The New Beast Wars Begin with Optimus Prime and Predaking

Hasbro is calling them Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters, but that’s not what I’m calling the upcoming third season of the animated series and the corresponding toys. A dragon that transforms into a robot and a red-and-blue figure that’s vaguely reminiscent of the original Optimus Prime? These are the new Beast Wars, my friends, and they’re…

Horse Armour, Horse Armour, Get Your Horse Armour

Chris Anderson works at Turbine (Lord of the Rings Online) as a senior concept artist. Prior to that, he’s worked for a range of other MMO studios such as Tencent, Sony Online Entertainment, Mythic and NCSoft. That means his resume includes a whole range of MMO titles, including LotR Online (obviously, and the headline will…

Draw Me Like One Of Your French Video Game Artists Does

French artist Bastien Vives, whose cosmopolitan video game art does little to dispel French stereotypes, returns this week with a batch of terrific fan art. It’s not all video games—Disney features prominently—but you can excuse that when his Ninja Turtles characters (turtle or otherwise) are so, well, sexy. lundi… lorsque ce n’est pas de l’archéologie,…

Wait, Are The Mouse & Keyboard Dying, Or Are They Fine?

Bungie co-founder Jason Jones said something recently that, depending on how you choose to look at it, could have been taken at best as an inaccurate assessment of the control preferences of the PC gaming market. It’s sparked an interesting to-and-fro between two websites, Ars Technica and Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the former declaring the “keyboard…

Report: PS4 Cheaper At Launch Than PS3 Was

When you see a rumour end with the word “considering”, it’s always wise to tread cautiously. Because that word could mean anything. That said, this particular PS4 rumour comes from Britain’s The Times, so it’s at least worth… consideration. The report says that Sony is looking at “pricing the new device at about £300”, which…

Tiny Men Come To Steal Your Socks, But Your Cats Will Destroy Them

You know how you tend to lose one of every pair of matched socks you own? Well, turns out that’s because a bunch of weird tiny masked dudes break into your room when you’re away and steal them. But, if you’ve got guard-cats like in this insane new video from CorridorDigital, you should be able…

This Person Sniped A Chopper In Battlefield 3 Using Only A Magnum. Awesome.

Props to sSantzuu here, who does some major work with his sidearm in the video above—look at how he takes down a chopper at long range. Crazy stuff. Sniping people with things other than sniper weapons is definitely one of my favorite things to do in Battlefield games, so I imagine pulling this off must’ve…

He’s Getting Threatened With Legal Action Over A Counter Strike Map

Fun fact: Canada has never appeared in a Counter Strike map before. That is, until Diego Liatis made a map of Montreal’s Berri-UQAM station, which you can see above. Pretty cool, right? Well, not everyone feels that way. According to The Escapist, Montreal’s city transit authorities contacted Diego Liatis over their “copyrighted metro network,” letting…

There’s No Shame In Liking A Game For Your Own Reasons (No Matter How “Stupid”)

This weekend, I came upon a curious conversation: a stranger telling a friend of mine if they wanted to play Fire Emblem: Awakening for the “throwaway romantic skits,” that they were doing it wrong. And all I could think was: those “throwaway” skits are the only reason I care about that game! The reasons we…

PC Modders Still Hard At Work Fixing Aliens: Colonial Marines

You may have heard that Aliens: Colonial Marines has some problems. Among those problems is the fact that the PC version of the game looks like pretty raggedy. The ship interiors and darkly-lit alien worlds taking very little advantage of recent advances in PC graphics technology. While the game itself—the levels, the writing, the audio—may…

A Tribute To Fire Emblem‘s Most Gloriously Overpowered Character

The opening hours of Fire Emblem: Awakening can be harrowing. As with most role-playing games, your characters all start out pretty weak. It’s a long road to mastery—you’ll have to win many battles, earn enough money to afford better gear, and plunder treasure chests for rare spells before it starts to feel like your a-team…

The New York Times has an interesting write-up on the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Do you want one?

Do You Beeeeelieve In This Chiptune Version Of Cher’s “Believe?”

Hey, I already thought Cher sounded like some sort of robotic diva angel-monster in her unstoppable 1998 anthem “Believe.” But what would she sound like if she really was a robot? Chiptune artist Ro-Bear found out in this winning cover performance at Philly’s monthly 8Static chiptune event, as captured by albotas (Via Tiny Cartridge)

Activision reminded us this morning that Bungie’s Destiny is not launching this year, despite retail listings.

The Game Music Bundle is running a special where you can get six Bit.Trip soundtracks for a buck. Not bad.

Apologies If We Wasted Your Time With That Preview

A couple of writers for this site recently proposed that we stop previewing games. We could still talk to developers before games come out, they suggested. We could still visit studios early or even play games before release, but somehow, some way, we’d no longer write previews. Given that I prefer to be absolutist only…

Just to Rub It In, Here’s More Video of That Aliens Game You Never Got to Play

Canceled four years ago, Aliens: Crucible was supposed to be an Aliens role-playing game, which always struck me as kind of weird. The film didn’t seem like it would translate well to an RPG; hell, it didn’t translate well to a shooter. Hey-oooooo … But material from Obsidian’s development of the game, which ended in…

Lay’s Chicken and Waffles, Sriracha and Cheesy Garlic Bread Potato Chips: The Snacktaku Review

Last summer Frito-Lay tapped into the power of social media to give fans of the company’s signature potato chip brand a chance to choose the next exciting flavor to grace store shelves. Millions of flavor combinations were submitted. Some, like Spinach and Sour Cream, were relatively uninteresting. Others, like my own Ground Glass and Your…

In A Game About Riots, Which Side Do You Pick—Cop Or Rioter?

The world is in no shortage of riots: it was only a matter of time before someone made a game on the subject, right? Enter RIOT, for iOS and Android. According to the game’s Indiegogo page, RIOT is a “detailed and polished simulator based on the actions of real riots happening around the world.” As…

Far Cry 3‘s Latest Update Takes A Cue From Modders

About a month ago, I started playing Far Cry 3 with this excellent mod compilation, which re-imagined the game as a sort of “New Game Plus” sort of deal. One of the best features was that after taking an outpost, I’d have the opportunity to leave it for the pirates, which keep the map “hostile,”…