There Is No Try…

What a bummer of a way to start the week. Maybe we can take consolation in chit-chat about happy things, not necessarily video game related things, in this nightly open thread. I’m going to go cheer myself up with some beer (a Mothership Wit), finally finishing the not-very-good Splatterhouse and watching The Empire Strikes Back…

What Is This Season’s Video Game ‘Fruitcake’?

Many of you are about to be on the receiving end of gifts this holiday season, many of those gifts being video games. Unfortunately, for some unlucky giftees, you’ll be getting the video game equivalent of a fruitcake. For instance, you may find a copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen or James Cameron’s Avatar: The…

Rumor: Is Uncharted 3 Going To The Desert?

After exploring the South American jungles of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and the Himalayas in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, where will half-tucked treasure hunter Nathan Drake find himself next? According to an informed source, Drake’s going to the desert. The same source that says an Uncharted 3 reveal is due on or around the Spike TV…

Salman Rushdie’s Simple Theory On Peace Through Nintendo

Booker Prize-winning author and famous fatwa target Salman Rushdie has a simple solution for how one should liberate Iran, the country whose former Supreme Leader once issued a death sentence against the novelist. Rushdie puts his faith in Nintendo. “I often think that the best way to liberate Iran is to just to drop Nintendo…

Infinity Blade Unsheathes For iPad, iPhone In December

Shadow Complex creator Chair Entertainment brings its Unreal Engine powered action game Infinity Blade (formerly “Project Sword”) to a finite number of iOS device on December 9th, bringing very pretty sword fighting games to iPads and iPods everywhere. Chair and Unreal maker Epic Games have dated and priced ($5.99 USD) the “action-RPG sword fighting adventure,”…

Infinity Blade Screens

It’s Beginning To Smell A Lot Like Christmas

To: Ashcraft From: Totilo Re: Leslie Nielsen, R.I.P. What you see here, Ash, is the way Christmas trees are sold in New York City. This row was propped up along Houston Street this morning. I spotted it while I was on my way to work. Couldn’t miss it. Can you smell the pine needles? I…

The King Of Donkey Kong Country Returns References

Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Country Returns makes homage to on-again, off-again Donkey Kong high score champ Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe’s nemesis in the documentary The King of Kong. How so? See the patriotic neckwear worn by this giant monkey idol? Eagle-eyed NeoGAF member Lijik spotted the reference to hot sauce maker and Donkey Kong master Billy…

Cowboys & Aliens Director Says His Job Is Like Playing Red Dead Redemption All Day

Future summer blockbuster Cowboys & Aliens—based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name—may draw some influence from another Western, Rockstar Games San Diego’s Red Dead Redemption. Director Jon Favreau—of Iron Man film directing fame—says that he and star Daniel Craig “kicked off” filming of next year’s sci-fi Western mash-up with a little Red…

Kinect Sees 2.5 Million Sales In 25 Days

It took ten days for Microsoft’s Kinect to hit one million sales. Now Microsoft reveals that the device has sold 2.5 million units in 25 days. This can only mean one thing: Someone is buying 100,000 Kinects a day. It’s either that, or Kinect is simply selling at a relatively steady rate. The latest numbers…

The Problem With Sex As A Video Game Goal

As you thumb through dialogue trees in Mass Effect, trying to find the best lines to seduce slinky space-warrior Ashley, you’re engaging in what the developers hope is an advanced form of simulated human interaction. Throughout the game, Ashley slowly warms to your own personal Commander Shepard, even reeling off some flirtatious lines of her…

Is that Gunmetal on Your Wrist, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

The watches in the new Tracker Collection from Diesel Watches are made for maximum agility, speed and strength. Militaristic, weathered, and forged from actual gunmetal IP, these rugged time-keepers won’t keep you hidden for long. Molded and stamped grooves in these graphite gray, yellow and off-white watches make the Tracker Collection much more than merely…

A Gears of War That’s ‘Not What You’re Expecting’ Teased

Gears of War fans will want to tune into next month’s Spike TV Video Game Awards, when something new, something Gears of War related will be shown for the first time. Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski says the VGAs will be “showing off some new Gears of War gameplay,” while also guaranteeing the following:…

World Of Warcraft’s Shocking Large Daddy Needs Your Help

In a remote Horde outpost in the Stonetalon Mountains of the newly-restructured World of Warcraft, a young Blood Elf girl named Clarissa begs passers-by to help bring her pal Mr. D back to life. Sound familiar? Players that participated in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta and those players that have ventured into the Stonetalon…

Your User-Generated Android 2010 Gift Guide

The Android is a Google mobile phone platform that has games on it, and that’s about all I can tell you with confidence. I have no Android, but let’s fear no obstacles to having a 2010 Android Gift Guide. Since we’ve run holiday video game buyers’ guides for every other modern gaming platform over the…

Should You Buy An Intellivision? The Intellivision was the second major console to enjoy strong sales success (after the Atari 2600). Consider this my informal advice on whether you should buy an Intellivision or not and, if you do, which games you should get. Should I Buy An Intellivision Now? If you don’t already own…

Epic Mickey Creator Immortalized In Trading Card Form

Artist Len Peralta commemorates this week’s release of Epic Mickey by adding creator Warren Spector to his “Geek a Week” collectible card art project. Check out more art and a podcast interview with Spector at the “Geek a Week” website. Gameface is a photographic and artistic celebration of the people who make, play and love…

Gamers At The Supreme Court, Arguing For Video Games

In the battle between people who want to criminalize the sale of violent games to kids and the video game industry, the video game industry’s fans made a video. This video was shot by the Entertainment Consumers Association, a gamers’ advocacy group, at the Supreme Court on November 2. On that day, the Court heard…

Science Makes Old Mice Young Again

You’re older than you’ve ever been and now you’re even older, unless you’re one of the lucky mice participating in a recent study that’s partially reversed age-related degeneration, resulting in stronger, sharper brains and larger, more virile testicles. It’s a fact of life: Human’s grow old. As we grow old our bodies begin to deteriorate.…

A War Game Where Nothing Could Happen

Video game creator Sion Lenton had an idea for one level of his next war video game. The sequence would feature Marines, probably in near-future Tajikistan, on assignment, on patrol. They’d walk around, looking for bad guys. They’d find none. “I was contemplating having a mission where nothing happens,” he told me while he was…