video-games

List

11 Housewarming Gifts for the Dedicated Gamer

Since we brought you The Retro Fun and Games House, I've found a lot more products that will make serious gamers feel right at home in their own homes. Some are for sale; others are handcrafted, so you may have to plan ahead for a special occasion. 1. Space Invaders Bath... READ ON

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The Secret of Monkey Island Returns

One of my favorite video games of all time is The Secret of Monkey Island, an adventure game published by Lucasfilm Games in 1990. Monkey Island successfully combined humor, adventure gaming (walking around, picking stuff up, talking to people), and terrific music. It was also notable in its emphasis on fun and puzzle-solving -- you can't die, and puzzles are always solvable. It's sort of a low-key game in that sense: though there is some light swashbuckling, it's never about jumping or clicking fast... READ ON

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All Your Base are Belong To Us: The Correct Translation

If you've been using the web in the last decade, you're likely aware of All your base are belong to us, a strange meme in which poorly translated video game dialogue led to a comedy wildfire that clogged email inboxes throughout 2001 and 2002. If you haven't seen the original, a somewhat abridged version is displayed at left. But now let's get nerdy: Wikipedia contains a correctly translated version of the game's dialogue. I've posted both the original text and the improved translation below. Now you... READ ON

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Brenda Laurel on Videogames for Little Girls

In this TED Talk from February 1998, Purple Moon founder Brenda Laurel asks: why aren't there videogames for little girls, when there are so many for little boys? Laurel did the research to suss out the specific gender differences in play behavior between boys and girls, then founded a videogame company aimed at creating compelling games for "little girls" (Laurel's preferred term for her audience). In this talk, Laurel talks about the research process that led to Purple Moon and shows a demo of an... READ ON

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Video Games in Reverse

Meme alert: Twitter users have started reversing narratives. It started with BackFlicks, a process in which movie plots were rewritten in reverse -- for example, "Bambi: A deer abandons his family to play in the woods with small animals and live with his mother." (See a zillion more on Twitter.) Well, the new jam is BackGames, in which video game plots are reversed, with hilarious results. Here are a few favorites: Donkey Kong: Pauline takes her boyfriend to the top of a building. There, she... READ ON

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Chat Via Bottled Messages: Distant Shore for iPhone

Distant Shore ($0.99, iPhone/iPod Touch) is a profoundly weird application. Is it a game? Is it a chat client? Is it a kind of wish-maker? Well, it's all of these. Let me explain. Last fall, budding iPhone development powerhouse The Blimp Pilots released Koi Pond, a pond simulator with interactive digital fish. Unexpectedly, it shot to the number 1 spot on the iTunes App Store. A pond simulator as the top iPhone app? Indeed. It was one heck of a pond simulator -- with realistic, soothing water... READ ON

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Smearing Cream Cheese On Newborns & Other Stories About Famous Multiples

On January 26, a woman in Bellflower, California, gave birth to octuplets "“ six boys and two girls. This bunch of babies is only the second set of live-born octuplets in the U.S. In celebration of Xeroxed siblings everywhere, this week's TVHolic salutes multiples (and their media-savvy parents). From NICU to SAG Some star-struck parents of prematurely born twins are able to cash in on their early-bird babies by allowing them to appear in TV shows or films as a newborn. Unless it's... READ ON

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In-Depth With the King of Kong

In last July's issue of Harper's, Joshuah Bearman revealed a wealth of information on classic gaming in general and Billy Mitchell specifically. Mitchell is one of the subjects of last year's documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Mitchell is a fascinating guy, with his supremely high-maintenance mullet, a list of arcade game records a mile long, and even his own brand of hot sauce. Bearman contributed some footage to King of Kong, but his encounters with Mitchell go beyond what we saw in the... READ ON

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4 Ways to Unleash the Power of Your Wiimote Controller

A big part of the Nintendo Wii's charm is its wireless motion-sensing controller, the Wiimote. But who knew it could do so much more than just serving as a virtual racket or bat? From pointing your Roomba to where it should go, to creating an interactive whiteboard for a fraction of the cost, here are 4 Wiimote hacks guaranteed to make you smile. 1. Hook it up to a Horse With the technology available for modifying the wiimote now, nothing is impossible these days. Even rigging a springy... READ ON

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Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo's Version of Walt Disney

A recent New York Times profile of Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of various Nintendo franchises, gives some insight on the man's history and creative process. Miyamoto designed the Mario and Legend of Zelda game series (among others), and his continuing work at Nintendo involves hit after hit. His designs are directly responsible for bringing Nintendo to international prominence, and through each generation of video game technology, he continues to focus on what's fun about games: play. By creating... READ ON