Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

The video game arcade is the cathedral of the games industry. Veteran players see these increasingly endangered places as shrines to design purity, difficulty and player skill, bathed in the glow of flickering monitors. They were, after all, the places where the conventions of the medium were forged, and their gradual disappearance has only served to make them more alluring.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/capoti/atari-co-founder-mobile-games-make-me-want-to-throw-my-phone

How the World’s Oldest Printed Board Game Rolled Propaganda into Play

Long before the era of Candy Crush and Neko Atsume, the games that captured our attention were often the ones that required just a board, a dice or two, and a handful of tokens.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/CatLady/how-the-worlds-oldest-printed-board-game-rolled-propaganda-into-play

The Urban Legend of the Government's Mind-Controlling Arcade Game

The twisted tale of Polybius, the world's most dangerous video game.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/JazzofAllTrades/the-urban-legend-of-the-governments-mind-controlling-arcade-game

Games as Lit. 101 - Do Social Issues Make Art Better?

Does addressing important issues actually make a story better?
Read more: http://snapzu.com/Jourdy288/games-as-lit-101-do-social-issues-make-art-better

The Minecraft Generation

Jordan wanted to build an unpredictable trap. An 11-year-old in dark horn-­rimmed glasses, Jordan is a devotee of Minecraft, the computer game in which you make things out of virtual blocks, from dizzying towers to entire cities. He recently read “The Maze Runner,” a sci-fi thriller in which teenagers live inside a booby-­trapped labyrinth, and was inspired to concoct his own version — something he then would challenge his friends to navigate.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/ilyas/the-minecraft-generation

Star Fox Zero The Battle Begins

Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy are back to save the universe in the Star Fox Zero for Wii U, available 4/22! Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins was produced in collaboration with Shigeru Miyamoto, and Production IG and WIT Studios.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/mtnrg/star-fox-zero-the-battle-begins

Dunk Souls III

Read more: http://snapzu.com/rti9/dunk-souls-iii

Human mind excels at quantum-physics computer game

Revelation could have implications for how scientists approach quantum problems. By Elizabeth Gibney. (Apr. 13)
Read more: http://snapzu.com/AdelleChattre/human-mind-excels-at-quantum-physics-computer-game

When Dungeons & Dragons Set Off a Moral Panic

Going back at least to the 1690s, when the elders of colonial Salem, Mass., executed 20 women and men for supposedly practicing witchcraft, there have been Americans who find the devil’s hand in all manner of human activity. Satanic messages have been ascribed to the corporate symbols of major companies like Starbucks and Procter & Gamble. Some religious fundamentalists are certain that 666, the number of the beast in the Book of Revelation, lurks in swirls...
Read more: http://snapzu.com/cone/when-dungeons-dragons-set-off-a-moral-panic

My thoughts on Doom Multiplayer Beta

TotalBiscuit brings you a preview of the multiplayer beta of the upcoming shooter from id Software and Bethesda.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/rti9/my-thoughts-on-doom-multiplayer-beta

Game developers must avoid the ‘wage-slave’ attitude

I read this article by Dean Takahashi the other day, and my jaw nearly hit the floor.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/Jourdy288/game-developers-must-avoid-the-wage-slave-attitude

Wanted: pinball wizard to care for 1,000 machines and take over hall of fame

Tim Arnold has been collecting and repairing rare pinball machines for decades. Now he’s looking for a protege to take the reins – otherwise it’s game over.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/CatLady/wanted-pinball-wizard-to-care-for-1000-machines-and-take-over-hall-of-fame

Why watch other people play games?

The Best Show in the Universe: Why watch other people play games.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/drunkenninja/why-watch-other-people-play-games

NES classic 'Punch-Out' has an Easter egg that went undiscovered for 29 years

Easter eggs in video games are everywhere, but most don’t take nearly three decades to figure out. ‘Punch-Out’ — aka ‘Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out’ — is the obvious exception to this rule. Reddit user Midwesternhousewives used his weekend to discover an Easter egg in Punch-Out that tells you when to deliver a knockout blow to two separate fighters.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/grandtheftsoul/nes-classic-punch-out-has-an-easter-egg-that-went-undiscovered-for-29-years

How Virtual Reality is Looking to Reawaken the Joy of Arcades

Once upon a time, in the middle of the night, there was a restless man pacing a residential street with a yellow tape measure in his hand. To the untrained eye, he appeared to be alone—some sort of compulsive insomniac bent on determining odd distances—but throughout the night he was kept company by visions of goblins, wizards and other enchanted creatures. Like the protagonist of most fairy tales, if this man were to be evaluated...
Read more: http://snapzu.com/jedlicka/how-virtual-reality-is-looking-to-reawaken-the-joy-of-arcades

Gears of War 4 - Tomorrow

25 Years after Gears of War 3, spurred by a series of strange disappearances, JD Fenix must embrace his father’s legacy and battle a terrifying new enemy.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/canuck/gears-of-war-4-tomorrow

