Sunday, 28 December 2014

Should Video Games Get Olympic Representation?

Should Video Games Get Olympic Representation?


Video Games! You've heard of them. But what you might not be so aware of is 'eSports' - the growing genre of highly competitive multiplayer gaming. But are eSports really on a level where we should be seeing digital athletes at the Olympics? Rob Pardo, formerly of Blizzard, thinks so.

Read more: http://snapzu.com/troople/should-video-games-get-olympic-representation

Saturday, 27 December 2014

Mega founder Kim Dotcom has saved Christmas for many Playstation and Xbox gamers

Mega founder Kim Dotcom has saved Christmas for many Playstation and Xbox gamers


When Xbox and Playstation players wanted to test their Christmas gifts a few hours ago, they were welcomed by an unpleasant surprise. Lizard Squad, who repeatedly DDoSed the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live’s servers in recent months, were back with a Christmas gift nobody asked for. Another DDoS attack resulting in yet more downtime. One of the affected players was Kim Dotcom, who’s an avid Xbox player himself. But instead of cursing Lizard Squad to high heaven he decided to make them...

Read more: http://snapzu.com/drunkenninja/mega-founder-kim-dotcom-has-saved-christmas-for-many-playstation-and-xbox-gamers

Friday, 26 December 2014

Naughty Dog Full Length 30th Anniversary Video

Naughty Dog Full Length 30th Anniversary Video


Naughty Dog was founded in 1984. This year we celebrate 30 years of making awesome video games. Go in-depth on the history and future of our studio in our full length 30th anniversary video.

Read more: http://snapzu.com/KondoR/naughty-dog-full-length-30th-anniversary-video

The Oculus Rift Game That's So Real It Nearly Destroyed Me

The Oculus Rift Game That's So Real It Nearly Destroyed Me


I can hear the alien breathing. I’ve played lots of videogames, lots of run-and-gun shooters in which I happily charge down a corridor into certain death. Not this time. I’ve got my back pressed against the wall of an abandoned spaceship, and I’m inching down a hallway, my head darting left and right, looking for danger everywhere. And I wonder, is this the one? Is this the Oculus Rift demo where I rip the headset off my face and bolt, terrified, out of the room?

Read more: http://ift.tt/13zvdj0

Thursday, 25 December 2014

Skyrim in a nutshell

Skyrim in a nutshell


This project was actually close to completion before I even started my previous video, but I ended up postponing it several times. At long last, it was coincidentally finished on Christmas. You can't exactly put it under the tree, but here's my present for you! I used the map de_forest made by Robert Briscoe, although it is heavily modified in terms of props, lighting, textures, etc. I also used some props from a Skyrim pack for the weapons, the elk and the dragon.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1B8s6Ky

This is Lizard Squad, the Nebulous Hacker Group Now Tied to the Sony Hack

This is Lizard Squad, the Nebulous Hacker Group Now Tied to the Sony Hack


Best known among gamers, Lizard Squad is both despised and revered for their seemingly random assaults on the video game world. They've claimed attacks on Call of Duty, Xbox, Sony Playstation, and now are being linked to the Sony Pictures hack.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1B7zBBd

The Witcher 3 is finished; delay is solely for bug-stomping

The Witcher 3 is finished; delay is solely for bug-stomping


The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt broke a few hearts recently when it was announced there would be a delay of quite a while before it lands in our libraries. While CD Projekt Red's reasons for this were to ensure the game arrives as polished as possible, it didn't stop some from assuming it meant there was some trouble in the game's development, or that the studio hadn't got everything done in time.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1worzQ5

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Our 10 Favourite Games of 2014

Our 10 Favourite Games of 2014


Whether you're a PC or console gamer, or if you mostly play on your mobile, the last year has seen some very exciting new games. Here are the ones that stood out the most.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1HzbayD

Monday, 22 December 2014

Satirical North Korea video game isn't backing down following Sony Pictures hack

Satirical North Korea video game isn't backing down following Sony Pictures hack


The creator of a satirical run-n-gun video game starring Kim Jong Un has, unlike Sony Pictures, no plans to cancel his project.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1E4BBQg

Minecraft creator buys Beverly Hills home for $70 million

Minecraft creator buys Beverly Hills home for $70 million


Swedish billionaire Markus Persson has bought the Beverly Hills spec mansion built by handbag tycoon Bruce Makowsky for $70 million. The purchase included all the bells and whistles used to stage the home, including the furnishings and electronics – even cases of Dom Perignon in the 2,500-bottle wine room.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1ASHFpr

