Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

If you suffer under the yoke of AT&T, and enjoy tales of their suffering, this will cheer you up: back when Empire Strikes Back launched, an automated call-in line designed to market the movie broke part of the network. How? This was 1980, and the technology for that sort of stuff just wasn't there yet. The plan was simple: stars of the film recorded a short piece of dialogue (some hilariously half-assed), fans could call a number and hear that message, free of charge. In reality, though, AT&T's network couldn't cope with the demand, and in some places just...fell over. A former of Lucasfilm's fan relations explains: ...the first week the system went live, so many people called the number, AT&T couldn't handle it. They were so overloaded, the system couldn't even handle generating busy signals to all of the calls. The 800 system for Illinois crashed and shut down for several hours. AT&T insisted that we add additional phone lines and issue a press release taking the blame for it. Weep wail. Poor us. We contritely agreed to issue a press release to all media saying we were sorry that Star Wars fans were so eager to get information on the sequel that wouldn't be out for five months, their calls overwhelmed the phone company. And you could call yourself, now that we'd increased the number of phone lines, and listen to the messages [at the number]. The story, of course, got covered everywhere. Best publicity we could have had. Fascinating. You can listen to all the recordings yourself in the video up top. In 1980, the Star Wars Cast's 'Empire Hotline' Broke AT&T [Motherboard]

We drop the hammer and go head on with GRID 2 then Brad shifts into some CastleStorm.

Last time we took a look at The Stomping Land—that DayZ-like survival game, only with dinosaurs—we learned about the general ideas behind the game. This time around, we have a couple of videos which detail hunting tactics, setting up camp, and customization options and more. So far, still looks great. Of course, I'm less interested in this stuff than I am what happens once you start playing with other people—because remember, you're kind of in competition with other folk for the same things. What kind of scenarios will play out? Still, I'm surprised to see so many customization options—and not just for yourself, but for your camp, too. Neat. You can vote for The Stomping Land over at Steam Greenlight here.

Today on televison, somebody said something reasonable about violent video games. Karl Marlantes, an author, marine veteran and author of the book “What It Is Like to Go to War” fielded a question on C-Span2 about the long-term effect that unrealistic depictions of war in media and specifically gaming will have on the military. Despite referring to them as ‘anti-empathy machines’, he was quick to make a level-headed argument which is all too absent in the current media landscape: that the focus should not be on violent games, it should be on how parents react to and interpret that violence to their children. “It’s not just the effect on the kids — it’s the effect of the parent’s interpretation of those machines on the kids.” I'm not saying I agree with him on the empathy bit, but I will say that it's one of the most rational statements I've heard about video games on television in a while. And honestly? We should be listening to our veterans. In the hemming and hawing over depictions of war in games, the mainstream media very rarely goes out and asks the people who would know best: veterans and soldiers. It’s a perspective we just don’t get as often as we should, and a conversation we should be having from people that might know a thing or two about war. Maybe if we did, we'd learn a thing or two. To contact the author of this post, write to chrisperson@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @papapishu

Retailers' placeholder prices for Sony and Microsoft’s new consoles suggest what kind of money we can expect to spend this generation.

