Xbox

American and British Governments May Have Spied on WoW and Xbox Live

American and British spies infiltrated World of Warcraft and Second Life, using the games to monitor what they think are terrorist communications, recruit informers, and gather data on communications between players, according to classified documents uncovered by the non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica. Xbox Live activity also was monitored by the agencies, which include the…

Idea: Let Cats Decide A Winner In The Console Wars

Reader Gareth decided to settle the console wars the only way he knew how: by getting his cat to decide. Gareth, your Nobel Peace Prize is in the mail. “My cat, as you can see from the attached, prefers the larger, low humming warmth afforded by the Xbox One”, Gareth writes. “He consistently sleeps on…

Skullgirls Makers Say Konami Asked PSN, Xbox Live to Remove the Game

Lab Zero, the makers of the fighting game Skullgirls, says Konami, which published the game to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network in 2012, has asked Microsoft and Sony to take the game off the services. The administrator of the official forums for Skullgirls updated the community on the news, saying that Lab Zero found out…

The Week in Games: Peggle For Your Thoughts

The year still has a few delights in store for us, beginning tomorrow with Peggle 2 on Xbox One. Doki-Doki Universe lands on Tuesday for all PlayStation platforms that access PlayStation Network. Angry Birds, inevitably, gets its kart racer on Wednesday. Here’s the week in games. Monday, Dec. 9 Peggle 2 (Xbox One) Tuesday, Dec.…

A Retired NFL Pro Skips the Autograph Line for a Call of Duty Lobby

Seven years ago, Hunter Hillenmeyer was signing autographs in a Jewel-Osco supermarket up in Fox Lake, Ill., the kind of ham-and-egg gig that any Chicago Bear could expect at some point in his career if he was any good. It wasn’t anyone’s idea of stressful work. Smile, pretend to be famous, collect your couple-three thousand…

Ubisoft Shows Off The Division‘s Next-Gen Engine

This is the “Snowdrop Engine” powering The Division, which spent about three minutes at the Spike VGX boasting of the detail it will deliver to “a chaotic and decayed New York City.” Not much in the way of gameplay, but If volumetric lighting, dynamic particle system and dynamic material shaders make you drool, then you’ll…

Bungie’s Destiny Gets Another Gorgeous Trailer

Fresh off its big cover in Game Informer this week, Bungie’s next space opera, Destiny, got this closeup premiere video at tonight’s Spike VGX. The game arrives Sept. 9, 2014. Go here to see much more about the 2013 Spike VGX, including all the award categories and their nominees.

A Closer Look At Xbox One Exclusive Quantum Break

Time stands still and stutters after an experiment gone wrong in Quantum Break, the first next-gen title from Remedy, the makers of Alan Wake. The studio showed off the game with a trailer at tonight’s VGX. Here it is. First shown off at E3, Remedy treated us to a deeper look, with gameplay, at tonight’s…

Tomb Raider Gets A Next-Gen Facelift

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition will come to PS4 and Xbox One by the end of January, updating this year’s Tomb Raider reboot for the next-gen platforms. A specific date was not announced. [Update: Here’s the trailer!] Camilla Luddington, the voice of Lara Croft and Scott Amos of developer Crystal Dynamics introduced the game at the…

NBA 2K14 Keeps Crashing, but 2K Sports Says It Knows What’s Wrong

A recently released patch for the Xbox One version of NBA 2K14 appears to have done little to solve the repeated crashes occurring in the game’s MyCareer mode. While 2K Sports says it knows what the problem is, it has no timetable on when a solution may arrive. Server problems have bothered NBA 2K14 players…

Sheriff Offers Xbox One as Reward to Catch BB Gun Vandals

A shrewd lawman in a town outside of New Orleans has a novel approach to putting a stop to a recent wave of pellet-gun vandalism: Offer an Xbox One as a reward. Maybe that’ll get someone to fink on these twerps. Sheriff Greg Champagne of St. Charles Parish, La. offered up the bounty on Thursday.…

Destiny Will Be Out On September 9, 2014

Bungie’s big new multiplayer shooter, Destiny, has a release date. September 9 of next year for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4. The news comes via Bungie themselves. And they’re promising a beta in the summer for PS3 and PS4. The game, or at least its beta, had previously been pegged for a spring…

Don’t Fall For This Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Prank

A spurious image has been making the rounds and implying that you can use the Xbox One’s developer tool menus to make the Xbox One play Xbox 360 games. Problem is, the image is dead wrong and you could brick your Xbox One. Don’t do that. Earlier this week, the inputs that let you access…

Bigby who? Is he the guy next to Jack? The second episode of Fables, Smoke & Mirrors, is almost ready for prime time, so Telltale Games decided to call in a little star power to finish the job. That handsome blond fellow? He’s Jack, aka Jack Frost, aka Jack the Giant Killer, aka not really…

​Call Now and Get a Great Deal on Next-Gen Video Game Pictures!

Poor Peter Clatworthy—the guy who paid £450 (USD$735) for a picture of an Xbox One—has been the butt of many an internet joke. This video, while verging a bit on the mean side, is one of the best. VideoGamerTV’s TV shopping show parody nails the frantic hucksterism of channels like HSN and zeroes in on…

Ultra Street Fighter IV is coming to consoles in June, PC three months later. A post on Capcom’s Unity blog (via Event Hubs) reveals the ultimate version of SFIV will appear as a $15 update for the Xbox 360 and PS3 first, to ensure players have time with the game prior to EVO 2014 in…

​Today’s Battlefield 4 Update Gives All Players Once-Exclusive Gear

The developers of Battlefield 4 have acknowledged that their FPS is facing significant issues. And now, as part of a previously announced player appreciation program, DICE is rolling out a piece of in-game kit that only developers had access too. An announcement on the BF4 Battlelog says that the M911 pistol scope gift will become…

If You Love Final Fantasy X-2, You’ll Love Lightning Returns

When people ask me what Lightning Returns is like, I always respond that it’s a lot like Final Fantasy X-2. A lot of people seem to take this as an insult to Lightning Returns. It’s not. While I feel like I am in the minority, I loved FFX-2 and much of what made it so…

Daisenryaku Perfect: Ruler of the Battlefield, delayed like eight times, has another release date: February 6, 2014. The previously announced Xbox 360 version of the game, however, appears to have vanished from the game’s official site. I eagerly await the next delay!

Lightning Returns Isn’t Revolutionary, But It Is a Lot of Fun

Few sequels are as different as Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is from the other titles in the FFXIII series. It has a new world and a battle system so highly modified as to be nearly unrecognizable. But when it comes down to it, these changes are all for the good as they make for…