gaming

Announced today, Verizon's Android devices will soon come loaded with a new Games Portal, a standalone app marketplace for games (separate from Google Play) combined with a social network similar to Apple's Game Center.

Powered by PlayPhone, an experienced builder of gaming networks, Verizon's Games Portal figures to be an attractive marketplace for developers. The platform not only offers distribution to millions of Verizon customers, but it also allows these customers to take advantage of direct carrier billing, a low-friction option that could result in more games-based purchases. What's more, since Android doesn't (yet?) have … Read more

Game developers on Facebook's platform generated $2.8 billion last year, Facebook executives told developers today.

The social network, in hopes of snagging more game creators, has been very vocal about wanting to beef up its platform with mid- and hard-core games -- the type of games in which players spend the most time and money. Executives said they are working on making Facebook a place for these committed gamers.

"Anywhere in the games business we are investing heavily," Facebook's Sean Ryan said at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Calif.

In addition to trotting … Read more

True story: Attracted by the sounds of Star Wars, my kids wandered over to where I was playing a game on my iPad. "What's that?" they asked. "Star Wars Pinball," I said. "What's pinball?" they replied.

I told them pinball was a game people used to play at the arcade, before video games came along. They said, "Whats an arcade?"

I said an arcade is where kids used to go after school when they got tired of listening to records. All together, now: "What's a record?"… Read more

How much do you value your productivity? If you're smack in the middle of an important work or school project, or you've got important life events to deal with -- eating, drinking, and so on -- you might want to steer clear of this deal.

Because I warn you: once you start playing Peggle, you won't want to stop.

Don't believe me? Peggle comes from PopCap Games, makers of such addictive pastimes as Bejeweled, Bookworm, and Plants vs. Zombies. And I'd say it ranks just as high as those classics on the time-suck scale.

It'… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Jeff's Bioshock Infinite review: in a class by itself.

- Get that tune out of your head! Scientists find out how to get rid of earworms.

- I rewatched this video over the weekend and it blew my mind.

Bathroom break video: Eastern Wayne Harlem Shake fail.… Read more

It's finally here. More than a year after it debuted and months after it went free to play, Star Wars: The Old Republic is getting its first downloadable expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, due to arrive on April 14 (or April 9 for early preorders). The obvious question is, what has it got that could tempt former players to come back?

First of all, a new planet and more story. Much of the appeal of BioWare and LucasArts' MMO is the way every quest takes place against the backdrop of the galaxy-wide struggle between the Empire and the Republic, and every player class ends up playing a different but pivotal role.

Rise of the Hutt Cartel picks up at the end of the original story: The Republic's beating back the Empire, and the war machine on both sides needs fuel (hey, it's more dramatic than trade sanctions). The resource-stripping Hutts decide it's a good moment to take over the galaxy and be generally slimy, as they are wont to do, but now you can shoot them. Yay! Actually you're fighting their mercs. What starts as a quick smackdown of the Hutts turns into something more urgent and planetwide, and as usual, it's all up to you.… Read more

Problem: You're all fired up to play the hot new BioShock Infinite, but you can't scrape together $60 for the privilege. Plus, you know that roughly six months from now, you'll be able to get the game for half as much -- maybe even less.

Solution: Satisfy your game lust with 10 other titles and pay just one-twelfth the price. No, literally: five bucks.

Bundle Stars is offering an Indie MashUp 10-game bundle for just $5. Actually, that's the minimum price; you can also pay more if you feel the bundle is worth it, keeping in … Read more

The PlayStation version of Diablo III appears ready to hack 'n' slash its way into living rooms.

Game maker Blizzard Entertainment showed off a new trailer and let gamers play the game at the PAX East conference taking place in Boston this weekend. While there's nothing too surprising about the footage shown, it's clear there are a few tweaks here and there to make things easier and faster for someone using a Dualshock controller.

Blizzard didn't comment or show off any footage of Diablo 3 for PlayStation 4, nor did it reveal the release date for the PS3 version. Interestingly, a company representative at the expo told Penny Arcade Report that the game isn't a PlayStation exclusive, but kept mum on an official announcement. Could Diablo III be in the works for the Xbox 360 and/or Wii U?… Read more

Finally, Chrome has given me a way to turn work into a game.

Chrome World Wide Maze is a nifty experiment from the Google Japan crew that syncs the mobile Chrome browser to a tab on the desktop, turning your smartphone into a controller that navigates a digital pinball on the desktop screen around a 3D rendering of any site on the Web.

Sounds like an odd concept at first, but once your device and desktop are synced up via HTML5 WebSockets (it took me a few tries, as I got a couple of "null" responses on the … Read more