"Look, we just made $70,000! Not that I have it up on auto-refresh or anything…" That was beloved game designer and Double Fine Games founder Tim Schafer watching the growing total for Massive Chalice, less than an hour into the company's latest Kickstarter game development funding campaign. Double Fine, of course, helped birth the onslaught of crowdfunded video game projects with last year's record-setting campaign that netted them more than 3 million dollars. So why go back again? And what were the hopes and fears associated with returning to Kickstarter and crowd-funding? "The first time we did it," Schafer said, "you try really hard not to let yourself hope for anything. People ask you, 'what do you think it's going to do?' And you can only answer, 'I don't know.' I don't want to know. I want to be surprised." This time, there could be different surprises waiting for the folks at Double Fine. Massive Chalice aims to tackle a new genre of game and, besides that, the funding campaign for the title has launched at a time when hundreds of game development crowdfunding campaigns are trying to grab people's attention every day. And some people are probably wondering why Double Fine needs more money from them a year after the significant success of their first round of passing the collection basket around. Today, I talked to Schafer and Massive Chalice project lead Brad Muir about going back to Kickstarter, what it would take for Double Fine to accept publisher funding again and whether the company's games will wind up on the PS4. Their answers were honest and enlightening. Is there an element of wanting to top what you guys have done before—or others have done—since in terms of Kickstarter totals? Like, "Screw you, Brian Fargo! I'll show what real crowdfunding looks like! I'm coming back for my crown!" Is there a competitiveness to it or are you too neurotic to even go there? Tim Schafer: My long-term goal is that I hope I want every Kickstarter to do better than the last, just because I want Kickstarter projects to grow and grow to the point where we're making pretty big games using crowdfunding. I want each Kickstarter to do better than the last, in general. So, that's why I'd be super-happy if this Kickstarter was even bigger than our last one. But, I also know that it was really new and had this novelty the first time we did it . I'm just happy that we had the ability to do this again and fund games like this in the future, because we love the relationship that [crowdfunding] establishes with our players and our fans. If there's any competition, it's definitely very friendly, because when Brian Fargo does really good with his Kickstarter, that brings more people to Kickstarter. That means there's more people there to back our project. That definitely helps us and it helps him when we do well and all around. Cyclical crowd-funding—where you go back for more than one project—is still relatively unmapped territory. inXile's been doing it. Now you are. Given how unpredictable people's whims are, do you think you can keep doing things this way? It seems like there's a magic lamp quality to it, where you get three wishes and that's it. Do you feel that there's a way around the idea of crowdfunding as a limited resource? Schafer: I don't think it's limited, really. I see a big future for it. It only feels like a magic lamp now because it's new and people haven't really figured out all the different ways to make it work. I think we're collectively figuring that out now. We definitely have to treat each one like an original story. Each Kickstarter pitch is a story and I think we have a different one this time, with having a fresh-faced project leader like Brad Muir doing it. And he's doing it with a new IP that's not a sequel or an old genre like I was doing [with Double Fine Adventure]. Brad Muir: I think the whole 'rising tide raises all ships '… is that the right saying? I think that's applicable. Kickstarter's drawing more people to it and it's better for everyone. What would it take for you to accept publisher or platform-holder funding again? Have there been offers? If so, why have you rejected them? Schafer: We still work with publishing partners that we like and who are good. The difference now is that we get to choose to only work with the good ones. We don't have to take a bad deal just to stay in business. We have this other funding option. The deals are going to have to get better in order to lure us back to a situation like that. The things you have to give up are often, like, IP rights and you don't get any royalties until you recoup, say, three times the investment for us to except them. All these nasty things. It'd have to be a pretty sweet upside to compensate for all of those. Or maybe the development deals that publishers will offer won't have requirements like that anymore. That's what I hope. They're not good for anybody. "Each Kickstarter pitch is a story and I think we have a different one this time..." It seems like the expectation and reception gap might be a bit more difficult to navigate with crowd-funded projects. There's more faith given to a project creator without the bureaucracy that's so easy to blame. But there's more backlash, too, if a project doesn't hit a funding goal or winds up being not what people wanted. Can you talk about the risk/reward there? Schafer: You mean for Double Fine or for Brad? Both. Schafer: I think we're definitely putting ourselves out there saying, 'hey, we wanna do this thing.' If this didn't work out, we'd do another thing. Brad had, like, five different ideas this year for games. If this didn't work out, we'd try to learn the lessons why and try to apply them to the next thing we're interested in and then pursue that with just as much excitement. At least we didn't have to make the game and find out at the end of it that no one liked it. We could find out that no one liked it now! At least 2,000 people like it now. Muir: And that's really nice and validating, to see the numbers going upwards right now. If it didn't work out, then I'd take a week off and get really drunk. A lot of projectile vomiting. Schafer: You're probably gonna do that anyway… Muir: But there are a lot of ups and downs trying to get a project off the ground in this industry. It's pretty volatile and weird how things work out. There's a lot of projectile vomiting that happens. You've got to try to be resilient about it and roll with it and hopefully the next one works. Schafer: There's a lot of risk with this but there's a lot of risk when you go with a traditional funding deal, too. Those are set-in-stone known risks. Like, you know you're going to get screwed on royalties. You risk not making any money because they took it all. And so I think it's less risky this way. It's more publicly embarrassing if you fail. We had long talks where people were worried about even doing another Kickstarter. I just had this feeling [we could count on] the great relationship that we have with our backers. It feels a little bit like a trust fall. Or stage diving. I feel like the fans will catch us. Where's Broken Age at, in terms of development? Schafer: It's coming together very well. I think it's really beautiful. It's got some really funny cutscenes in it. I like that it's an adventure game that's not just nostalgic; it's modern and pretty and I think it's going to be great. We're currently re-adjusting our schedule and talking about when exactly it's going to come out. But the backers who are watching us have this great level of transparency. If people want to know how the game is doing they can just find out from us. We do a weekly update on our production and it's going well. "We still work with publishing partners that we like and who are good. The difference now is that we get to choose to only work with the good ones. We don't have to take a bad deal just to stay in business." What about the Amnesia Fortnight games? Schafer: We did a bunch of great prototypes the we included in the Humble Bundle that we just made. People really enjoyed them and responded to a lot of them. We're pursuing our option with those and we don't have anything yet to announce. But they all turned out really great. We'd be proud to make any of them. Double Fine is stretching its legs with Massive Chalice, in that it's the studio's first turn-based strategy game. Was there a sense that fans only want you to hit their nostalgic sweet spot? It's something that I personally observe with a lot of these Kickstarters. It's like a nostalgia carousel, where people just want the thing that they liked re-packaged and remade by the people who made it the first time so it'll run on modern hardware. Schafer: The thing to remember is that Kickstarter isn't just one homogenous