games

The Xbox 360 Elite is still a couple of weeks away, but Microsoft seems to be freshening up the 360's software in anticipation of the release. In advance of an early May dashboard update, the company has added around three dozen games for the "classic" Xbox that can now be played on the 360. Full title list after the jump.… Read more

If you're not sure whether an outfit's colors go together, we've always been told, don't take a chance. But, as this PC ensemble proves, the monochromatic look isn't a slam dunk either, unless it's all black.

The "Diablo" custom gaming system from Smooth Creations can be ordered with a matching monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and iPod, according to Chip Chick, in the hues of your choice. But we do hope that the color pictured here doesn't become too popular, as it appears to have produced the computing incarnation of Goldmember.

No … Read more

Forget 300. The real way to make ancient history and literature cool is...Halo?

We've already seen World of Warcraft used as a way to bring The Canterbury Tales into the digital age. But that was a student project--this interesting story, which we read on Joystiq, is the project of a professor at the University of Connecticut who's looking to better connect his students with the literature they're assigned in class. This would be Robert Travis, an associate professor of modern and classical languages, who has gone so far as to take an Xbox to class into … Read more

Sony is axing the lower-end model of the PlayStation 3, according to the gaming blog Joystiq. The blog quotes Sony saying the 20GB version will no longer be shipped to North American retailers.

The PS3 was initially launched last November amid quite a bit of fanfare. Sony was asking $499 for the 20GB and $599 for the 60GB. The $100 discount on the 20GB clearly wasn't all that attractive as Dave Karraker of Sony America reports that the 60GB PS3s outsold the lower-end models more than 9 to 1.

Getting rid of the cheaper version also kills of any … Read more

If you're one of the pioneering few who picked up Ageia's PhysX game physics card, you'll soon have a game designed from the start to show it off. Best of all, you don't lose anything for trying, as CellFactor: Revolution will be available for free download on May 8.

We tried out an early tech demo of CellFactor when the Physx cards first came out, and we were impressed with how the effects offered a new way to interact with a game world (although we should add, that "DirectPhysics" component of DirectX 10 we … Read more

We don't consider ourselves squeamish at Crave, and we're open-minded about all lifestyles--even those of the sadomasochistic variety. But we can't help but feel a bit uneasy about what seems to be something of a trend we've noticed lately: games that punish losers with electronic shocks. It's one thing to buzz your opponent in battle-oriented play such as laser-tag tanks, but we're somewhat disturbed by this "feature" popping up increasingly in otherwise tame games.

Take the "Shocking Quiz," for example, a simple game of 600 general-knowledge questions. Since when is … Read more

File this one under "cute, but not there yet." One of the new Web sites that was showcased at Tuesday's New York New Tech Meetup was PictureDots, which falls under one of my favorite categories of Web 2.0: borderline useless time-wasters. Basically, with PictureDots you can create your own connect-the-dots puzzles, share them with your friends online, or print them out for your favorite kids (of any age). Kind of a cool idea, especially when you think of the procrastination opportunities.

But there's a downside. It's cute, but it's not particularly efficient. You … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is working on a gaming handheld that could let players use their surroundings as a backdrop for an immersive game.

The company unveiled a commercial for "Mscape," its gaming prototype, that featured a number of young hipster gamers roaming San Francisco while playing a game on Mscape that used cues from their environment as triggers to unlock new levels or bonuses. "We want to get kids off the couch," Rahul Sood, chief technology officer of HP's gaming division, said during a presentation in San Francisco.

Details were sketchy, but HP appears to be taking … Read more

If you're into sado-masochistic gaming (that's enough information, thank you), you might be interested in this next item. Picking up where the "Shocking Duel" leaves off, the "R/C Laser Tag Shocking Tanks" uses the general concept--giving the enemy a physical shock with each "hit"--but without having to encounter your opponent face to face.

By remote control, the tanks shoot at each other with lasers shot from built-in infra-red cannons. If one of your beams strikes the opposing tank, its controller will receive an electric shock pass along to its human … Read more