands 2‘s Launch Trailer

As they should. This launch trailer tells me a few things. For instance, Handsome Jack is an asshole, but we already knew that. The siren Maya is a damn good option for cooperative play, but I already knew that. Oh, and there are a ton of bandits and mechs to fight through. A ton. To…

Nintendo Doesn’t Think Your Wii U Will Collect Dust

Maybe your Wii is collecting dust. Maybe you’re sick of hearing people say that their Wiis are collecting dust. Either way, it’s undeniable that the Wii has not garnered the same software support as, say, the Xbox 360. Or the PlayStation 3. The Wii’s release schedule over the past two years has had some serious…

Somehow, Hitman: Absolution Will Let Agent 47 Kill Dudes With a Plunger

This “Tools of the Trade” trailer makes a point of showing us all the different things that Agent 47 can turn into deadly weapons in the bald death-dealer’s return to consoles and PC. Some of these implements make sense, like the pistols, submachine guns and sniper rifles that the camera lovingly lingers on. And others—like…

Starting Today, Canned Air Is On Sale in China

In Spaceballs, one of the greatest movies ever made, Mel Brooks huffs canned air. The movie features a made up brand called “Perri-Air”, but that doesn’t mean canned air is fiction. Today in China, billionaire Chen Guangbiao launched his line of canned air. Each can of “Good Person Chen Guangbiao” (that’s the trademark!) canned air…