Added: 09.04.2014 8:50 | 2 views | 0 comments


Tesla Effect begins with Tex Murphy -- the down-on-his-luck gumshoe in the post-apocalyptic future -- regaining consciousness on the fire escape next to his office with a head wound and an injection mark on his arm. With the last seven years of his life wiped from memory, the private eye has no choice but to figure who was behind the mysterious attack and why. Tex Murphy is the last of the hard-boiled gumshoe detectives living in dystopian post-World War III San Francisco in the 2040s. Tex is an honest and good-natured private investigator with a penchant for bourbon, cigarettes and getting himself into trouble. He runs his P.I. (and dance instructor) business from his apartment/office on the top floor of the Ritz Hotel, located on Chandler Avenue in Old San Francisco. In stark contrast to the sparkling, futuristic New San Francisco, Old San Francisco is a run-down part of town known for its high concentration of Mutants -- a section of the population disfigured by post-war nuclear fallout. Tex has found several friends and allies among the Mutants on Chandler Avenue. His talents as a detective are matched only by his knack for putting his foot in his mouth and bumbling his way into the path of danger. However, using his wits, creativity and a bit of luck, Tex has managed to save the world on several occasions. Tex Murphy first appeared in the game Mean Streets in 1989. Developer Access Software broke new ground with gaming technology, followed shortly afterwards by Martian Memorandum in 1991. In 1994, Tex Murphy had a profound effect on the computer gaming industry with the release of Under a Killing Moon. Dubbed an "Interactive Movie," the multi-award winning Under a Killing Moon was a trailblazing accomplishment, introducing full motion video and real actors into a game environment. Access Software's proprietary "Virtual World" engine also enabled full freedom of movement in a completely explorable 3D world. This same groundbreaking technology would be used in 1996's The Pandora Directive. Another multi-award winner, The Pandora Directive is often regarded as one of the finest adventure games of all time. In 1998, Overseer was the last title released featuring our favorite gumshoe detective...until now! The Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure is coming to PC and Mac April 22, 2014.

Added: 06.04.2014 12:14 | 10 views | 0 comments


NFL Players Inc. (NFLPI), the marketing arm of the NFLPA, is serious about video games. Once just an afterthought to the business world, or at least second fiddle to the NFL when it comes to the lucrative Madden deal with Electronic Arts; the NFL players are more vocal about gaming this year. Representatives from the NFLPI made the trek to San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference to announce a new contest that will reward the winning mobile game with a free NFLPI license and $10,000 in social media marketing and player endorsement. The NFLPI Mobile Madness Challenge runs through April 20 and is open to anyone from garage developers to large publishers.

Added: 05.04.2014 14:30 | 6 views | 0 comments


Exploit fixed by Microsoft, rewarding Kristoffer Von Hassel with 4 games, $50 and a year's free Xbox Live.
Definitely file this one under the big "whoops" column, as news has come to light this week of a five-year-old from San Francisco who managed to access his father's Xbox account by inadvertently exposing a vulnerability when attempting to log in on the Xbox One.

Added: 04.04.2014 21:15 | 7 views | 0 comments


GR - My dad never played catch with me. Boo hoo, right? When I was growing up I played a lot of basketball, especially as we had a hoop in our driveway and I loved pissing off my mom by going for massive three-point shots from the neighbor's yard (off her station wagon). Playing basketball felt more personal, but watching baseball on TV gave me this otherworldly sense of competition, that the field of dreams was real. Pitchers have the entire team behind them, ready to sweep up anything a hitter might put through, and hitters can rely on the next man to knock one between left field and the shortstop to bring the other guy home for a run. Of course, growing up a San Francisco Giants fan smashed that perception into the waters outside ATT Park. Barry Bonds and other home-run superstars never really gave the infield and the outfield an opportunity to play their part. Baseball slowly transformed from pasttime to nap time in my house, with rallies and runs startling those of us who h...

