I don't yet own an iPhone and with all the latest gaming related apps being released lately, I'm beginning to think I should probably invest in one. The latest iPhone demo app from Epic Games is available called Epic Citadel and seriously, it looks epic!

At first I didn't really believe the images were taken from an iPhone app. I mean look at that image, it's crystal clear and just amazing. But it's true so if you haven't had a look at Epic Citadel yet, head on over to the app store now and check it out. If I had an iPhone, I certainly would! The big news in terms of gaming is that the app makes use of the Unreal 3 Engine which really is alot to take in - that sort of technology being available for a game/app on your iPhone! Just awesome.

Epic Citadel is the demo app for the upcoming Project Sword which is slated for release later this year and who knows, maybe I'll get an iPhone for Christmas so I can play it ;) Read More

On the left we have the boxart for Metal Gear for the NES. Simple enough. But on the right we have an image taken from classic cult movie Terminator with actor Michael Biehn who played Kyle Reese in an action pose. Hmm. Is it just me or do they really look a whole lot like the same thing?

Via CannotUnsee

If you're really hanging out for Fallout: New Vegas and you own an iPhone, you should probably check out the latest graphic novel preview app available from Bethesda and Dark Comics.

The app is a 12-page sneak peek of the graphic novel that comes bundled with the collector's edition of the game releasing later this year. It's definitely a good way to tempt people into purchasing the collector's edition when it releases: Read More

And I thought owning an iPhone or PSP was enough to ensure gaming on the go. How about SNES and NES gaming right from the comfort of your car seat? This DVD player from Chinavision ensures that any SNES or NES gamers out there will be totally covered. The player comes with a 7-inch LCD, A/V in and out connections, a USB port and an SD card slot. It also comes bundled with CDs that have a few hundred SNES and NES ROMs for your enjoyment. The device will set you back about $175.00USD. Official websit is here if you're interested in checking it out. Read More

Yet another reason to desire a career as a successful professional gamer—leverage that fame in order to design furniture!

News out of the Fatal1ty camp indicates that pro gamer Jonathan Wendel has entered into a deal with Dallas-based Southern Enterprises, Inc. in order to develop and distribute a line of gaming furniture, which will be “tailored specifically to the ergonomic requirements and performance enhancement features of gamers.”

The furniture that eventually emerges from the partnership will allow both “professional and amateur gamers to compete at their highest ability on both PC and console.”

Southern’s Dirk Brinkerhoff took a less stressful approach to the deal, saying that he hoped the furniture would allow users “to be a better gamer than they were without it.”
Read More

I stumbled upon this rather engaging article about the myths surrounding the 'video game tester' job and the article is actually extremely informative, especially if you've ever wondered about what it would be like to be a video game tester. I have to admit, before I started writing about video games, I pondered over the notion of maybe one day going down the path of a tester. I don't wonder about it any more but I'm sure there are a few people out there who play with the idea every now and then.

I'm sure you've all seen the ads advertising the jobs. I've never had the guts to actually click on any of the links that may or may not take me to the right website (partially because I am not in the habit of clicking on dodgy internet links). I'm guessing a fair share of those links are probably bogus. Read More

The console war competition just got a little more interesting with Chinese IT manufacturer Lenovo planning to launch a new gaming console by the end of the year.

It's called the 'eBox' and will work without controllers much like Microsoft's Kinect. The price for the eBox is yet to be confirmed:

"Our product is designed for family entertainment. Ebox may not have exquisite game graphics, or extensive violence, but it can inspire family members to get off the couch and get some exercise," said Jack Luo, a former department chief with Lenovo, and now president of Beijing eedoo Technology.

While Microsoft's Kinect is estimated to go on sale in November of this year, the eBox may not be available until the first quarter of 2011. Read More

We like Games and Art here at GameCulture, so needless to say we were fascinated with a DragoArt.com piece on how to draw LittleBigPlanet's main character, Sackboy. People tend to draw game characters all the time, with relative degrees of success, but you don't often get a how-to.

The description is a relatively simple 5-step process and even I was able to get a fairly decent representation following the directions. Give it a try!

Boing Boing had a very interesting article recently on Sega's new game Yakuza 3. Anyone can review a game, but in a game such as this, how do you know if it is an accurate portrayal? What better way to find out than to have a few actual yakuza look at the game.

