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No, President Obama is Not Plugging NBA 2K13 With His #my2K Campaign

On a long drive back yesterday evening I heard over the radio that President Obama, using the White House bully pulpit in deficit negotiations, had opened a social media campaign designed to pressure Congressional Republicans. If tax cuts set to expire on Jan. 1 do so, middle-class families would take a cash hit of around…

The Final Nintendo Power Cover is Awesomely Nostalgic

On the left, the cover of the final issue of Nintendo Power magazine, a publication that’s been running since the 80s. It’s great on its own, but when you remember what the first issue of Nintendo Power looked like, on the right, it’s enough to bring a tear to the eye. Nintendo Power’s closure was…

Creator of Original X-Com Thinks the New XCOM Is “Addictive and Absorbing”

No one was sure that XCOM: Enemy Unknown would please fans of the original X-Com. The remake’s lead designer Jake Solomon counts himself amongst the devotees of Microprose’s sci-fi strategy game and even he wasn’t certain the team at Firaxis could recapture the appeal of the original. So, Solomon was understandably chuffed when he heard…

Persona 4 Golden‘s Soaring Soundtrack Is Love At First Listen

Music is, as I’ve written here so many times I’ve lost count, a part of the soul of any good video game. The beats and melodies that propel us forward are more than just aural decoration, they’re a vital aspect of the character and feel of a game. Last weekend, after 65 hours, countless battles,…

Here are the Spike VGA nominations for 2012 game of the year. Journey is there, Halo 4 and Black Ops II are not.

This Music Video Is A Bit Like Eternal Sunshine Of The Minecraft Mind

Life in Minecraft can be a scary thing, but also a romantic one. Build a life together, away from everything, and do your best to stay alive. But what about when that’s no longer enough? This music video for “From the Ground Up” explores those ideas in charming fashion. The video is by SlamacowCreations, and…

The Ups and Downs of a Night Out at the Official Zelda Concert

Nintendo’s Zelda games are usually very good. Their music is among their better qualities. So an official Zelda concert should be good, right? I went to one last night. I liked it, didn’t love it… meaning it was a little more Zelda II for me, not so much Ocarina Of Time. And definitely not Majora’s…

This Dud is Still a One-Hit Kill in Black Ops II

This could only come from the great laboratory of death known as free-for-all in a multiplayer shooter. Given enough matches, enough combatants and enough button-spamming, you’ll inevitably discover that a bouncing betty to the face is a one-hit kill Call of Duty: Black Ops II—without detonating. YouTube video uploaded by reader Danny

Miyamoto Convinced The People Behind Paper Mario: Sticker Star To Ditch The Story

Nintendo’s got up a great Iwata Asks interview with the folks behind Paper Mario: Sticker Star that’s worth a read. Perhaps the most interesting part: Mario creator and legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto actually convinced them that story isn’t necessary to a Paper Mario game. Which might be why, when compared to the other three Paper…

Today’s Argument That Call of Duty Is Finally In Decline

Forget whether you like Call of Duty or not. The thing to ponder today is whether the world likes Call of Duty as much as it used to. A swarm of vultures might be premature. Black Ops II has already sold millions of copies. And it’s a good game (at least we think so). But…

EA Sports’ boss hinted to IGN that their upcoming UFC game will have a PC version.

Another Report Says The Next Xbox Is Launching in November 2013

According to business news site Bloomberg, Microsoft’s next Xbox console will be released in time for the 2013 holiday season. That’s “according to people familiar with the company’s plans.” Those same “people” (so, not machines!) say it’ll be out in time for Thanksgiving sales. They also say Microsoft is still debating internally whether to use…

Madden‘s New “Draft Duels” Sounds Sort of Like Madden: The Gathering

An update to Madden NFL 13 rolling out tomorrow will deliver something called “Draft Duels” to Madden Ultimate Team, the game’s hybrid fantasy team/card collecting mode. In it, players will open packs of cards, construct a team from their holdings—and their opponent’s—and then duke it out in a standard multiplayer game. In a Draft Duel,…

Even the Cemeteries Are Gorgeous in Akaneiro: Demon Hunters

American McGee and his Shanghai-based studio Spicy Horse continue to polish one of the most beautiful browser-based / Android games I’ve seen. With open beta looming, let’s take a look at the dark and lovely Bloodroot Cemetery, the latest area revealed for Akaneiro: Demon Hunters Akaneiro is a action role-playing game that combines Japanese mythology…

Hacker Says He’s Cracked Open The Wii U, CPU Is ‘Nothing To Write Home About’

Hector Martin, he who put together the first open-source driver for Microsoft’s Kinect two years ago, now says he’s cracked open the Wii U. He won’t say what he did to get the details out of Nintendo’s latest console, but he did tweet some juicy (and very, very technical) tidbits about the system: So what…

Writer Rumble Lets You Beat Fools Up in a Spelling Bee Deathmatch

A while back, Gamefly announced that they’d be getting into the game publishing business. Writer Rumble is the first game out of the gate and it turns out to be a surprisingly fun affair. You get to pick from six influential scribes—Edgar Allen Poe, Agatha Christie, the Brothers Grimm, Jane Austen, Homer or H.P. Lovecraft—who…

Entertainment Weekly Picked The 10 Best Games Of the Past 10 Years. Be Happy. Be Angry. Vote?

Why wait for a year ending in nine or zero or one to pick the best games of the past decade? Entertainment Weekly is picking the best games of the decade this year, 2012. It’s not that they wager the world is ending and that we’re wrapping up the final decade ever. It’s that Spike…

These 14 Games Are Going in The Same Museum as Van Gogh’s Starry Night

New York City’s Museum of Modern Art ranks as one of the most prestigious museums in the world. You can go there to see iconic creations like Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans and Pablo Picasso’s The Bullfight, as well as taking in exhibition on thrilling and important art movements throughout history. And now you can…

The Next Big Social Word Game is Also a Horse Racing Game

Only in the mobile gaming sector could a developer not only come up with an idea as convoluted as combining betting on and racing horses with Scrabble, but turn that idea into what could be the next smash-hit social word game. Mention Mobile’s Word Derby turns tile-based word-assembly into a horse race. Up to four…

Check out this week’s Side Mission podcast to hear Jason Schreier talk about JRPGs, Wii U, and high school drama.