Games

It was my very first convention. I do not do well around crowds, nor am I a people person. Much like James Halliday, I prefer the solitude of a book, video game, movie, or SyFy television show. The convention center seemed to be a fictional reality like the Oasis. I saw all sorts of things that sparked the imagination; my boyhood dreams came to life. What Easter Eggs could I find in a center filled with tens of thousands of eager game enthusiasts? Would I likely find love, like Wade Watts? Absolutely -- in fellow game designers sharing the same passion: creating games for the children.

Remember that feeling you had when you walked out of the theater after BACK TO THE FUTURE? I don't mean watching it at home on DVD (or VHS), I mean in the theater, because it means you were there, in that moment, in that era, when the 80s were in full swing and pop culture was expanding into new, uncharted waters. It was the time of the arcade games, parachute pants, and a rich variety of music that launched a renaissance.

When I sat down to watch READY PLAYER ONE, I had not seen the theatrical version. I had not read the book. And when I saw the opening scene, with its cinematically ominous Blade Hunter date and the post-apocalyptic landscape, I groaned. I didn't want another one of these.

That lasted for all of about three seconds, after which I was in sheer fanboy ecstasy for over two hours.

It's difficult to translate a videogame into a film. It's tempting, sure, and the good games provide a lot of inspiration. But ultimately, what happens in the game is brief, and hard to extrapolate into a 2-hour film without throwing in a lot of supposition and side plots.

So that's what directors do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

And sometimes even if it doesn't "work" it's still a whole lot of fun!

RAMPAGE is the latest collaboration between Director BRAD PEYTON and actor DWAYNE JOHNSON. The two have worked together on JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and, more recently, SAN ANDREAS. Johnson portrays Davis Okoye, a primatologist at the San Diego Zoo with a military background. His pet project is George, an albino gorilla whom he saved from poachers and taught to sign.

Back in 1998 gamers were being introduced to the true power of graphical technology. Dedicated graphics cards were the talk of the industry, and their ability to massively improve graphics the stuff of legend. A race arose among video game developers to create the best looking games, and PC gamers scrambled to afford a graphics card.

Many games at the time made use of accelerated graphics, but one game stood apart for delivering a next level gaming experience. Unreal. Created by Epic Games and released in 1998 the game made use of the most advanced graphics technology available, blowing minds with coloured and volumetric lighting. It was an incredible sight in 1998, so much so that many could scarcely believe their eyes.

Atari has been through many ups and downs. The company will hopefully be able to pull itself up and join the ranks of popular console video gaming.

From Marvel:

Nexon, a worldwide leader in online and mobile games, in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment has announced MARVEL Battle Lines, a new strategic card battle game featuring hundreds of iconic Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains. In MARVEL Battle Lines, players collect and build the ultimate deck of Super Heroes and Super Villains to take into battle across an expansive single-player campaign with an original story written by Marvel writer Alex Irvine and a real-time turn-based competitive player vs. player (PvP) mode. MARVEL Battle Lines will be released in 2018 as a free-to-download experience on the App Store® for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android devices.

From Entertainment Weekly:

The Mad Titan is coming for Fortnite.

This isn’t one of those fun fan-made mashups for the YouTube crowd. Epic Games and Marvel have an unprecedented crossover event in the works, and EW can exclusively give away the deets! Thanos, the villain of Avengers: Infinity War, will drop into Fortnite‘s Battle Royale mode for a limited time starting Tuesday, May 8

...

The “Infinity Gauntlet Limited Time Mashup” mode for Battle Royale will feel just like a standard slugfest — with one major difference: One hundred players will descend upon the map and fight until one player is left standing, as usual, but this time you’ll do so with the Infinity Gauntlet in play.

DC and WB Games take a classic RPG style game and give it a makeover to appeal to its fans.

In the landscape of mobile gaming, much like in cinema, Marvel is pumping out games left and right while DC seems to have no real vision. If you do a search for Marvel in Google Play or iTunes you may find yourself with several options:

Marvel Puzzle Quest
Marvel Contest of Champions
Marvel Future Fight
Marvel Avengers Academy...

...and yes, you'll even find Marvel Pinball. There was even a time when a Marvel branded Tsum Tsum game was available but at the time of this article it appears to have disappeared from the Google Play Store.

photo by Flickr, Peter Pham

From music to film to TV to literature, poker is not just defined by the table, it resonates throughout popular culture. As fans of poker, we are always pleased to see our favorite strategic game referenced so often. Here we explore the many defining moments in pop culture where poker has been showcased.