community. The people who got into Torment, those were the Torment fans. And they weren't necessarily the people who got into Double Fine Adventure. There are people who back projects like FTL that are brand-new and they got the game that they wanted. The people who really like turn-based strategy and are excited by Brad's pitch will back this one. So, I don't think that all of our 'adventure games only' fans are a lock for this one. Muir: Also, I think that there are a lot of people waving the new IP flag but publishers aren't necessarily listening to them. It feels cool that we can bring this new game to a potential audience and go, 'Hey do you like this? Does this sound awesome? This is a game I really want to make.' If people are excited about it and excited about the newness, then that's just another avenue to take Kickstarter down. I don't think it has to be a nostalgic thing. There's all sorts of stuff that you can do on Kickstarter. Schafer: Yeah, I think most of the projects outside of games aren't nostalgic… Muir: And hopefully this is one of them. Does self-publishing on the PS4 mean that you'll be bringing Double Fine games to that platform? Schafer: We'll definitely be real interested in the PS4. We've already talked to them about the console and our expectations and hopes for it. They've been really open to indies like us and I think that bodes well for our games being on that platform. But right now, for Massive Chalice, we're talking about PC, Mac and Linux. That was part of a larger meta-question I had about the back-catalog as an asset. Finding new audiences for older works is something that book publishers and music companies have done for a while and it seems like game creators are beginning to do that more, too. They're tapping into their older games as a reple replenishable asset. Are you going to put Double Fine games anywhere where they'll run? The catalog-as-asset paradigm? Do you have resources for that? Or will you wait to see what the install bases for upcoming platforms look like? Schafer: The great thing about having ownership over most of our IP is that we care about it and we put the energy into keeping it alive and fresh and re-packaging it. Keeping things like Costume Quest, Stacking, Psychonauts and Brutal Legend out there for people to enjoy on new platforms. Because our base technology is everywhere—or aspiring to be everywhere—it doesn't take too much to bring new games to new platforms in the future. "It's very frustrating to hear people how they want something old like Grim Fandango to run [on modern hardware] and I have to say 'I can't do anything about that.'" We're on PC, Mac, Linux, tablets, iOS and all three consoles now. It might not make sense for the bottom line of a big publisher to port any one of those particular games to any one of those particular platforms. If it makes $200,000 or something, it's not enough for a big publisher. But that's a reasonable amount of money for us. So we're really motivated to keep those games around. And we care about them! Doing that also tackles the archiving dilemma that plagues older games. You have a game that you loved 10, 15 years ago that ran on specific hardware that can't be emulated now because of some weird quirk of code… It seems like you guys are a lot more likely to dodge that bullet than some other developers… Schafer: It's very frustrating to hear people how they want something old like Grim Fandango to run [on modern hardware] and I have to say 'I can't do anything about that.' Our games, we can keep them running, maybe even with—down the road—some help from the crowd. Do you ever yearn for the days when the company and the dev process were less transparent? It seems like the power of surprise is lessened by being a more open company now? Today's announcement was a surprise but it wasn't entirely out of the blue with regard to Double Fine going back to Kickstarter. Schafer: Yeah, but if it wasn't a surprise that's because people were just following some sort of reasonable chain of thought, not necessarily because of transparency. The transparency we've experienced ever since Double Fine Adventure has been really great. It's sometimes uncomfortable when you're talking about schedule and budget and cutting something from the game and you know that players are going to watch that. They talk about it and it's definitely a lively discussion on our forums. In the balance, they're always really supportive. We had one big meeting where we talked about needing more money and were thinking about what we were going to do and what we were going to cut. We expected people to freak out and most of the people just said 'how can we help?' 'Can we buy more stuff from the store? How can we send you guys more money?' So, it's just been a positive thing. Brad, it's Tim's company and he's very much the face of Double Fine but this project is very much on your shoulders. You've been at the head of a project before with Iron Brigade but this is on a different sort of stage with more visibility. How nervous are you and how are you managing that? Muir: I'm probably going to spend a lot of time throwing up right after this phone call. In terms of Kickstarter, I'm actually really nervous. Watching the numbers right now is super distracting. But if it does get funded, I'm excited to have that transparency and work with the community. One thing that I loved that happened during the Amnesia Fortnight stuff was this great reflection with the community. It was the kind of thing where I'm excited about the game and I'm posting stuff on the forums—or we did some livestreams through Twitch where I was coding and designing—and it was just so cool. I'm excited and they're excited and they're excited that I'm excited and it's just this great back-and-forth thing. I haven't done anything like this before, in terms of having the process of development be out in the open and getting other people's involvement and feedback. It sounds like a lot less pressure because you know that all these people are behind you already. Working on Iron Brigade, we just went underground to work on it. With all the games we previously worked on—and in a more typical development process—you work on them and you hope that people will like them. But you're not even sure if people like the core idea… Schafer: Here, the risk is settled up front. Muir: Here, we have the core idea of Massive Chalice and we're putting it out there. If people are willing to take a little bit of a chance and put their money up front, man, that's amazing. That tells me that they're along for the ride, that they're into it and that they love the concept. It just removes that [uncertainty of] working on it underground and building up to the announce and not knowing how it's going to go over. That is nerve-racking. So I really like that this way, it's like, 'Man, I already told everybody my idea. That's out of the way!' Hopefully, they like it enough to put their money upfront and we'll just make this thing for them. That part—the making it—just sounds super exciting. I'm looking forward to that. Schafer: I think since we launched it and it didn't read 'zero' for very long, that instantly took a huge amount of stress off both of our shoulders. Now we didn't have the record-breaking worst Kickstarter of all time. Muir: An hour after we launched it, it is not at zero. Schafer: I think if you keep talking, it'll hit $100,000… Like an inverse filibuster? There's an interesting psychological component to what you guys have been talking about. This could be a burnout-resistant method of development, right? The light bulb went over my head when I realized that we should Kickstart this thing, instead of all the other options we had for Brad. There was some thought to trying to find a publisher or going out and pitching some more. But, part of it was wanting Brad to experience what I experienced, which is that our community has a ton of love and energy to give us. That was something that I maybe knew in the abstract but I experienced it every day when we launched that first Kickstarter. The comments from people about how they feel when they backed it… they're just the best. Our fans are just the best. Muir: And I'm jealous watching the Broken Age team work with the community and they're super-open about what they're working on. We have some journalist friends and it always sucks when they ask 'what're you working on?' and we can't tell them. Now, it's like 'Tim, what're you working on?' 'Well, Broken Age.' We're talking about Spaceboy [the nickname for one of the Broken Age protagonists] and other stuff and everyone can know that in the community. Or they can know about it if they want to. Schafer: It's a relief when you realize you don't have to keep it a secret.

