Tech Culture

The farm just isn't exciting as the city.

CityVille, the hit social game from Zynga that allows users to build a city from the ground up, now has over 100 million monthly active users on Facebook. That user base is all the more impressive when one considers that the game hit that mark a little over one month since its release.

CityVille's meteoric rise has made FarmVille, another wildly popular title on Facebook, look, well, desolate. That game has over 57 million active users, according to its Facebook page.

Zynga's CityVille success has helped the company maintain … Read more

Microsoft's Xbox 360 sales are so steep that the company is having trouble keeping up with demand, claims Xbox Live's director of programming.

Larry Hryb, who is better known as "Major Nelson," tweeted yesterday: "I found out we ran out of consoles at end of the month (!) so don't expect to win Dec." The "win" is in reference to unit sales rankings for game consoles that market researcher NPD is set to release today. Basically, Microsoft is saying that if it isn't No. 1, the cause is actually its popularity, … Read more

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., tomorrow will unveil what it's calling a "21st century makeover" with its newly renovated building and greatly increased exhibit space.  After two years and $19 million, the museum has an entirely new look and feel and a major new exhibit called "Revolution: The First 2,000 Years of Computing."

As you enter the museum you see some of the first computing devices other than our ancestor's 10 fingers and 10 toes, including the abacus. But as you walk around, you see how technology has progressed … Read more

A full 30 years after Donkey Kong's release, gamers are still holding tight to ancient arcade joysticks in a quest for the next high score.

The latest King of Kong?

Hank Chien, according to video game score certification organization Twin Galaxies. The 35-year-old doctor from Queens, N.Y., has set a new Donkey Kong arcade world record by tallying up a mesmerizing score of 1,068,000 points on the classic 1981 game in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Chien beat out the previous record held by competitor Steve Wiebe (1,064,500 points).

Now the heat is on … Read more

After finally getting some quality hands-on time with the 3DS last week and a behind-closed-doors interview with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime at CES 2011, we've got a healthy amount of new information to share about the 3D glasses-less portable.

The 3D effect Without a doubt, the first time you lay eyes on the 3DS it will surprise you. The 3D effect isn't exactly a "pop-out" illusion, but more of a "pop-in." The best way we've been able to describe it is that it's similar to those Magic Eye images that were so popular in the '90s. Of course, the 3DS yields a much more obvious dimensional shift. Instead of popping out at the user, the effect appears to go deeper inside the top screen of the 3DS.

The 3D effect can be adjusted using a slider, or eliminated altogether. During our time with Pilotwings, we found the 3D effect turned all the way up really increased the overall sense of flight in the game. That said, we're anticipating that each game will have a certain sweet spot for 3D intensity, though the setting remains completely preferential.… Read more

Sony yesterday filed a restraining order against well-known iPhone hacker George Hotz, known as "Geohot," and other individuals for allegedly bypassing "effective technological protective measures" in PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.55.

The recently released jailbreak for firmware version 3.55 allows PlayStation 3 owners to run custom packages on the console. Geohot's ultimate goal is to bring back the "Other OS" option that was removed from the PlayStation 3 last year.

Sony's restraining order attempts to stop Geohot from offering the jailbreak. The company claims that the jailbreak violates the Digital … Read more

"Control, control. You must learn control."

Yoda was right. But if you want to hone your Jedi chops without lifting X-wings out of a swamp, try duking it out with Mattel's head-to-head telekinesis game.

The toy giant is updating its 2009 Mindflex novelty with Mindflex Duel, a competition in which concentration wins the day.

Players don headsets equipped with EEG-like forehead sensors that measure brainwaves, and face off above a ball hovering on a stream of air. The harder they concentrate, the more each player can push the ball across the board to the opponent's end, winning the round.

The original Mindflex is a solo game that comes with five obstacle courses to push the ball through. The sensors on the headset control fans in the unit that levitate the ball higher or lower.

While you're still not directly controlling the ball in Mindflex Duel (you're controlling the fan power), the competitive aspect makes it more thrilling. … Read more

If any game company stole the show at the end of 2010, it was Activision Blizzard.

After it announced record-breaking sales with Call of Duty: Black Ops recently, the game company is now touting the success of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

The third expansion for the venerable massively multiplayer online role-playing game has hit 4.7 million unit sales since its launch on December 7, Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Activision Blizzard announced today. Blizzard said that based on its internal estimates, the milestone has helped the title reach a new record for monthly PC game sales.

WoW Cataclysm's … Read more