The Critical Blast Best of 2017 Awards are almost in the rear view mirror, as we announce the Best Game of 2017! All the usual suspects were at play, and a couple of dark horse entries, and with everything being determined by the votes of the readers, it was truly anybody's game.

Ultimately, however, it came down to a fight between the top four games: SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY and LEGEND OF ZELDA, both from Nintendo, CUPHEAD from StudioMDHR, and the DC Comics superhero fighting game, INJUSTICE 2 from NetherRealm Studios.

From IGN

Ghostbusters World is a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) game, like 2016 juggernaut Pokemon Go, in which players use smart devices to find and catch "specters, ghosts, and apparitions." The game is coming to Android and iOS this year, although a specific release date and price have not yet been revealed. More information will be announced at the Game Developers Conference next month.

In Ghostbusters World, players will be able to battle and capture hundreds of ghosts from "all dimensions of the franchise," including the films, TV shows, comic books, theme parks, and video games. There will also be new ghosts to capture created especially for the game.

Everyone crying that there's no incentive to play Destiny 2, just got a swift kick in the codpiece.

The End-Game just got real.

Over the course of the next 45 days, players have the chance to register and compete for REAL prizes by playing Crucible. With a leaderboard that features the top 50 players across 3 platforms (XBOX, Playstation, and PC), the challenge is on.

Prizes include a Destiny 2 themed Husqvarna motorcycle, ALIENWARE merchandise, and the collector's edition of the game featuring a wearable frontier bag.

Today, Nintendo launched a 15-minute Nintendo Direct mini which focused on heavily on games coming for the Switch.

Here's the thing, I love my Switch, but at times it just feels like this system is going to be primarily ports, including ports for games that already came out years ago.  There are a lot of cool announcements here, but if I didn't have a Switch yet, there is nothing here that really grabs me as a potential customer.  And still no sign of a Virtual Console coming anytime soon, so I am pretty much treating that as as "never going to happen."   

Judging a book by its cover, David Jagneaux's THE ULTIMATE ROBLOX BOOK: AN UNOFFICIAL GUIDE is visually appealing. The hard, glossy binding; bold title font, pictures, use of color, compact size, and thickness are all a huge win. You could picture this book sitting on your desk, picking it up, fanning the pages, perusing its large font, clear graphics, screenshots, explanations, bullets, and continuous use of the top seller banner throughout. Stunning to say the least.

The title of the book, at first glance, also grabs your attention. Using a power word like ULTIMATE would seem to indicate all users, at any level, would not only benefit from reading it, but that it would offer immense value. What should an ultimate guide contain? Beginning 101 account creation? How to create games? How to script? Advance power user techniques? Examples? And much more! But does it accomplish its objective, or is it just another gimmick to lure an easily persuaded gift-giver? 

From Forbes:

Nintendo announced today that the Switch had broken 10 million sales. An astonishing number, given the Wii U before it, analyst projections being much lower, and the holiday season still to come. The Switch has been a hardware success story only equaled by Nintendo’s software success stories between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey both released this year.

To put that sales figure in context, I wanted to go back and see how it stacked up to other current and former consoles. As it turns out, it’s among some of the best in recent memory, as you might expect.

STREAM BEGAN AT 9:00 AM CENTRAL TIME! 10/4/17

Game Jab hasn't died! Zach has decided to take on the Cuphead challenge and is either very determined or very insane for putting himself through this madness. 

For those who don't know what Cuphead is, it is a game influeanced and stylaized to the old school cartyoons back in the black and white days when everything had style and class but Micky Mouse and Betty Boop ain't got nothing on Cuphead. This game is HARD yet amazing cause it's addicting but the fact it is all hand drawn and loaded with familliar Artsyles and classic music just adds onto the experiance.

Not in a hateful way, mind you, but the division is real. And mostly playful.

In the world of DESTINY 2, the 2017 sequel to the smash hit video game DESTINY, the faction provide some familiarity to a world decimated by the 'Red Legion'. Guardians fought hard to regain their light and defeat the orchestrator of destruction, Dominus Ghaul.

Now that the dust has settled, the three factions have come out of hiding to seek your allegiance: