Leap Motion creator: It gives you Jedi powers

AUSTIN, Texas--The creator of the forthcoming Leap Motion controller sees his baby as much more than just a Kinect on steroids; he sees it as a tool that will enable us to do things in the real world that so far have been restricted to the realms of imagination and science fiction.

Translation: This thing will finally transform us all into Jedis and strengthen the Force within. Well, sort of.

During an on-stage demonstration of the technology here at South By Southwest Interactive over the weekend, Leap CTO and co-founder David Holz explained how the controller can be used to amplify motions, actions, and reactions, and make some of the old Jedi telekinetics tricks possible in a virtual space -- by using our real-world limbs.… Read more

Lord British seeks $1 million for Shroud of the Avatar

Open your wallets, Ultima fans. Lord British needs cash.

The RPG pioneer and space tourist has a Kickstarter campaign to raise $1 million for an Ultima-style game called Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues and he's well on his way to that goal.

Lord British, whose real name is Richard Garriott, says Shroud will be "a fantasy role-playing game that will focus more on player choices and discovery than on level grinding." … Read more

Dad hacks Donkey Kong so daughter can save Mario

When Mike Mika's young daughter asked if she could play Donkey Kong as a girl and save Mario, he did what any awesome geek dad would do. He stayed up late, hacking Donkey Kong and turning the gender tables on the game.

Mika's Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition lets Mario's girlfriend Pauline (Pauline was around before Princess Peach came along) rescue the hapless Mario from the giant angry gorilla. His daughter was used to playing Super Mario Bros. 2 as Princess Toadstool. She didn't understand why Donkey Kong wouldn't let her do the same. Dad came to the rescue.… Read more

Angry Birds cartoon to fly onto games and TV this weekend

Angry Birds fans soon will be able to watch their favorite birds and piggies duke it out in a series of weekly cartoons.

"Angry Birds Toons" will take flight on broadcast TV this Saturday, as well as on all Angry Birds apps and certain video-on-demand services this Sunday, game maker Rovio said today. The series will feature 52 episodes, with a new one launched each week.

Comcast subscribers can catch "Angry Birds Toons" through Xfinity on Demand, the Xfinity Web site, or the Xfinity TV Player app. The animated adventures also will appear on TV networks … Read more

After launch mess, EA pledges free game for SimCity players

SimCity's launch may be long remembered as a complete disaster, but in a new update, Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager of Sims creator and EA subsidiary Maxis, aimed to alleviate the sour mood by promising to fix the connectivity calamity and deliver a free game as a peace offering.

"To get us back in your good graces, we're going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio," said Bradshaw. "On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an e-mail telling them how to redeem their free game."… Read more

Ubisoft: A Wii U price cut would be awfully nice

Nintendo's Wii U could benefit from a price reduction, a Ubisoft executive director says.

Speaking to Edge-Online in an interview published yesterday, Alain Corre said that his company "always" likes to see a hardware company cut the price of a console.

"We always want the hardware to be at a low price because we want as many fans as possible to afford to buy our games, so that's for sure," he said in response to a question asking if he'd like to see Nintendo cut the price of its console. Corre is Ubisoft'… Read more

Original Angry Birds free for iPhone, iPad customers

The most popular mobile-gaming franchise in the world is now a bit easier for you to get your hands on.

Customers who head over to the App Store today will find that the iPhone and iPad versions of Angry Birds are available for free. Previously, the iPhone version was on sale for 99 cents. Angry Birds HD for the iPad was available for $2.99. Rovio previously offered free versions of the titles, but those were limited to only a few levels. Those now appear to be gone from the App Store.

Angry Birds was the game that kicked off … Read more

Valve's Steam Box ready for testing in 'three to four months'

Valve's highly anticipated Steam Box game console will be ready for testing in a few months time.

Speaking to the BBC in an interview published recently, Valve CEO Gabe Newell said that the console should be ready for testing "in the next three to four months," adding that his company will pass out the device to customers to try out.

"There are noise issues and heat issues and being able to [deal with] that while still offering a powerful enough gaming experience is the challenge in building it," Newell told BBC, adding that Valve still hasn't been able to finalize the device's controller design.… Read more

Kinect looks to replace your mouse with your fists

Microsoft's Kinect might eventually reduce your reliance on the mouse.

At Microsoft's TechFest this week at its headquarters in Redmond, Microsoft is showing off an update to its software development kit that will allow developers to add more hand-gesture functionality to their programs. According to The Verge, which tried out the hand detection, the technology allows users to pinch-to-zoom with their hands and pan around the screen. All of that is done by simply waving and clenching their hands in front of the Kinect.

Microsoft's Kinect was first delivered to gamers by connecting it to the Xbox … Read more