Games and gear

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

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

BOSTON--World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment today announced HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft, a free-to-play collectible card game for PC, Mac, and iPad.

Gamers can sign up to beta-test the title today. The beta will launch this summer, with the full game due out sometime in 2013.

"We wanted to do something a little different," a Blizzard representative said while explaining the game during a presentation at gaming conference PAX East. The game, described as "really small," was built by a team of 15 developers at the Irvine, Calif., developer. … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Bill Gates will grant you $100,000 to invent a next-gen condom.

- "Now That's What I Call Music" documentary coming soon.

- Dongle jokes and a tweet lead to firings, threats, DDoS attacks.

- And of course, a silver lining: http://forkmydongle.com.

Bathroom break video: NHL celebrates 20-year anniversary of NHL '94 in awesome throwback fashion.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- How Facebook knew a man was gay before anyone else did .

- NYC subways deploy a touch-screen network, complete with apps and Wi-Fi.

- Man who got porn site logos tattooed on his face now somehow regrets his decision.

- Lululemon pulls popular yoga pants for revealing too much.… Read more

Logitech has rebranded its gaming group division with six mice and keyboards, along with two new headsets that make up the company's latest "Logitech G" lineup. Using infrared technology and a bit of science to determine optimal hand position, the new G100s and G400s optical mice are both clues to the company's commitment to innovation, with a new sensor technology called Delta Zero that promises to improve accuracy at any speed.

The G100s, G400s, G500s, and G700s gaming mice are all equipped with a "hydrophobic" coating that repels palm perspiration to keep your hand … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Check out our interview with B.O.B. and Big Boi for their new game, "Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel."

- Mico headphones let your brainwaves choose the music.

- Google Images adds filters for animated GIFs.

- Detroit doctors link garbled texting as first sign of a stroke.… Read more

Microsoft's next Xbox won't allow gamers to play titles from an optical drive, according to a newly leaked document.

The folks over at VGLeaks recently released what they claim is the Microsoft documentation for its next console, code-named Durango. In the long-winded document, which makes mention of enhanced graphics and an improved Kinect sensor that will be sold with the console, Microsoft notes that only hard drive-based game playback will be offered.

"Every Durango console will have a hard drive, although its exact capacity has not been chosen," the company wrote in the documentation. "It will be large enough, however, to hold a large number of games. All games will be installed on the hard drive. Play from the optical disc will not be supported."… Read more