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If You’ve Never Played Halo: Reach, Now’s Your Chance
There’s a new Halo: Reach single and multiplayer demo available on Xbox Live today, coinciding with a week-long $39.99 sale on the Games on Demand version. If you’ve been waiting eight months for a price drop, your time is now.
By Mike Fahey Published May 24, 2011 -
There you are, LEGO Portal Turret!
Here’s a lovely little Instructable that shows how to make a Portal turret out of our favorite plastic building bricks suitable for desk or headboard. Now you’re thinking with elements. LEGO Portal Turret Instructions [Instructables.com (Thanks, Kyle!)]
By Joel Johnson Published May 19, 2011 -
First In-Game Teaser for Dead Island Still Playing the Emotion Card
While it’s certainly not the game-changing first trailer for Dead Island, today’s just-released trailer attempts to give a tug to those same heartstrings with music right out of a Hallmark commercial matched to in-game footage. I’m still on the fence on this one—I just cannot get with Dead Rising at all, which appears to be…
By Joel Johnson Published May 17, 2011 -
Best Buy’s Giving Away L.A. Noire DLC at Midnight
According to a Best Buy circular, the first 16 lucky gamers who line up to get their copies of L.A. Noire at midnight tonight will get access to a yet-to-be-announced DLC case, The Nicholson Electroplating Arson Case. [Joystiq]
By Mike Epstein Published May 16, 2011 -
Action-RPG Darkspore Is or Was Coming to Xbox 360, PS3
In his resume, level-designer Jordan Patz claims to have “worked with Maxis to modify Darkspore for release on Xbox/PS3.” Wasn’t that just a PC game? The résumé has since been modified: it now links to a YouTube video of a flying cat. Very Suspicious. [joystiq]
By Drew Cohen Published May 16, 2011 -
According to Retailers, Perturbed PS3 Owners are Ditching the Platform, Migrating to 360
They’re sick of waiting. And now some are crossing over to the other side. According to a report in EDGE Magazine, retailers in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe are claiming a dramatic increase in the number of customers trading-in PS3 units—either for cash, or, in many instances, toward the purchase of an Xbox…
By Drew Cohen Published May 13, 2011 -
Xbox Live Indie Studios Can Now Pick Their Publishing Dates
The Xbox Live Indie Games channel just put through a key change that should help publishers with marketing efforts for their games. Now, once a title has passed peer review, the developer may pick the date it publishes to the service. What this means for consumers is that collaborative events such as the Indie Games…
By Owen Good Published May 12, 2011 -
Portal 2‘s Erik Wolpaw Lecture Now Online for Your Viewing Pleasure
One of the writers of Portal 2, Erik Wolpaw, gave a talk last week at NYU’s Game Center. You may have become aware of this because of the number of stories that ushered forth from the talk, like Wolpaw’s passion for Rick the Adventure Sphere or why Chell doesn’t speak. Or perhaps you were one…
By Joel Johnson Published May 10, 2011 -
A Look Inside The Art of Building The Halo Universe
With the ten year anniversary of the release of the original Xbox shooter Halo looming, Titan Books is preparing to publish a collection of art from the series. We asked the publisher to send us a few examples of what people will find inside Halo: The Great Journey: The Art of Building Worlds. The book…
By Brian Crecente Published May 10, 2011 -
Xbox Live Update Will Add Paypal on May 19th
Microsoft plans to release an Xbox Live update beginning in less than two weeks, according to Joystiq. The update will add support for Microsoft’s new disc format and add Paypal as a payment option for Xbox Live. Meanwhile, Microsoft will also be launching Avatar Kinect on May 27th as a separate download. [Joystiq]
By Mike Epstein Published May 9, 2011 -
The Smithsonian Has Picked the Games of Its Art of Video Games Exhibit
The Smithsonian American Art Museum revealed the winners of its public vote to decide what games will be featured in their exhibit, The Art of Video Games, today. The exhibit creates a visual history of the evolution of gaming from its humble beginnings through the present. The vote, which took place between February and April,…
By Mike Epstein Published May 5, 2011 -
Accused Xbox Pedophile Indicted on 19 Sexual Abuse Charges
Richard Kretovic, accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy he met through Xbox Live, has been indicted on nine counts each of first-degree criminal sexual act and second-degree sexual abuse, plus one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
By Mike Fahey Published May 4, 2011 -
How to Hack Your Kinect
When the Kinect first launched last November, gamers were (to put it charitably) a bit skeptical. Here was a device with incredible technological potential, and the most impressive game that came out with it was a dance simulator. Since then, though, the software problem has been solved. Not by Microsoft, whose Kinect releases have been…
Alex Castle - MaximumPC Published May 4, 2011 -
Developer reveals gameplay, character creation for D&D Daggerdale
Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale is a hack-and-slash action game coming out for Xbox, Playstation and PC in late May. This visit to the Forgotten Realms is the first time console players have been able to play a D&D videogame in several years. Atari Producer Michael Fahrny answered a few of our questions about designing a…
By Ed Grabianowski Published April 29, 2011 -
Kinect for Netflix is a Catastrophe. Microsoft Has No Idea What to Do with Kinect
“Let’s find out how long it takes to select and watch our favorite Netflix movie using Kinect instead of the Xbox 360 controller!” That was the simple metric we wanted to try to test the new Kinect support in the Xbox version of Netflix. I suspected that it’d take a little bit longer to use…
By Joel Johnson Published April 14, 2011 -
The Making of Gears of War 3 Multiplayer
I’ll stay out of the way of this one, since I know you really just want to watch it. I will indulge myself to say, however, that I like the slight cooling of the color palette while still allowing more varied hues than previous titles. It’s still “gritty” but looks much cleaner.
By Joel Johnson Published April 12, 2011 -
Damn, Agent 47, You Are Good
This may be the best whack job from IO Interactive’s Hitman: Blood Money, as played by TheAuZZieGamer. For those unfamiliar with this particular Hitman mission, it involves the assassination of Vinnie “Slugger” Sinistra, an FBI informant in the Witness Protection Program. There’s some salty, Australian accented language in here, so perhaps watch with headphones. Seen…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 29, 2011 -
Xbox Predator Drives Girls To Strip Club, Sends Them Condoms
A man from Washtenaw County, Michigan, has been charged with attempting to accost children for immoral purposes after meeting a number of young girls over Xbox Live and, among other things, sending them condoms. Robert Lynch, who is 20, is accused of forging online relationships with “several” girls from Saline Middle School in January of…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 29, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Joys Of A Console’s First Moments
Know what I tend to remember consoles by? Not their games, or controllers, or even hardware casings. I usually remember them for their boot-up jingles. As silly as that sounds, those first few seconds of animation and music really set the tone for what the platform holder hopes is to come, and more than any…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 29, 2011