These Critics Can’t Quite Decide Whether to Love or Hate Game & Wario

Some thought it disappointingly shallow where others had an unusual, but ultimately enjoyable experience. Nintendo’s latest Wario-themed Wii U-exclusive assortment of quirky and highly imaginative minigames, Game & Wario, is unquestionably divisive. The minigames themselves got a lot of complaints, and were said to be a mixed bag concerning quality and depth, but Game &…

Oil, Bomb-Dodging and Nerds: Life As a Middle Eastern Game Developer

Pardon the pun, but Captain Oil isn’t one of those mobile games that’s going to set the world on fire. But the more I play it, the more I think about the place where it was made. That almost never happens. Captain Oil was made by a dev studio called Game Cooks, which sends its…

If NCAA Football 14 Still Sounds the Same This Year, You Can Blame Me

On Oct. 6, North Carolina’s Tobacco Road triumvirate of State, Duke and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill all played home games on the same day, and all of them won. Audio from all three games wil be in NCAA Football 14, on shelves in two weeks. Some of that may come from a microphone…

Steam Trading Cards are now live. Go get’em!

Phantasy Star Meets Suikoden? Sign Me Up.

The next indie role-playing game from a studio known for solid indie role-playing games is sci-fi, turn-based, and inspired by some of the all time greats. The next game from Zeboyd Games—best known for indie gems like Cthulhu Saves The World and the last couple of Penny Arcade RPGs—is called Cosmic Star Heroine It’s got…

One Day Before Launch, Nvidia’s Shield Slips To July

Remember last week, when Nvidia announced their Shield portable Android gaming system was launching tomorrow? Yeah, about that… Citing a mechanical issue discovered during incredibly last-minute QA testing, the PC game-streaming Shield will now be dropping sometime next month. Here’s Nvidia’s official statement: “During our final QA process, we discovered a mechanical issue that relates…

The Moneysaver: Dragon Keep, Columbia’s Finest, Crazy Bundles

When I was a child, I paid like a child, I saved like a child, I bargained like a child. When I read the Moneysaver, I put the ways of childhood behind me. We’ve got deals for days but they won’t last for days. Get Tomb Raider bundled with Sleeping Dogs and Just Cause 2…

Awwwww. According to the game’s official Twitter feed, Plants vs. Zombies 2 has been delayed from its July 18th launch until “later in the summer.”

You Can’t Joke About Half-Life 3 Without Things Getting Out of Hand

Nobody needs an excuse to talk about Half-Life 3. Normally, that might be fine—it’s just hype!—but damn if the desire for an official announcement can’t get out of hand sometimes. Yesterday, we wrote about a patch on Steam that made some copies of Half-Life 2 suddenly feature Korean audio. As far as we can tell,…

Here’s Your First Look at WWE Under 2K Sports

Different publisher, same developer. 2K Sports picked up the WWE franchise from THQ during the bankrupted publisher’s firesale back in Japan. The game revealed its cover art on Monday night, dropping this trailer later. The Rock is WWE 2K14’s cover star. He was announced for the cover one day before he lost to John Cena…

Fans Are Upset Over YouTube Duo ‘Game Grumps’ Break-Up

The best friend duo made up of JonTron and Egoraptor just got a little less grumpy. The YouTube group, Game Grumps, announced yesterday that they’d be breaking up. Sort of. JonTron is leaving to focus on his own work while Danny—a writer/comedian/singer from NinjaSexParty—replaces him on the show. NinjaSexParty, if you’re wondering, is a self-described…

Moneysaver One-Shot: Cheap Turtle Beach For All Your Platforms

Which way is the beach? Amazon is carrying the Turtle Beach Ear Force XP300 Wireless Gaming Headset for $100. That’s about $30 less than anywhere else and $70 off MSRP. What’s so great about these cans? They have a long-lasting rechargeable battery, they’re not gaudy, and most importantly, they work with the PS3, 360, PC,…

Microsoft’s development conference, Build, just got underway but don’t expect big Xbox news. “Probably won’t show you a lot of … Xbox because we’ve been kinda sharing that” news among other events, CEO Steve Ballmer just told attendees.

Sid Meier: The Father of Civilization

Before Sid Meier was Sid Meier—the iconic video game designer whose name is stamped on classic titles like Pirates! and Civilization—he was just another computer hacker. In the early 80s, the then-20-something programmer had a job at a company called General Instruments Corporation, where he worked alongside a gruff Air Force pilot-turned-businessman named John “Wild…

“The first interesting event is five minutes 46 seconds in. Someone says the word ‘bastard’ so straightaway the game has gone to a 12 certificate in my mind.” In the wake of Australia’s ban of Saints Row IV, The Guardian looks at how games get their ratings in Great Britain.

Keep Your Minecraft, I’ll Take Disney Infinity‘s Toy Box

This looks like so much fun, dammit. Only another couple of months away from another children’s game I can’t wait to get my hands on. It’s about the building, you see, and while sure I could spend hours in Minecraft making magnificent creations, I prefer my blocks pre-shaped. I’d say Disney Infinity‘s Toy Box is…

Crackdown Hint at Xbox One Event ‘Wasn’t Accidental’ Says Exec

A month ago at the Xbox One’s debut event, Crackdown fans thought they spied a sly visual reference to the game’s agility orb collectibles. They did, according to Phil Spencer, the boss of Microsoft Studios. Spencer told IGNthe inclusion (above, as originally spied by NeoGAF) was on purpose. “The homage to Crackdown in the reveal…

The New Mad Max Game Will Be Vast, Violent and Not Sound Australian

I detected nary an Australian accent from the characters in the new Mad Max game that made its surprise debut at E3 earlier this week. There will be no Australian voices, one of the game’s creators told me. OK. At least Max’s steering wheel’s on the right. What else have they got here? The new…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: GranArcanum kicks off a feature about Gaming Confessions, sharing that he’s never played an Animal Crossing game. In the midst of sweltering summer heat, Zarnyx writes about her hatred of video games’ ice levels. And, Odin updates Ani-Club with recaps of episodes 13-15 of Ouran…

Here’s Your Chance, Do Your Dance at the Kerbal Space Program Jam

Kerbal Space Program is a space exploration sandbox game—think Minecraft in space. Most folks assemble spacecraft and try to launch them without killing their occupants. Others, as seen here, build orbiting basketball goals and go for extra-vehicular dunktivity. The first half of this video is someone lobbing what looks like Telstar 1 at the hoop—the…