'Dark Souls' Is Hard, But Playing It Professionally Is Much Harder

Dark Souls III is out this week and the streamers are ready. In the coming weeks, fans will gather online to trade strategies, discuss lore, and watch Twitch. Dark Souls’ unique challenges and flexible play style make it perfect for streaming, but only the best gamers do it well. Few professional Dark Souls players are as popular as LobosJR and as notorious as Oroboro. I caught up with the two streamers to find out what it takes to play games for a living and what makes...
Read more: http://snapzu.com/Pfennig88/dark-souls-is-hard-but-playing-it-professionally-is-much-harder

Rare chess piece found in back yard of museum

The smallest medieval Arabic chess piece to be discovered in the country has been unearthed in an archaeological dig at Wallingford Museum.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/CatLady/rare-chess-piece-found-in-back-yard-of-museum

Board games make a comeback in Toronto

In this digital age, gaming battles usually take place in complex, software-driven worlds - on computers and and smartphones.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/rti9/board-games-make-a-comeback-in-toronto

eGames: British government announces eSports version of the Olympics

The British government has announced the very first eGames, an event to take place every four years that will act as the eSports equivalent of the Olympic Games, and take place in the host countries of each Olympiad, including this year's in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. eGames will be a non-profit organisation which offers no prize money, but like the Olympics themselves will use national pride and the nature of competition to generate interest and draw in competitors.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/belangermira/egames-british-government-announces-esports-version-of-the-olympics

Blizzard shuts down popular fan-run “pirate” server for classic WoW

Nostralrius servers claimed 800K users are playing 2006-era World of Warcraft.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/rti9/blizzard-shuts-down-popular-fan-run-pirate-server-for-classic-wow

How to Write a History of Video Game Warfare

EVE Online’s historian reflects on the largest war ever fought on the Internet. By Robinson Meyer.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/AdelleChattre/how-to-write-a-history-of-video-game-warfare

Fallout 4 – "Wasteland Workshop" 2nd Expansion (Official Trailer)

Watch the official trailer for Wasteland Workshop, the second game add-on for Fallout 4. Wasteland Workshop will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Steam on Tuesday, April 12. With the Wasteland Workshop, design and set cages to capture live creatures – from raiders to Deathclaws! Tame them or have them face off in battle, even against your fellow settlers. The Wasteland Workshop also includes a suite of new design options for your settlements like nixie tube lighting, letter kits...
Read more: http://snapzu.com/drunkenninja/fallout-4-wasteland-workshop-2nd-expansion-official-trailer

The 8-Bit Video Game That Makes Statistics Addictive

Players see a stream of scatter plots - graphs that visualize the relationship between two things, like temperature and ice-cream sales. Your job is to eyeball the plots and estimate the number R, which measures how correlated the two things are. In the game, R can range from 0 (no correlation at all) to 1 (a perfect positive correlation).
Read more: http://snapzu.com/swift528491/the-8-bit-video-game-that-makes-statistics-addictive

UNCHARTED 4: A Thief's End

See Nathan, Sam, and Sully explore the plains of Madagascar in this gameplay video. 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://snapzu.com/hxxp/uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end

What's Wrong with Monopoly?

In which John reviews the mobile version of the game Monopoly, while also exploring the complicated history of the famous board game.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/PrismDragon/whats-wrong-with-monopoly

Know your Mario Maker levels!

Read more: http://snapzu.com/zobo/know-your-mario-maker-levels

Star Wars Holochess creator makes VR game

The holochess game seen in Star Wars AND The Force Awakens, is about to become reality--at least, virtually--brought to you by its creator Phil Tippett.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/sjvn/star-wars-holochess-creator-makes-vr-game

Oculus Rift Collects Information and Sends It to Facebook

When Facebook acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion two years ago, some had privacy concerns. It appears those fears may have a bit more credence.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/Dracher/oculus-rift-collects-information-and-sends-it-to-facebook

Body Language and The Male Gaze

Tropes vs Women in Video Games (Season Two, Episode Two)
Read more: http://snapzu.com/AdelleChattre/body-language-and-the-male-gaze

Game turns you into a 1920s phone operator, complete with vintage switchboard

Hello Operator has you take on the role of a telephone operator from the 1920s, using an antique controller to manage dozens of impatient customers across a limited number of three or four phone lines.
Read more: http://snapzu.com/CatLady/game-turns-you-into-a-1920s-phone-operator-complete-with-vintage-switchboard

How a fluke video game called the Eternal War became a cultural phenomenon—and changed its creator

In 2007, after his freshman year at the University of Texas San Antonio, James Moore dropped out. His mother, recently divorced, lived on a single income; even after selling her house, she couldn’t afford tuition. Forced to drop out and already facing formidable student debt, Moore didn’t give up on his education. “I made it a goal of mine,” he says, “to do whatever I could to get back into a situation where I could attend school.”
Read more: http://snapzu.com/rawlings/how-a-fluke-video-game-called-the-eternal-war-became-a-cultural-phenomenonand-changed-its-creator

The PlayStation 2 Officially Dies Today

A sad day March 31st, 2016 is for gaming. 16 years ago, the PlayStation 2 released world wide. It was a revolutionary console that set Sony on a path of gaming greatness that they maintain to this very day. While the original PlayStation came first, it’s undeniable that the PlayStation 2’s success is the driving force behind the brand today. The PlayStation 2 is the highest selling console with over 155 million units sold. The second best...
Read more: http://snapzu.com/ubthejudge/the-playstation-2-officially-dies-today