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The Final Pocket God Update Blames Scientology For the End of the World. Sounds About Right.

Those poor Mayans. All this time we’ve been pointing to their broken calendar with anxiety and dream, when we really should have been pointing at completely plausible alien-based religion created by a science fiction author. Do you think there’ll be Tom Cruise? Oh yeah, there’ll be Tom Cruise. In Pocket God Episode 47: Apocalypse the…

Now The Bastion Narrator Can Announce Your Dota 2 Game

One of the neat things about Dota 2 is that you can download “Announcer Packs” that change the voice of the in-game announcer to any of a number of other characters. This one may take the cake—Supergiant games has contributed a Bastion Announcer Pack to the game. I haven’t used it, but it sounds like…

Assassin’s Creed Creator’s Next Game Is Indeed 1666

THQ’s bankruptcy filing confirms what we already knew: the company is working on two new games titled or codenamed Evolve and 1666. The latter is under the helm of Patrice Désilets, best known as the creator of Assassin’s Creed You can check out a table of THQ’s upcoming releases at the end of this PDF.…

Alarmed By Sandy Hook, U.S. Senator Wants Government To Find Out if Violent Games Are More Dangerous Than Cartoons

West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller recently introduced a bill to congress which aims to study the impact of violent video games on children, The Huffington Post reports. Likely, this is a response to the claims that Adam Lanza played video games, and that video games might’ve negatively influenced Lanza. “This week, we are all focused…

Now’s Your Chance to Get Every Dragonvale Dragon You’ve Missed

Notorious for releasing limited-time only dragons and driving players insane trying to breed them before time runs out, Backflip Studios shows fans mercy for the holidays, unlocking every dragon ever released in the game for breeding and purchase—for a limited time, at least. I have the Leap Year Dragon. The one I’ve been bitching about…

Go read/play Wired’s fantastic interview/game with/about the pioneers of Zork and interactive fiction.

Dishonored Designer Harvey Smith Agrees: Far Cry 2 Is Awesome

He’s not just responsible for one of the coolest games of the year, Dishonored designer Harvey Smith is also a man with impeccable taste That impeccable taste is on full display in this guest essay he wrote for Penny Arcade Report about why he thinks Far Cry 2 is brilliant. Smith shares some smart musings…

The Humble Bundle 7 has launched, and it’s great: Legend of Grimrock, Dungeon Defenders, Snapshot and more.

Peter Molyneux’s Son Doesn’t Seem to Care About Half-Life 3 Anymore

Peter Molyneux has been a bit of clock-watching lately. Right now, the game designer behind the Populous and Fable game franchises has been watching time tick down on the Kickstarter for the Godus project from his 22Cans dev studio. I spoke to him about raising money for Godus but also asked him about his son…

A $209.99 In-App Purchase That Could Save a Baby From HIV

There are medications an HIV-positive expectant mother can take throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding that grant her child a 98 percent chance of being HIV free. $205 is enough to keep a mother in medication from conception to weaning. The largest in-app purchase in Coca-Cola and (RED)‘s new free-to-play iOS game is $209.99. That’s no coincidence.…

THQ Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

The publisher behind games like Saints Row and Homefront has filed for bankruptcy. THQ is going to Chapter 11, the company said in a press release today. They’ll continue to operate as normal—in other words, all future games will continue as planned—as they go through the bankruptcy process. “The sale and filing are necessary next…

Minecraft Maker “Notch” Just Gave $250,000 to Reform Software Patents

Notch and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban are each donating a quarter million dollars to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF says that the money from the maker of Minecraft will help fund efforts to reform patent law in the courts and in the court of public opinion. Here’s Notch explaining why he’s giving his…

Hey Riot, You Should Make This League of Legends Character Gay Already

So argues Todd Harper in a open letter to Riot Games about the League of Legends champion, Taric. Rumor is, Taric might be gay. Consider that Taric loves gems, he has moves called stuff like ‘dazzle,’ his voice clips go from sultry to flamboyant (listen to that clip above by LeagueVoices), and even Taric’s background…

The War Z Removed From Steam [UPDATE: Valve Calls Release ‘A Mistake’]

Controversial zombie survival game The War Z has been removed from Steam. Although there’s still a listing for the game on Valve’s digital distribution service, you can no longer buy it. Fans have been clamoring for the game’s removal from Steam since it was released on Monday. Many gamers have criticized the game for its…

Madden‘s Facebook/Mobile Game Makes It Rain for Early Adopters

If you installed Madden NFL Social when it released on Nov. 1 and haven’t played it much since, it might be a good time to check back in. The game’s latest title update dropped 100,000 of the game’s virtual “coins” on anyone who had a copy of the game installed before this week. The 100,000…

ChefVille ‘The Loaf Connection’ Quests: Everything You Need to Know

We’re can already have three Wheat Bread Racks in our restaurant in ChefVille. However, most recipes that require bread ask for it in bulk, and it’s still hard to keep a decent supply of the ingredient on hand at all times. To help with that, Zynga has released the Bread Box, an item that works…

The War Z Mess: Every Crazy Detail We Know So Far [UPDATE]

This week’s wildest story is the story of The War Z, a new Steam game that has caused a great deal of controversy for numerous reasons. Update: This afternoon, The War Z was pulled from Steam Fans have come out criticizing the zombie survival game for misleading advertising, suspicious microtransactions, and forum censorship. Meanwhile, The…

New York Bans Another 2,000 Sex Offenders from Online Gaming

New York State, whose “Operation Game Over” earlier this year banned more than 3,500 registered sex offenders from services like Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, has booted another 2,100 from online gaming after bringing THQ, Funcom and NCSoft to the cause. Eric T. Schneiderman, the state’s attorney general, announced the bannings earlier this morning.…

Now You Don’t Need Friends to Play the Penny Arcade Card Game

I’ve been wanting to play the Penny Arcade card game from Cryptozoic Entertainment for ages. At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con I spent a great deal of time wandering past the Penny Arcade booth, holding the cards in my hand or casting longing glances from afar. Had Jerry and Mike noticed me there, they might…

Bully—one of Rockstar’s best games—comes to PlayStation Network today, with Midnight Club 3 and Red Dead Revolver