Montreal-based startup Akoha publicly announced today they have received $1.9 million in funding from angel investors. That big wad of generosity will help Akoha complete development on their online / offline community game.
(more…)

Oh video game movies, how we hate you. It seems for every one decent movie based on a video game we get ten direct-to-DVD bargain bin stinkers. Sure, some of them are good for a few laughs (with Bob Hoskins as Mario, how could you not?), but it’s a rare occasion indeed when one even manages to turn a profit, let alone end up any good.

Radar Group, a venture capital-funded start-up, hopes to change all that. Co-founded last year by CEO Jim Perkins, the company seeks to manage original content intended for your favorite consoles and theaters alike.

(more…)

If you’re still hiding your bulky PS3 BD remote under the couch, or sticking all sorts of PSX/PS2 USB adaptors into your system with duct tape and optimism, you will now have a much sleeker Blu-ray control option. Sleeker, sexier, and…phonier. Netblender has created a software development kit for the iPhone (by meta-using the newly released Apple SDK) which will allow the already much-more-than-a-cell to communicate with Blu-ray players. The SDK, called BD Touch, is available in two flavors: “Connect” for standard app creation, and “Premium Blend/In” for more enterprising developers.

(more…)

Despite a distinct lack of chiaroscuro shading and consummate Vs, Strongbad has managed to win the respect and demand the hearts of a legion of followers, both attractive and not. Unfortunately, only fans that fall into the first of these categories will be treated to his new WiiWare title, Strongbad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. Just writing about the game, I have to wear a bag over my head. Which is a shame, because looking at all of its nifty videos was just starting to rinse out the bad taste left in my mouth by our last featured WiiWare title.

(more…)

Video game guns have come a long way since the days of Doom’s double-barreled shotgun or even Goldeneye’s iconic Walther PPK. With greater processing power available to spend on physics engines, designers are now able to take factors like recoil and bullet drop into account when crafting their guns. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re plugging every real-world factor into their ballistic models. A recent article featured in Popular Mechanics explains why.
(more…)

As gamers, we often take for granted the fact that we can make out a particular team’s flag or the difference between two shaded blocks in our favorite puzzler. But what about those that can’t? Color vision deficiency – commonly known as color blindness – can make these distinctions almost impossible, and it’s a problem that affects more gamers than you may think.
(more…)

New screens of the successor to the hit Fallout series have just been released from Bethesda Softworks. Though several Fallout spin-offs have been produced, this third installment promises to be a true successor to the original two, the initial attempt codenamed Van Buren (by the all-but-defunct Black Isle Studios) having been scrapped in 2003.

(more…)

I just read a blip about the WiiWare title Major League Eating: The Game in the most recent issue of EGM, and not an hour later, watched an episode of CSI where a 419 (dead body for the non-burgeoning forensic scientists of you) took part in a hotdog eating contest and then gorged himself to death. Though not even close to the grossest thing on CSI, (despite Hodges fishing through buckets of the guy’s stomach contents), the episode’s timing raised bile to the back of my throat.
(more…)

The Wii’s internet channel line-up just got a little better with the launch of the BBC’s iPlayer. Don’t get too excited yet; for the time being it’s only available to Wii owners in the UK. Launched last Wednesday, the service is offered for a small one-time fee to all current BBC license holders (across the pond, people have to pay for the privilege of watching T.V. — then again, there are no commercials). There’s no word yet on plans to bring the channel stateside.

(more…)

I first saw a video of the Emotiv EPOC while sitting in a crowded conference room in the middle of Defcon 15. The early versions of the headset looked like a cross between some kind of alien squid and a neon shower cap. The purpose of the device, however, made up for its strange appearance: this odd little headset purportedly read your thoughts, emotions, and facial expressions, allowing its wearer the most direct link to a computer yet.
(more…)

In the mixed up, back-and-forth spitfire debate that is violence in video games, there is one constant of life that cannot be denied: charts make everything easier to understand.

Even our favorite attorney, Jack Thompson—who wows with eloquent and professional pet names for gamers such as “nitwit” and “knucklehead pixelantes” on the LiveJournal community GamePolitics—can follow this lovely graph, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.

(more…)

Second Life isn’t the only game on the virtual block anymore; Seattle-based startup FlowPlay has just launched its first virtual world Beta. Dubbed ourWorld, the subscription-based sphere is tailored to the elusive tween demographic, one that is extremely popular with advertisers.

(more…)

We reported last month on Apple’s announcement that games on the iPhone will soon be a very accessible reality. Spore and Super Monkey Ball demos were exciting enough, but there is now video floating around of Quake 3 Arena being played on the iPod Touch, ported in its entirety by the independent game developer HermitWorks.

Already breezed through your downloaded episodes of Babylon 5 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force? Microsoft and Safran Digital may soon have something for you, the torrent-less, action and comedy-loving consumer.

(more…)

Social networkers rejoice; MySpace has finally launched a games portal. According to the page’s mission statement, the site promises “the best online games available in a safe, user-friendly environment” and caters to hardcore gamers and newbies alike.
(more…)