Games

Pop quiz: what do chainsaws, Ray Liotta, and A Flock of Seagulls have in common? If you were playing video games ten years ago, you'll know the answer is Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Owners of iOS and Android devices will soon be able to rack up Floridian wanted levels, as Rockstar Games' second entry in the groundbreaking GTA III trilogy is coming to mobile.  Read More

Do you remember those building toys called K'Nex? Well an engineering student at the University of Colorado (CU) named Andrew most certainly does. He actually managed to build a fully-functional pinball machine using only the tools available from the plastic building toy. Andrew spent over four months meticulously planning and building his K'Nex pinball machine that has functioning flippers and a plunger that is capable of launching the ball into the field of play. It also has a small gearbox that powers the two small chain lifts that help move the ball between the different features of the table.  Read More

An exhibition of rare, soon-to-be-auctioned video game art is on display at London's City Hall this week, as part of this month's London Games Festival. The work, which has been donated by games developers and which is to be sold off in aid of the charity SpecialEffect, includes a number of one-off canvas prints of digital renderings from recent triple-A titles such as Batman: Arkham City, Guild Wars 2 and Dishonored. Concept art and box art from older titles and mobile games are also in evidence. Having dropped in to see the work on show, here are a few of our favorite pieces.  Read More

When it comes to martial arts madness, few games can claim the pedigree of the Tekken series. First arriving on the original PlayStation in the mid 90s, Tekken was seen as a genuine threat to Sega's then groundbreaking Virtua Fighter game. Several iterations later and Tekken has emerged as one of the most successful and long lasting beat 'em ups. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has been released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and we review the Xbox 360 version of the game.  Read More

Let's start with the punchline: Dishonored is a great game. Despite the occasional misstep, Arkane Studio's latest is an atmospheric, entertaining and well-crafted assassination sim that does something that's becoming increasingly rare in video games: it's completely original.  Read More

Video game developers are always looking for new ways to give players a more immersive experience. But with several motion-controlled systems widely available and a viable virtual reality headset in the works, what else could be done to make games seem more realistic? Sony may have an unexpected answer with a recent patent that describes a controller that changes temperature between hot and cold to match in-game actions. With the controller giving "temperature feedback," the idea is that players would be able to more closely feel what their character feels, from getting hit with a fireball to traveling through a blizzard.  Read More

Virtual reality has always felt like it's on the cusp of becoming huge, but it has never quite managed to gain the momentum needed to put it in the hands of the mainstream. But with the original Wii showing the way, and both PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect following in its footsteps, the signs are that we're moving away from traditional gaming and towards a future dominated by alternative ways of interacting with virtual worlds. The final piece of the puzzle in bringing VR to the masses could be a simple and affordable method for allowing gamers to move around safely while they have headsets strapped to their faces. The WizDish aims to be just such a device.  Read More

During the last few years, portable console makers Sony and Nintendo were blindsided. Accustomed to having a safe market, their world was turned upside down by the arrival of smartphones and tablets. As developers and gamers flock to devices like the iPod touch 5G, Sony needs more than ever to distinguish its Playstation Vita. How does it stack up next to Apple's latest portable media device? Let's take a look ...  Read More

Ever since it was first revealed, the Wii U has distinguished itself from its predecessor with its touchscreen controller and HD graphics. But that's really just scratching the surface. If you want to know exactly what makes Nintendo's latest console different from its forebear, why not ask the engineers that built it? Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently did just that when he sat down with a handful of the console's designers to discuss almost all of the main hardware changes in the Wii U from the chip structure to the cooling fans and more besides.  Read More