A very noble new game, developed by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine and spearheaded by Schell Games, aims to educate so-termed “at-risk” youth about the dangers of HIV and methods of prevention: Funded from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Developme
NY Times columnist Virginia Heffernan’s experience with the History Channel’s iPad app, Civil War Today, made her wonder at the morbidity of virtual re-enactment, and how so many keep their distance from painful history: Any directive to relive painful history – and “preserve” it, for that matter –
The developers at Team Bondi captured the look and feel of 1947 L.A. in their highly anticipated game L.A. Noire, but not without help. Archivists from the UCLA Department of Geography to the Huntington Library shone a light on old maps, aerial photographs and the city’s seedy underbelly to provide
This Fabian Gonzalez creation dares you to see if you can name them all. –Lana Polansky [via]
The Neuroshima Hex series has a long history. And according to Tim Maly, the wrinkles of old age are beginning to show. He explains why Neuroshima Hex Puzzle is a game that has too much baggage: There is a higher enforced-text-per-minute density here than in Myst, which, you may recall, is a puzzle
Keeping up with mainstream video game news is tough. We’re here to help. -Sony develops refined AR technology “SmartAR.” -Harmonix to unveil a new title at E3. -Square Enix presents 20 minutes of Final Fantasy Type-0. -Basketball player Blake Griffin shows off his skill in an ad for id Software’s R
Remember the Atari Mindlink? You probably don’t. It was an unreleased 1984 controller which promised hands-free, brain-powered gameplay. Now welcome to the future, where Toronto’s Interaxon has developed a series of crazily sophisticated brainwave-powered games which help people relax and focus thei
Snappy Touch’s Casey’s Contraptions possesses the building blocks of imagination, as well as the building balloons and the building skateboards. Richard Clark takes a look at this iPad game’s giddy jumble of good old-fashioned creativity and refreshing youthfulness: But I never forgot about The Inc
Just kidding. Ivan Stoiljkovic, seen here in a commanding pose with a Samsung Galaxy Tab stuck to his chest, allegedly has other curious powers: Ivan, 6, is purported to posess an extraordinary and seemingly magical talent: the ability to attract metallic objects — from spoons to heavy frying pans
Stephen Astley, a very crafty assistant headteacher at a UK high school, has created an educational game based around doing homework and revision that kids actually seem to like. Technology professor and department head of another UK high school, Jo Bleasdale, is impressed: “I decided to use it with
The notorious Russian Prime Minister and a scantily clad woman (except for the fur hat, because it’s cold in Russia) who may or may not be former Russian spy Anna Chapman are now appearing as heroes in a new computer game. Voinushka, aka Shoot’Em Up, represents Putin as a pistol-wielding, cool-heade
A new board game called LifeTimes: The Game of Reminiscence rewards its players by stimulating their memories. Mary Jane and Carol McPhee created the memory game to help their 86-year-old mother, who is in the early stages of dementia, keep her mind sharp: “We found when we would ask Mom questions
Here is the beginning of a giant infographic from OnlineComputerScienceDegree.com detailing the lifespan, and eventual end, of computers as we know them: See it in its full glory here. And dare yourself not to hear the original song in your head as you read it. –Lana Polansky
Nintendogs + Cats for the 3DS is your typical pet sim. But for Jon Irwin, that’s exactly why it lacks the feeling of caring for a real pet: What does it mean to love a fake version of a real thing? How do we become attached to, essentially, lines of code? I guess if you zoomed in close enough, even
This is pretty cool. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Stockholm University have created a videogame that uses garbled speech to figure out how infants learn language: To uncover how spoken sounds are decoded, the research team designed a video game narrated in deliberately distorted
Chair Entertainment’s iOS game about repetition and replay, which received a big multiplayer update this week, is a curious one to review. J. Nicholas Geist takes a stab or three at it. Infinity Blade may be a commentary on the grind of gaming, the relentless churn of killing and harvesting to gain
This photo of camel thorn trees in Namibia is a photo. It’s not a screenshot from Outland. That orange backdrop? That’s a dune reflecting Namibia’s rising sun. And while the trees themselves look like etchings of a dream, they’re a very real part of one of the country’s largest national parks. It’s
The new book covers, for classics like Planet of the Apes and The Call of Cthulhu, are viewed with 3D glasses that come enclosed. Read the rest here.
This is a three-player chess board. That is all. Details and ordering info here.
A photographer made these eye-popping photos for the Metro’s 76th anniversary. See the collection here.
The somewhat cleverly titled MMOWGLI makes one rethink the phrase “strategy game.” Over 1,000 military and civilians will participate in MMOWGLI to come up with viable tactics for fighting Somali pirates. Those participating in MMOWGLI will play as members of the multinational anti-pirate task for
Bumpy Road is one of those endless driving games you play while standing in line at Customer Service. It’s also a terrifically poignant love story. When enough bits are picked up, raising the fuel meter above a threshold, this triggers a temporary bonus section that shows the couple driving through
Austin artist Shawn Smith has been using pixels for lots of his work including Vicious Venue (above). His statement: My recent work explores my interest in birds of prey as a source of conceptual inspiration and analogy. I am fascinated by vultures and the visceral way most people react to them. Fo
This is pretty rad. Ralph Baer, creator of the first commercial videogame system, is giving his stuff to the Strong Museum of Play: Ralph Baer donated his collection of original diagrams, schematics, engineering notes and patents that show the scope of his work during the formative years of the burg
Attention NYC: We’re throwing a party for the BLIP festival on Thursday night.
