station

Lego brings real robotic bricks to life for PlayStation

There are already a few ways you can make Lego robotics, including Lego Mindstorms -- the latest iteration of which includes support for smartphone control -- and, more recently, a Kickstarter campaign to get Raspberry Pi in on the action. The toy company, however, seems to be seeking new ways to make Lego robotics accessible.

The latest is a collaboration with Sony to create a range of bricks called "Toy Alive" aimed at keeping kids interested in Legos in the age of video games. Unveiled at an open house at the Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo, the bricks are embedded with various electronics that can be controlled with a PlayStation controller, including motors for mobility, actuators that can destroy Lego creations, and tiny cameras that can broadcast to tablets and smartphones. … Read more

Peek at the best-looking PlayStation 4 mockup yet

When Sony has a secret up its sleeve, the company loves to tease. If you missed last week's video enigma, Sony revealed very brief pictures of the mysterious PlayStation 4 hardware, leaving gamers in the dark about what the highly anticipated gaming console will look like.

Luckily, graphics guru Andy Gilleand has the imagination (and skills) to piece together Sony's puzzle, and created a general conceptual rendering of the PlayStation 4.

While Gilleand's interpretation will have most Sony purists crying foul, the render does align with the general shape and accents seen in the official teaser videos. It's widely expected that Sony will finally show off the PlayStation 4 during a company press event at E3 2013 on June 10.… Read more

Forget what you know, next-gen consoles change everything

For the better part of a decade the video game landscape remained mostly unchanged, complacent in a sea of sequels, motion controls, and downloadable content.

It's a generation that has lasted longer than any other before it, albeit for generally good reasons. And perhaps most impressive is that though their PC gaming counterparts have long since passed them by, these aging consoles are still able to render great-looking games.

So while the sun begins to set on what will go down as a pivotal generation for video games, we look ahead to see what owning a console will be … Read more

How Sony and Nintendo can battle the Xbox One

Microsoft's Xbox One is out of the bag, and the next-gen console war's in full swing. So what happens next? Truthfully, the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U are still big boxes of mystery -- even though one's already been out in stores for months.

So, how will this new gaming landscape shake out? Sony and Nintendo, the also-rans to the current success story of Microsoft and the Xbox 360, will have options. But they're not always pretty.

Sony

Differentiate or die Under the hood, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are more similar than … Read more

Will you buy an Xbox One or PlayStation 4?

What's hotter -- the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4?

This year kicked off a new chapter in gaming history as Microsoft and Sony revealed their next-generation consoles, which are destined to rule living rooms (and hands) around the world. Of course, Nintendo also had its fun with the Wii U, but hard-core gamers don't seem to really be jumping on the device.… Read more

Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4

Ah, now we can finally compare the two. Pretty much. With Microsoft's Xbox One cat out of the bag, at last both it and that other yes-it's-been-announced-but-no-we-don't-know-every-detail console, the PlayStation 4, can be put under our powerful, analytical virtual microscopes.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions on both sides, but that won't stop us from diving headfirst into what we actually do know.

Editors' note (May 23, 12:52 a.m. PT): This story has been extensively updated and expanded since its original publication.

Hardware The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 house very similar silicon … Read more

Ex-GTA producer: Don't expect 3 consoles in next, next gen

A former Grand Theft Auto producer at Rockstar Games thinks that the next, next generation in consoles won't have three hardware makers competing for your dollars.

Speaking to Games Industry in an interview published on Monday, Jeremy Pope said the economics of the console market make no sense for there to be three hardware companies competing after the next round of consoles launch.

"It's going to be very challenging for Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo," said Pope, who is currently running a mobile startup he founded called Rally Games. "I wouldn't be surprised if we … Read more

On eve of Xbox reveal, Sony teases PS4 peek for E3

Hey, remember the PlayStation 4? Actually, we never saw it, now, did we? Sony's new teaser trailer for the PS4, however, released minutes ago, gives us a decent dose of blurry silhouette and fast-cut shots of what look like details.

The Sony press conference is on June 10 at 6 p.m. PT at E3 in Los Angeles, which is where more details should be spilled -- as opposed to the February PS4 preview event, which was mainly conversations and promises about features. … Read more

Crave Ep. 121: Wake up to a dancing iPhone

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This week on Crave, we take a look at Tim-e, an iPhone dock that wakes you up in the most annoying ways possible. We salute Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on making space travel cool again, and demonstrate Petswitch, which lets you put your face on your cat's visage. … Read more

Game industry sees hardware sales plummet 42 percent

The latest data out on the gaming industry indicates one, simple message: times are tough.

Overall spending on game industry products in the U.S. in April hit $495.2 million, down 25 percent compared to the $657.5 million consumers spent during the same period in 2012, according to monthly sales data on the game industry from research firm NPD. Hardware sales were hit hardest with just $109.5 million spent on consoles and handhelds last month. That figure is down 42 percent compared to the same period in April 2012.

Once again, the Xbox 360 led the market … Read more