We've been covering the delightful A Hat In Time for a while now, but not only have the developers recently launched a Kickstarter to help fund the development, I also finally got a chance to play it. Now I can tell you that without a doubt, this is project worth supporting. If you've not heard of the game before, it's a "collec-a-ton" platformer, whose influences—Wind Waker, Banjo-Kazooie, The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario 64—are readily apparent. Hat girl, the protagonist, moves much like Mario does—to the point that I almost expected her to be able to do all of Mario's moves. There are slight differences of course: Hat girl, unlike Mario, can immediately double-jump—just as an example. She also has stuff like a pogo-stick/Umbrella and a hookshot, which aren't things Mario can use. This might make her cooler than Mario, even if she doesn't move quite as fluidly as Mario does (not yet, anyway). She's definitely cuter than Mario, at least. Anyway, you use those moves and those tools to traverse across levels. Here's where things get exciting. The world in of itself oozes so much charm that I found myself immediately experimenting with the platforming and seeing where the game would allow me to go. I would try to climb structures and see all the nooks and crannies simply because they existed—even if this meant swimming off into the distance to see if I could get to a far-away island. The view, after spending a while swimming: Few games seem to tap into that sense of wonder nearly as well—and this is that I've only tried a preview build which isn't finished and doesn't have all the assets. Oh, and sure, I collected some orbs along the way. Why not? But mostly, I wanted to get lost in A Hat In Time's world. It's a place that reminds me a lot of Delfino Plaza in Super Mario Sunshine, though that might just be the tropical theme. Later levels take you into outer space, the desert, and a spooky forest: I didn't get to see most of these locations, although they sound enticing. While playing, I noted that Hat girl could punch things—but she's just a kid and most things seemed to hurt her if she got too rough. Instead, what seemed to be most effective was jumping on top of baddies—most of which seemed to be the same Mafia dude. That part is disappointing, although I realize that it's a small team that is making the game. Still, I hope they're able to put in some more renders for variety's sake. And to their credit, the Mafia dudes are kind of funny (this is after a comment that implied they're not bad guys): ...yeah, they're jerks. I didn't get to see this in the build I tried, but the game's Kickstarter promises that there will be time travel. The premise: Time is falling apart and it is the job of the brave interstellar-travelling Hat Kid to collect all the time pieces and put them back together! But watch out, you're in a race against the evil Mustache Girl who wants to use time for evil! If the devs manage to raise enough money, they'll also include co-op. For now, what you can bank on is a delightful game with five chapters, and these chapters have different acts—think doing different stars on the same level in Super Mario 64. They're hoping to release A Hat In Time in early 2014 for PC and Mac. You can vote for it on Steam Greenlight here, and you can donate to the Kickstarter here.

