Games

Studies have shown that many gamers actually like to see ads when they're playing their favorite first-person shooter or side-scroller. Hard as that may be to believe, the studies reveal that gamers find the ads make their experience more realistic.

Every time I think of that I have to heave a big sigh of resignation, since I find it depressing that realism based on ads is seen by some as a good thing.

But if you're one of the people whose opinion is reflected in those studies, you may be excited about a partnership announced Wednesday in which … Read more

There are few things that video game publishers--or any consumer products companies, for that matter--like more than reaching big, notable milestones.

So it was with considerable pride that Activision's wholly owned Infinity Ward studio told me Tuesday that its war game, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, has just sold its 10 millionth copy.

Infinity Ward studio head Vince Zampella didn't know exactly how many units the game had sold on each platform it is available on--the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC--but did say that COD 4 had been most successful on the Xbox.

These days, monster … Read more

If some researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Singapore-based Gambit Game Lab have anything to say about it, gamers with serious vision problems won't have to take a backseat to their 20/20 friends anymore.

On Tuesday, the lab unveiled AudiOdyssey, a game for the Nintendo Wii that is based solely around sound and tasks players with mimicking a DJ trying to create a catchy beat that people can dance to.

The idea is that players--those with or without vision problems--can use the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers to get a rhythm going and then build more complex … Read more

Sony on Tuesday said it will unveil on June 5 what it's calling Qore, a "highly interactive, monthly original program that covers the world inside PlayStation."

The idea is that Qore will offer anyone interested in the PlayStation universe a sort of peek behind the curtain at what's going on with the platform, with developers of PlayStation titles, and with the games themselves.

Unfortunately, Qore will not be broadcast to everyone. It will be available only through the official PlayStation Store, a shopping portal accessible via PlayStation 3s. Viewers who want to watch Qore will pay … Read more

With Electronic Arts' much-anticipated evolution game, Spore, not scheduled to hit store shelves until September 7, it seems that it is stoking fans' interest by releasing bite-size teasers every week or two.

Last month, EA released the first video of the game's cell stage, in which players evolve their creatures from primordial murk.

And on June 17, it will release the game's creature creator, allowing anyone to make Spore creatures for free that they can use later on when the game is out.

Now, it has put out the first video and detailed screen shots of the tribal … Read more

Over on Boing Boing this evening, I read about WTF?!, a terrific-sounding sidescroller role-playing video game that is a spot-on parody of World of Warcraft.

In his post about the new game, Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow linked to games guru Greg Costikyan's own entry on WTF?!, which drew the parallels to the massively successful WoW and an image like the one above: "It's a World of Warcraft screenshot, right? Well, no--it's a screenshot from WTF?!, a Flash-based sidescroller parodying WoW. And it's note-perfect, too--every interface element and the backgrounds and characters look like they'… Read more

NOVATO, Calif.--Over on one side of the synthetic hockey rink, the director yelled out, "Motion-capture ready?"

The technician answered, "Ready."

The director then shouted out, "Actor ready?"

NHL star Rick Nash, a left wing for the Columbus Blue Jackets answered back, "Ready."

Nash was on hand, even as the Stanley Cup Finals are still in progress, because he's the cover star for 2K Sports' forthcoming hockey video game, NHL 2K9. And he was here, in this small studio in a nondescript office park for an all-day motion-capture filming session for … Read more

NOVATO, Calif.--I'm sitting outside a nondescript warehouse space in this Marin County town, and sitting right behind me is Rick Nash, an NHL all-star with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

All of us are chowing down on barbecue, and every single one of us is wearing comfortable clothes: jeans, T-shirts, and the like.

But not Nash. He's in a full-body motion-capture suit. That's because he's here to for a mo-cap filming session for 2K Sports' forthcoming hockey video game, NHL 2K9.

I'll run a full story on this later today, and a full gallery, most … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--When you're one of the earliest adopters of a new technology, or one of the first companies into a new space, you tend to be very bullish on its future.

That energy was very much in evidence Thursday at InterPlay, the first-ever conference solely devoted to social gaming.

If you're not familiar with the concept of social gaming--small, casual game applications designed to be played on social networks like Facebook--you soon will be. That's because there is a lot of interest--and a growing amount of venture capital--being focused on the young space.

Examples of the early … Read more