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Show Us What You Love and Hate About Solid Snake’s Character Design

There are times when an expressive character design works the best. That’s how I’ve always felt about the art of the Metal Gear series — it’s emotional, dramatic and implies so much about its characters simply by how it’s drawn. Of course, you might disagree with me. Using our image annotation system, show us what…

Dishonored Writer’s New Novel Shows a Video Game Generation Being Born

If you’ve ever thought that it’s long past time that someone wrote a novel about people who make video games, then rejoice. YOU—a book of fiction about the how, why and who of video game development by Austin Grossman—comes out today. You can read an excerpt from the book’s first chapter right here. Grossman isn’t…

Amazing Frankenconsole Contains the Guts of 18 Different Platforms

There’s an easy way to play 18 different console formats (or more) on a single device. Most of us would use an emulator. But modder John Grayson chooses to do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. This is his Project Unity case, and it contains the innards of 18 different…

This Creepy-Cool Metroid Poster Gives a Shout-out to Alien

Lovers of Nintendo’s sci-fi action franchise know that Metroid’s female protagonist and a cosmic ecosystem of creatures that nest all over the galaxy were inspired by Ridley Scott’s classic space horror film Alien . A new poster by artist Marinko Milosevski (who we’ve featured before) honors that thematic connection with a darkly cool image done…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Amongst Yourselves, our reader-written blog: contributor Odin kicks off a new TAYCribz feature, where he shows off his shrine to your favorite hobby. Jump into the comments and let everyone see your collectibles, too. And GiantBoyDetective writes about gaming nostalgia and fond memories of his grandparents. D’awww. And you can…

The Madden Class-Action Settlement Triples Its Payout to Gamers

If you bought EA Sports’ American football products between 2005 and mid-2012, good news: An adjustment to its settlement of a class action lawsuit has elevated the pittance of a payout gamers would have gotten into something a little more substantial. You have a month to claim it. To recap, in July, Electronic Arts settled…

Here’s the First Episode of Defiance. Don’t Miss the Musical Number.

The televised aspect of SyFy and Trion World’s crossmedia experiment launched last night, giving players of the Defiance MMO a chance to get a little background info without having to rescue any factory workers or deactivate generators. There’s nothing quite like classic country and crazy alien contact lenses. I watched this first episode about a…

Some Don’t Like BioShock’s Forced Baptism. Enough To Ask For A Refund.

Before you can step into Columbia—before you can find out about Elizabeth and Comstock, before you know about “tears” and the Vox Populi, BioShock Infinite requires the player to do one thing: accept a baptism. There is no way around the religious sacrament which uses water as a means of ritual purification. The only way…

The Real Legend of Zelda Gale Boomerang Flies Much Further

You could probably deal more damage with this replica of the Gale Boomerang from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess than the one in the game, which is more a tool to cut ropes and put out fires than weapon. YouTube user Victor Poulin is really into making boomerang replicas, and he’s got a really…

These Real Totoro Catbuses Will Delight You

In the anime My Neighbor Totoro, the Catbus is a large, furry cat that is, well, a bus. But the Catbus isn’t only the stuff of fantasy. There are a handful of real catbuses. While there was an impressive one at Burning Man (apparently, a Subaru!), let’s take a look at the catbuses spotted around…

And now, courtesy of a recently released trailer, have a small glimpse of Grid 2’s “Redefined” multiplayer gameplay. Codemasters’ arcade racer is coming out on May 28, with Europe getting it three days later, on May 31.

Here’s almost eighteen minutes’ worth of awesome-looking, insanely fast multiplayer footage from Interceptor Entertainment’s remake of Apogee’s 1995 shooter, Rise of the Triad. The game’s coming out this summer.

Designing A Facebook (Of Sorts) For Gamers

Facebook can accommodate discussions about video games, yeah, but Facebook is also Facebook. As in, there are privacy concerns, and it looks like we’re still in 2006. So I’m interested in Brink, a concept (this isn’t a real thing) for a “social network for critics”, which in crude terms looks to be a cross between…

Duck Hunt: The Pinball Machine

It’s a custom build, of course, as this isn’t exactly something Nintendo falls over itself to license, but whatever. It’s still a beautiful thing to look at, and being a custom build, we can really admire the work that’s gone into it, especially the obstacles and artwork. [Kevin Kulek, via Geekologie]

Macross/Robotech LEGO That Transforms. I Can Die Now.

Builder daikoncat is the genius behind this LEGO piece that, were it released commercially in the 1980s, would have been the only toy a boy would have ever needed. LEGO? Check. Giant robot? Check. Fighter jet? Check. The ability to transform between giant robot and fighter jet? Yes What’s impressing me most about this modular…

Mass Effect Cosplay is Like A Real-Life Director’s Cut

Sadly, they just missed the bus for Mass Effect week, but this cosplay extravaganza was too good to not share, regardless of what day it is. Propped Up Creations emailed us yesterday with these shots of a Mass Effect fight that, while spoken of in the game, was never actually shown. It’s the toughest fight…

In case it’s one of those weeks where you’re short on wallpaper – or, like me, live in a hemisphere on the brink of winter – here’s a couple of sun-soaked new pieces of art for Grand Theft Auto V.

Blizzard, Give This Man A Job

Chinese sculptor yanchuan1111 is looking for a job. He is going the right way about getting one. These works are the kind of stuff you expect from professional Hollywood effects teams or companies that make toys for a living, not…a guy who just likes to make stuff. His StarCraft pieces are probably the best, but…

If you live in Australia, Japan or Brazil, and want to read this site instead of your local variant, the easiest way is to bookmark this

Why Do I Cosplay? Let Me Count The Ways.

Editor’s Note: This blog post is a response to an earlier piece, which told the story of an interaction between cosplayers and a member of the gaming press at the recent PAX East. It can be read here The past couple of weeks have run the gamut from disheartening to encouraging, but predominantly enlightening. I’ve…