The article is written by Jake Adelstein, who spent 12 years as a crime beat reporter in Japan and has abook about his exploits called Tokyo Vice. Adelstein was able to convince three high-ranking Yakuza to play the game and evaluate its accuracy. Read More

The Escapist recently featured a poll on this very topic as their question of the day and after giving it some thought, I can't say that I think the two things - piracy and used games, are at all the same. If you were a game developer, I suppose the answer would be pretty clear. If you're not making a buck from all the hard work you put into a game, I guess that could be the same as if someone pirated your game. And that's assuming we even care. At the end of the day, we want games at a cheaper price and it's common knowledge that there are alot of gamers out there who will resort to acquiring pirated games, whatever their reasons for doing so. Read More

Playboy is expanding into the video game industry in a big way with not one but several projects in the works, according to a recent press release.

A new games label is in the pipeline as well as a partnership with Bigpoint which is currently producing the online game Battlestar Galactica Online. Playboy's first game release is titled "Poisonville" which you can access via their web portal with future titles soon to be revealed.

Image and article via Joystiq

While I try to avoid entertaining rumors, you can't help but be just a little interested in some of the bigger ones, particularly when an actor like Brad Pitt is mentioned. So if you haven't read about it already, there's a rather big rumor doing the rounds that a movie adaptation of Rockstar's 'Red Dead Redemption' could be in the works and that Brad Pitt seems to be the hottest choice for the role of John Marston.

Thinking about the game setting and Brad Pitt's acting ability, it would certainly be possible and if you haven't seen just how well Mr Pitt does westerns, you might want to check him out in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - a movie I really enjoyed and one which I happen to think featured some great acting work by Pitt. I think he'd be perfect for the role. Read More

Chifeng City, China is now home to a Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as the Nintendo character Mario.

In an event organized by the New Weekend of North News and Chifeng Animation Association, 230 students dressed up as the iconic videogame character, enough for Guinness World Records  Adjudicator Angela Wu to label the gathering as record setting.

519 participants took part in the event altogether, and, as seen in the picture, some chose to dress as Wario and Luigi in addition to Mario. It's unclear if all 519 entrants dressed as Mario-themed characters and 230 specifically dressed as Mario, but in the end, what does it really matter.

A tumblr follower requested a drawing of Master Chief being decapitated by Kratos and this is what the author of curiousintent came up with. And I have to admit, I'm definitely a Kratos fan and would probably endorse this on my own website :) Sorry Master Chief...

Via curiousintent

Putting a limit on anything in an MMO especially one that is going to attract alot of hardcore MMO gamers is definitely a bold move. But is it a move in the right direction? Final Fantasy XIV will introduce an eight hour levelling limit. There are pros and cons to this of course but it looks like those gamers with less time on their hands won't feel so disadvantaged by those gamers who eat, breathe and sleep MMOs. Read More

You may or may not have read about the controversy surrounding Medal of Honor lately. An article via British website the Telegraph discusses a fascinating topic which in turn spawned my idea for this blog post. It states in the article:

If a video game makes headlines, it seems anyone from any field, regardless of their experience, can pass judgment on not only the title up for discussion, but the entire games industry. Whether or not these pundits have any first-hand knowledge or experience of video games is seldom mentioned. In the rare instances video games experts are called upon for their expertise, they're usually shouted down or dismissed. Read More

This article over at Gamekicker got me thinking about the topic of rare games and rare hardware and whether or not I'd consider purchasing any of these things myself. The image above is of the rare Limited Edition Blue PS3 console releasing in Japan in November. It's part of a promotion for Gran Turismo 5 and while I'm not all that keen on GT as such, the hardware looks pretty damn hot. I'd definitely consider buying this Titanium Blue PS3, even though I already own a PS3 which is still in mint condition. Read More

Now if only more games came with warnings like this one - I wonder how many gamers would still play them? I particularly like the sentence where it says "This game plays you as much as you play it". It kinda reminds me of that classic movie WarGames which brought new meaning to being 'pwnd' by a game.

Via PalahniukandChocolate

It’s always a bit ironic when well-paid athletes lament their ratings, appearances or likenesses in videogames. Today features two such stories from around the Internet in which a pair of professional football players take such grievances public.

