When Cards Against Humanity saw its $4,000 Kickstarter campaign successfully raise almost four times its original goal, its makers were ecstatic. Two years later, the cards-based party game, which is available as a free PDF download or for $25 as a ready-made package, has generated an estimated...
Get rich or die laughin'
Microsoft is preparing to update its Xbox 360 with another dashboard update. Sources familiar with Microsoft's Xbox plans have revealed to The Verge that the dashboard update will enter into a public beta in late June or early July, with changes...
Nintendo held its monthly Nintendo Direct online event today, and amidst the standard news about upcoming releases was an interesting detail about the company's plans for E3. According to North American President Reggie Fils-Aime, a partnership between Nintendo and Best Buy will bring unreleased Wii U games that the company is showing off at E3 to kiosks in the US and Canada. Fils-Aime said...
What if you could design a video game simply by drawing it on a piece of paper? That's the goal behind Pixel Press, an upcoming app that aims to make game design a much more approachable task. It's still in the prototype phase, but Pixel Press could potentially be a revolutionary tool for game development. All you need is a printer and an iPad to become the next Shigeru Miyamoto — no coding required.
"Anybody that's willing to spend the time to do it is going to be able to make a level."
The process starts with a PDF. The two-page document includes a graph paper-like page where you can draw out your fantasy level, along with a second page containing instructions — that way you'll know that drawing an X represents a spike, for instance. During this part of the process you can add platforms and obstacles like lava pits, all by...
No coding required
Nvidia is starting orders of its new Android-powered handheld console, Shield, today. After announcing a $349 price tag and June release date earlier this week, the gaming company has decided to move its pre-order date forward from Monday 20th. The handheld can be pre-ordered directly from Nvidia, or from retail partners including Newegg, Gamestop, and Canada Computer — Micro Center will be...
Pre-order your Shield early
What is a game playthrough? Is it a recording of a developer's creation, like a bootleg concert video? Or is it a form of personal expression that creates something new? And regardless of which it is, who should be able to make money off it? According to Nintendo, that right belongs to whoever owns the original copyright. Yesterday, gamer and YouTube video maker Zack Scott posted an open letter...
Video game publisher Electronic Arts had already suggested that its upcoming Star Wars and Madden games might not be coming to the Nintendo Wii U, but it looks like the situation is more dire than that. EA tells Kotaku that the company is not currently making any games for the Wii U, period.
"We have no games in development for the Wii U currently," spokesman Jeff Brown told the publication.
One of yesterday's big Google I/O announcements was the launch of Google Play game services, a cross-platform tool that will sync progress, achievements. and other gaming data on Android, the web, and even iOS. So what's to become of Google+ Games, a feature ripped pretty closely from Facebook that that the company touted when the service was introduced two years ago? Well, Google has confirmed that it'll be shut down as of June 30th — when that happens, users will have to find another source to play their favorite Google+ games. Google helpfully included a list of major developers and contact info in its post announcing the shutdown to...
Steam is introducing Trading Cards, a beta system that lets you earn rewards while you play Steam games. Similar to Xbox Achievements, the Trading Cards system will add to your "Steam Level," a system-wide XP bar of sorts, but Valve is also giving users the chance to earn rewards through collecting achievements.
Once you've collected all the necessary cards for a certain game, you'll be able to craft a Game Badge, which gets you rewards such...
Like Xbox Achievements, but for Steam
At $349, Nvidia's Shield portable game console has a lot to prove, but one celebrity is already making the leap: Luke from Modern Family. In this week's episode, it looks like the youngster's Nintendo 3DS has been at least temporarily displaced by the Android-based Tegra 4 handheld. But the...
Creator Kazunori Yamauchi announced Gran Turismo 6 today, a new installment of the racing video game series set to be released this November for PlayStation 3. GT6 will feature an overhauled interface, a launch lineup of over 1,200 cars and a...
Google showed-off its Chrome browser's ability to sync Android and iOS devices together to create new multiplayer gaming experiences with a new racing game at I/O today. The game, "Racer," allows users to put devices together and control tiny toy cars around a Hot Wheels-style...
At its I/O conference today, Google announced a brand new service for Android gamers: Google Play game services. As rumored, the Android gaming service features a number of similar features as Apple's Game Center, including achievements, cloud saves, matchmaking, and leaderboards. But it's also...
Microsoft is killing off its Points system that's primarily used for its Xbox console. The death of Microsoft Points has been a long time coming, and follows Microsoft's move away from the virtual currency towards cash in Windows 8. Sources familiar with Microsoft's Xbox plans have revealed to The Verge that the software maker plans to replace Points with a new gift card system.
The new gift cards will be offered...
EA has long been said to be working on a mobile version for its Frostbite engine, and now the company has posted information about the effort online. The Frostbite page officially reveals the existence of Frostbite Go, a "mobile division" meant to...
PS3 and Vita game Sound Shapes has some amazing music from some amazing artists: think Beck, Jim Guthrie, and Deadmau5. But it also lets players create their own levels and sounds, and soon you'll be able to check out our favorites. On May 28th, the Sound Shapes Milkcrate will add five...
Having built perhaps the biggest worldwide gaming brand with Angry Birds, Rovio is ready to turn its hand to games publishing with the launch of i...
Mad Genius Controllers believes it can make Sony's idea of a break-apart DualShock controller a reality with its new splittable motion controller...
The biggest surprise at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show is about to go on sale. The Nvidia Shield, a five-inch portable Android game console that can also stream PC games from a nearby gaming computer, will cost $349 at Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center, Canada Computers, and Nvidia.com when pre-orders begin May 20th. Devices ship by the end of...
Google Maps is usually for helping you navigate, but a new game based on Street View is about being almost hopelessly lost. GeoGuessr drops you at a random Street View location across the earth,...
If you're looking for screenshots of Atari's 1976 blockbuster Breakout, you may be in for a surprise today. Typing "atari breakout" into Google Image Search will return a fully playable version of the game, where the images are rendered as breakable blocks.
The original version of the game was developed by a pre-Apple Steve Wozniak after his friend Steve Jobs promised Atari founder Nolan Bushnell that he could deliver a prototype in just four days. While this Google version may not have quite as storied a history, it stands out as one of the more elaborate Easter eggs we've seen from the search giant.
Without a doubt, Ubisoft's Watch Dogs is one of the most graphically-stunning games in development right now, and a new gameplay video has the best look that we've gotten at the title since last year's E3. Our sister site Polygon has six minutes of in-game footage, which features the game's protagonist infiltrating a facility using his ability to tap into security camera feeds and other technology in the surrounding environment. The resulting gameplay is a cross between stealth games and a...
Google may be preparing to unveil an Android gaming service in the vein of Xbox Live or iOS' Game Center. That's the indication from a leaked build of Google Play Services obtained by Android Police, which appears to reveal several details about a...
"Our game was going to be really boring if it was proportional in terms of parking lots," SimCity lead designer Stone Librande says of his decision to simply pretend the game's parking is underground. It's one of many decisions Librande and his...
Precursor Games, the new company developing a spiritual sequel to classic horror game Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, isn't just headed by the founder of Eternal Darkness studio Silicon Knights. It's using the same chairs and computers, and even buying some unused art to put in its new game, after an apparent Silicon Knights meltdown. According to Polygon, Silicon Knights has closed down its office and cut its team to the quick, while...
Last month, Valve blockbuster Half-Life 2 got an unofficial port to the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, but now the publisher is making things official in a new beta build. Polygon reports that Valve’s lead programmer behind the Oculus Rift port of Team Fortress 2, Joe Ludwig, posted the news on the Oculus developer forums. Ludwig notes that the Rift port of Half-Life 2 is "a bit more raw" than Team Fortress 2’s, pointing to UI issues...
