Video Games

The latest trio of trailers in a series of previews of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V has hit. These character videos take a deeper look at the tribunal stars of the game: Michael, Franklin, and Trevor.

Be sure to check back later this week for a major update to our continuing coverage leading up to the September 17 release of Grand Theft Auto V.

We first got a taste of the XCOM shooter back in 2010 and even got to see it in action at E3 2011. Unfortunately, the game got delayed numerous times and eventually went dark. In fact, it got lapped by XCOM: Enemy Unknown -- its turn-based-strategy counterpart -- which turned out to be one of 2012's best titles of the year.

2K Games is ready to lift the curtain on XCOM once again, complete with a live-action trailer, a trio of screenshots, and best of all a release date. Newly titled and packaged, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is set … Read more

After seeing it in person this week, I can safely say that the Ouya game console does indeed exist. Now, will it quickly piggyback its way into millions of living rooms thanks to its low price and free-to-try games or assume a place in the pile of wouldbe consoles that failed to mount a legitimate challenge gaming’s mainstream? My bet’s on it finding a comfortable place somewhere in the middle; however, having only spent an hour with the console this week, it wouldn’t be fair to make any final judgments.

What I will do is attempt to … Read more

The current intellectual darling of the video game set is BioShock Infinite, the third game in a retro-flavored action/adventure series. Like the original BioShock (let's forget the drab second installment for now), Infinite is ambitious in its storytelling, working in references to history and political philosophy in a way rarely seen in interactive entertainment.

But why is that so rare? Big-budget mainstream films don't feel the need to shy away from explorations of philosophy and psychology ("The Matrix," "Inception") or politics ("Argo") -- despite having at best a couple of hours … Read more

The intersection of sports and video games has rendered countless popular titles and is easily one of the medium's most popular genres. While each sport has yearly contributions to game consoles and the PC, there may not be a more cherished sports title in video game history than NHL '94, EA's venerable ice hockey experience.

At the time NHL '94 was cutting edge; with its 2D sprite animations and the introduction of penalty shots, board checking, and more, the game was widely acclaimed by critics and players alike. If you owned a Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo, odds … Read more

Sony PlayStation 4 The current hot topic in console gaming, the just-announced PlayStation 4, is still largely an enigma. We don't know how much the PS4 will cost, when it's being released (beyond "holiday 2013"), or even what it looks like.

For now, it's still the next-gen hardware to beat, and what little we do know sounds impressive, with an entirely new system architecture based on an X86 AMD CPU/GPU that should make the PS4 easier to develop for and more flexible (and, frankly, more PC-like).

But 2013 will take the traditional three-way console … Read more

Editor's note: It's official. Microsoft has announced the future of Xbox (and the next console) will be revealed at an event in Redmond, Washington on May 21.

Press events are a tricky beast. No one ever said they were easy to pull off. But with Sony casting the first stone in the next-generation console gaming war, Microsoft can learn a lot from what worked and what didn't.

When the lights went up, Sony execs were shaking hands and congratulating each other. But the packed house at the Hammerstein Ballroom wasn't exactly participating in the same adulation. … Read more

The PlayStation 4 is Sony's last great hope in keeping control of the gaming industry. It's also the best chance at turning the PlayStation Vita into a more relevant piece of gaming hardware.

At last night's PlayStation 4 event in New York, many hew tidbits of hardware magic were discussed, and a good handful of them involved the Vita: as a remote-play device and additional controller like the Wii U's GamePad, and maybe even as a functional second screen. It's encouraging, but not surprising. I bet it would happen long before last night's event … Read more

NEW YORK--So the world didn't exactly get what it wanted out of Sony's PlayStation 4 debut tonight. There was no sight of the actual console itself and details about its specific release date and price were also nowhere to be seen.

Sony's team-up with Gaikai is sure to net some interesting ideas and implementations with cloud streaming, the sharing of game screens, remote play, and other concoctions, but the games themselves were what made the biggest impact.

Those pondering the PS4's gaming prowess were served an interesting dish. Ten or so major developers were represented in … Read more