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Zynga’s Two-Billion-Dollar Bid Wasn’t Enough to Buy Angry Birds
The company behind Farmville has money. Lots of it. And, for more than a year, they’ve been buying up smaller development houses left and right. But, Rovio—the development house that created mobile megahit Angry Birds—turned down Zynga when they came calling with mountains of cash. An article on the Bloomberg business news site reveals that…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
A Backup Quarterback Pushes You to be Better in NCAA Football 13
At EA Sports, developers lug their consoles into conference rooms like you would with a laptop at your job. Larry Richart plugs in his, loads up a build of NCAA Football 13 and picks a game mode. Fittingly, we head to the practice field, the setting where he saw most of his action as a…
By Owen Good Published April 17, 2012 -
An Argument Against “Immersion” in Video Games
When we talk about games, the word “immersion” gets tossed around a lot. It’s generally held to be a good thing: If a game has amazing graphics and audio, and a convincingly built world, we will become immersed in it to the point that it feels real. But is it the right word? Is it…
By Kirk Hamilton Published April 17, 2012 -
Max Payne Comics Coming from Rockstar and Marvel
Just in time for his return to consoles, Max Payne’s also going to be making a debut into the comics world. Announced today, a new series coming from the House of Ideas will delve into Max’s early years—during the era of the first two MP games—with art from Fernando Blanco. The scripts will be written…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
Quick Recommendations for This Week in Comics
Time’s tighter this week but we all still need comics. Here’s a handful that you should check out this week. Chime in with what you’ll be getting in the comments below. Reset #1 Indie comics legend Peter Bagge takes on interactive media culture. Bagge’s not a gamer or a tech enthusiast as far as I…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
Fantasy Author China Miéville Discusses Random Superpowers, DC Comics’ Dial H for Hero and Video-Game God Mode
China Mieville’s been trying to break into comics a long time. The native Londoner has busied himself with becoming an award-winning fantasy and science-fiction author in the meantime, turning out acclaimed work like Perdido Street Station and the upcoming Railsea A few years ago, it looked like Mieville’s big break was all set to happen,…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
Cliff Bleszinski Reveals His Love for The Boys and the Comic That’s Influencing Epic’s Next Big Game
Cliff Bleszinski didn’t grow up reading comic books. He was all about video games and movies as a kid. But that all changed when he started reading Preacher, the blasphemously brilliant series written by Garth Ennis, and drawn by Steve Dillon. The series published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint opened Bleszinski up a whole new…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
By Odin’s Beard! Panel Discussion Starts Now!
Are we still pretending that comics and video games don’t have anything to do with each other? Not anymore, we’re not. Welcome to Panel Discussion, where the focus will be on comic books and sequential art, whether they connect directly to video games or not. Confused? Read this.
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
The Katamari Prince Has A Solution for Long PAX Lines
Moments of grace are few and far between at a hectic conference like PAX East, but this photo of the Prince from Katamari Damacy surveying the queue-room is about as graceful as they come. I wonder what he’s thinking. Probably something along the lines of “Man, I bet these jerks would be a lot easier…
By Kirk Hamilton Published April 17, 2012 -
Russian Police Mistake Space Invader For Bomb
A Moscow police force called in the bomb squad last night to investigate a “suspicious object” that turned out to be an alien from the arcade game Space Invaders RT.com reports that Russian street artist P183, also known as “Russian Banksy,” set up a robot version of one of the aliens from Space Invader on…
By Jason Schreier Published April 17, 2012 -
French Presidential Candidate’s Website Hides an 8-Bit Konami Code Surprise
Democratic Movement president François Bayrou may be a longshot in next week’s French presidential election, but he’s won my nonexistent vote with a secret NES-era message hidden in his official website via the Konami Code. Or perhaps my vote should go to whoever created his official website. I’m not sure how politics work in France,…
By Mike Fahey Published April 17, 2012 -
The Domino’s iPad Game Could Transform The Way We Order Pizza (And Get Jobs)
People who lack vision might call Pizza Hero a mere video game. If they do, they’re seeing only a slice of—no joke—what could be an extraordinary development in our society. We are talking about Pizza Hero, a pizza-making video game from Domino’s that can be downloaded for free on the iPad. But we are also…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 17, 2012 -
8-Bit Inspired Disney Toon Wreck-It Ralph Features Villains from Real Video Games
Last month, we first saw concept art from Disney’s upcoming animated feature Wreck-It Ralph. Set inside the world of video games, the film features a game villain — the titular Ralph — in his quest to become more than the sum of his pixelated parts. Disney today released the first teaser poster for the film,…
By Kate Cox Published April 17, 2012 -
It’s Silly When Video Games Try To Be Real
Video games can be pretty silly when you think about it. Save systems, over-the-top fashion designs, even entire concepts that a game is based on can make no sense outside of the video game world we’re familiar with. What would happen if you made a video game real? Well, Final Fantasy VII‘s Cloud would probably…
By Tina Amini Published April 17, 2012 -
Which of These 15 Draw Something Player Types Fits You?
After playing Draw Something on the iPhone or iPad for any amount of time, you begin to mentally file your partners by type. Lihay Kalvo created this video to help you properly identify which category you fall into. Me? I fall somewhere between the one that can’t draw and the artist that saves the word…
By Mike Fahey Published April 17, 2012 -
Here’s the Cast of Mass Effect 3 As You’ve Never Seen
In another round of uncensored video games, Mass Effect 3 characters say some pretty odd things. I love the dialogue in BioWare’s games, but the funny, uncensored twist is great for laughs. Definitely breaks the tension of that whole “end of the world,” “the Reapers are coming” thing. Thanks, Mathue!
By Tina Amini Published April 17, 2012