Rumor: Microsoft Killing Microsoft Points, Will Use Real Money Instead

Good news, haters of arbitrary online currencies! The end for Microsoft’s confusing “Points” system may be near, if a report on Inside Mobile Apps is to be believed. The mobile site claims that Microsoft’s Points will be “phased out” by the end of 2012, with transactions to be listed in a user’s local currency instead.…

The Terrific Game of Thrones Board Game is Full of Violence and Betrayal, Void of Sex

Lies, bloodshed, betrayal! Power and influence, secrets and whispers, fragile alliances shattered in heartache and death! Also, lots of intense, weird sex. These are the things I think of when I think of Game of Thrones. Christian T. Petersen’s A Game of Thrones: The Board Game has all of that stuff. Well, except for the…

The Solar-Powered House of the Future, Controlled With Xbox Kinect

The brainy brains at SCI-Arc and Caltech have designed an entirely solar-powered house that is clean, green, and energy-efficient. It’s also remarkably easy to use, thanks to the fact that the entire thing is powered by Xbox’s Kinect motion controls. Fastcodesign breaks it down: The Compact, Hyper-Insulated Prototype Solar House (CHIP) has an Xbox Kinect…

A Lannister Always Pays His Debts

Terrible Triangle | Jamie and Cersei Lannister gang up on poor Ned Stark via their character cards from A Game of Thrones: The Board Game Why The Apple Trackpad Might Be The Best Video Game Controller Ever Made I was designing a user interface for someone else’s social game the other day, and I was…

They Hired Rob Riggle to Sell You On Call of Duty: Elite

Starting tomorrow, the Call of Duty Elite ‘season’ begins with the first of four planned packs of DLC. Activision seems to believe that The Daily Show‘s Rob Riggle (a former serviceman himself) is the guy to sell it to us, and their new commercial features him taking a testosterone-y tour of Elite services, from study-able…

Street Fighter X Tekken Spawns the World’s First Fighting Game-Centric Reality Show

Not content with merely streaming live matches leading up to the March release of the Street Fighter X Tekken fighting game crossover, Capcom has teamed with iPlayWinner and Team Spooky to create Cross Assault, a live week-long $25,000 tournament masquerading as an internet reality show. Cross Assault will see two fighting game veterans attempting to…

Scientists Want to Use Video Games to Help Kids’ Eyes

When I was a small child my parents would warn me that spending all day in front of the television playing video games would ruin my eyesight. Today researchers at the University of Tennessee Space Institute in Tullahoma have integrated computer games into a device that could be instrumental in saving a child’s eyesight. When…

A Tease of Live-Action Battlefield, By Way of Dead Island

The Grosjean Brothers recently made a fun, short live-action video that showed us what Skyrim would be like if it was set in a convenience store Their big project is going to be a live-action Battlefield 3 movie. This is a clip of it, done in that moody-and-plays-in-reverse style popularized by last year’s trailer for…

Gears of War Creators Are Giving the ‘Dudebro’ Thing a Rest With Fortnite

Epic Games makes macho games that feature manly men. Gears of War, for example. But they’re also making Fortnite, a game their lead game designer, Cliff Bleszinski, tells G4 should help the studio’s shed the developer’s “dudebro” image just a bit. But what’s it like? “Lots of games say they’re about survival but they’re more…

Learn All About the Xbox 360 Witcher 2 This Thursday

CD Projekt RED, the studio behind The Witcher 2, will be holding a live-streamed conference revealing the XBox 360 version’s release date, new features, and more this Thursday at 6PM GMT (1PM Eastern) on their Facebook page

TV Newsman Wonders if It’s Bad For Toddlers to Play Video Games, Tests Them On His Son

More and more toddlers are playing video games, sometimes before they can even talk. Derek James, co-host of Charlotte, North Carolina’s FOX News Rising investigates… using his very cute son as his guinea pig: Toddlers Playing Video Games More Than Ever [FOX Charlotte]

From Ryu Hayabusa to Jeanne d’Arc, Everybody Fights in Warriors Orochi 3

The third installment of Tecmo Koei’s Dynasty Warriors / Samurai Warriors hack-and-slash crossover is coming to North America on March 20, it’s 120+ warrior roster padded with cameos from Ninja Gaiden, Warriors: Legends of Troy, Bladestorm, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll and Dead or Alive Warriors Orochi 3‘s expansive roster demonstrates one of the benefits…

WO Gallery

Why The Apple Trackpad Might Be The Best Video Game Controller Ever Made

I was designing a user interface for someone else’s social game the other day, and I was completely oblivious that I’d just recommended a feature that Just Would Not Do. Usually, I’m pretty good at never recommending these features—that’s my Area Of Expertise: I recommend Features That Will Definitely Work and then suggest tweaks until…

Space Combat Sim SOL: Exodus Launches on Steam January 25

Inspired by space sim classics like Wing Commander and X-Wing Vs. Tie Fighter, Seamless Entertainment’s SOL: Exodus is heading to Steam this Wednesday, giving fans of the genre plenty of time to find their old flight sticks. With several big fans of the space combat sim genre in house, we’ve written quite a bit about…

Release Dates, Prices For Alan Wake and the Rest of the Xbox House Party

The Xbox 360 “House Party” of new downloadable games is official: Warp ($10, Feb 15), Alan Wake’s American Nightmare ($15, Feb 22), Nexuiz ($10, Feb 29) and I Am Alive ($15, March 7). You get $10 in Xbox Points if you buy them all.

Call of Duty Is Now A Subscription Game—Only If You Want It To Be

Ever since the head of gaming giant Activision Blizzard said that the natural evolution of Call of Duty was for it to go massively multiplayer, it’s been fair to wonder when Activision Blizzard would turn their biggest hit into a subscription game—a game you pay to keep playing. Then they denied that they’d ever charge…

Modern Warfare Meets Team Fortress Meets… Real-Life Slingshots

I don’t know about you, but when I have slingshot-paintball-fights with my friends, I generally wish they could be a touch more video-gamey. Filmmaker Andrew McMurry agrees, putting together this a live action film that that weaves normalcy with a convincing digital overlay to give things a distinctly video game feel. Four friends dash into…

Starhawk‘s Outcasts Develop a Sweet Tooth

These long, dark years of waiting are finally over as the latest entry in the Twisted Metal series goes gold. The vehicle combat spectacular races into our hearts on February 14, and it’s bringing a love letter from multiplayer shooter Starhawk along for the ride. Pretty sweet, right? Twisted Metal mascot Sweet Tooth has never…

Average Gamers are Going To Hate BioShock Infinite‘s 1999 Mode

When you first spin up BioShock Infinite later this year don’t expect to see the recently-announced retro-difficult 1999 mode on the main menu. That’s because it’s so tough Ken Levine doesn’t want “the non old-school, hardcore gamer” stumbling into it. I spoke to Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine recently about 1999 mode, an enhanced…