When you think about it, Harry Potter video games were simply born under a bad sign. The stuff that video games can do well when inspired–incredible world-building, the explication of a fantasy construct and its rules–were all done to genius levels in the rich imaginings of J.K. Rowling’s writing. And then, the eight movies that …
xbox 360
Infinite Possibilities: Ken Levine Talks About the New ‘BioShock’
Very few games have the kind of anticipation surrounding them that BioShock Infinite does. The first BioShock came out in 2007 and got hailed as a modern-day classic almost immediately for the way it wove character development, environmental design and philosophical underpinnings into a chilling and hypnotic experience.
BioShock …
Cat vs. Bat: Hands-on with ‘Batman: Arkham City’
My hands-on time with this year’s Bat-game revealed a few things to me.
The new criminal ghetto in the sequel’s Gotham City is big. Very big. You’ll face off against even more thugs–and more kinds of thugs–in Arkham City. But Batman will have a powered-up set of attacks and gadgets. The combat system features tiers of execution …
Call of Duty XP 2011: Activision Announces Its First-Ever FPS Fan Fest
From book clubs to cat lovers to germaphobes, you’ve got online communities for just about everything. And, occasionally, they’ll do meet-ups, so that everyone can put faces and real names to the people who share their passions. Someone will say, "Hey, I like sticking tweezers into surge protectors, too!" And someone else will ask,
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Deathmatch: ‘Battlefield 3’ vs. ‘Modern Warfare 3’
Video game grudge matches rarely come this perfectly designed.
This fall, Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 come out within weeks of each other, trying to capture the free time of millions of gamers worldwide. But, it’s not just the fact that both titles are realistically styled war games set in what’s pretty much the …
Emotion Control: ‘Child of Eden’ Review
I’ll be honest with you, Techland readers: I haven’t played a Kinect game in months. Yes, motion-control titles have continued to roll out since the blockbuster launch of Microsoft’s skeletal-tracking camera but none of them, to me, offered anything to get excited about. And, yes, I mean you, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Carnival Games …
Talking Past, Present and ‘Halo 4′ with 343 Industries’ Frank O’Connor
Master Chief said goodbye to his parents last November when Halo: Reach served as Bungie’s swan song. After months waiting to hear what exactly the future of Halo would be after its original creators moved on, this year’s E3 finally brought fans the news they’d been waiting for.
(More on TIME.com: The Halo Trinity)
Microsoft is …
Rumor: Microsoft to Announce Xbox 360 Successor at E3 2012
It looks like we may get a peek at Microsoft’s Xbox 360 follow-up when E3 2012 rolls around next June. That would put the Xbox “720” (or whatever—let’s just hope not “You,” We,” or “Us”) squarely in competition with Nintendo’s Wii U rollout, if rumors about Nintendo’s spring-summer launch timeframe for it’s own next-gen console prove …
Radiation Sickness: Duke Nukem Forever Review
I remember the first time I saw Duke Nukem Forever, which was about a year ago. Surprise was the only word I could use to sum up my feelings. This legendary piece of vaporware existed? It was playable and funny and self-aware too? Man, if it could come back from the edge of oblivion, then it might actually be good …
(More on …
‘Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary’ Celebrates Master Chief’s Birthday
Ten years ago, Halo proved gamers who thought first-person shooters would never excel on consoles wrong.
Bungie’s landmark sci-fi title brought the speed and accuracy needed for a fun FPS experience to the first Xbox and introduced players to a sweeping cosmic mythos that’s gone on to inspire books, comics and animation. Last year’s …
E3 2011: Microsoft Showcases ‘Halo 4,’ Hardcore Kinect-ions
The one message that Microsoft drove home during their E3 2011 press conference is that they’re going to give everyone–from hardcore gamers to avid TV watchers to casual players–reason to turn on their hyper-successful motion-sensing peripheral.
Xbox exec Marc Whitten claimed that the goal is to “get the technology out of your …
E3 2011: Xbox 360 Gets Live TV in ‘New’ New Xbox Experience
What’s the one thing you wish Xbox Live had in the U.S., that it doesn’t today? Yep, I said live TV, too. I haven’t actually had live TV (or frankly any sort of cable TV package) for years. When I watch TV at all, it’s to plumb Netflix’s super-giganto library, or to pop in a couple seasons of something long-since-aired on DVD. But I …