games

Dell powers up three new Alienware gaming laptops

Dell has beefed up its Alienware series with three new laptops equipped with some seriously high-end specs.

Unveiled on Tuesday at the E3 show in Los Angeles, the Alienware 14, Alienware 17, and Alienware 18 are designed for hard-core gamers who need laptops packed with lots o' power.

Starting at $1,199, the Alienware 14 offers a 14-inch screen (1,366x768 or 1,920x1,080 resolution), as much as 16GB of RAM, and up to a 512GB solid-state hard drive. Starting at $1,499, the Alienware 17 is equipped with a 17.3-inch screen with a resolution as high as … Read more

Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, new Donkey Kong Country coming to Wii U

LOS ANGELES -- This isn't a normal E3 for Nintendo. For the first time in recent memory, the company has decided to forgo a traditional press conference in lieu of a more intimate experience.

While Microsoft and Sony continue to exchange unpleasantries, Nintendo is using the opportunity to give the media a behind-closed-doors look at some of its upcoming Wii U titles, some of which are completely unannounced.

I got to sit down with these games and get some hands-on time to see what Nintendo has planned for the Wii U, a console that has undoubtedly stumbled out of … Read more

Apple eyes better iPad gaming with joystick controller patent

Apple is eyeing a better way to play on its toys.

Dubbed "Clickable and tactile buttons for a touch surface," a patent published Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office envisions a gamepad and joystick for iOS devices.

Mobile gaming is a surging area of growth, something puttting console makers ill at ease. Last year an NPD Group report found that games for mobile devices account for almost half of all game downloads.

The patent describes accessories that simply stick on the touchscreen of an iPad display and engage the touch-sensitive areas with buttons and a … Read more

Xbox One Asia launch set for late 2014, no word on Japan

Microsoft's Xbox One might be making a splash at the E3 Gaming expo this week, but it won't be making a splash in Asia until later next year.

The Xbox One won't launch in Asia until late 2014, Microsoft confirmed to The Wall Street Journal in an article published Tuesday. Microsoft's regional vice president of sales and marketing in Asia told the Journal that his company is following a "staged approach," noting that Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and India will be first ones in Asia to get the console next year.

Interestingly, … Read more

Sony twists the bad publicity knife deeper into Microsoft

LOS ANGELES -- Thunderous applause greeted Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Tretton when he announced that there would be no restrictions on used games for the PlayStation 4.

Tretton smiled and paused, garnering him a second wave of enthusiastic clapping and hollering.

In a battle between two titans of the console gaming industry on the unofficial first day of the E3 video game conference, Sony came out on top on Monday not by showing off a more impressive lineup of games, but by answering a few simple questions the right way.

"We believe in the model that … Read more

Sony reveals the PlayStation 4, and its price: $399 (hands-on)

The PlayStation 4 was originally announced at an event in New York City back in February, during which we heard plenty of details about features and strategy but didn't glimpse the system itself -- just its new controller.

Sony didn't make the same mistake twice. At the E3 gaming show in Los Angeles, the PS4 finally showed its face -- and its price: $399, which undercuts Microsoft's Xbox One by $100.

Now that it's been revealed, we know that it's: a black box. In fact, it not only looks like a PlayStation 2 on steroids, … Read more

Battlefield creator shows off new 'Star Wars' video game

To the delight of many gamers at E3 on Monday, EA DICE showed off Star Wars Battlefront -- a next-generation "Star Wars" video game that uses the Frostbite 3 graphics engine. DICE uses the same graphics engine in Battlefield 4.

As the 30-second trailer kicks off, you can clearly see a snowy tundra on the ice planet Hoth, presumably set during the battle seen in "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," or perhaps a different time in the canon. … Read more

Why Xbox One's used games policy doesn't need to be the end of gaming as we know it

Last week, Microsoft finally provided some additional information on how the "game licensing" policy will work for the company's newly introduced Xbox One. It was our first peek behind the curtain on how discs, digital downloads, game sharing, and Xbox Live accounts will work and interact on the upcoming game console.

The new policy explicitly states that the new system was designed so that "game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers." But reading between the lines of that lawyery language, most gamers took that to mean that the aftermarket … Read more

Review: Spin the Bottle - Party Games brings the spicy game to your iOS device

Spin the Bottle - Party Games is a faithful digital rendition of the classic party game, combining a fairly accurate spinning bottle mechanic with a series of revealing questions. While options for changing questions or the spin mechanic are missing, the basic interface looks and feels like classic Spin the Bottle, perfect for anyone without an empty bottle on hand.

To use Spin the Bottle: Party Games, you place two fingers on the screen and twist them. The harder you twist, the faster the bottle spins. It will then stop on one of the four colored quadrants. While this is … Read more