Saturday, December 27, 2014
Friday, December 26, 2014
Hacked? Xbox and Playstation Networks Both Go Down for Christmas
Thousands of people reported Christmas Day problems on the Xbox Live and Playstation gaming networks, as a band of hackers took gleeful credit. The networks, which allow users of the popular consoles to play the video games with a wider online community, first crashed on Wednesday evening and the problems persisted into Friday morning, enraging many users — but especially those powering-up new machines from Santa Claus.
A hacker group called "Lizard Squad" claimed responsibility, saying on Twitter that it toppled both networks with so-called distributed denial of service attacks. The tactic involves overwhelming Sony and Microsoft's servers with unexpected — and bogus — user traffic. "Jingle bells jingle bells xbox got ran," the group wrote on Twitter Thursday, adding a similar line about Sony. "oh my fun it is to troll of you morons ... hey!"
Xbox on Thursday said it was working to address the problem and investigating what caused it. Early Friday, a Tweet from the official Playstation support account said engineers still were working hard to resolve the problems and thanked users for their patience. Playstation is owned by Sony, the same company that released "The Interview" on Thursday. Xbox is owned by Microsoft, one of the companies which agreed the stream the film despite threats of a 9/11-style attack by the original hackers. There were no immediate indications the incidents were related.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
The father of video games Ralph Baer has passed away
One of the founding fathers of video games as we know them has passed away at the end of 92.
Ralph Baer was the creator of the pioneering Brown Box in 1969, which formed the foundation of what became one of the first home consoles – 1972’s the Magnavox Odyssey.
The Odyssey, which sold hundreds of thousands of units and hosted over 25 software titles, was the inspiration of many competitors, chief amongst them being Atari’s seminal title Pong.
Baer’s legacy spans wider than that, however. As well as developing the first ever lightgun game in 1967 and holding some 150 patents, he was also the creator of the popular Simon Says electronic toy in 1979.
Baer was born in Germany in 1922. He and his family fled from the Nazis to the Netherlands before eventually settling in America. Baer is survived by two sons and a daughter.
Image credit: Hight3ch
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The 20th Anniversary Edition PlayStation 4
To mark the 20th anniversary of the PlayStation, Sony is releasing a special 20th anniversary PlayStation 4. The console is limited to only 12,300 numbered units worldwide.
It is priced at 49,800 yen (US$418) in Japan and available through the Sony Store starting tonight. No word yet on an international release date or pricing.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
What's Up With AMD: BrG Podcast #44
Monday, October 20, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Monday, October 6, 2014
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Monday, September 1, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
EXCLUSIVELY ON BLINDRUN GAMING: BRG #33
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Steam Summer Sale Wrap Up: Podcast #27
Global PC Game Revenue Surpasses Consoles
http://www.fixmypcfree.com/blog/global-pc-game-revenue-surpasses-consoles-pc-gaming-is-far-from-dead/
Xbox One ‘family sharing’ included in monthly update roadmap
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.Bfxay
How to make a VR headset with a pizza box, smartphone and $21 worth of tech
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BfqhV
Boston Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron beats out Montreal Canadiens’ P.K. Subban for NHL 15 cover
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BfeYc
Oculus buys company that designed the Xbox 360 controller
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.Bfgm_
Bird Jesus Flappy Bird Clone for Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gobcnstartups.birdjesus
Xbox One ‘family sharing’ included in monthly update roadmap
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.Bfxay
Cheating in Gaming Leads to Arrests in Japan
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140625/08443327682/future-is-now-cheating-online-games-leads-to-arrests-japan.shtml
Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski says he’s ‘coming out of retirement to make video games’
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BgcO-
Steam tops 8 million concurrent users as sale draws to a close
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BgbEI
Monday, June 23, 2014
Summer Sale Week 1 Picks: BrG Podcast #26
Was Watch Dogs for PC handicapped on purpose ?:
‘Sunset Overdrive’ shows Ubisoft just how easy it is to put female assassins in a game
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/21/sunset-overdrive-female-characters/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000595
UK court rules against Nintendo in patent infringement case
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.Be4oM
PS4 vs. Xbox One in the U.S.: Here’s a state-by-state breakdown of the console war
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.Beyke
Amazon reveals its ‘Fire Phone’ smarthphone
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BeYRz
Xbox boss thinks gamers who waited for a Kinect-less Xbox One will buy a Kinect
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BfOJu
The Crew PC beta signups are live – starts July 23rd
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BfOjd
Monday, May 5, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
The Versus Mode Guest @bodweiser1: BrG Podcast #19
AMD R9295X is badass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEgsG_wl0kc
Valve maniuplating gamers into good behavior
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133917-Dota-2-Valve-Is-Manipulating-Gamers-into-Good-Behavior
Study shows degradation of cognitive ablilty after 24.