Microsoft to Reveal Xbox VR Headset at E3 2015

Microsoft to Reveal Xbox VR Headset at E3 2015


Microsoft will reveal its long-rumored Xbox virtual reality headset device during the company's E3 2015 briefing next summer, according to a new Digitimes report that cites "upstream supply chain" sources. The summer tradeshow is scheduled for June 16-18, 2015. The site's sources went on to say that development on the Xbox VR headset, which will presumably work with the Xbox One, will be handled by the same team that runs Microsoft's Surface tablet line. A name for the device was not mentioned.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1HpcyUs

Advance Two Spaces

Advance Two Spaces


A Look at American Board Games

Read more: http://ift.tt/1AP0ee6

Saturday, 20 December 2014

The Duck Hunt begins for Wii U owners on Christmas Day

The Duck Hunt begins for Wii U owners on Christmas Day


Want to know what Christmas morning was like back in (not-so) old uncle Jim's day? Well if you own a Wii U, maybe this year you can. As you wipe the sleep from your eyes on December 25th and run downstairs, you'll finally be able to take the digital wraps off Duck Hunt -- as Nintendo's just confirmed that's when it will be available via Virtual Console.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1ra48hw

Friday, 19 December 2014

Pro leagues divided over legalizing Canada's $15.5B sports betting industry

Pro leagues divided over legalizing Canada's $15.5B sports betting industry


If Canada legalizes betting on single sports events, it could claw billions of dollars from the shady world of organized crime. Cash would be pumped into health care, education and other social programs. Authorities would be better equipped to sleuth out incidents of match-fixing by athletes. Yet making the vice more readily available would also come with a social cost. It may well create new problem gamblers...

Read more: http://ift.tt/1wvfb5S

Minecraft Is Getting a Story Mode

Minecraft Is Getting a Story Mode


It's a big change for a normally open-ended game. This article was originally published on the Daily Dot. The developer of Minecraft has partnered with another high-profile company on a major expansion to the popular online game. Telltale Games on Thursday announced the development of Minecraft: Story Mode. Minecraft developer Mojang presented the news through a mini-game called Info Quest II.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1zdHmbk

Thursday, 18 December 2014

How A Hacker Gang Literally Saved Christmas For Video Game Players Everywhere

How A Hacker Gang Literally Saved Christmas For Video Game Players Everywhere


At the start of December, a notorious hacker gang named "Lizard Squad" issued a threat: it would take down over Christmas the PlayStation and Xbox Live networks, the online services that some video games need in order run from a home console. Despite most hackers being "in it for the lulz" — a hacker term meaning "doing it for fun" — some did not take kindly to threats of disruption to their favourite video game services.

Read more: http://ift.tt/13fTfQ6

Company Delivers On Promise To Sell 'Actual Bullshit'

Company Delivers On Promise To Sell 'Actual Bullshit'


About 30,000 people bought a hot steaming pile of truth in advertising this Black Friday, courtesy of Cards Against Humanity. The folks behind the madcap card game, which bills itself as a "party game for terrible people," offered to send people "actual bullshit" in a special offer last month. The company explicitly said that anyone who bought the $6 holiday bundle should expect to open a box of poop from a live bull.

Read more: http://ift.tt/13eGdCG

Tuesday, 16 December 2014

The man behind Nintendo's musical masterpieces

The man behind Nintendo's musical masterpieces


Koji Kondo has made some of the most iconic music in all of pop culture, let alone all of video game history. You can probably hum many of his most popular songs, like, say, anything in Super Mario bros. or The Legend of Zelda. He composed the soundtracks for each of those games and their respective series until and including Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. His work has appeared in modern classics like...

Read more: http://ift.tt/1AjYXLX

Why am I still playing Bejeweled?

Why am I still playing Bejeweled?


Think back to the ancient time that was 2010. Back then, LTE phones were exceptional, iPhones were tiny (and didn’t bend), Google Fiber was still a project in development, and The Verge didn’t even exist. Much has changed in the past four years, but one constant in my life has been a humble game by the name of Bejeweled 3.

Read more: http://ift.tt/138qggM

What Makes The Blacklisted 'Hatred' Different From 'GTA 5' Or 'Human Centipede'?

What Makes The Blacklisted 'Hatred' Different From 'GTA 5' Or 'Human Centipede'?


When it was announced that unknown Polish studio Destructive Commons would be making a "mass murder simulator" in the form of the new game "Hatred," the reaction from press and the industry alike was unified in condemning the game. The developer was hoping that creative license would allow their game...

Read more: http://ift.tt/138jub5

Monday, 15 December 2014

Games Up to 70% Off on Origin

Games Up to 70% Off on Origin


Get your hands on sweet deals and limited-time offers from some of the world's best video game publishers--only on Origin.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1yRT8D5

Sunday, 14 December 2014

How Gaming Created A Market For Virtual Real Estate

How Gaming Created A Market For Virtual Real Estate


I stand in a convincing reproduction of someone's home. It's not quite as real as a photo, but it is filled with the minutiae of home decor. I explore it from several angles, drinking in the details. But it isn't a game. It is the 3D real estate software from a company called Floored. Floored is the brainchild of entrepreneur David Eisenberg. He founded the company in 2011, indirectly because of Microsoft and the Xbox 360. "I was interested in the community of people who were hacking...

