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Designing A Brand New Game Boy
Reader Justin wants to bring the Game Boy back. So he’s designed a brand new one. It’s not as rugged as its predecessors, but it sure is glassy Taking as many cues from modern phone design as portable games hardware, Justin’s design has a 5.3″ 1080p screen, two cameras, 16GB of flash memory, 4G connectivity,…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 15, 2014 -
Loads Of Local Currencies Coming To Steam
The days of calculating exchange rates are coming to an end: over the next year Valve is looking to introduce a range of local currencies to its Steam marketplace, including tohse of Australia, Canada and Japan. Other nations listed on a slide smuggledout of the no-press Steam developers conferenceinclude the New Zealand Dollar and Mexican…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 15, 2014 -
A Game For People Who Want To Destroy Cars
Next Car Game (working title, duh) has races in it. And challenges. They’re just window dressing, though, because if you’re playing this game right, you’ll never see the finish line. Nobody will It’s a game about vehicular carnage. Screw officially-licensed cars and photo-realistic tracks. NCC put all its effort into modelling batshit insane car crashes,…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 15, 2014 -
Apparently Booth Babes Don’t Work
Booth babes have been a fixture at video games events for as long as I can remember. Some events, like PAX, have banned the use of booth babes, but they remain prominent at events like E3 and the Tokyo Game Show. But here’s the interesting thing: apparently booth babes do not work Spenser Chan, the…
MARK SERRELS Published January 15, 2014 -
The True Stories Behind Some Of Your Favorite Songs
Have you ever heard the story behind The Who’s “Tommy” or Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water”? Did you know that Caroline of “Sweet Caroline” was actually a young Caroline Kennedy? Or that Michael Jackson wrote “Billie Jean” while (allegedly) driving a car that was on fire? This week on Mental Floss, the musical group…
By Kirk Hamilton Published January 15, 2014 -
The Perfect Steam Controller Can “Lick Itself Clean Like A Cat”
There’s a big developer’s conference going on at Valve right now. No press invited, though, which means any and all news is being smuggled out via Twitter. Or scrawled down on paper. Or both. The actual finished controller can only be a let-down after this. I mean, it’s nice the DualShock 4 has tiny Italian…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 15, 2014 -
Oh No, Square Enix, What Have You Done To Final Fantasy VI?
When we first saw screens of Final Fantasy VI on mobile, I was a little worried. The sprites looked faded, as if they’d been accidentally thrown in a washing machine, and like the FFV port before it, the game had an amateur, RPG Makerish feel. But who knew it would get this bad? Today Square…
By Jason Schreier Published January 15, 2014 -
A Game That’s Basically All Of The Games At Once
Have you ever wanted to play a game that quickly switches from Mario-style platformer to Ninja Gaiden-style fighting/platformer to Pac-Man-style dot eating to Final Fantasy-style turn-based combat? If so, the upcoming PC game Concursion may be the thing for you. I like the idea here, as developer Puuba Games seems to be saying, “Hey, we…
By Kirk Hamilton Published January 15, 2014 -
Seriously, Why Doesn’t Gandalf Call In The Eagles All The Time
There’s a lot to like in the latest video from How It Should Have Ended, which tackles The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But the best bit is at the very start, since it re-raises a question that’s been lingering for a while now. Why doesn’t Gandalf call in the eagles all the time? I…
By Kirk Hamilton Published January 15, 2014 -
Steam Controller Ditches Touchscreen For Real Buttons
The strange-looking Stream Controller Valve introduced to us in September was innovative, ambitious, and unworkable from a backwards compatibility standpoint. Today Valve announced the release version of the controller will drop the screen in favor of a d-pad and standard controller buttons. Creating a whole new way to play games is a great idea, but…
By Mike Fahey Published January 15, 2014 -
Cat Has Developed The Perfect Chess Game
Watching a true chess Grandmaster at work is a thing of beauty — masters like Bobby Fisher, Garry Kasparov, Deep Blue. And now, Simba the Cat enters their hallowed ranks. See how he approaches the game with grace, how he contemplates his moves with careful consideration! Marvel at his unorthodox play style. Truly we are…
By Chris Person Published January 15, 2014 -
Gabe Newell Posts On Reddit and Here’s Proof
A guy posts on Reddit with the username GabeNewellBellevue. People ask him to prove it’s the man who runs one of gaming’s biggest companies. The result: the picture you see above you. Backstory here is that Newell’s backing a car competing in the Heart of Racing charity event. The head of Valve submitted a link…
By Evan Narcisse Published January 15, 2014 -
Sales Stink: it’s easy to think that sales are good for players, but what if they’re not? What if waiting for sales affected the way players feel about purchases and actually lessened the amount of money devs make? The Castle Doctrine’s Jason Rohrer explores these questions ina fascinating write-up here.
By Patricia Hernandez Published January 15, 2014 -
Finally, Gone Home Becomes A Real Video Game
Want to play Gone Home but don’t want to deal with nonsense like “exploring” and “reading” and “emotional resonance”? Try Gun Home, the downloadable content devised by the fine folks at Dorkly. Because a video game isn’t a video game unless you’re killing Hitler.
By Jason Schreier Published January 15, 2014 -
Someone Put Yakety Sax Over Nidhogg, Finally.
Pretty self explanatory.
By Steve Marinconz Published January 15, 2014 -
Apple Has To Pay Back Parents Whose Kids Bought Stuff In iPhone Games
Apple will pay at least $32.5 million and change its billing practices in order to settle complaints over children racking up in-app purchases in iPhone games without their parents consent. The Federal Trade Commission announced the agreement today. The $32.5 million figure is a minimum refund amount to consumers and not a fine. Last summer,…
By Owen Good Published January 15, 2014 -
Conan Describes The Phenomenon Of ‘Video Game Trucks’
As a childless man, I have not had the pleasure of experiencing a video game truck — a giant mobile game trailer packed full of gaming consoles usually reserved for children’s birthdays. Conan O’Brien on the other hand has, and points out how weird the concept is. Check out the full bit in the video…
By Chris Person Published January 15, 2014 -
A pig with a man’s head eating a corpse? Creepy. Coming to the PlayStation 4 and Vita, Kodoku is a self-published horror game from the fine folks at Carnivore Studio, and not the bastard child of a gaming website and popular number puzzles. Until we have more information, I am going to assume the basic…
By Mike Fahey Published January 15, 2014