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Getting Prairie Voles Drunk Isn’t Just For Fun Any More
What small furry rodent do scientists turn to when they need to study the effects of alcohol abuse on humans? That would be the prairie vole: nature’s frat boy. Rats and mice just aren’t social enough. Monkeys are too expensive (believe me, I know). There’s only one animal researchers at Oregon Health & Science University…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
Wii Party Rocks Japan
Nintendo’s newest mini-game good time, Wii Party, makes it debut in Japan, handily defeating its competitors with a strong first week. Does the Wii have a new multi-million-seller on its hands? With 235,000 copies of Wii Party sold in the first week, it doesn’t seem unreasonable for the first-party game to be well on its…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 15, 2010 -
Images From A New Helicopter Combat Game
The prevalence of helicopters in Call of Duty: Black Ops could lead to uncontrollable cravings for a game that features only helicopters. Do these screens of Apache: Air Assault satisfy the craving? In my excitement I completely missed the fact that Crecente posted the news of Apache: Air Assault earlier today, so instead of harping…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
Sony Online Better Aligns 35 Employees Out of Work
The maker of massively multiplayer online games Star Wars Galaxies and Everquest is making cuts this week, eliminating “just over 4% of its full-time workforce,” Sony Online Entertainment reps tell Kotaku. Those cuts total 35 employees, according to the company, and appear to be affecting multiple SOE divisions. Representatives for the publisher-developer offered the following…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 15, 2010 -
A Novel Introduction To The World Of Guild Wars 2
The novel Ghosts of Ascalon attempts to bridge the 250-year gap between fantasy MMO Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, but is it a bridge too far? We speak to co-author Jeff Grubb about bringing Tyria’s fiction up-to-date. The world of Tyria changes greatly in the two and a half centuries that follow the events…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
Three Interesting Xbox 360 Ideas That Died
The newly canceled 1 vs 100 Xbox Live game show isn’t the only clever idea for the Xbox 360 that has met its meteor. Let’s review some 360 initiatives that seemed cool but now seem dead. Re-Invented Music Videos Back in 2006, Lumines Live was going to mix the wonderful horizontally-oriented Tetris-style game Lumines with…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 15, 2010 -
You Can Download StarCraft II Now (You Just Can’t Play It)
Don’t wait until launch date to download your digital copy of StarCraft II. Grab all seven highly anticipated gigabytes worth of Blizzard’s sequel right now so you’re ready to play on July 27. You don’t even have to pay! Blizzard is opening up digital purchasing for its long in the making sci-fi real-time strategy game…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 15, 2010 -
What Do Sonic, Chris Redfield, And Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio Have In Common?
What could possibly link Sega’s speedy blue hedgehog with a founding member of the Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance and a Renaissance-era Italian assassin? Meet Sonic the Hedgehog’s new voice actor, Roger Craig Smith. Having voiced two of gaming’s most prominent cold-blooded killers over the past few years, Roger Craig Smith might seem like an odd…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
Hello, Ladies…the Old Spice Man Is Back and Smelling Fresher Than Ever
What’s more studly than white stallions, diamonds, and tickets to that thing you like? How about unprompted home improvement projects, hot tubs, and swan dives? And glorious pecs. Glorious. Click here to get your man as fresh as humanly possible with Old Spice
By Gawkercreative Published July 15, 2010 -
Microsoft Cans 1 Vs. 100 for Xbox 360 [Updated]
Just as we suspected, Microsoft confirmed today that there will be no third season for their Xbox 360 version of 1 Vs. 100 and that the game won’t be returning. “When we started on this journey, we knew we were creating an entirely new genre of entertainment that would be a continually evolving concept,” said…
By Brian Crecente Published July 15, 2010 -
Here’s What Passes For A Dead Rising 2 Special Edition In North America
Exclusive to North America, the Dead Rising 2 Zombrex edition promises to delve deeper into the story of Dead Rising, with the Xbox 360 version containing the 83-minute Zombrex Dead Rising Sun film. That’s nice, where’s our action figure? It might not contain an undead tourist like the European special edition, but the North American…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
1 Vs. 100 The Victim of Mismanagement?
This morning’s news that Microsoft was killing off their Xbox Live video game show 1 Vs. 100 didn’t come as a surprise for a lot of people, including those working on the project. But what happened? Sources close to the project tell us that 1 Vs. 100 fell victim to, among other things, some game-killing…
By Brian Crecente Published July 15, 2010 -
Does The Gears Of Warring Of Harry Potter Go Too Far?
The next Harry Potter game is a darker third-person magic-shooter with a cover system. No chainsaws in this game. But it sounds like even the people making Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 sense an overstep here. As Brian Crecente reported in his positive June impressions of Deathly Hallows, the video game based…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 15, 2010 -
Assassin’s Creed Goes To Russia In Comic Book Mini-Series
Last month UbiWorkshop teased a secret project featuring the talents of acclaimed comic book illustrators Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl. Today that project stands revealed as an Assassin’s Creed comic book mini-series set in Russia, introduced via old-timey film reel. As we expected, Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl are indeed lending their talents to an…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
K-Mart Puts Your Reviews Where They Matter Most, On Store Shelves
Want to have massive influence over the powers of marketing and publishing that back the world’s biggest video games? Then you might want to try writing a game review for K-Mart. The big-box retailer said that starting this week they will start sifting through user-created reviews on MyKmart.com to select snippets of gamer-written reviews on…
By Brian Crecente Published July 15, 2010 -
FarmVille’s First Real-World Crops Sprout Next Week
Zynga’s massive community of fake farmers will plant its first branded crops in-game next week, teaching FarmVille players about organic farming and green living through a partnership with General Mills subsidiary Cascadian Farm. Starting Monday and running through July 26, FarmVille players will be able to plant Cascadian Farm-branded organic blueberries on their plots, a…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
Drew Brees Isn’t Afraid Of The Madden Curse
New Orleans quarterback and Madden NFL 11 cover athlete Drew Brees give the audience of last night’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno a special gift for helping him overcome the Madden Curse. The Madden Curse is not real, but if it was, Drew Brees figures he’s managed to find a way around it. He points…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010 -
The Battle For Hoth Comes To The iPhone
The huge list of video games depicting the opening battle from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back gains another entry with Fluffy Logic’s Star Wars: Battle for Hoth for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Fluffy Logic, the developer behind Savage Moon for the PlayStation Network, takes its tower defense expertise and applies it to the…
By Mike Fahey Published July 15, 2010