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Sid Meier’s name is on the box, but Civilization was actually the brainchild of two designers. Bruce Shelley is the other, and here are both men giving a good talk on the history of the series.

Destiny’s Latest Iron Banner: Pretty Good So Far [Update: Less Good]

It’s a big week for competitive Destiny players. Yesterday marked the start of a new Iron Banner, which is a week-long competitive multiplayer event where players get to test their mettle—and their cool new guns—against one another. This is the first Iron Banner since the launch of the Taken King expansion, and also the first…

Darth Vader, Being a Total Badass In Star Wars Battlefront

Here’s Darth Vader, single-handedly destroying a Rebel Snow Speeder by throwing his lightsaber into the air. Damn! The moment comes from Muselk, who, funnily enough, had a few traumatic run-ins with Darth Vader earlier in the source (sponsored) video. Then Muselk becomes just Vader and pulls off the awesome moment in the GIF above around…

The Past, Present, And Future Of The Witcher 3

People don’t only love CD Projekt RED because The Witcher 3 was great. The company released 16 DLCs for free, talked openly about the game’s budget and profits, and included a “thank you” note in the box. It might be brilliant PR, but after speaking with the studio’s co-founder, there’s something else there, too. “We…

Game Website Accidentally Previews Uncharted 2 Instead Of Uncharted 4

“Uncharted 4 is the first PS4 entry in a series that has traditionally pushed boundaries,” read a recent preview by the website VG247. “Why does it feel so familiar?” Well… as it turns out, they were playing Uncharted 2 Video game websites, like all news outlets, screw things up all the time. Lord knows we…

Fast And Furious 6’s Famous Car-Flipping Scene, Recreated In GTA V

One of the most memorable scenes in Fast & Furious 6 comes early in the film, when bad guy Owen Shaw drives out of a hideout wrecks the entire London police force using what looks like a giant metal door wedge. YouTuber RUNitsAlpha created Shaw’s killer door wedge in GTA V, and used it to…

Mario’s Voice Actor Plays Mario Maker, And It’s A Trip

You’ve probably heard Charles Martinet countless times while traversing the Mushroom Kingdom. But it’s something else entirely to watch the man behind Mario actually play Mario. Nintendo Life recorded Martinet doing all the Mario sounds live while playing Mario Maker, something which you simply must witness: I love how happy he seems playing Mario Maker,…

The Grand Theft Auto Version of Top Gear Is A Blast To Watch

A few fans are putting custom GTA cars to the test in a digital game show, and it’s become one of my favorite things on YouTube. Hosted by Hampyro – Comedy Gaming Channel, the entire thing is a spoof on Top Gear. Every episode has a schtick, known as a “challenge,” which the contestants must…

Watching the Democratic Presidential Debate In Virtual Reality Sucked

You won’t be shocked to learn that watching Bernie Sanders shout about email is not virtual reality’s killer app. I watched Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate on my Gear VR, using Next VR in the Oculus store, and the aesthetic experience was markedly worse than watching the debate on TV, like a normal person. I…

Square Enix’s Latest Streaming Restrictions Are Ridiculous

Most games don’t have guidelines for streaming. If they do, it’s usually explicit permission for a streamer to monetize videos. But this is Square Enix we’re talking about. With Dragon Quest Heroes on PS4, it’s mostly about what you can’t do. For example, you can’t stream on Twitch with the music on. Seriously! “Streaming via…

The Overwatch closed beta will begin on October 27, Blizzard just announced. If you’re interested in the colorful new team shooter (which came from the ashes of Blizzard’sTitan) you can opt in on battle.net. They’ll also be holding beta test weekends starting after BlizzCon in November.

Why People Are Freaking Out Over Destiny Microtransactions

The word “microtransaction” evokes a vivid picture: A board room full of suited executives, salivating over profit margins and pondering how they can become the next Clash of Clans. Pair this nasty term with other provocative buzzwords like “pay-to-win” and “Activision” and you’ve got a guaranteed way to get gamers angry. That’s for good reason,…

Heroes Of The Storm Bug Lets A Player Win Instantly

The goal in Heroes of the Storm is to fight your way to the back of the enemy team’s base and destroy a structure known as “the core.” The core is normally heavily defended with an outer shield and turrets that make destroying it a risky endeavor. But a newly discovered bug lets one hero…

Deadspin’s Albert Burneko is having the toughest time with his new-gen console. Dude probably needs more firmware updates or something. Feel his pain, and enjoy his bonus capsule review of The Witcher 3

Musicians’ Union Protests Zelda Concert

Last night’s 90-piece Zelda symphony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York drew franchise fans but also a protest in the form of a handful of members of a musicians union and a large inflatable rat. Local 802, the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, objected to the Tuesday-evening symphony using non-union players. John…

DC Comics’ Handling Of Superman Just Got More Convoluted

Look, up in the sky! A Superman who’s still married! A Lois Lane who didn’t expose Clark Kent’s secret identityto the world! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! This is all happening in the newly re-rebooted DC Universe, where there’s another weaker Clark Kent leaping tall buildings. What the heck is going on? A…

Wii U Emulation Is Coming Along

As teams continue work on emulators for the Xbox 360 and PS3, a big breakthrough has been made by those trying to play Wii U games on a PC. Version 1.00 of the Cemu emulator has just been released, and while it’s far from a finished article—sound isn’t working, and it can basically only boot…

Hardest World of Warcraft Boss, With Exactly 1 HP Left, Wipes Raid

Even after nerfing him, with 464 million hit points and an extra third phase, Hellfire Citadel’s final boss Archimonde on Mythic difficulty remains a tough challenge for guilds. And sometimes it creates truly unlucky moments, like this attempt from a German guild. They were really close to killing Archimonde but ended up dead against a…

Mad Max: Fury Road As A 90s Arcade Game

Besides a 1990 NES game and Outlander, there wasn’t really a Mad Max video game back in the day that was just as good as the first three movies. If anything, the second movie’s plot had potential for a super arcade game. A fast run-and-gun style side-scroller, just like Konami’s classic Sunset Riders, or even…

Learning To Drive Stick With Video Games: A Jerky Start

A couple of weeks ago I decided to try anduse video games to learn how to operate a manual transmission.After several hours behind a fake steering wheel I’ve determined I need several more hours behind a fake steering wheel. As I mentioned in the original article, I never learned how to drive stick shift, which…