Today we demonstrate the importance of fighting as a team. Repeatedly!

At D11 on Thursday, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside finally confirmed the existence of the X Phone.

"Both kink and games involve and even require co-operation and trust: between the player and the author, between the players themselves, between someone experiencing pain and someone inflicting it." Game developers Porpentine and Merritt Kopas talk about the intersection of kink and video games over at Trash Babes. It's a must-read.

Tomb Breaker's innovative puzzle mechanic helps it stand out in a very crowded category. Don't miss this polished mobile time-killer.

Sure, the original version of Get Lucky is catchy—but Pharrell's smoothness is no match for K.K. Slider's animalese vocals. It's not even a fair fight. This video by Alex Romero proves it. Awww yeaaaah. Truly, K.K. Slider has come a long way: (Source unknown, but can update this post if that changes.) Get Lucky feat. K.K. Slider [Alex Romero]

You know what, it's hard to argue with some of the stuff in this (spoilery) Iron Man 3 video from How It Should Have Ended. Specifically, how it calls out the movie's biggest WTF moment. I liked the movie a good deal, but I had the same question at the end: Why on Earth did Tony blow up his suits? I get the gesture, and it's sweet and everything, but dude… you're probably going to need a suit at some point. Maybe even soon! Evil can be somewhat unpredictable, after all.

