Ninja Academy

But Is It Accredited? | A new school opened this week in Jonesville, N.C. Its faculty is a little young. If you have to ask where the entrance is you probably won’t pass the admissions exam. (Photo: Katie Tysinger, used with permission)

The Syndicate Reboot Is Real, First Details & Screens Leak Out of EA

The forever-rumored reboot of EA’s Syndicate franchise, originally created by the defunct Bullfrog Productions in 1993, is real. First gameplay details and a handful of screen shots have just allegedly leaked from Electronic Arts’ Origin store, giving us our first glimpse at developer Starbreeze’s new game. More »

Tax Breaks for Games Makers are So Rich, Even Oil Companies Question Their Fairness

The New York Times this morning published an extensive look at the system of tax incentives and breaks exploited by games makers, concluding that their write-offs to research and development costs satisfy the letter, but not the spirit, of 50-year-old tax policies that by now defy common sense. More »

EA’s $15 Million in ‘Online Pass’ Revenue Isn’t ‘Dramatic’, but It Isn’t a Failure

In comments yesterday, Electronic Arts’ chief financial officer suggested that Online Pass—the program under which gamers who pick up a used copy of an EA Sports game typically shell out another $10 to EA if they want to activate multiplayer for it—has netted the company in the realm of $10 to $15 million since it was introduced in June 2010. That’s a paltry sum to a publisher that size, but it doesn’t mean the program’s a failure. More »

“Swatting,” the Hip New Griefing Trend, Sends the Cops to Xbox Live Mod’s House

Cops in Sammamish, Wash. are super pissed after being sent to a home here by a 911 call claiming someone inside had claymore mines and hostages. The caller turns out to be a prick seeking revenge on an Xbox Live moderator. More »

Canadian Cable Giant Admits It Could be ‘Inadvertently’ Throttling Games

In March, Canadian gamers were upset to learn that World of Warcraft traffic was being throttled by Rogers Cable and Telecom, the country’s largest broadband provider. Now the company has admitted that other games’ online traffic might trip its pipeline monitors and result in their throttling, which Rogers called “inadvertent.” Canadian gamers do not accept that answer. More »

This weekend was my 20th high school reunion. As more years have now passed since my graduation than those before it, I joked that it was the first time I was made to feel old. In reality, being with my classmates-some of whom I hadn’t seen since graduation night, many others I’ve known since I was six-was one of the few times I felt like I had grown up.–Owen Good

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