game

Veteran video game executive Don Mattrick faces his toughest level yet.

On Monday, Zynga said it had tapped Mattrick as its new CEO. He will take over for Mark Pincus, the controversial founder and current CEO of the embattled social-gaming company.

Mattrick faces a Herculean task of reviving a company whose fortunes have taken a turn for the worse thanks to an exodus of players, fatigue from even its most popular franchises, and, ultimately, a "broken" business model. Moreover, he will have to work with Pincus, whose difficult personality has rubbed insiders and investors the wrong way.

Still, … Read more

Grant Theft Auto V will ship with two discs for the Xbox 360, according to the game's developer.

Rockstar Games on Tuesday posted a question-and-answer page on its site, responding to queries from fans. The company confirmed that due to the size of the upcoming title, the Xbox 360 version will ship with two discs. The first disc will need to be inserted into the console at startup. That disc will install game files onto the console. The second disc will then be used to play the game. No switching will be required once the file is installed on … Read more

Facebook is considering getting into the gaming business as a publisher, a new report claims.

The social network is currently working with a few mobile-game developers to iron out a deal that would see their titles published under the Facebook brand, TechCrunch is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the discussions. The mobile games would generate revenue through Facebook's ad platform, and the world's largest social network would share a cut of that revenue with developers.

Developers and publishers are two very different entities in the gaming space. Developers actually create the game, while publishers … Read more

Most of the time I focus on practical products, but can't we have a little fun once in a while? Yes, yes we can; today's deal is all about fun.

Today only, and while supplies last, Amazon has the Sphero app-controlled robot ball for $84.99 shipped. That's the lowest price I've ever seen for this way-cool gadget, which normally sells for $129.99.

Note: If Amazon does sell out, don't be surprised to suddenly see a higher price. What usually happens is that the product page flips over to a third-party seller, even though … Read more

If you’ve come here wondering whether you should buy the Ouya, let me answer that straight away: no, you shouldn’t. At least not yet.

Instead, let the hacker-types, tinkerers, and the extreme hard-core gamers be the guinea pigs for the Android-based console, because it currently needs all the testing it can get.

With any luck over the next six months, the Ouya's software library will grow to a much more compelling state, bugs will get fixed, the interface will have much-needed features added, and native nongaming content will be released. Harder to address will be the cheap … Read more

RealParking3D Parking Games looks great and handles well, but it only has one car. That will be a death sentence for many fans of car games. However, if you don't mind using the black coupe it gives you, it really performs admirably.

You have to log in to start playing this game. It doesn't require a password, just that you make up a name to appear on the app's leaderboard. There are hundreds of levels to choose from, but expertly completing the levels doesn't unlock any special perks. There's no in-game currency to buy new … Read more

Game Hunter for Mac, like its sister application DVD Hunter for Mac, offers users a way to comprehensively catalog and keep track of their large video game collections. The level of detail this app offers might be a bit overwhelming, though.

Installation was performed quickly and easily, and we were adding games to our newly created catalog within minutes. The intuitive interface meant little hassle in adding titles and populating the various fields of data. We typed a few words into the title field and clicked "Auto complete" to retrieve the rest of the information from Amazon's … Read more

Codemasters' Colin McRae Rally holds a special place in the pantheon of racing games, earning legions of fans for its realistic simulation of breakneck rally racing.

If you're among those fans, or you just like a good high-speed race against the clock, you'll be glad to know Colin McRae Rally is now available for iOS.

CMR is all about off-road sprints, where you're effectively trying to beat the clock in order to unlock additional cars and stages. The game has 30 of the latter but only four cars, and in championship mode you must repeatedly finish "… Read more

More than a year after Microsoft announced its Xbox Music service, the company has finally brought it to the Web.

Microsoft's Xbox Music platform is now available for users in the browser. Customers can head over to its page and stream "millions of songs" from within the browser. Microsoft last week told CNET that the subscription, storage, and track-purchasing service would be coming to the Web, and it has officially made good on that promise.

Microsoft claims to offer "millions of songs" through Xbox Music and allows users to download tracks they purchase to a … Read more