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It Might Sound Silly, But This is Steam’s Best New Feature in a Long Time
You might think the most important new feature in Steam’s “Big Picture” mode is, well, its big picture. But for many hardcore PC gamers, who don’t use the service on a TV screen, the real good stuff can be found with the tweak of a command line. Users in the Big Picture beta have found…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 13, 2012 -
Adventure Time? 1980s Video Game Cartridges? What is This Madness?
Four very fake, very awesome Adventure Time labels for old Famicom cartridges, for those dreams where you’re running through Super Potato with a basket under your arm, $500 in your pocket and a need to play a 1980s game based on a 21st century cartoon. They’re from simplyAWFUL, a site that specialises in this kind…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 13, 2012 -
22 Of The Best (Short) Portal Movies
Open Source Filmmaker, a community bringing together some of Steam’s best movie creators, recently held a themed event called “Turret Week”. Members had to create short, original films about Portal’s turrets. While most Source Filmmaker clips are still rough, unoriginal affairs using Team Fortress 2 models, these are wonderful, capitalising on the short timeframe and…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 12, 2012 -
And on the Eighth Day, Borderlands Became Real
I’ve seen my fair share of Borderlands cosplay over the years. Some great, some awful, most somewhere in between. I’ve never seen any this good, though. German cosplayer MadameSpontaneous stars as Lilith, though her pals look just as good. Some of the pics are supplied by the cosplayers, others are from Trochly Photographers While getting…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 12, 2012 -
A Time-Lapse Video To Melt Your Brain With Prettiness
It somehow feels like it’s been a long week, but we’re only halfway to the weekend. Why not kick back and watch this crazy gorgeous time-lapse video of the Pacific Northwest? The video is by Portland photographer John Eklund, who has a whole blog of amazing time-lapse footage called The Art of the Time Lapse…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 12, 2012 -
If Madden‘s Any Measure the NFL’s Bandwagon Teams are the 49ers and Eagles
Through the first week of play in real life of the NFL, some 81.5 million games have been played in Madden NFL, according to this video commissioned by EA Sports. The teams taken online most so far are the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles (rated No. 5 and No. 3, respectively, as “teams…
By Owen Good Published September 12, 2012 -
The Atari 2600 Joystick In Its Purest Form
“Pure” can have a lot of interpretations. For artist Andrew Miller (whose work we’ve covered before) and his “Brand Spirit” series of photographed objects, it means removing all traces of brand and color. And the results are quite pretty. Stylish, even. Though I can see how that NES controller might be initially confusing to use.…
By Tina Amini Published September 12, 2012 -
Take a Good Look at the New Enemies of Halo 4
Looking at this 10 minute video from 343 Industries, makers of the upcoming Halo 4, it’s clear that the mark of Forerunner technology is in something like a break action shotgun that, like, actually breaks apart and re-forms as it is reloaded. You see the same kind of telekinetic influence in other concepts of the…
By Owen Good Published September 12, 2012 -
This David Lynch-Inspired Text Adventure Is Gross, Weird, And Pretty Cool
If you’re looking for something truly different to do with a few minutes of your time tonight, look no further than Adam Dickinson’s weird tape in the mail, a text-adventure that combines crude drawings, paranoid story, and weirdo Lynchian touches into something wretched, strange, and surprisingly compelling. According to Dickinson, weird tape in the mail…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 12, 2012 -
This is Not an Xbox 360 Game. It’s an iPhone Game. Serious.
Sure, racing games have it easier than most when it comes to making things look pretty, but still. Come on. Just look at this. There are enough jaggies to make me think it’s almost a 100% genuine screenshot, but enough of everything else to think that, yeah, maybe the new iPhone 5 will be pretty…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 12, 2012 -
Minecraft‘s Latest Xbox Update Will Let Your Avatar Shear A Sheep
Look I mean hey, I always wanted to watch my little guy get down to business and pull some wool. Thanks to the coming update to Minecraft for Xbox 360, gamers finally can. Via Mojang, here are some screenshots:
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 12, 2012 -
This Kid Gets To Sleep Inside A Video Game Every Night
A couple is expecting their second child almost any day now. In order to accommodate the baby, they’ll need to move their first child out of the nursery and into her own room. The nursery is Mario-themed. So what to do for the older kid room? Turn it into a full 360-degree surround representation of…
By Kate Cox Published September 12, 2012 -
How Video Game Fans Mourn the Death of One of their Own, Slain in Libyan Attacks
Grief, in an online community, can be a shockingly intimate thing. People who have known each other as a collection of digital avatars and assumed names gather together to mourn the genuinely painful loss of one of their own. The best and most generous parts of a community’s nature often show when tragedy strikes it.…
By Kate Cox Published September 12, 2012 -
Wreck-It-Ralph Really Looks Like It Might Be Toy Story for Video Games
Disney’s been promoting Wreck-It-Ralph with cleverly faked vintage arcade machines and tie-in games that do a good job of channeling the old-school appeal of games like Donkey Kong and Dig Dug. (There’s an Activision game coming, too, but that doesn’t look quite as charming.) But, all those things exist around the orbit of an actual…
By Evan Narcisse Published September 12, 2012 -
The Doomed Kingdoms of Amalur MMO Would Have Explored the Darker Side of Everlasting Life
The sad tale of the closure of 38 Studios and Big Huge Games and the cancellation of the Kingdoms of Amalur becomes even more tragic with each new scrap of information on the massively-multiplayer game. That’s why author R.A. Salvatore explaining the story behind the game at DragonCon earlier this month made me so melancholy.…
By Mike Fahey Published September 12, 2012 -
An Iconic Baldur’s Gate II Scene, Re-Created In Glorious 3D
Remember that awesome scene near the beginning of Baldur’s Gate II, when you’re escaping that first (annoying) dungeon and Irenicus comes out, kidnaps one of your companions, and wreaks havoc everywhere? Here it is in 3D, created in the Dragon Age map editor by YouTuber Dahlia Lynn. Cool stuff! (via David Gaider)
By Jason Schreier Published September 12, 2012 -
The iPhone 5 Might Be the Best Smartphone for Gamers
Today, Apple announced the iPhone 5. Once again, it’s thinner and more powerful than its predecessors. Mobile gaming just got that much better. One of the biggest complaints about playing games on Apple’s iPhones has been how cramped the screen feels. The iPhone 5’s taller screen translates into more room in which to draw a…
By Evan Narcisse Published September 12, 2012 -
Guild Wars 2, Log Three: I Made A Thing! Then Another Thing, and Another Thing…
Oh, dear. I have begun crafting. I put it off until I reached level 20 with my main, and truth be told it’s just as well. I’ve never yet sold or traded away any of the crafting materials I’ve come across (though I should really put the ones I can’t use into the guild bank),…
By Kate Cox Published September 12, 2012 -
New iPod Touch Is Faster, Bigger, Better For Gaming
This is the new iPod Touch, announced at Apple’s press conference today. It’s got the iPhone 5’s screen and the A5 processor, which makes it about as fast as the iPhone 4S. The new iPod Touch is out in October. $299 for 32gb; $399 for 64gb. The iPod Touch is “the world’s most popular music…
By Jason Schreier Published September 12, 2012