Ahead of the highly-anticipated SimCity launch on March 5th, EA and Maxis have announced that users can beta test the game from Friday, January 25th through Monday, January 28th. Interested players can register for the beta now — but unfortunately, the beta test is limited to a one-hour sample,...
Get ready to squeeze as much as you can out of that hour
Temple Run 2 just hit the iOS App Store, but it doesn't look like Android users will have to wait as long as they did for its predecessor. In an interview with Polygon to be published later today, Imangi co-founder Keith Shepherd says the game is...
CES is not a games show, as Sony CEO Kaz Hirai pointed out to us in our interview with him last week. That's his reason for the dearth of PlayStation news at CES this year — the PS3 and Vita were hardly even mentioned at Sony's press conference. And of course, Microsoft didn't come at all, so we weren't treated to any Xbox hype at the annual Steve Ballmer keynote (which was replaced with a m...
President Barack Obama is asking the Centers for Disease Control to investigate the possibility of a link between violent media and shootings as part of a blanket proposal to prevent future gun violence. In a memorandum, the White House urged the CDC to "conduct research on the causes and prevention of gun violence, including links between video games, media images, and violence." Bearing out V...
A controversial subsection of an even more controversial proposal
Since its launch, Apple's App Store has faced questions about its curation process, which roots out not only malware or copies of apps but keeps out things that could damage the store's reputation. The conversation over games has been particularly fraught: Apple has let through (though later pulled) shoddy and blatantly racist games, but it's rejected carefully produced "serious" titles that...
Decades ago, the completion of a video game didn't result in a 10-minute roll of developer credits — instead, players were usually presented with a simple congratulatory message and the name of the company that released the game. Determined to have their legacy implanted somewhere in the products they worked so hard to complete, some developers took to embedding messages or credits of their own into the very ROM code they were hired to create, proof of which can be seen at The Cutting Room Floor. Cabel Sesser, co-founder of OS X and iOS software development company Panic Inc., compiled a...
Temple Run fans take note — the incredibly popular mobile game is finally getting a sequel. Already available in the New Zealand App Store, Temple Run 2 is expected to start hitting other countries soon, with Touch Arcade reporting that it will be available in the US later tonight. From the looks of things, the sequel maintains the same basic gameplay as the original, so expect plenty of running away from danger while collecting coins and avoiding obstacles.
But that doesn't mean there's nothing new: the game is set in a new environment (what looks to be a floating temple), where you can ride in mine carts and on zip lines, check out...
Nintendo's Wii U and 3DS consoles haven't performed badly so far, but there's a real sense that they may not match their predecessors' huge success. According to a Nikkei report, however, the company plans to merge both divisions into a single unit in a month's time, and will invest 30 billion yen (about $340 million) in a new Kyoto development facility to be opened by the end of the year. The structural shift is intended to speed up...
Is it a handheld? Is it a console? It's the Wii U
We just gave the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset, our Best of CES award. Guess who else is experimenting with virtual reality? Valve Software. At the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, the same renowned video game publisher that's hard at work on the Steambox...
Nintendo's humble Wii may now play second fiddle to the recently-launched Wii U, but that isn't stopping Amazon from bringing its Instant Video platform to the older console. The new Wii Channel just launched in the Wii Shop, costs nothing to...
The recent spate of shootings, particularly the one in Newtown, CT, have sparked a wave of debate that tends to focus on both gun control and violent media, mostly video games. Now, in an uneasy confluence of the two, the National Rifle Association has released its own iOS...
Microsoft didn't have a booth or even an official press event at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, but that didn't stop the company from jumping on stage twice. CEO Steve Ballmer joined Qualcomm for its bizarre opening keynote, and more importantly Microsoft’s Chief Technology Strategy...
As Vice President Joe Biden meets with members of the video game industry, he's trying to reassure them that they're only one part of a wide initiative to curb gun violence — and perhaps unintentionally revealing how muddled the debate around games and violence actually is. In a statement recorded below, Biden spent a full quarter of his time listing the other sectors he was in talks with, from gun safety...
Hasbro is shaking things up with one its most popular board games, Monopoly. On Facebook, Hasbro is asking the public to vote on a brand new piece — the choices are a moustached robot, a diamond ring, a cat, a helicopter, and a guitar — to replace one of the classics. Jalopnik has taken the...
In November, we learned that Microsoft was planning to build original games for tablets and mobile phones, spreading the Xbox brand further than...
There are plenty of Android gaming controllers here at this year's CES, but one of the better options we've seen comes from PowerA. To lend an even stronger console feel to Android games, the...
CD Projekt RED — the studio behind The Witcher series — has released a stunning teaser trailer for its upcoming game Cyberpunk 2077. The developer is basing the RPG off the popular Cyberpunk pen-and-paper series, with the game depicting a future society capable of equipping body augmentations. The video does a great job of setting the tone...
US sales figures for the Wii U's first full month are in, and the news is mixed for Nintendo. While the new console has brought in more money than the original Wii did in its launch period, only 460,000 units were sold compared to 475,000 original Wii systems. In total, Nintendo has sold 890,000...
Following the announcement of its new gaming tablet, the Razer Edge, Razer is closing out CES this year with a sale on its popular gaming peripherals. All of the company's mice, keyboards, controllers, headsets, mouse pads, and other assorted accessories are currently 50 percent off, and even though shipping is a little steep, the deals still beat what you'll find on other sites such as Amazon. Both models of Razer's slim, 17-inch gaming laptop, the Razer Blade, are ten percent off — the older model is $200 off, and the latest version is $250 cheaper. The sale began at 12:00PM EST today and will run until the same time tomorrow, so if...
Chalk it up to the conflicts of being a giant media company. CNET made Dish Network's acclaimed but controversial Hopper with Sling DVR a finalist in its "Best of CES" awards. But CNET's parent company CBS objected, because it's suing Dish over the commercial-skipping feature in its DVRs.
The Hopper with Sling was disqualified from CNET's awards shortly before the winners were announced. CNET attached a disclaimer to its list of award finalists:
The Dish Hopper with Sling was removed from...
One of the most popular features of the original Wii was the Virtual Console, allowing gamers to download classic games across Nintendo’s expansive catalogue. The gaming company has now confirmed to Polygon that the development of a Virtual...
Two days ago, my esteemed colleague Vlad Savov told you why Nvidia's Project Shield will fail. It's a thought-provoking piece, and one you should read.
I just happen to disagree with practically every point he makes.
Project Shield is a strange...
CES has never been much of a video game show — you'll want to go to the Electronic Entertainment Expo for that — but that didn't stop Nvidia, Valve, and Razer from stealing the show with exciting, controversial new game systems. Find all the best gaming announcements from CES 2013 in this StoryStream.
Design student Juan David Gómez has created an amazing 8-bit remake of one of the most iconic scenes in Tarantino's popular film Kill Bill. The short game, 88 Madness, is set in the Tokyo nightclub, where you can play as Beatrix Kiddo and fight through the Crazy 88 and O-Ren's miniskirt-clad personal bodyguard Gogo Yubari. Gómez even added over-the-top pixelated blood spurts when you decapitate enemies, making the gaming experience very true...
