Games and gear

SAN FRANCISCO--If you could play high-end, 3D games in your browser at the same speed as on a console, would you? Here at the annual Game Developers Conference, the maker of Firefox revealed a plan to get you to do just that.

Mozilla's current holy grail is getting the mix of HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS that powers the modern Web to run apps at speeds that rival native code, the operating system-dependent languages underpinning apps on iOS, Android, Windows 8, and other proprietary systems.

The not-so-secret weapon in Mozilla's plan is something called ASM.js, said Director of Engineering Vladimir Vukicevic. "It's a dialect of JavaScript that can optimize [code] much better. It's around two times as fast," he said.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Cell phone towers disguised as trees are a puzzling attempt at aesthetics.

- You know you're rich when you have the luxury of turning down an iPad.

Bathroom break video: ASMR keyboard raindrops… Read more

This fall, many gamers will return to the battlefield -- Battlefield 4, that is. We've got all the details, including preorder information and console availability.

During an event yesterday at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, game maker DICE delivered a heart-pumping trailer featuring 17 minutes of Battlefield 4's single-player action. As Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" played in the background, the montage opened with the protagonist, Recker, waking up to find himself and his outfit trapped in a Jeep that was sinking to the bottom of the ocean.… Read more

If you're starving for information about Battlefield 4, three new screenshots found on EA's Web server might whet your appetite.

CNET confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots after downloading the files from an insecure EA Web directory associated with the official Battlefield blog. In comparison with its predecessor, BF4 appears to contain massive upgrades, especially when it comes to textures and draw distance, as well as considerable improvements in the way soldiers and weapons appear. … Read more

Game maker Popcap today revealed Plants vs. Zombies Adventures (PvZA) beta for Facebook, but gamers might be more interested in the mention of Plants vs. Zombies 2.

The social spinoff PvZA takes gardeners out of the backyard (the primary setting in the first game) and sends them on the road to fight off ravenous zombies. To freshen up gameplay, Popcap enhanced the title with new plants, zombies, and defenses, as well as the implementation of social features that include leaderboards and community challenges. … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Jeff's review: Using Appetize at a concert.

- The end of "just browsing:" Australian store charges $5 browsing fee.

- How the P2P era of SEO-baiting, intentionally mislabeled MP3s changed our taste in music.

- Hollywood embraces the Tweaser on Vine.

- T-Mobile finally gets the iPhone.

- T-Mobile launches 4G LTE network.… Read more

My dear sweet Internet, you have been the light of my life for nearly two decades, so why must you choose now to impart so much darkness and sadness?

Last week, my editors spotted and passed on an adorable project on Kickstarter attempting to raise 800 bucks to send a 9-year-old girl to a weeklong camp where she would learn to design her own role-playing game. Backers who pledged $10 or more would get a copy of the game she produced. The heartwarming sentiment resonated, and the project quickly caught fire and has so far raised more than $20,000, or more than 20 times its target.

So we published a brief write-up of the campaign's success on Friday and began our weekend in good spirits, our faith in the world reaffirmed and visions of a new generation of empowered gamer girls dancing in our heads.

Then came the trolls.

… 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

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