games

We don't know if kids these days are capable of having fun without a computer or (real) handheld console these days, but this low-tech substitute should provide a bit of amusement--for all of 2 minutes. Yoshi's Island is a faux DS Lite puzzle game that's filled with water and two buttons to control streams of bubbles that move tiny rings inside. The objective is to land the rings into the right spots using your amazing bubble navigation skills. Good luck selling this to Junior.

(Source: Crave Asia)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--With thousands of Halo fans lined up for midnight madness events in cities around the country, you might wonder why Microsoft is hosting a pre-launch event at its Silicon Valley campus here just hours before.

Well, according to Doug Free, the company's Silicon Valley public relations director, it's a chance to celebrate the developer community here and the theory that some of the most important coders in the region may also be serious gamers.

That was the concept, at least, behind planning this event--for which more than 700 people registered to attend.

"The whole … Read more

Leave it to Microsoft to turn the glitz factor up to eleven. The company that brought us interpretive dancers on bungee cords for its Vista operating system has brought in spotlights, prizes, NFL players, and rappers for the launch of Halo 3, the final installment of its hit first-person shooter trilogy, which launches at midnight on Tuesday.

They kind of need to do it. As Halo is a piece of software, not a harder-to-manufacture gaming console or handheld device, the way that Microsoft has drawn the crowds for this Xbox 360 release is with star power. If there weren't … Read more

It doesn't hold a candle to the lengthy queue that assembled a few blocks north for Apple's iPhone in June, but a handful of New Yorkers decided to sacrifice a full day's work (and then some) to wait in line for Halo 3, the highly anticipated title for Microsoft's Xbox 360 that hits stores at midnight on Tuesday.

First in line at the Best Buy on Fifth Avenue and 44th Street, the official launch site for the city, is 28-year-old Uche Nwachukwu, a Web designer from the neighboring borough of Staten Island. "I want the … Read more

The official announcement of the vibration-enabled Dual Shock 3 controller for the PlayStation 3 was the biggest news from Sony's otherwise lackluster Tokyo Game Show keynote address. Since the broad strokes of the original announcement, GameSpot was able to glean some additional details on the new controller--and get some hands-on testing of the unit as well. Here's what they found: … Read more

PC gamers would risk a lot for the sake of gameplay, even ignoring security warning signs or remaining coolly unconcerned.

Meet two young teens whose quest for the gamer's high set them on a collision course with a whole horde of Trojan malware scarier than anything they'd encounter in RuneScape or World of Warcraft.

Read of the duo's travails in "Fools for the game," and also pick up valuable security do's and don'ts from other Spyware Horror Stories.

The main competitor to Logitech's famed G5 gaming mouse, Razer's DeathAdder boasts better axial accuracy and greater customizability--differences which you may enjoy discovering in splendid detail over at sister site CNET Reviews. Please note, this mouse is made for right-handers, so lefties may have an issue with the thumb buttons. Check out the full review for information on system compatibility before you buy.

Not an avid gamer myself, I can only point out that the mouse sports an intimidating reptilian name and a neat glowing blue tri-snake-ular logo. Allow me to quote from colleague Rich Brown, who provides … Read more

Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are getting younger and younger. Take Arjun Mehta, a 6th grader who is 12. He started the company, called PlaySpan, last year in his garage, according to VentureBeat.

The company Web site, which features a photo of backpack-sporting, handheld game-playing Mehta, explains that it is the "game industry's first publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network." That means it enables video game publishers to sell products within the games.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has raised $6.5 million from Easton capital, Menlo Ventures, South Korea-based STIC International and Hong Kong-based Novel TMT Ventures.

But just … Read more

Let me start with a disclaimer: I'm a console gamer. Always have been, since my friend down the street in Minneapolis got an Atari 2600 in 1979, and I trumped him a year later with Mattel's Intellivision. (Along with George Plimpton, we found Intellivision's Major League Baseball to be clearly superior to Atari's Home Run baseball. Intellivision baseball, hockey, and skiing were pretty much all I cared about in 1980.) Like Larry King with wives, there's long list of consoles that I traded in for newer models over the years: Intellivision to Intellivision 2, to … Read more