Though Pokémon fusions have had a recent resurgence on websites like Tumblr, people have spliced Pokémon together for a while now. That's how Alex Onsager, the man behind the Pokemon Fusion website, initially got the idea: by watching others fuse Pokémon 'by hand.' But one day he thought to himself, what if I build something to automate the process for people? "I realized that there would be two main steps required," Onsager explained to me via email, "(1) resizing the head and placing it on the right part of the new body, and (2) swapping the colors on the body to match the new head. I make a quick prototype, inputted the first 3 pokemon, ran the script, and laughed out loud when I saw the results." And that's how Pokemon Fusion started. The website didn't immediately blow up like it has now—at current, during peak times, the website gets 300 requests a second—but he knew right away that he had landed on an entertainment goldmine. So he got to work. "I spent a weekend polishing the script and setting up a website, and released in August 2010 with maybe 50 Pokemon supported," Onsager said. He made an entertaining website, sure—but that didn't mean he expected it to be popular. Heck, he didn't really go out of his way to tell people about it. "I did almost no promotion for the site myself, other than posting it to a private message board while I was working on the first version," Onsager recalled. And then one day, the website got on Reddit somehow—and that's when it really took off. Looking back now, why it took off is a less of a mystery to Onsager. "I think the biggest appeal to the site is that it's simple," he muses. "There is very clearly only one thing to do, and you simply press a button to see something new. I also think that Pokemon has a very wide appeal to both kids and adults, and a lot of people are familiar with at least the original 151. It definitely helps if you're familiar with the originals, so that you can appreciate the ridiculousness of the fused creations." The particular reason it's such a popular website now has to do with a Tumblr trend which involves making artistic depictions of the fused Pokémon—we highlighted some of them here. Onsager says his favorite mash-ups have to be Psychamp: and Cunine: Not bad picks. The question that seems to be on everyone's mind, however, must be whether or not Onsager has plans to expand: at current, only the original 151 Pokemon are supported. But that's a purposeful decision. "This is basically following my "keep it simple" mentality. The original 151 are the most well-known, and can appeal to a wide audience. They also hold some sentimental value for me, since I started playing the original Red version. I'm still in the process of adding the final ones, but I'm working on finishing as soon as possible." "I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with the newer generations since I don't own a DS. Maybe I'm just looking at it through sepia-toned glasses, but I definitely would say that I prefer the original designs. If you're constantly adding new Pokemon you need to make sure the new designs stand out against the old ones, so I think it's easy for the newer designs to get more and more outrageous. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do prefer the older ones." While that might sound disappointing—imagine what fun could be had if we had hundreds of Pokémon at our disposal to create freakish Frankenstein Pokémon—at the very least, fans never have to worry about paying to use the site or any other annoyances. Those things aren't in the plans either, according to Onsager. Outside of the Pokemon Fusion website, Onsager works as a game designer at Happy Elements, a social game company over in Japan. He sounds content there, and although he's not keeping up with the newest Pokemon, and although his work on the Pokemon Fusion website is nearing an end, he admits that every once in a while, he has to pull out Pokémon Emerald. You know. For old time's sake. (Top image: Lickitung + Pidgeotto by catsbooksandtheholylance.)

After several delays, the HD remake of the planet's best lawyer simulator is finally live on iOS. You can get the first three Phoenix Wright games on iPhone and iPad right now. The app is totally free, and it comes with the first two cases of game #1. If you like what you play, you can buy the rest of the first game for $6 and the other two games for $7 each. Or you can buy the whole pack for $17. That's pretty damn cheap for three of the best adventure games out there. Originally released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan, and then for the DS in the West, the first three Phoenix Wright games are hilarious, well-written, and ridiculously charming. I haven't spent much time with the iOS version, but it looks pretty thus far. If you've played it, post your impressions here.

The Locksmiths discuss Mirror's Edge 2, Xbox One hardware details, and Sony's brilliant play with Destiny.

