Steam’s Customer Database Hit, Credit Card and User Information at Risk

Posted by | November 11, 2011

steam-compromise-errorEarlier this week, it was announced on SiliconANGLE that Valve’s Steam forums had been defaced and the user database behind them had been stolen; now, it looks like it’s spread further than that and the customer database behind the Steam service itself had been compromised.

A message sent by the head of Valve, Gabe Newell, warned all users to change their passwords and to watch their credit card statements as the database of customer information appeared to have been stolen by the attackers.

“We learned that intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums,” wrote Newell in a message displayed on the Steam forums. “This database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game …

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Federal Government Rules Video Games Are Art, Opens Grant Applications

Posted by | May 10, 2011

In your face, Ebert! The National Endowment for the Arts has recently altered their guidelines for new grant applications to include video games among their media categories like Television and Radio. That means indie game designers can apply for grants to fund their desperate attempts at porting Minecraft to the iPhone. Videogamer.com has the story. Read our comments for more.

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Smithsonian to Host “The Art of Video Games” From March to September 2012

Posted by | May 6, 2011

Of course video games are art. Writing is an art, music is an art, design is an art, and all those pretty pictures in the game are art. If you mix a dozen types of art, the result isn’t something non-art. Poodles and train engines don’t fall out from the TV screen. The Escapist has the story.

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Video Games May Help Sick Kids Stick to Treatments

Posted by | May 2, 2011

One of the worst things for a child with a constant illness is the treatment regimen he has to go through to battle the disease. Video games show some promise in getting kids interested in their treatments, so they’re more likely to keep on track. I guess adding a goal and a play condition changes things from thankless drudgery to a challenge taunting you from behind a high score. Throw in a level Ding, and it’d almost be a Korean MMO. Discover Magazine has the story.

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Writers Guild of America Announces Video Game Nominees for 2009 WGA Awards

Posted by | January 13, 2009

As a writer myself, I’m always curious about the plot, storylines, and characters in the video games I play. To me, an enthralling world populated by interesting characters is the most important part of a good game. Silent Hill, Psychonauts, Fallout, these are games you can simply inhabit, soaking up the atmosphere and becoming a thread in the virtual tapestries woven out before you. That’s the power of good writing.

As such, it pleases me to discover the Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for their 2009 Writers Guild Awards under the Video Game category. And the nominees are…

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, by Electronic Arts
Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!, by Mousechief (Who? Here’s a video)
Fallout 3, by Bethesda Softworks
Tomb Raider: Underworld, by Eidos
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, from LucasArts

The Writers Guild Awards will unveil the winner at their show on …

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Goozex Joins CAUSE to Bring Games to Wounded Soldiers

Posted by | December 1, 2008

Back in the misty days before the surface of the earth cooled, my larval self once took a header off the top of a staircase and cratered teeth-first into a tile floor. I lost several pints of blood and two teeth that day (they came back, mutant healing powers are handy!), but the important part of this story is that it goddamn hurt. There are very few sensations to compare with a couple chunks of your skull being shattered off by force of impact, and I say this as a person who, on more than one occasion, has seen his own unfleshed bone.

However, the doctor’s office had a suite of arcade games in there, all free to play. Since this is a gaming site, you can probably guess what happened and in a mere few minutes of bleeding over a Xevious cabinet, the gaping wound in my …

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TED.com — Will Video Games Become Better Than Life?

Posted by | November 3, 2008

It’s my belief that the future of humanity will be something like the Matrix with friendly AIs, save points, and porn. The reason why I think this will come to pass is I’m a gamer. So many people are playing games these days that the old media standbys — TV and movies — are strangling, starving for new viewers. There are enough people banging about in World of Warcraft that, if they voted together, would not only decide the presidential election but politics for decades to come. We are moving to an online world.

In this video from the TED Conference, David Perry discusses the implications of gaming and what the future may hold for those generations that grew up attached to online, social games.

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Upcoming Games – August 2008 edition

Posted by | August 28, 2008

A little late in the month, but here’s our Upcoming Games – August 2008 edition!

For release this month:
Shepherd’s Crossing (PS2) – August 19, 2008
Also known as: Welcome to Sheep Village, Youkoso Hitsuji-Mura (JPN)
Check out a preview of the game. Could be a the start of a “new” farming series here in North America.

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS) – August 26, 2008
(See our recent post for more info on Harvest Moon releases)

September:
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii) – September 16, 2008
(See above for more info on Harvest Moon releases)

Spore (PC, Mac, DS, more) – September 7, 2008
Battle Fantasia (XBox 360) – September 16th, 2008
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked (Wii) – September 23, 2008
Samba de Amigo (Wii) – September 23, 2008
Disgea (DS) – September 23, 2008
Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge (DS) – September 23, 2008

October:
Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS) – October 16, 2008
Little Big Planet (PS3) – October …

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