Added: 04.04.2014 19:16 | 10 views | 0 comments


Right over the plate. My dad never played catch with me. Boo hoo, right? When I was growing up I played a lot of basketball, especially as we had a hoop in our driveway and I loved pissing off my mom by going for massive three-point shots from the neighbor's yard (). Playing basketball felt more personal, but watching baseball on TV gave me this otherworldly sense of competition, that the field of dreams was real. Pitchers have the entire team behind them, ready to sweep up anything a hitter might put through, and hitters can rely on the next man to knock one between left field and the shortstop to bring the other guy home for a run. Of course, growing up a San Francisco Giants fan smashed that perception into the waters outside AT&T Park. Barry Bonds and other home-run superstars never really gave the infield and the outfield an opportunity to play their part. Baseball slowly transformed from pasttime to nap time in my house, with rallies and runs startling those of us who had dozed off. Thankfully, MLB 14: The Show gives gamers the opportunity to participate in the big leagues however they like, even if hardcore PlayStation fans might want to hold off for the PS4 version of San Diego Studio’s yearly sim. Sitting down to play, I figured I’d start a franchise or play an exhibition match, but first I needed to familiarize myself with the game’s controls. When you’re pitching, the camera sits behind the mound and allows you to target inside and outside the strike zone, while the DualShock 3’s face buttons represent different pitches and a wavering circle around the reticle displays how accurately you’ll throw the ball. For new players, this can be really frustrating as everything will seem to fall outside the plate or in the dirt. One of my first innings resulted in walking a run in after loading the bases, but practice modes almost immediately rectified this. You can take any pitcher in the league to practice against any other team and put away a full lineup for points, ranking your performance with medals. The same can be said of batting, but swinging the bat comes more naturally as you just have to track the pitch and keep it in a yellow swing zone for maximum life and distance. The game almost seemed to notice I was struggling in those first innings by giving me a homer off the right foul post, instantly lifting my spirits even if the game ended in an 8-6 loss for my Giants. MLB 14 The Show presents baseball on as grand a scale as it can manage, with massive jumbotrons and stadiums full of fans no matter how poorly your club is doing. The soundtrack can be annoying at times, but it’s clear that San Diego Studio put a ton of love into every field, every player, and every menu, with heaps and heaps of options for anyone who wants to mess with the difficulty, controls, or exactly how much they need to do when playing offense or defense. [gallery=263] I ran into some trouble early when I awkwardly sprinted away from a pop fly and then threw it to third instead of first, but The Show also allows you to lock the action to a specific player and only complete plays that he's personally involved in. Player Lock means you can spend nine innings hanging out in left field without anything to do, but Quick Counts also mean an entire game could take less than 10 minutes. That’s particularly helpful when you’re trying to cram in a season or take a player from the minors to the World Series, but I preferred controlling each pitch and each swing, even if the controls seemed to wrestle back when the action switched to another position on the field. While MLB 14’s presentation can at times look as good as anything on TV, the audience can still be muddied and copied relentlessly. There’s no point in spectating a virtual game, but it’s convincing enough for players eager to hit the field at the start of baseball season. If you’re all about graphics, MLB 14 The Show will arrive on PlayStation 4 in May and looks to be quite a bit sharper in decorating the scenery of baseball’s biggest fields. Fenway Park's Green Monster looks suitably green and looming on the PS3 version, but some care a great deal about graphics. If you do, just hold out for a month and then replay April’s MLB games on your next-gen console. For faster play, you can check out community challenges which present unique objectives based on either real-world plays or whatever other players have dreamed up. Sony compared this mode to ’s in-game content creation systems, but don’t expect to stack a cowboy hat and a bowler underneath your Dodger-blue cap. Everything in MLB 14: The Show takes the sport seriously with authenticity at the forefront. Sounds, color commentary, and in-between at-bat animations flow together really well. If I ask myself whether The Show feels like the baseball I grew up watching, I’d have to answer yes. It can be boring and frustrating some times. Pitches will get away from you no matter what, but loading up the count and leaving three base runners stranded feels tense and you get an immense sense of accomplishment when striking out a big bat like this year’s cover star Miguel Cabrera. On the other side, batting doesn’t feel as satisfying as pitching in that I always love teams that can start a rally and make that the deciding factor in a game. When you play every hitter in the lineup, you get invariably get into the mindset that you constantly need to swing for the fences. Running up a pitch count and tiring out a big arm isn’t nearly as apparent as it is watching a broadcast. At home, I always felt bad for the pitcher who got pulled in the 5th inning. He may have been worn out and he may have hit the last batter with a pitch, but what could he have accomplished in the next inning? No-hitters seem like impossibilities in MLB 14 The Show, unless you turn on automatic fielding and let the others in your squad help out. America's game has always been about teamwork and that’s the only thing I feel is missing when sitting alone on my couch, playing the game.
Copy provided by publisher. Review based on PS3 version. Vita version tested. PS4 version releasing in May.

Added: 04.04.2014 9:15 | 2 views | 0 comments


VGW's Will Harrison: An announcement last month from Capcom USA Community manager Peter Combofiend Rosas introduced the Capcom Pro Tour. The tournament series will have a focus on the Street Fighter IV series and has partnered with some of the most well-known fighting game community tournaments in the world to decide seeding and placement for the Capcom Cup, to be held in San Francisco in December of this year.

Added: 04.04.2014 9:14 | 11 views | 0 comments


VGW's Will Harrison: An announcement last month from Capcom USA Community manager Peter Combofiend Rosas introduced the Capcom Pro Tour. The tournament series will have a focus on the Street Fighter IV series and has partnered with some of the most well-known fighting game community tournaments in the world to decide seeding and placement for the Capcom Cup, to be held in San Francisco in December of this year.