games

BioShock. Crysis. Call of Duty 4. These and other suh-weet new games require a generous helping of video power. If your system is more than a couple years old, or you bought a budget desktop with an integrated graphics processor, you'll have to run your games at low resolutions without any of those dazzling eye-candy effects. That's assuming they'll run at all: Many of them require a video card with at least 128MB of RAM.

I recently upgraded my aging Pentium 4 box with a GeForce 8600 GT-based video card, much like the one currently available from … Read more

On Thursday, Ars Technica reported that game retailer Slackers had been ordering Nintendo Wiis, claiming to have run out of stock when customers came into the stores, and subsequently selling the Wiis at a high markup on eBay.

After their original story ran, employees of the retail chain have written in to give Ars more detail about the alleged practice.

Read more at Ars Technica

One of the longest-running jokes in the gaming industry is the development of the first-person shooter Duke Nukem Forever, the long expected next edition of the franchise. Originally begun back in 1997, the game first released a trailer at E3 1998. Developer 3D Realms released a different trailer at E3 2001...and it's been rather quiet ever since. Until yesterday.

On the 3D Realms forums yesterday, Duke Nukem co-creator and 3D Realms co-owner George Broussard unexpectedly announced that a new teaser trailer for the game would be released today.

The trailer was released shortly and has already cropped up … Read more

The behavior of computer-generated crowds in movies and video games could soon appear much more realistic, thanks to new software that gives each character a complex personality of its own.

Read the full report at Technology Review: "Virtual Extras"

Excuse our lack of productivity today--we've got a hedgehog in the office. Sonic the Hedgehog, that is. Sega's 16-bit classic has made its way onto the iPod games section of iTunes (link) this morning and can be had for a mere $4.99. In comparison, the Wii version of the title, which launched just a month ago runs nearly twice as much at 800 Wii points ($8).

The controls use the circular iPod touch wheel as a four-way d-pad, with the center button acting just like the original ABC buttons from the first Genesis controller. They take a … Read more

Excited to see all the latest and greatest video game products at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show? Don't be. New and noteworthy gaming products will be few and far between.

Unfortunately, CES just isn't a big show for gamers. You might think the world's largest consumer electronics expo would have plenty of stuff for remote-waggling, button-mashing misfits like myself, but that simply isn't the case. Virtually every games-only company from Nintendo to Electronic Arts steers clear of Las Vegas in early January, saving their news for GDC, E3, and the various other shows and events … Read more

Christmas is getting close, and if you have any kids in your family they've probably spent the last month (or lifetime) asking you for video games. Not all games are created equal, though, and some simply shouldn't be given to your 10-year-old son, daughter, niece, or nephew. Many of the top-rated and most popular games this year are rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB. That means those games are bloody, violent, and can contain Objectivist overtones. On the other hand, there are still plenty of games rated E for Everyone that your kid will really … Read more

Can't find a Wii to put under the tree? Nintendo's got your back--sort of. According to gaming blog Kotaku, reporting on a conversation with Nintendo prez Reggie Fils-Aime, GameStop stores will be offering Wii rain-checks on December 20 and 21. Translation: Pony up your $249.99 now, get a Wii--guaranteed--by the end of January.

Yeah, that's a pretty sucky deal, but I suppose the promise of a Wii is slightly better than the absence of one. Why didn't Nintendo do this in November and promise delivery by December 24? Bad company. Bad!

The more intriguing news … Read more

On Thursday BBC News gave us a child's view of the $100 laptop. The article reads like a techie version of Jim Carrey's breakout movie The Mask, with Rufus Cellan-Jones as the star. The laptop, which came by way of Nigeria, unleashes incredible intuition and abilities in young Cellan-Jones:… Read more