All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

A recent rating from Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification reveals Microsoft Game Studios' upcoming take on table gaming, titled Avatar Superstars Poker. It sounds like an XBLA poker title with Avatar support -- a feature that was unable to be added to TikGames' 2006 XBLA title Texas Hold'Em, which led the studio to create an Xbox Live Indie poker title specifically to include playable Avatars.

We've contacted Microsoft to find out more about the title, and what will set it apart from the other poker games already on the platform. For now, we're going to go update our Avatar to look exactly like John Malkovich wearing a track suit. Pardon us.

#addiction Quinn Pitcock was an all-America defensive lineman at Ohio State, and a third-round draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts. But he quit the NFL in 2008, at age 24. The reason? Video games addiction. More »

Your favorite editors sing your favorite cartoon songs.

You probably already knew, considering the Bioshock 2 "Protector Trials" DLC is nowhere to be found on Games For Windows Live, but here it is in plain English anyway: it's been delayed. 2K Games' Elizabeth Tobey confirmed the delay in a post on the official 2K Games forums, citing that no date for the patch has been decided yet, but that we should all "stay tuned."

We've put in some questions to 2K about the delay and when exactly the company hopes to launch the DLC on Games For Windows Live. We'll let you know what we hear back.

#rumor Gearbox Software's loot-centric first-person shooter Borderlands recently got an update, one that added Steam achievements and new hardware support. That update also may have laid out, in extreme, spoiler-filled detail, the next downloadable expansion for Borderlands. More »

Publisher pushing Call of Duty like never before.

Learn more about the upcoming downloadable game.

G-Series headset, mouse, and keyboard updated with wireless tech.

If you didn't join us at last month's New York Gaming Meetup, there's a good chance you missed out on Take-Two Interactive CEO Ben Feder and Gamelab founder Eric Zimmerman discussing where gaming will be 30 years from now. Luckily for you, we captured highlights from the event on video and dropped them into a 10-ish minute vignette just after the break.

We found Feder's take on hardware plateaus especially interesting. He believes developers will be free of technical constraints, allowing them to solely focus on creativity. Though he's not sure we'll reach that plateau in the next few years, he sees it as an inevitability. "There is an element of technology needed for innovation for sure, Feder said. "I think that's not going away -- that's going to be with us forever. Just in the way that humans will always invent new things and innovate to solve problems."

Eventually, he said, entertainment technology will reach a point at which it's "Good enough to tell an interactive story. Or to play an interactive game." He then admitted, "I don't know when that is." Us? We're going with 25 years. Yeah, that sounds about right.

History will be made.

The death of all things good in the world should be mourned.

The death of all things good in the world should be mourned.

The death of all things good in the world should be mourned.

The death of all things good in the world should be mourned.

Konami Corporation's operating income jumped 244 percent year-over-year in its fiscal Q1 2011, from ¥367 million ($4.26 million) last year to ¥1.265 billion ($14.7 million). Within its Digital & Entertainment Business division (the one for video games), Konami attributed the income to Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Winning Eleven 2010 Aoki Samurai no Chosen (which " was launched on multiple platforms in May to coincide with the once-every-four-years festivities that excite soccer fans worldwide"), and the Japan-only DS girlfriend simulator Love Plus, which has since been expanded with a followup release, Love Plus+.

Other contributing games with "strong sales" included Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story and Fairy Tail Portable Guild, both for PSP. In the future, the company is looking to make a bigger splash in "the expanding overseas video game software market" with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Winning Eleven, and music games like Def Jam Rapstar and Karaoke Revolution Glee. We're guessing we'll see more PSP games from Konami, as well, since that's going so nicely for them.

All Halo, all the time.

Players set sail for new harbors and features clips of major trading cities.

#nsfw Get ready to have sex ruined for you forever, as we take a trip deep inside an infected vagina in the first level of Zombie Cow Studios' Privates. More »

Activision has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2010, reporting revenues of $967 million. That's down from $1,038 reported during the same period last year. Net income is up, however, with the company reporting earnings of $219 million, a 12 percent increase over last year's $195 million. Before you get too confused, know that costs were down dramatically, dropping from $820 million in Q2 2009 to $667 million this year, which led to the increased income.

The driver behind Activision's results, according to CEO Bobby Kotick, was "strong consumer response" to the company's workhorse brands, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The report also mentions that Activision's digital sales "exceeded retail sales for the first time," having grown more than 20 percent year over year. Somehow, we're not terribly surprised.

Looking forward, Kotick pointed to StarCraft 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops and the World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm as potential bright spots for the rest of the year. Specifically, Kotick noted that Black Ops pre-orders are already outpacing the number of Modern Warfare 2 pre-orders at this time last year.

The famed adventurer seeks to unravel the mystery of the Roses of Athena.

#column People always ask me what I do. I guess I look like the kind of guy who you'd be curious what I do. I'm pretty sure that this isn't a desire I project on purpose. I "ended up" this way. More »

What do we think of Arkham City? Come and find out.

It’s quite obvious that many a Sonic fan feels that SEGA is further ruining the franchise by letting DIMPS take on development. As you can see, throwing DIMPS mechanics into Sonic the Hedgehog 2 does indeed look weird. I wonder if SEGA is going to take notice of this.

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Avast! Yo ho! Pirate noise!

In what many telecommunications scholars and sociologists are tentatively referring to as "the saddest forum post in the history of all mankind," Blizzard recently informed World of Warcraft players on the Moon Guard server that moderators would now be patrolling the server for ... erotic role-playing. Particularly in one in-game town, Goldshire, which appears to be a non-stop, Bacchanalian festival of delights of the virtual flesh and oh man, that's the creepiest thing we've ever typed.

Blizzard customer service reps will now "regularly" keep an eye on the town's public chat channels, privately punishing players who violate the game's harassment policies. We can't wait to hear about some of the super awkward /Tells this enforcement will lead to. "Dear Razorbladez, please stop trying to have cybersex with that level 2 Paladin. That is very, very gross."

- armadillo-inspired beast that rolls up into a ball to attack - weak outside of his rolled-up form - enemies that go invisible prior to attack - go into first-person view to hunt down their energy signature - shoot with a missile to make them visible - hidden pick-ups will make a ‘pinging’ noise once you clear the location of [...]