Ever since Razer started making their skinny 17-inch Razer Blade laptop, I've been wondering when a gaming PC company was going to come along and deliver a powerful gaming laptop with the slender form factor of an Ultrabook. That would be today. Meet the new Razer Blade, a 14-inch gaming laptop that's skinnier than Apple's Macbook Air. I've been comparing the original Razer Blade to the regular Macbook since day one. It's an apt comparison, what with the same short profile and all-metal chassis. The 17-inch blade is still a sexy beast, but holding on to that 17-inch screen meant that even at under seven pounds, sheer bulk was still an issue. I've got one of the originals, and finding a case that fit it was a chore. But that won't be the case (sorry) with the new Razer Blade. At under 14 inches wide, 9.3 inches deep and a ridiculously tiny .66 inches high, the 4.1 pound machine Razer is presenting at a special event in San Francisco today is small enough that our own Kirk Hamilton, currently attending the event, should be able to slip it under his shirt before he leaves. Slightly slimmer than the .68 tall Macbook Air, Razer has managed to pack a whole lot more power in the new Blade than any laptop with a similar form factor has ever dreamed of. It's sporting an Intel Haswell processor, 8 GB of ram and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M with 2GB of GDDR5. The smaller size means it's got to rely on an SSD for storage (128GB, 256GB or 512GB), but a frugal gamer should be able to keep a handful of titles loaded at even the smallest size. “We’ve designed and built the thinnest, most powerful 14-inch laptop in the world,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director via official announcement. “Thinner than a dime and more powerful than other traditional desktop replacements today, we’ve created an entirely new category of thin and powerful laptops that is generations ahead of other PCs.” Of course being generations ahead of the curve doesn't come cheap. The new Razer Blade starts at $1,799. You could easily build a comparable (or better) system at a fraction of the price, but it would't be so skinny you could barely see it in profile. For fans of the original 17-inch Blade, don't worry — it's getting an upgrade as well. The upgraded Razer Blade Pro, now aimed at both gamers and PC professionals, goes up for preorder on June 3, the same day as its smaller, sleeker replacement. The New Razer Blade Price: Starts at $1,799 Availability: Razerzone.com – Pre-Order June 3 — United States and Canada Product features: Future 4th gen Intel Core processor (formerly codename ‘Haswell’)8 GB Onboard Memory (DDR3L – 1600 MHz)NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M (2 GB GDDR5) & Intel HD4600Windows 8 64 Bit128 GB SSD, with optional 256/512 GB SSD (mSATA)Qualcomm Killer NIC N1202 (802.11a/b/g/n + Bluetooth® 4.0)14.0 in. HD+ 16:9 Ratio, 1600 x 900, with LED backlightBuilt-in stereo speakers3.5 mm audio microphone/headphone combo jackArray microphone(3x) USB 3.0 port (SuperSpeed)HDMI 1.4a audio and video outputDolby® Home Theater v47.1 Codec support (via HDMI)Built-in full HD webcam (1.3 MP)Compact 150 W Power AdapterBuilt-in 70 Wh Rechargeable lithium ion polymer batteryRazer Anti-Ghosting Keyboard (with adjustable backlight)Razer Synapse 2.0 EnabledKensington Lock13.6 in. / 345 mm (Width) x 0.66 in. / 16.8 mm (Height) x 9.3 in. / 235 mm (Depth)4.135 lbs. / 1.876 kg Razer Blade Pro Price: Starts at $2,299 Availability: Razerzone.com – Pre-Order June 3 — United States and Canada Product features: Future 4th gen Intel Core processor (formerly codename ‘Haswell’)8 GB DDR3L (2 x 4 GB 1600MHz)NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M (2 GB GDDR5) & Intel HD4600Windows 8 64 Bit128 GB SSD, with optional 256/512 GB SSD (mSATA)Qualcomm Killer NIC N1202 (802.11a/b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.0)17.3-in. Full HD 16:9 Ratio, 1920 x 1080, with LED backlightStereo 2.0 speakers3.5 mm audio microphone/headphone combo jackHD Webcam (front-facing, 2.0 MP)Array microphones(3x) USB 3.0 port (SuperSpeed)Codec supports 7.1 (via HDMI 1.4)Dolby Home Theater v4Razer Anti-Ghosting Keyboard (with adjustable backlight)Razer Switchblade User InterfaceRazer Synapse 2.0 EnabledBuilt-in 74 Wh Rechargeable lithium ion polymer batteryKensington Lock16.8 in. / 427 mm (Width) x 0.88 in. / 22.4 mm (Height) x 10.9 in. / 277 mm (Depth)6.58 lbs. / 2.98 kg

Check out our reviews and wikis for these two portable classics.

Late last year the HeroClix folks introduced TabApp, an iOS and Android app that utilizes physical toys to play a relatively limited video game. This year they spice things up with TabApp Elite, giving the toys a Skylanders-esque base station and a much more interesting game to play. My main complaint with the original TabApp was that they did absolutely nothing with the spinny, clicky bases that define HeroClix toys. Sure, the figures could be used in the physical game, but in the app they were nothing more that plastic placeholders for virtual characters. With TabApp Elite, the dials matter, switching characters like Batman and Superman between different combat roles in a hex-based action strategy game that plays a a lot like Activision's Skylanders Battlegrounds, the flagship game of that franchise's mobile push. Here's how TabApp Elite works. First, download the free app from iTunes or Google Play. Then, realizing it isn't much of a game without the figures, go to the store and get some. You can get the starter kit with Superman and the ClixStation for $18.99 on Amazon. Might want to pick up some additional characters, keeping in mind that the DC figures from the original TabApp will work in the new game as well, just by placing them on the screen. Finally, ignore any instructions and fumble about for five minutes while recording a video. And that's it! Action strategy fun with big-headed versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more, and a big plastic thing with a horrible speaker. Seriously guys, fix that speaker.

This is all well and good until some rival Civ proposes a trade embargo on you. Then you're kinda screwed. Jerks.

Warhammer pounds the competition into the ground, Phoenix Wright returns in a new collection and Magicka's free in today's ASU.

No word yet on pricing or an official launch date, but a smaller Galaxy S4 is on the way.

