Author Archives: Chris Morris

Sony and Valve: A tale of two hacking responses

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When Sony announced that customer data from its PlayStation Network was accessed by hackers, gamers and the media were furious. So why did Valve seem to get a pass under similar circumstances?

Like a lot of people in the gaming world, I got an interesting email from Gabe Newell last week.

The Steam hacking incident of last November, he said, was worse than they initially thought it was. And while there still was no direct evidence that credit card information had been accessed, a backup file containing that information (albeit encrypted) was obtained by the person or persons who had broken into the system.

Read more at Gamasutra

Pioneering video game ‘Spacewar!’ turns 50

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Right around this time 50 years ago, the world of gaming was forever changed.

Spacewar! was launched in mid-February 1962 (the exact date is a matter of debate, though most people agree it was between the 13th and the 15th). And while it wasn’t the first video game ever created, it was the first to strike a chord with people, effectively kicking off the era of video games.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Wii U: What Nintendo Should and Shouldn’t Do

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It might seem that there aren’t a lot of mysteries remaining about the Wii U, Nintendo’s first step into the high definition marketplace and the kickoff of the next generation console wars. But initial appearances can be deceiving.

While we’ll likely learn everything there is to know at E3, there’s still time for the company to tweak its new system to get the most out of it when it comes to retail. Just as we did with the next generation Xbox and the PlayStation 4, we’ve got a few humble suggestions about what Nintendo should – and shouldn’t – do with its next console.

Read more at Industry Gamers

Survey: ‘Words With Friends’ spells L-O-V-E

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Forget singles bars — if you want to find love on Valentine’s Day, you might have better luck on your iPhone.

A study of over 118,000 Words With Friends players found that scoring isn’t necessarily limited to the game. One in 10 players, in fact, said the title has directly led to a hookup at some point.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Warcraft and Starcraft invade classic board games

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Go directly to Azeroth. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 gold.

Blizzard Entertainment, having conquered the PC, is now setting its sites on the living room by announcing a partnership Monday with USAopoly to release a World of Warcraft-themed Monopoly game and a Starcraft-focused version of Risk.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Virtual marriages outlast real-world ones

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With Valentine’s Day hitting next week, there’s plenty of love in the air — but if you want that love to last, your odds are better in cyberspace.

A study of virtual marriages in MapleStory, a massively multiplayer online game from Nexon, finds that people who vow to stay together forever in-game tend to be more successful at it than those of us in the real world.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Skyrim’s run of Game of the Year awards continues

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Chalk up another big win for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bethesda’s much-loved dragon-slaying role-playing-game has taken home another Game of the Year award, this time from one of the most widely respected bodies in the video game industry.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences held its annual Interactive Achievement Awards Thursday night at the DICE summit, with Skyrim taking top honors — as well as four other awards. Uncharted 3 and Portal 2 each took home a trio of trophies.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

January video game sales among the ugliest in recent memory

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To say the video game industry stumbled out of the gate in 2012 would be exceedingly kind.

January software sales, which are the most closely watched figure by investors, were down 34 percent – the biggest percentage drop in more than 2 years — to $750.6 million. That’s more than $389 million less than a year ago.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Report: iPad 3 to be unveiled in early March

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The rumors about the next iPad have been growing for a while now — and it may be just a matter of weeks before we find out which are true.

AllThingsD is reporting that Apple plans to host an event the first week of March to launch the new iPad — which is largely expected to be called the iPad 3 (though keep in mind we all expected the company to unveil the iPhone 5 last year, so the name may be different).

Read more at Yahoo! Games