Matt Damon pulls out from Bourne game
Given all the lousy movie-to-video game adaptations out there, it's always refreshing when an adaptation looks like its developer actually cares about a project. So when Sierra showed off The Bourne Conspiracy, and it looked like the game actually caught the spirit of the film franchise, it left only one question looming: where is Jason Bourne? According to developer High Moon, Matt Damon turned down the role while still in negotiations to lend his voice and likeness to the game. Damon told the The Boston Globe, "I lobbied hard [with the video producers] to not make a first-person shooter game... read more
Ricky Gervais putting in Grand Theft Auto appearance
Early reports have indicated that Grand Theft Auto IV is attempting to bring a whole new level of realism to the GTA series, but things just got a little bit more serious(ly funny). Kotaku reports via ShortList that Ricky Gervais will be playing a part in the upcoming game, not just voicing a character but rather playing some embodiment of himself. "Ricky Gervais . . . will even perform three-minute skits of never-before-heard material and classic Fame gags in the digital comedy club in which you find him," writes the article. Still unclear is whether the character will literally be... read more
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
At its core, Days of Ruin doesn’t tamper much with the time-honed formula of the Advance Wars franchise... read more
Fairway Solitaire
A great puzzle game is one your brain continues to play on your eyelids long after you’ve finished... read more
Endless Ocean
Until now, most sandbox-style video games have leaned toward Grand Theft Auto’s design philosophy... read more
Crayon Physics Deluxe
For a medium with unlimited possibilities, video games have a nasty habit of conservatism... read more
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
I felt like a dunce while playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village after bungling the following riddle... read more
Devil May Cry 4
No one will mistake Devil May Cry 4 for pointed political satire... read more
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
NiGHTS: Into Dreams hit store shelves in 1997, quickly becoming a... read more
Whither Accountability?
By: Justin Cooper Not long ago, Chuck Klosterman wrote an editorial for Esquire which explored gaming’s noticeable dearth of a true critical voice. Certainly there are review sections in gaming magazines and websites, but more often than not they focus on tech jargon and system specs, serving more of a consumer advice function than of true criticism of a game’s place in the world into which it was born. The great films can be discussed in that context; the American Film Institute has made a cottage industry of just such discussions, in numbered lists meant to engender debate. Why does... read more
The Art of Scapegoating
By: Justin Cooper We’ve grown weary from battle. We try to keep a level head, stay calm in the face of adversity. We remember Bunker Hill, and Prescott’s famous advice, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” But we see the enemy closing in on all sides, and it’s suffocating and saddening in equal terms. The “we” I speak of are gamers, and the war we fight is seemingly never-ending, for as long as there are politicians and media willing to pervert a misunderstood hobby beyond reason in order to make a good story or stump speech,... read more
Press X Chromosome To Continue
By: Justin Cooper I was fourteen, and nervous. She looked the same age, but far more self-assured. And gorgeous. I dropped my quarters into Street Fighter II, selecting Guile to face off against her. Ken (with whom she’d just dispatched two other knock-kneed dudes before my turn), and I had roughly three seconds to ponder whether chivalry dictated my keeping it close, before the match was over and I was just the latest boy this siren had laid waste to in the arcade that day. Not too long ago this tale would’ve been met with a raised eyebrow, The Myth... read more
Diary of a Video Game RPG Hero
I awoke on the shore with no memory. A great, glowing light appeared and spoke to me: YOUR VILLAGE HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY AN ANCIENT MALEVOLENCE. YOUR PARENTS ARE DEAD AND YOUR LOVE INTEREST OF VAGUE ROYAL LINEAGE IS MISSING...” read more
Final Grand Theft Auto IV trailer revealed
As the suspense builds for the sure-to-be-epic Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar Games has made the wait a little more difficult with the release of the fourth and final trailer for the game. If you think that game trailers are now more cinematic than their actual screened-in-movie-theater-because-they-advertise-movies counterparts, you’re right. This one even has a name two names: “Good Lord, What Are You Doing?” AKA “Everyone’s a Rat.” Somehow, this trailer manages to impress despite (because of?) the blistering car chases, decontextualized gunplay, a moody soundtrack, omnipresent rain, flashy camera angles, misplaced humor, gangster-looking gangsters and strippers that seem mandatory... read more
Rock Band coming to Nintendo Wii in June
Hypothetical musicians, it may be time to get out your (fake) drum set and (real) drumsticks! It’s official: Rock Band, the video game that has already won awards for its PlayStation and XBox versions, will be released on June 22 for the Wii. Although at first it seemed that Nintendo was not quite interested in pairing up with Harmonix Music Systems, the geniuses also responsible for Guitar Hero, they gradually warmed up to the idea. Lots of speculation was involved, including a cross-platform mic coming out mistakenly labeled as Wii-compatible. The game will be released as a special edition package,... read more
Showtime's Dexter to be made into murderous videogame
The recent news that a video game version of the TV series Dexter is in the works for both Sony Playstation and Microsoft Xbox is sure to excite fans of the serial killer dramedy. (Including this writer, who, incidentally, recently started watching the first season and just found out the identity of the Ice Truck Killer. If you haven't seen it, it will blow your mind.) One can only assume that the main point of the game will be to murder people without getting caught, since Ecko Entertainment says that they'll "work closely with Showtime to ensure it is faithful... read more
Spore coming in Sept., complete with music by Brian Eno
In 2005, Will Wright's Spore stole the show at E3. Then the next year this happened again, as the game's "SimEverything" approach seemed nearly ready for release and looked increasingly polished. Well, it's been more than a year since then and finally the game has a release date: Sept. 7. At the very least, this should take the game off the Vaporeware awards list, and quite possibly push gaming itself a good deal forward. "We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by... read more
Aerosmith to star in its own Guitar Hero game
It used to be that when you loved a band, you learned about them by flipping through books and rock magazines. Video-game maker Activision felt it might simplify matters if you just became the band. Guitar Hero junkies can look forward to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which is slated for release this June and also happens to be the first Guitar Hero title to focus on the music and career of a single band. As players progress through the game, they will play along to Aerosmith’s greatest hits, as well as songs by notable artists with whom the band has collaborated.... read more
Rockstar Games issues Bully on Wii and Xbox 360
If you already have a PlayStation 2, then perhaps you’ve already experienced the thrill of being a pixilated high school student. But on March 4, the opportunity will be granted to those individuals who prefer Wii or Xbox 360. That’s right, Rockstar Games’ Bully is coming to a console near you in an expanded version known as Bully: Scholarship Edition. The game offers the same great ability to live the life of an oppressed high school student that you’ve come to know and love, but it also offers some new features. There are fresh missions, classes, characters and outfits, as... read more
Steven Spielberg-helmed video game details emerge
Back in 2005, Steven Spielberg first signed a deal with video-game behemoth Electronic Arts to help create, in some sort of capacity, three new video game IPs. Then, for the next couple of years, not much was heard about this development until last July. Newswek's game guru N'Gai Croal divulged some info about two of the titles. One of them was code named "LMNO," where players control a former special agent and interact with a robot girl of some sort. A description from game blog Kotaku described the game as "North By Northwest meets E.T.... if E.T. were female, grown... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 50 Best Albums of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
The 20 Best Live Acts of the…
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Moon Song
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Fanfarlo - I’m A Pilot
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
David Bazan - Hard To Be
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
