Games

June 13, 2007 There are no really valid metrics for the sport of computer gaming, which encompasses multiple platforms, dozens of genres, thousands of titles and a billion regular participants, but all things considered, Johnathan Fatal1ty Wendel is unquestionably the world’s best gamer. The 26 year-old cyber-athlete turned professional in 1999 and has since won more pro comps and prize money than any other gamer, including 10 World titles on FIVE DIFFERENT GAMES. He has won 67% of all the competitions he has entered and been top three in 92% of them. Fatal1ty trains like an athlete at least eight hours a day, running and playing tennis and honing his reflexes, strategies and other requisite skills to ensure he remains the most visible and well remunerated cyber-athlete on the planet. In keeping with the cult of celebrity, Fatal1ty is now beginning to rub shoulders with iconic names in other fields. His latest exploits at Computex Taipei, where he won the final shootout with a scoreline of 74 to minus 3 will only add to the growing legend.  Read More

June 6, 2007 It is perhaps the most sought after technological goal in the digital age, an interface that will allow you to throw away the humble keyboard and mouse and take control of your computer by simply thinking. The latest foray into this rapidly evolving field is the Neural Impulse Actuator, a gaming interface prototype unveiled at Computex 2007 that reads brain signals instead of keyboard strokes to provide a hands-free computer control.  Read More

June 2, 2007 TV ratings don’t lie – for better or worse, it seems the format of the popular TV show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, which somehow makes it look easy for anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size to win a bundle, just keeps pulling massive audiences. In this age of multi-medium franchises, it was only a matter of time before the TV Show followed the path of “Deal or No Deal” and “Family Feud” and now we can report that Imagination International Corp (IIC) has inked a three-year deal with Disney/ABC for the exclusive rights to the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire DVD Game. The game will be available in Q3 for US$20.  Read More

May 22, 2007 Movie licensed games are typically horrible, and should be avoided at all costs. The precedent was set way back in 1982, when lengthy licensing negotiations left a single Atari programmer with just 5 weeks to conceive and develop the entire "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" game. Despite being widely regarded as the worst game ever made, it sold 1.5 million copies - making it the eighth best selling game for the Atari 2600. For obvious reasons, countless movies have been turned into games since 1982, and a mere few gems like Goldeneye 007 and Star Wars Episode 1: Pod Racer have emerged from the noise. Did the developers of Spiderman 3 get enough development time to deliver a polished game in time for the movie? Our Games Editor has the full story.  Read More

May 22, 2007 Geometry Wars first appeared as a mini-game in Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox, and much to the surprise of the developers, people loved it - enough to warrant a HD sequel on the Xbox 360. Geometry Wars: Evolved was the first game released on Xbox Live Arcade, and to this day remains the cheapest, and arguably, best game available on the service. Finally, Nintendo fans are set for a taste of the hellishly frantic action.  Read More

May 18, 2007 You may recall our enthusiasm last year when we reported on eballgames and its development of an interface between a real ball and ball games – think of it as a CHI (Computer Human Interface) for any real world ball game and you’re close. Motion and speed sensors take your kick, throw or golf swing and play out the results on the big screen, for better or worse. The crowd will roar or express their disappointment, and the commentator gives you a pat on the back or a serve for missing. The ball goes into a net and is ready for the next player to have a go. It's simple, quick fun and it continually breaks records for drawing crowds wherever it is installed. Now the company has taken its VR sports simulator and developed it into a number of inflatable structures so the promotional killer-app can be quickly set up anywhere, indoors or outdoors. Eballgames is already working on many different sports and is keen to discuss development opportunities with interested parties. We see it as the ultimate Wii peripheral for kids that want to play ball games. Indeed, there’s plenty of opportunity for the development of remedial and skills development games using this technology.  Read More

May 11, 2007 It was only recently that we became properly aquainted with Guitar Hero 2, but that doesn't mean we're any less excited about Activision's announcement of the third game in the series, Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s. Details are scarce, but read on for a sneak peak at the tracklist.  Read More

May 4, 2007 One of the prime motive forces in computer technology is the gaming industry. And by releasing the world’s fastest graphics processing unit, NVIDIA has ensured that it is in the driving seat. Available on May 15, the GeForce 8800 Ultra is priced at US$829. Given that the graphics industry evolves extremely quickly, it is quite an achievement for a company to leapfrog its own performance milestones as NVIDIA has done with the GeForce 8 Series GPUs.  Read More

April 30, 2007 As you might imagine, we're surrounded with technology at the Gizmag office...and we thought we'd learned to do a pretty good job of soldiering on despite all the distractions the wired lifestyle brings. Alas, those times are over now, and we refer to the period as BG (Before Guitar Hero). For the uninitiated, Guitar Hero is rock and roll condensed into a video game, complete with plastic guitar controller and a drummer who always turns up to practice on time (and doesn't hit on your girlfriend). The original Playstation 2 game sold over one million units in its first year, and the sequel sold over 1.3 million units in 2006 - 800,000 in December alone - and it's hooked everyone from the neighbors seven-year-old to members of the prog-rock super-group Tool. Now it's here on the Xbox 360 in crisp 720p resolution with 10 additional tracks - if you've listened to guitar music at all in the last thirty years, read on for the full review, video and track list.  Read More