Items tagged with Video Games
Earlier this month we talked about the folks working to organize the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games wanting to add eSports games. Ratings for the Olympics have been on the decline as it appears fewer people care to watch most of the sports that the games highlight each year. This led the Paris Olympics committee to decide that adding in eSports might be a good thing to boost ratings and viewership. As you are likely aware, eSports draw huge crowds and have very avid supporters that could help turn the Olympic ratings slump around and get younger people interested in the games again. Most would assume from the willingness to consider eSports that it could mean shooters like DOTA 2, Counter-Strike,...
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Attention all Age of Empires fans, we have some fantastic news. Age of Empires 4 is in development for Windows 10 PCs. The announcement was made yesterday that the game is being developed by Microsoft Studios with Relic Entertainment in charge of the project. The franchise has been without a new title since 2005 when Age of Empires 3 launched; the first entry in the franchise was all the way back in 1997. The other main title in the Age of Empires franchise was published in 1999 and was Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings. All three of those games were developed by Ensemble Studios, which is no longer in existence. Relic Entertainment will be making Age of Empires 4 and that studio is based in...
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For fans of Mass Effect: Andromeda who bought the game only five short months ago, the end has been confirmed. The Mass Effect: Andromeda team has published a post on the official game website confirming that the single player story is over. Rumors circulated back in July that the story would be ended, and that rumor has now been confirmed. Fans of the franchise will undoubtedly be angry at this turn of events. The Andromeda team wrote, "Our last update, 1.10, was the final update for Mass Effect: Andromeda. There are no planned future patches for single-player or in-game story content." "Early in development, we decided to focus Mass Effect: Andromeda's story on the Pathfinder, the exploration...
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Researchers from the Université de Montréal have published a study that found certain types of video games resulted in the loss of grey matter in the brain, while other types of video games resulted in an increase. Specifically, the study claims that gamers who frequently play first person shooter type video games like Call of Duty, Killzone, and Borderlands 2 lose grey matter mass in their brain. Researchers say that in FPS gamers, the grey matter mass loss occurs in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that the scientists say is critical to healthy cognition. On the other hand, the study also claims that people who play video games that require significant spatial learning, such as the Super...
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When it comes to shooters on Steam, the most popular game that isn't made by Valve is PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds. The game is still in Steam Early Access mode meaning it hasn't even seen its full, official launch yet and it is already incredibly popular. This week marked an official update for PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) and this update brought something totally new to the third-person shooter. To supplement the traditional third-person view of the game, the update has added in first-person servers. That means in those servers you have to play through the game using the first-person view, which eliminates some of the player's ability to see what is going on around them. While in the normal...
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Many game developers use the massive gaming expo PAX West – which is currently underway in Seattle – to unveil their latest wares. There is always some hot, new gaming footage to come out of the show that sparks the usual conversations about graphics quality, framerates, game mechanics, and the myriad of other things that make a good (or bad) game. One of the game trailers released last night, however, may spark a different kind of debate. And we’re not sure that’s a good thing. If you grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, you may remember that discussions about video games, and video game violence especially, spurred huge protests and even sparked congressional debates. Ultimately, video game rating...
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Woe is the gamer who suddenly can't play a particular title because a developer or publisher pulled the plug on an authentication server without releasing a patch to remove the requirement of checking in with the defunct mothership. About the only thing you can do at that point is pound sand or brave the shady side of the web for an illegal crack and hope it doesn't barf malware all over your system. Luckily, the good folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have your back and have filed a petition with the Library of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office to make modifying abandoned games considered fair use. The EFF's carefully worded petition exempts games like World of Warcraft and...
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It’s been a rough summer for Nintendo. First, Sony’s console sales exceeded Nintendo’s, breaking a decade-long winning streak, and then Philips won an important patent infringement case against Nintendo related to its Wii U controllers. Now, Nintendo is facing a new competitor in a segment of the game console market that Nintendo has traditionally dominated: games for kids. The challenger is LeapFrog, which announced its new LeapTV console today. LeapFrog's new LeapTV console, geared towards kids ages 3 to 8. It has a motion camera for active games. LeapFrog has been making LeapPad educational tablets for kids for years, and while the move from mobile devices to TV consoles...