http://www.ktbs.com/story/25271977/over-the-hill-at-24
Videogame May Help Rejuvenate Elderly Brains
http://www.wired.com/2013/09/video-game-elderly/
The Worst Game on atari being dug up
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/diggers-ready-unearth-ataris-et-games
Xbox One reaches Japan on September 4
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BUHQQ
Omni VR treadmill gets $3 million in seed funding
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BUdmi
XCOM: Enemy Unknown gets acquainted with Android, out now
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BUasD
Majority of parents say video games are a positive part of their child’s life
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BUabe
The Fall of Gamestop Continues (cricket wireless distributor really? wal-mart late to the game lol)
http://www.spawnfirst.com/news/gamestop-close-130-stores-make-room-300-400-tech-stores/
Gears Of War, Fable TV shows ‘teased for Xbox Originals’
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BVC_9
America’s next McDonalds Happy Meal toy is Pokemon
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BU_4U
Microtransactions march toward PvZ: Garden Warfare
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BU4n6
Report: Twitch viewership beats ESPN, WWE streaming sites
http://m.mynews.ly/!EH.BUyws
Monday, April 21, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Friday, April 4, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Facebook Reaper of Souls: BrG Podcast #15
Show Notes: http://www.blindrungaming.com/facebook-reaper-souls-brg-podcast-15/
Monday, March 17, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Monday, March 3, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Game Over for Flappy Bird!
The free smartphone game for iOS and Android took the mobile market by storm, reportedly earning $50,000 in ad revenue each day. Flappy Bird had been download upwards of 50 million times and earned 47,000 reviews on the App Store.
After Flappy Bird secured the No. 1 spot on the App Store and Google Play Store late last month, several media outlets attempted to explain our fascination with the ad-based tapping game, which sported a pixelated art style inspired by Super Mario Bros. However, all that attention proved too much for Dong Nguyen, the app's creator.
Nguyen tweeted Saturday that he would remove the game from the app stores on Sunday, saying that he was overwhelmed by the game's success:
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Confessions Of A Flappy Bird Addict
Just a quick game. It only takes a second. I, I need to beat my high score. That stupid bird. DAMMIT! Ok this time I’ll do better. DAMMIT! Alright the ad distracted me. F*CKKKK! I was doing so good. NOOOooo!
I don’t know why I want to play FlappyBird. Why it’s the first thing that pops into my mind during the cracks between day-to-day life, whenever something is hard or I have a moment to wait. But I just need to hear the sweet sound of those coins racking up, like playing Mario as a kid. Nothing else matters as long as I stay between the pipes.
I mean, I’ve played others before. Yet after so many smooth difficulty curves there’s something so seductive about Flappy Bird. It humiliates me, but I like it. It’s the dominatrix of mobile games.
The beauty is there’s no commitment. I don’t have to wait to see if I succeed. No investment lost if I fail. The reinforcement so utterly immediate, I crave the constant judgement. There’s no months of worry about a performance review like at work. There’s no necessary consideration about whether I saved enough lives to beat the boss like in other games.
Each pipe passed washes away all the sins before it.
Each time I start over, there’s no baggage to carry, no permanent record to weigh me down. Just that score, and the lust to exceed it. To beat my friends. To beat myself. To conquer something frustrating the rest of the world.
But to what end? Where am I flapping to? Will I one day float out past the sea of pipes and arrive at that distant city in the clouds? My Bespin paradise?
No. There is no congratulations. No secret ending. No cute victory animation to watch when it’s over. The pipes are infinite. There was no puzzle. No narrative. No point. It was designed to occupy our attention in the name of entertainment. For some, it delivered that escape. But there is no satisfaction. A new high score begets desire for a new high score. All we get is anotherdopamine hit.
Perhaps that’s why Flappy Bird’s creatorDong Nguyen tweeted “I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.” The only way to win is not to play, and he knows we can’t quit on our own.
Story by Josh Constine (@joshconstine)