I’ve always been one to defend games for adults. Video games ceased to be merely a childrens’ toy nearly a generation ago, despite what many would have you believe.
I’ve always argued that the video game medium is little different than film media with regard to the potential for creating lasting stories that stick with the […]

Microsoft announced a partnership with the multiple Academy Award-winning duo of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, and the two will be working with Microsoft Game Studios to create two new exclusive properties for the Xbox 360.
Jackson and Walsh, who are listed as executive producers of the forthcoming “Halo” movie, will be working with Bungie Studios […]

The Seattle Seahawks’ All-Pro running back, Shaun Alexander, is the latest victim of the so-called “Madden Curse”.
Alexander, who also was on the cover of EA’s NCAA Football 2001 as a collegian, broke his foot while playing against the New York Giants last Sunday and is out indefinitely.
The “curse” has gotten to be so famous that […]

With NHL 2K7, 2K Sports did what I’ve always complained that no sports game developer does; they haven’t designed for “the back of the box”.
Take Madden NFL 07, for example.
When I sat down with the game’s developers at EA/Tiburon’s “Madden Community Day” (click for video), most of them were understandably proud of their game, but […]

So close and yet so far.
Though the boxcover legalistically proclaims that Dead Rising is “not developed, approved, or licensed by the owners or creators or George A. Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead“, the Capcom release is easily the movie’s gaming equivalent: a compelling mix of horror and satire, of character and gore, of plot and […]

Video game “street dates” are too permeable to appropriately serve consumers
“In stores July 18th”.
Many of you might remember seeing those words plastered all over EA Sports’ NCAA Football 07’s website, print and online advertisements, TV spots and the demo released over Xbox Live for the Xbox 360.
The date loomed as a miniature Christmas for many, […]

Roger Ebert thinks that videogames aren’t art: “Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.” It’s not a new argument, and it neatly encapsulates Auteur theory, whose adherents will probably never be able to accept a gaming as […]

Condemned: Criminal Origins is not for the faint of heart. This launch title for the Xbox 360 didn’t get much press, and has thankfully been spared the firestorm of controversy more high-profile targets are subject to. It’s a grim tale of an FBI agent on the run as he tries to clear his name and […]

Though it’s been a major part of PC gaming for years, demos have not been huge in console gaming due to the need to physically distribute a disc. They’ve been relegated to magazine add-ins, and most demos are played by very few gamers. That’s changed since last November: one of the changes the Xbox 360 […]