"Left 4 Dead" (rated M, $30 for PC, $50 for Xbox 360): This week's free downloadable content means that all four of the game's campaigns are now playable in versus mode. More importantly, the download makes available a new gameplay mode, "Survival," in which players fight off wave after wave [...]
Fans of Jack Black's whacky musical antics and Sonoma native Tim Schafer's whimsical, wry, oddball games will be delighted to know that "Brutal Legend," the latest game from Schafer's San Francisco-based development house, Double Fine, is set to release Oct. 13.Schafer's past credits include one of my favorite games from [...]
For anyone waiting for Lego branded video games to move on from the platform-jumping stylings of "Lego Star Wars," "Lego Indiana Jones" and "Lego Batman," the announcement of "Lego Rock Band" this week is welcome news, if not exactly what we were hoping for. It'll be great not to play [...]
A study out this week, and reported on Page A9 of today's Press Democrat, suggests that children can become addicted to playing video games, displaying such classic signs as skimping on homework, lying about how much they play games and struggling when they try to cut back.The study, by an [...]
Going back at least to the PlayStation vs. Nintendo 64 days, Nintendo has had a reputation for targeting their games and consoles at kids and families. There's certainly nothing wrong with this strategy, but its effect has been greatly overstated. The GameCube, after all, was the original home of "Resident [...]
None of this week's new releases looks particularly good. Last year, gamers got "Grand Theft Auto IV," one of the year's biggest titles, in April. This year? Nothing much. This week's best bet is a free map pack for a game that came out two months ago."F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin" [...]
Football fans everywhere heard the news on Thursday: John Madden is leaving the broadcast booth. The first thing gamers wondered upon hearing the news, no doubt, was how Madden's retirement would affect Electronic Arts' flagship football series, "Madden NFL."The immediate answer is that it won't. EA representatives confirmed to multiple [...]
If you've spent much time playing games on the Wii, you've probably noticed the console's remote-style controller isn't the most nuanced device on the planet. It's fine for bowling, but gamers hoping for realistic swordplay or lightsaber combat have been disappointed by such offerings as "Red Steel" and "Star Wars [...]
The most irritating thing about being an Xbox 360 owner has been the console's unreliability. Almost since the 360 launched, gaming forums were abuzz with angry consumers whose machines had gone belly-up and gotten the "three red lights" general hardware failure. Despite the 360's industry-leading online service, popular achievements feature [...]
It'd be nice to think that one day, video gamers might get to experience something akin to the joy cinephiles feel when one of their favorite movies gets tabbed for a Criterion Collection DVD release.For movie buffs, Criterion's DVDs can bring fresh attention to older, underloved masterpieces. More than the [...]