Read more: http://ift.tt/1wtJPfm

Saturday, 13 December 2014

Playing With My Son - An experiment in forced nostalgia and questionable parenting

Playing With My Son - An experiment in forced nostalgia and questionable parenting


There’s a classic Steve Martin bit from A Wild and Crazy Guy… “I got a great dirty trick you can play on a three-year-old kid… Whenever you’re around him, talk wrong. So now it’s like his first day in school and he raises his hand, ‘May I mambo dogface to the banana patch?’” I’m not sure if it’s a great idea to take parenting advice from 1970s standup albums, but this always made sense to me. If you have a kid, why not run experiments on them?

Read more: http://ift.tt/1wrQc1F

Oculus VR buys hand-tracking expert Nimble VR

Oculus VR buys hand-tracking expert Nimble VR


The Oculus Rift is designed to put your eyes in a virtual world -- but how you get around and perform actions in that virtual world is still confined to a controller of some kind. The Nimble Sense peripheral for the headset was looking to change that, with a Kickstarter that was gathering momentum -- $135,511 of its $62,500 goal -- until the campaign was cancelled earlier today.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1BGMtBK

Friday, 12 December 2014

China: Inside an Internet gaming disorder rehab center

China: Inside an Internet gaming disorder rehab center


Fernando Moleres documents a center treating gaming-addicted youth with military discipline and psychotherapy.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1vZZvHq

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Stephen Colbert goes all Hobbit on EW

The future of video games (from 1982)

The fall of THQ

The fall of THQ


THQ's staff saw the stock price falling. It was 2008 and the global financial crisis hit the video game industry hard. "As a stockholder, it was shocking to me that the stock went through relatively quick decline," says one former employee who asked to not be named. "But even when things weren't going well, I was optimistic."

Read more: http://ift.tt/1sgZQ8W

Wednesday, 10 December 2014

Sim City 2000 free right now at Origin

Sim City 2000 free right now at Origin


Now you can design any city you can imagine and SimCity 2000™ will bring it, and its resident Sims, to life. It has all the features, flexibility, art, animation, and power you need to create an environment of your dreams. Choose from a selection of bonus cities and scenarios to rule or ruin as you please. Build schools, libraries, hospitals, zoos, prisons, power plants, and much more.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1vSGoyX

Indiana Jones (Atari 2600, 1982) vs. Nathan Drake (PS4/PC, 2014)

Indiana Jones (Atari 2600, 1982) vs. Nathan Drake (PS4/PC, 2014)


What a difference 32 years makes in the way we play adventure games.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1yBT76h

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Someone Made a Nature Documentary Entirely In GTA V

Someone Made a Nature Documentary Entirely In GTA V


GTA V presents such a complete world, you can do pretty much anything within the confines of Los Santos: you can follow the daily lives of the local citizenry, you can do a billion things that DON'T involve killing people, and you can even make a nature documentary about local wildlife. Like Steve Zissou, someone managed to create their very own underwater ocean documentary (thanks to the in-game submarine). But unlike Steve Zissou, no one dies here.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1zNbkQi

20th Anniversary PS4 Sells for $20,000

20th Anniversary PS4 Sells for $20,000


Some gamers who were able to buy a 20th Anniversary PS4 before the limited-edition systems sold out almost immediately are turning to eBay to sell the commemorative console. The online auction site features numerous listings for the rare PS4 system, which as was announced last week, and went on sale the evening of December 6 during PlayStation Experience. Sony manufactured just 12,300 of the consoles, with each unit individually numbered.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1B4dAno

Sony hacked again as Playstation goes offline

Sony hacked again as Playstation goes offline


Sony was hit by another hack Monday when its PlayStation network went offline for a few hours. Customers trying to access the PlayStation Store were greeted by a note saying "Page Not Found! It's not you. It's the internet's fault." Hacker group Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for the attack. It posted "PSN Login #offline #LizardSquad" on its Twitter feed. PlayStation owners were able to play games offline, but couldn't communicate with other players or make use of network functions.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1wdk2H0

Monday, 8 December 2014

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath - Mobile Trailer

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath - Mobile Trailer


In the dusty, undeveloped wastelands of Western Mudos, cantankerous townsfolk find their settlements besieged by belligerent outlaws. Along comes Stranger, a tall, dark and enigmatic bounty hunter with a critter-firing crossbow. Stranger is lured out of routine by the prospect of a one time, bounty-to-end-all bounties Moolah maker. He’s got a short but pricey personal shopping list and he’s finally found a way to check it off.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1vyAcHf

