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The Smartest & Dumbest Things Sony Did in 2012

We’re currently taking a look back over 2012, not only at delivery foods we’ve ordered and personal mistakes we’ve made, but also what the major gaming companies have been up to. What have they pulled off? What did they bungle? We already ran down the list for Microsoft, and today it’s good ol’ Sony’s turn.…

Sometimes You Just Have to Hit a Guy With a Goat

I’ve been playing some rather complicated mobile games lately, deep titles requiring strategic planning and inventory management to navigate epic tales of adventure. I’ve been managing cities, maintaining farms and gathering massive armies to vanquish my foes. It’s nice to kick back with a game that only demands I tap the screen to jump. Something…

Thirteen Things You Should Know About Metro: Last Light

The first thing I thought, while checking out Metro: Last Light during a demo presentation in a Manhattan hotel a few weeks ago, was “Another grey shooter? Seriously?” The second thing I thought was “Gee, this actually looks kind of neat.” The third thing I thought was “Okay, now I want to play the first…

You Have Three Years to Prepare for the Angry Birds Movie

After what feels like years of rumblings about a motion picture based on the world’s most popular mobile game franchise, Finnish developer Rovio makes it official: Angry Birds the movie, in theaters summer 2016. Following Marvel Studios’ lead (David Maisel, former Chairman of Marvel Studios is executive producer of the film), Rovio is producing and…

Aliens: Colonial Marines Will Make You Jump at Every Freakin’ Shadow You See

The challenge Gearbox faces in making Aliens: Colonial Marines is twofold. First, since this is an authorized product, they need to make a game that seamlessly slides into Aliens continuity. Given the way that dev studio CEO Randy Pitchford can quote chapter and verse from the movie franchise timeline, this problem seems to be well…

Morning Star Enters the Race to Redefine the Mobile First-Person Shooter

It’s not enough for developer Industrial Toys to have secured the talents of science fiction author John Scalzi and comic artist Mike Choi for their upcoming futuristic mobile shooter; they also aim to change the expectations core gamers have for their mobile games. If you’re getting a bit of a Halo vibe from this teaser…

Flashback: This new Tetris game “lacks the guns…and mayhem that appeal to young connoisseurs of American entertainment software.”

A brief exchange on Twitter yesterday got me wondering how the media covered Tetris back in the day before that game’s release. I couldn’t find a lot of previews of Tetris from the late 80’s, but I did find a few. They’re terrific… and predominantly obsessed with the idea that Tetris, made in Russia, is…

Is There Really a Hidden Message in These Phantom Pain Screenshots?

Stare at these screenshots of The Phantom Pain, the new game announced at the Spike Video Game Awards that pretty much everyone knows is really Metal Gear Solid V Ah, but do you need more evidence that this is MGSV? Then keep staring. Keep staring, because what some people might see as, say, a water…

Naughty Dog promises The Last of Us multiplayer won’t harm single player.

Sega Is Suing the Crap out of Level-5

In the West, Level-5 is perhaps best known for the Professor Layton puzzle games. In Japan, the Fukuoka-based game company is also famous for its Inazuma Eleven soccer games. Those games are at the center of a lawsuit. According to Yomiuri Online, Sega is suing Level-5 for patent infringement in the Inazuma Eleven Nintendo DS…

Nike Reckons It’s Made “The First Game Powered By Your Everyday Movement”

Nike is launching some kind of reality… video game… thing in the near future. Powered by the company’s Nike+ FuelBand wristband, they’re calling it the “the first game powered by your everyday movement.” Which it isn’t, it’s far from it, but whatever. “In a world conquered by cold”, their tease says, “you’ll have to earn…

StarCraft Hoodies Are Surprisingly Wearable

Given the game, I’d have put money on any official StarCraft hoodies looking something thrown out for free at trade events, not something people would pay good for money for. Glad I didn’t put money down, because these are OK! I mean, I wouldn’t wear them out, but the way they’re designed they look exactly…

The Fastest Way To Ruin A Wii U Controller Is With These Hideous Stickers

Japanese peripheral company Hori, in their infinite widsom, have decided that the otherwise classy Wii U pad needs a little spicing up. So they’ve released a range of decals to help transform your expensive piece of consumer electronics into something that looks like a cheap Chinese knock-off. OK, maybe that’s being a little harsh. When…

Metal Gear, Phantom Pain & Fish S**t

I’m not exactly the world’s biggest Metal Gear fan, so for me, the most enjoyable thing about the reveal of The Phantom Pain (which might or might not be Metal Gear Solid 5) wasn’t the game itself, but the emergence of its “CEO”, Joakim Mogren. And an accompanying Twitter account. While it’s a fake/joke account,…

One Clear Way The Wii U Kicks Microsoft And Sony’s Ass

It’s hard work seeing many ways in which Wii U games can best those found on consoles from 2005-06, at least visually, but there’s one area the Wii U is trumping Microsoft and Sony’s machines: power consumption. Despite packing a complex tablet-like controller, the Wii U draws roughly half the power of its current-gen competitors,…

Samuel L. Jackson Wants In On The New Star Wars Movies

Sure, his character Mace Windu died a rather pathetic death in Episode III, but since when has that stopped a Star Wars character from returning to the big screen? Star Wars 7: Samuel L. Jackson Says “Hell, Yeah” to Returning as Mace Windu-Even as a One-Armed Ghost! [E!, via Boing Boing]

You Can Buy Your Own Halo Warthog For $28,000 (Or Nearest Offer)

In 2009, Briton Peter Cooper and some mates started helping out on the Halo fan-flick Operation Chastity. Their contribution was this replica Warthog vehicle, which while obviously not up the standards of a more professional effort, it’s still a pretty decent-looking attempt. Cooper sadly can’t afford to keep hold of the Warthog any longer, though,…

Game Boy Swimsuits? What a World We Live In.

Black Milk, an Australian label that walks the knife’s edge between nerdy and genuinely fashionable, has released an entire line of swimsuits based on… the Game Boy. While there’s no pricing, Black Milk’s other swimsuits run to between $90-$120 AUD, which is roughly the same in USD (the exchange rate is pretty crummy right now).…

At Least 1,408 People Are Playing Black Ops II Online on the Wii U Tonight

For four consecutive Mondays, we’ve counted the number of people who are playing Black Ops II on the Wii U. We’ve wanted to, however roughly, measure the uptake of online gaming on the Wii U, using one of the most popular online series around. Over those four Mondays, the combined number of Wii U owners…

The Most Serious Fight Over Cocoa I Have Ever Seen

We don’t mess around with cocoa. Its sweet, chocolatey warmth is nothing to trifle with. Friendships, in fact, suffer over cocoa dispute. Nine out of ten historical researchers suggest that cocoa dispute may even one day result in a fully-fledged war to gain control over the cocoa market. It’s a dangerous territory to walk into.…