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Think you've got game? Then you should probably look away. While collectors around the globe have long since bragged about owning more than anyone else when it comes to any given category of items, there's now one man to beat when it comes to the idea of collecting the most video games. Michael Thomasson seems like a pretty stand-up 31-year old gentleman, but he has something else to be proud of: he has amassed 10,607 video games, but he is actually beyond that figure since earning a Guinness World Record. That's right: he now has a world record to prove that his collection of games is larger than that of anyone else residing on this planet. Thomasson stated: "I have games on cartridge, laser...
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Saints Row IV is off to a solid start having sold more than a million copies during its launch week, publisher Deep Silver announced on Thursday. Deep Silver also pointed out that the game's PC release tripled its first week's sales figures over the prior release from THQ, Saints Row: The Third. Not too shabby for a platform that doesn't always get its due respect these days. "We are incredibly happy of the reception for Saints Row IV as a critical and now a commercial success," said Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of parent company Koch Media. "The development team at Volition is second-to-none as a driving creative force in the entertainment industry and we are very proud to have them as part of the...
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We have some good news for PC gamers. AMD's free game promotion with the purchase of select graphics cards from qualifying vendors continues today with the arrival of the "Never Settle Forever" bundle, the third edition of the "Never Settle" franchise of game bundles. It's also the most flexible of the bunch, as gamers can now choose exactly which titles they want to receive. "AMD has numerous close ISV partnerships with the world’s top game developers and we are thrilled to collaborate with them to the benefit of gamers," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "But the ‘Never Settle Forever’ program is an entirely new dimension...
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As if the Oculus Rift project needed any more buzz and excitement, things just kicked into overdrive with the announcement that legendary game programmer John Carmack of id Software fame has joined the team as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). That's right, the lead programmer of iconic gaming franchises like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D will now contribute to the Oculus Rift and help shape the future of virtual reality. "I have fond memories of the development work that led to a lot of great things in modern gaming – the intensity of the first person experience, LAN and internet play, game mods, and so on. Duct taping a strap and hot gluing sensors onto Palmer’s early prototype...
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Saints Row 4, the embattled title in the long-running game series, is ready for its U.S. launch on August 20. The game's publisher, Deep Silver, announced the news on Monday, saying that it has gone gold and will definitely hit store shelves as planned. In addition, Deep Silver will let customers order a season pass for $9.99 that allows them full access to any and all downloadable content it plans to release. To get fans of the series interested in the season pass, developer Volition has created a season pass-exclusive weapon known as the "Rectifier." Wondering what the Rectifier is? Oh, well it's an anal probe weapon designed to help the President of the United States get, uh, "inside" information...
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Sony has decided against fighting the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over the PlayStation data breach that left sensitive user information open to hackers in 2011. The ICO recently reported on its Twitter account that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe "will not be appealing the 250,000-pound penalty" it was leveled with in January over the 2011 PlayStation Network breach that left millions of customer e-mail addresses, account passwords, and dates of birth open to hackers. The hack, which left Sony no other choice but to take down the PlayStation Network for weeks and face the widespread outcry of gamers around the world, was a black mark on the company's online efforts....
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Easily one of the more anticipated product launches is the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset that had a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. Oculus VR managed to raise over $2.4 million on Kickstarter, well north or the company's comparatively modest $250,000 goal, and the money is still flowing in. Announced today, Oculus VR just closed a $16 million Series A round of funding co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. "Oculus began with a single mission: to put players inside the game," said Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and inventor of the Oculus Rift. "This investment allows us to deliver immersive and affordable virtual reality to players everywhere." In addition to providing...