Ralph H. Baer, father of video games, passes away at 92

Ralph H. Baer, father of video games, passes away at 92


The father of video games, Ralph H. Baer, has passed away at age 92. He came to rest in his New Hampshire home on the night of Saturday, Dec. 6 according sources close to him and a Facebook post by video game historian Leonard Herman, a friend of Baer. Dubbed the "Thomas Edison of the home TV game" by Popular Electronics Magazine in 1980, Baer's Odyssey game system was the first home video game system. The patent for the idea was filed on August 10, 1970 and the system was released by Magnavox.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1wsWp0r

Sunday, 7 December 2014

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Gameplay Video - PS4

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Gameplay Video - PS4


Watch the first gameplay of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Several years after his last adventure, retired fortune hunter, Nathan Drake, is forced back into the world of thieves. With the stakes much more personal, Drake embarks on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. His greatest adventure will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he’s willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1u74ilA

Bioshock Big Daddy and Little Sister Cosplay

Has Oculus Finally Conquered the Virtual-Reality Vomit Problem?

Has Oculus Finally Conquered the Virtual-Reality Vomit Problem?


Virtual reality makes me sick. It starts with a feeling of dehydration soon after the goggles go on, followed by sweating—and by that point it's too late to avoid the real unpleasantness. This isn't supposed to happen anymore. Backers believe the motion-sickness problem has been solved, finally clearing the way for widespread adoption of VR technology.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1zecupw

Zelda - World Premiere

Zelda - World Premiere


Tonight at The Game Awards, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U was confirmed to be released in 2015. Star Fox will come before Zelda Wii U and Majora's Mask for 3DS will come before that. Majora's...

Read more: http://ift.tt/1wNqtTS

Saturday, 6 December 2014

Outraged Over 'Grand Theft Auto' Ban, Aussie Gamers Petition to Ban the Bible

Outraged Over 'Grand Theft Auto' Ban, Aussie Gamers Petition to Ban the Bible


The petition, posted Dec. 4 on Change.org, has already attracted more than 20,000 signatures. In an obvious parody of arguments in favor of banning video games, the petition claims the Bible “encourages readers to murder women for entertainment” by “commit(ting) sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get 'god' points.” It calls on Australian retailers, including Target, to pull the Bible from their shelves

Read more: http://ift.tt/1yqhfIM

Friday, 5 December 2014

Older folks react to playing Unfair Mario

Older folks react to playing Unfair Mario


It's gaming time on Elders React! They try their best to get through Unfair Mario! Let us know what the Elders should play next!

Read more: http://ift.tt/1FWp6Sy

Street Fighter V Is a PS4 and PC Exclusive, It Seems

Street Fighter V Is a PS4 and PC Exclusive, It Seems


Street Fighter V has been apparently announced as a PS4 and PC exclusive in what's believed a teaser trailer for the game.NeoGAF user Unlucky Kate reports that a YouTube clip, which has since been set to private, revealed the new title. However, it's still unclear if the trailer appeared on Capcom's site or was leaked. While these supposed leaked teaser says SFV is an "exclusive" for PS4 and PC, it would be very surprising to see the game not get an arcade release (and since modern arcade...

Read more: http://ift.tt/1w7oxWF

Kmart Follows Target's Lead and Pulls GTA V from Australian Stores

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

PlayStation Turns 20, PS4 20th Anniversary Edition Revealed

PlayStation Turns 20, PS4 20th Anniversary Edition Revealed


Hello PlayStation.Blog readers! Today is a very special moment in our history. It’s been 20 years since the launch of the original PlayStation, which released in Japan on December 3rd, 1994. It seems like only yesterday! I’m so glad that we can celebrate this moment together.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1zlmawQ

23 Ways Gaming Makes You a Better Person

23 Ways Gaming Makes You a Better Person


If you're watching this channel, you already think that gaming is pretty great. But you probably don't realize how great. Games can improve empathy, motor skills, eye sight (yes even EYE SIGHT!!), as well as help decrease fatigue, depression, and manage anxiety. And that's only a fraction of their awesomeness!!! SO we've collected a bunch of arguments you can lob at anyone who tells you to stop playing so much.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1zk5O7q

Six Reasons To Buy A Wii U Instead Of A PS4 Or Xbox One

Six Reasons To Buy A Wii U Instead Of A PS4 Or Xbox One


The holidays are upon us. Thanksgiving gave way to Black Friday. Black Friday set the stage for Christmas. And we slackers out there—those of us who don’t have the moxie or the guts to get up that early and go stand in line in the cold—still have our shopping ahead of us.

Read more: http://ift.tt/1yJdfWu