“[Going forward with the first Xbox] was my decision, my accountability. We had some bumps on the road. And it was important that I stay accountable, stay patient, and stay behind the decision that we made.” Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, to CNN on his role in the company’s first forays into the console gaming industry.

The first free-to-play game for the Nintendo 3DS, Initial D Perfect Shift Online, is starting to recruit beta testers in Japan.

The Game Creators You Love Won’t Be Making Games Forever, You Know

Game creator Masahiro Sakurai has been in the game (so to speak) for a long time now. He’s currently working on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. But how long will he continue developing games? This week in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai talked about how long a developer can…

Cliff Bleszinski’s Working on a “Proper” PC Shooter

Cliff Bleszinski, of Unreal and Gears of War fame, recently appeared on a podcast to talk about, well, the Oculus Rift, mostly. But he also dropped a few facts about his upcoming project which, as it turns out, will be a bit of a blast from the past. Cliff, along with his wife, Lauren, were…

Japan’s Nerd Heroine Has Amazing Criteria For a Boyfriend

Japan’squeen of Pokémon is looking for a boyfriend. Can you meet her standards? Got a set of nunchucks? Shoko Nakagawa is Japan’s nerd heroine – an open geek who proudly displays her love of Pokémon, cats, and anime wherever she goes. She is currently the Pokémon captain for the weekly children’s TV show, Pokémon Smash!,…

First Look at the New Tales Game

The next Tales game marks the franchise’s 20th anniversary. It’s a PS3 exclusive. And it’s titled Tales of Zestiria. As Namco Bandai explains, the word “zest” in the title refers to “passion” or “zeal.” Or, well, zest! The game features four character designers: Mutsumi Inomata, Kosuke Fujishima, Daigo Okumura, and Minoru Iwamoto, and it will…

Total Gundam Freedom Leads to Crazy Customizations

You buy a Gundam model kit. There are instructions. There’s art on the box. There’s the anime. All of this stares you down, giving you something to live up to. Well, screw that. Earlier this month, a Twitter user uploaded a photo of a customized Gundam model with the hashtag, “For Gundam Models, It’s Okay…

Changing A Game’s Story With A Flick Of The Finger

FRAMED is a game where you aren’t just playing, you’re directing the story itself. It’s broken up into, well, frames, as though you’re reading a comic or sitting in an editing suite. You can move these frames around, changing the way the story unfolds. Sort of like Lemmings-meets-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. It’s been playable at various shows, if…

Please Stop Causing Car Accidents, Video Games. Please.

You know, Scott Hoy, maybe video games are to blame for an increase in single-vehicle accidents. Or not. Who cares. I just love that Scott Hoy, lawyer, is channelling Mickey Rooney in the cutest way possible here. Keep it up. [thanks Matt!]

Our Drone-Controlled Future Looks Like A Video Game

Designer Alex Cornell has made this video called Our Drone Future, which gives us a glimpse of a future where fleets of drones monitor our every outdoor activity. It’s as cool as it is a little creepy. There’s a “story” here, which you’ll get to by sticking around to the end, but the really awesome…

Say Hi To The $1500 Steam Machine

Valve might be aiming for the living room withits idea of the Steam Machine, but that doesn’t mean every “console” released in the family is going to be small and cheap. Digital Storm’s third-party offering, for example, is going to cost a ton. It’ll be showing off a PC at CES next month that it…

NASA Has A Robot, Which Might Die On Mars So We Don’t Have To

Meet Valkyrie. It’s a robot designed for NASA as part of a competition by the organisation’s Johnson Space Center. Don’t get too attached; he’s designed to go to very faraway places we really shouldn’t be going. At least not until we’re ready. Standing nearly two metres tall and weighing in at 125kg, it’s humanoid in…

Battlefield 4 isn’t justflawed. It looks like it’s Lost, too. This video uploaded by YouTuber mormonrage shows an anomaly that looks a whole hell of a lot like the smoke monster from the popular ABC mystery series. Man, watching the trees fold away like that is super weird.