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Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One console represents the company's most ambitious effort to date to propel gaming into the cloud. Physical media will still exist, but by and large, Microsoft envisions console gamers purchasing and organizing titles in a Steam-like fashion, a method that has worked well for PC gamers. Steam's distribution platform also paved the way for deep discounts and frequent sales on top titles. Might we expect the same or similar price savings on the Xbox One? Perhaps eventually, but not at launch. A representative for Microsoft told Polygon that Xbox One games will carry the same price tag as today's titles, meaning you can expect to pay $60 for a triple-A game. "I can confirm...
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Slogging through years of difficult treatments, it’s easy for a cancer patient to lose hope, or even the motivation to keep up with the complicated medicine schedule. It’s hard to have a sense of control when the next lab test holds important answers to your future. To help kids battling cancer maintain perspective and a sense of control over their destinies, HopeLab released Re-Mission 2, a video game suite that depicts the battles raging in their bodies. Your child can choose from several mini-games to match his or her circumstances. Re-Mission 2, which is available free online, features games in which kids can fight their diseases with the treatments that are used in real life....
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Mojang, the developer that brought Minecraft to the masses, originally wanted to launch Scrolls, a card collecting strategy game, at the end of April. That didn't happen, though Mojang has committed itself to a release date, announcing that Scrolls will launch in "Open Beta" on June 3 for Windows and Mac OS X. Ahead of the launch, Mojang has put together a mini-guide detailing basic gameplay elements. It's a short read filled with in-game screenshots and one that's definitely worth going through if you plan to play Scrolls next week. There's also this teaser video: You'll be able to play against others online, as well as trade cards from any of the decks you build. The battlefield consists of...
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An angry bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, but what if you could have all three? Rovio is determined to find out. The Angry Birds creator will always have its wildly popular franchise to fall back on, which to date has tasked gamers with battling thieving pigs in space and in galaxies far, far away, but with the creation of Rovio Stars, Rovio Entertainment also gets to try its hand at publishing games for third-party developers. "Rovio Entertainment has positioned itself as one of the powerhouses of mobile entertainment, so moving into publishing is a logical step for us at this point," said Rovio’s EVP of Games Jami Laes. "We want to help our fans find quality entertainment...
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May 4th, otherwise known as Star Wars Day (May the Fourth/Force be with you) has come and gone, and if you were too busy geeking out to Iron Man 3's opening weekend or celebrating Cinco de Mayo, you might have missed out on Steam's weekend-long Star Wars sale. If that's the case, toss another cup of coffee at that hangover and head over to Steam, there's still time to save some Corellian coin. The entire Star Wars Franchise is on sale, with each individual title marked down by 66 percent. Alternately, you can buy the bundled collection at half-off for $50. Titles included in the collection are as follows (marked with individually reduced pricing): Star Wars Battlefront II: $3.39 Star Wars Jedi...
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It's never easy to say goodbye, but if you're still sitting on a mountain of PlayStation 2 games, you're quickly running out of time to cash in one final time on the titles you may have grown up playing, at least at GameStop. As of June 1, 2013, GameStop will longer accept PS2 trade-ins of any kind, including games, accessories, or systems. A poster on Reddit snapped the photo you see below, and a quick call to one or more GameStop locations is all it takes to confirm that the new and used games retailer will no longer accept PS2 trades of any kind after the end of this month. Image Source: Reddit (eGORapTure) This is hardly surprising and really just another nail in a coffin that Sony already...
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If you've somehow managed to miss the long and fun ride known as Skryim, you owe it to yourself to check it out (assuming you're into RPGs). And to make sure you don't miss anything Skyrim has to offer, Bethesda this week announced plans to release The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition, which will include the most up-to-date version of the original game and all three expansions. In addition to the Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn add-ons, the Legendary release will also come with "added features like combat cameras, mounted combat, Legendary difficulty mode for hardcore players, and Legendary skills," the latter of which will allow gamers to master every perk and level up their skills...
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