The Olympics are over, but we’ve got a tip for competitors in Rio in 2016. We’ve always been told that red is a winning color—or at least a flashy one. Think power ties and sports cars. According to an article from BBC’s Tom Stafford, wearing red could even help Olympic athletes get ahead. But not f
Following rumors last month that Valve would distribute content besides games through Steam, the Bellevue-based developer confirmed earlier this week that it will, in fact, carry out this initiative. Though it reminds us of the Mac App Store, Steam’s got bigger issues on the other side of the fence
The GameKlip wants to make you feel at home, no matter where you are. Designed by University of Washington student Ryan French, this Android accessory lets you play mobile games using your PS3 controller. Not sure if we’d go out in public with this one, though.
Yes, Facebook is now a real gambling platform—at least in the United Kingdom, where regulations on Internet gambling are more forgiving. We already know that Zynga is planning to introduce real-money gambling wherever it can early next year. But London-based developer Gamesys beat them to the punch
If you’ve been to Brooklyn, chances are you’ve heard of Barcade. It’s the ’80s-style arcade in Williamsburg that’s also been serving draught beer since 2004. As Kyle Orland writes, this trend is bringing back arcades in a whole new way, as are new establishments that target a broader age range in ge
French social critic Roland Barthes once wrote that children’s toys “prefigure the world of adult functions” and “prepare the child to accept them all.” In other words, toys are probably kids’ first encounters with social stereotypes and expectations; they instill through play both the good and bad
This short video pits Olympic 100-meter runners from 1896 to 2012 against each other in the same virtual race. It also reminds us of our ghost replays from Super Meat Boy, which is about as close to the Olympics as we’ll ever get.
CNET contributor Joseph Hanlon noticed odd activity on his PayPal account recently. After doing some research, he realized that someone had used his identity to purchase gold from players of Blizzard’s most recent game. He or she spared no expense: billions in virtual currency were traded for thousa
Is owning a dog like playing a videogame? According to Chris Suellentrop, writer for the New York Times, there’s much to be said about the gaminess of companion animals. That’s probably not the best way to put it. – – – I’ll just let him explain: Playing a video game, much like owning a dog (or cari
It is surprisingly common, in China at least, for the wealthy to hire scapegoats to confess to unfavorable crimes. More unbelievable, though, is the practice of hiring lookalikes to serve the upper class’s prison sentences. Geoffrey Sant over at Slate has published an excellent article detailing the
While the rest of us are still bemoaning the lost physicality of records and CDs, Kill Screen contributor Kyle Chayka instead mourns a more recent victim in the death march of time: the humble MP3. Sure, MP3s are still around, but today we experience music less through our own curated playlists and
Backed Endorsed by id Software’s John Carmack, the Oculus Rift is a new VR headset that made its debut at E3. It’s also the technology powering USC’s Holodeck Project that we reported on a couple weeks ago. But today, the company launched a Kickstarter campaign that revealed a new design for the hea
According to Forbes, the fraud and laundering lawsuit pending trial against online poker companies Full Tilt and PokerStars has been settled. The total amount of restitution comes to $731 million. The third company facing allegations, Absolute Poker, has yet to reach a settlement with prosecutors.
Have you you eaten your cultural vegetables? A quick trip to the archive turned up this article by Dan Kois from last year, in which he both laments and venerates those films that we are obliged to consume, the so-called “vegetables” of the cultural diet. In college, a friend demanded to know what
In the 2011 issue of Game Studies focused on reward systems, Christopher Moore tackled the subject of achievements within Team Fortress 2 and, in particular, the game’s hats. If you’ve ever been compelled to learn more about the psychology, social theory, and economics of downloadable fedoras, read
A small agricultural group known as the Baining in Papua New Guinea is infamous among anthropologists for having eradicated the desire to play from its culture—the Baining do not engage in festivals, games, or religious ceremonies. Researchers such as Gregory Bateson studied the group as early as th
A startup called Use It Better uses statistics gathered from games to predict the behavior and characteristics of players. While the company began by helping developers detect cheating players and improve user experience, it recently found that it could determine players’ gender, age, personality, a
Artist James Bit is selling these decorative decals on Etsy. We can’t guarantee they’ll go with your rug, but if you’re looking for that mysterious-but-welcoming ambience in your bedroom, this may be your thing. He’s also selling Zelda-esque fireplace art and custom videogame covers.
A group of students from the Interactive Media program at the University of Southern California (where thatgamecompany’s Jenova Chen first developed Flow) are constructing a consumer version of the Holodeck—that is, the ultimate virtual reality system imagined in Star Trek and countless other scienc
In response to a patent infringement complaint that Uniloc filed against Minecraft developer Mojang, creator Markus Persson (“Notch”) has been issuing statements on his blog: A common argument for patents is that inventors won’t invent unless they can protect their ideas. The problem with this argum
Gamers Against Bigotry, which we posted about just last week, has been the repeated target of hackers since the project was inaugurated. With the first 200 pledges, came a half dozen hackers finding different ways of exploiting the pledge. For the past few weeks, this has continued, and the number
We often attribute the hard work of a hundred people to the vision of a single director, so it’s easy to forget the person on the other side of the camera—the cinematographer. Ultimately, it is his or her eye through which we view our favorite films. Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer, Wally Pfiste
This real-time simulation of a satellite revolving around a simple sphere may be the first computer-generated film. This film was a specific project to define how a particular type of satellite would move through space. Edward E. Zajac made, and narrated, the film, which is considered to be possibl
In order to study our inner motivations for punishing one another, researchers used a series of games that allowed players to cheat. Each version of the game differed slightly in the amount of money that players could steal from each other. What they found wasn’t unpredictable by any means but inter