The first involves New England Patriot running back, and Kool-Aid fan, Laurence Maroney (pictured), who cannot understand how a shoulder injury in the 2009 season could possibly have an impact on his speed rating in Madden NFL 11. He told the Boston Herald: Read More

These Fallout 3 Replicas look every bit the real thing. The replicas were made by Ryan Palsar and you can view the complete set of replicas here on his flickr site. The site also features images during the making of the replicas - great job Ryan! They're awesome!

Via RyanPalsar

Inspired by the B.o.B song Magic, which features Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, a Minnesota teen has put together his own personal ode to Madden and his favorite team, the Vikings.

17-year old Danny Chamberlain was featured on the TwinCities website for his efforts, which apparently took some five hours of writing, editing and game playing.
 

As part of the marketing campaign for Halo Reach, Facebook users are being recruited in the fight for Reach by plotting their very own 'star' on the website. It's simple to do - if you're a Facebook user and a Halo fan, head on over to the Halo Reach website and follow the instructions for your geographical location.

Facebook users can connect directly using their Facebook account and you can also look around the site for other Facebook users that have connected their accounts. It's all very cool. Halo Reach will be landing in retail stores soon.

Via RememberReach

Keeping in line with our unofficial 'Retro' theme, here's a true blast from the past with an 80s Pac-Man commercial for the Atari 2600. Never having owned an Atari 2600 myself, I can honestly say that I've never heard of the "Pac-Man Fever" song. Does this bring back memories for you? As far as advertising goes, I think this ad is actually pretty cool.

Via YouTube

If you miss the old-school NES, SNES and GBA games, a site exists that allows gamers to get their fix through creatively designed hard drives, flash drives and mouse pads.

The site, called 8-Bit Memory, offers storage hard drives from 500GB to 1TB with logos of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Star Wars, among others. They also offer flash drives of up to 4GB.

If you ever need extra storage as a gamer, its great to meld that with a love of the old school.

An interesting story over on the CNN web site talks about preserving the history of older games and their place in the ever-growing industry. While pointing out that the TV, film and music indstries have a way of showing off their history, the video game industry has yet to join the party.

But recent strides have the games preservation movement trying to catch up. Ottumwa, Iowa, has the International Video Game Hall of Fame and the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY, maintains a collection of more than 20,000 video game related items. Even the Smithsonian is getting into the act in 2012 with a section called The Art of Video Games.

Bob Bates of Legend Entertainment is encouraged by the movement: Read More

We all know about the Bioware/LucasArts MMO Star Wars The Old Republic but SOE and LucasArts have announced that their MMO Clone Wars Adventures now has a beta and they're accepting recruits! If you're keen to sign up, head on over to the official website, register and you're on your way. You'll need to have a Sony Online account to take part in the beta but if you own a PS3 and are connected to the PlayStation Network, you should be good to go. There are no geographical restrictions as far as I can tell so anyone should be able to sign up!

Via CloneWarsAdventures

Gamer Craig Smallwood has brought a negligence lawsuit against Lineage II Game Developer NCSoft because he became addicted. Smallwood claims that he is “unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.” Read More

This fan-made video clip Star Wars Uncut may not be about video games, but the amount of gaming related hardware scattered throughout might have you thinking otherwise. The clip is a mish-mash of different pieces of video captured by various fans of the movie and brought together into one clip. The project was initiated by Casey Pugh and as many of the clips were filmed inside people's homes, you'll spot alot of gaming hardware in alot of the 15 second shots. It's pretty awesome and well worth watching.

Via Wired

A rogue videogamer has taken to stenciling Mario-inspired symbols into the bike lanes on North Williams Avenue in Portland, Oregon.

While the majority of bicyclists commenting on the art in a blog post on Bike Portland.com seem to enjoy the distractions, most are claiming that the power-ups are proving ineffective in terms of impacting real-world bicycle prowess.

While the image attached to this post is all a little light-hearted, the title of this post is something I've been thinking about asking gamers. What does your gamertag really say about you? What is that people are thinking when they create gamertags like 'religionlol' and what's with this new breed of gamers who insist on adding the 'lol' acronym to every single gamertag or character they create? It really doesn't do much for me to be honest other than make me think some people spend very little time thinking of their gamertags. Most people probably don't take any stock in creating a new name for themselves online. Afterall, you're completely anoymous so why should you care what you call yourself, right? Read More