The studio that started the video game Kickstarter revolution is going back to Kickstarter for their next game—and it sounds bloody fantastic. Described as a strategy game inspired by X-COM, Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, and Game of Thrones (wow!), the new title is called Massive Chalice, and the folks at Double Fine are looking for $725,000 to make it happen. An excerpt from their Kickstarter page: MASSIVE CHALICE is a single player turn-based tactics game within a multi-generational strategy campaign built for replayability. As an immortal King or Queen, you must unite your kingdom under a powerful dynasty, eliminate the demonic threat, and reforge the MASSIVE CHALICE! The game is structured into two main layers: strategy and tactics. In the strategy layer, you oversee your kingdom, arrange royal marriages, conduct research, and make the far-reaching decisions that will determine the fate of your legacy. In the tactics layer, you fight brutal turn-based battles to defend your kingdom using small squads of customizable heroes. Permadeath is inevitable: your heroes will grow, age, and eventually die. You'll have to choose between keeping your favorite heroes on the battlefield or retiring them from combat to foster a new generation of warriors. Drawing from roguelikes we love, content is modular and randomized. Each playthrough begins with a random assortment of male and female heroes from various bloodlines, guaranteeing that each game is unique. Your knowledge and skill will increase over multiple playthroughs, but the details of every game will change based on your decisions and the whims of fate. Sounds awesome, no? Of course, if you're skeptical about Double Fine starting a new Kickstarter project before delivering on their last one, Broken Age, I certainly don't blame you. As with any crowdfunded game, there's always a risk that the creators will over-promise and under-deliver. That said, Double Fine is a well-established studio, and this game does sound pretty damn sweet. You can check out the new Kickstarter right here.

If you've been asking for an HTC One with stock Android, your wish has been granted.

The spanking-new music system, Google Play Music: All Access, will hit the App Store in the coming weeks.

Now you can finally grab a cheaper iPod touch (with a couple caveats).

In the middle of a dated metaphor about cavemen killing dinosaurs to make ends meet Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, called men in their twenties weak, unmarriable gamers. Speaking on the topic of shifting gender roles and female breadwinners, Joe stated the following about my generation: "Men in their twenties, who unfortunately I think are weak, and stay at home, and play videogames and are weak, weak, weak and unmarriable! They’re just...there are no good men out there! Other than my son and his friends." Look, I’m not expecting miracles from cable TV pundits, particularly not Joe. But putting aside the generational differences for a second (You say my generation is ‘weak’, I say we’re ‘terminally unemployed and totally screwed’), we need to get beyond this idea of gaming as a weak or passive form of media. It’s not that what he’s saying is surprising, it's the carelessness with which that stereotype is used on a day-to-day basis by media across the board. But of course, I’m sure Joe's sons are totally the exception.To contact the author of this post, write to chrisperson@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @papapishu

The BBC surely meant well in profiling Sophia George, first game designer in residence at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Opening the public's minds to gaming, yes, yes. Good stuff. But... ...am I the only one who was worried she was going to bump into all that nice art while walking and gaming simultaneously amid all that fragile, smash-able art? Jump 30 seconds in if you want to get to the first dangerous moment in the clip. There are times, TV producers, when you don't need to have your interview subjects walking through your b-roll. While they're playing games on a tablet in an art museum full of expensive sculptures is one of them. To contact the author of this post, write to stephentotilo@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @stephentotilo.

Used games. Love'em or hate'em, you've probably got some opinion on the furor surrounding how we'll buy, sell, and borrow video games in the future. Microsoft has already revealed plans to restrict used games in some way for Xbox One, and Sony has been murky about how the PS4 will handle them. Tons and tons of gamers are still campaigning for pro-consumer policies on the PS4, and at least a few Sony execs are paying attention. But the company has yet to say anything official. So being the relentlessly-pestering reporters we are, we've reached out to Sony several times over the past few days with questions about their policies. Here's what we asked: 1) Sony has previously said that the PS4 does not require an online connection. To be clear, is this true perpetually, or will the console need to occasionally connect online? If so, how often? 2) Will games need to be registered online in order to use them the first time out? 3) Will the PS4 games be able to be bought and sold used? Or will there be an online activation fee that essentially causes a used game to cost as much as a new game, thereby eliminating the relevance of used games? Last night, a Sony representative finally got back to us. His response: I looked into this, and at this point we’re not providing any additional clarification beyond what we stated around the PS4 announcement. If anything changes, I’ll be sure to keep you posted. We're expecting to hear more at E3 in a week and a half—and of course we'll be pressing both Microsoft and Sony for more details at every opportunity. Hopefully they've got straight answers by then.