It took Gavin and Geoff of Achievement Hunter about four hours to build Super Mario Bros.' 1-1 level almost block-for-block in Minecraft.
You can watch them "play" the level from two camera perspectives. Then they'll zoom out to show you how the level was constructed. It's pretty neat.
Vergil, Dante's twin brother in the Devil May Cry continuity, returns as a playable character in next year's DmC: Devil May Cry. Yesterday Capcom released a couple minutes of gameplay footage in that trailer above, showing Vergil in the DLC extension due shortly after the game launches. It's free if you preorder the game.
The video was accompanied by another trailer (at bottom) showcasing the game's combination system and how a player increases his style ranking by chaining together offensive and defensive moves.
DmC: Devil May Cry arrives Jan. 15 in North America and Europe, Jan. 17 in Japan.
Every corner of this dirty little ball we live on has been mapped and uploaded to the internet. Now it's time to play with it. Life is Magic gives players the chance to team up and take over a fantasy version of the real world, one city at a time.
Once you choose one of the three character classes available in Red Robot Labs' Life is Magic—mage, machinist or monk—the game presents you with a map of your location, only instead of asphalt streets and concrete builds there are trees, dirt paths, inns and shops straight out of a fantasy novel. This is your world transformed.
Depending on where you live, your local map might be peppered with shops and crisscrossed with paths bearing the names of the streets you walk every day. If you live in a more rural area the effect won't be quite as impressive, but that's what zooming out and teleporting is for.
The world map is where the action is. Elemental dungeons dot the landscape, hungry for foolhardy adventurers to brave their depths. Other players appear on the map as well, waiting to be invited into your adventuring party. Up to three players can form an alliance, lending their particular talents in turn-based battles against fierce fantasy foes. Each dungeon level ends with a choice—leave and keep your loot, or delve deeper and chance losing it all to more fearsome beasts?
Players gain levels as they adventure, powering up towards the ultimate goal—conquering the tower that represents a major city. No one in my area has grown powerful enough to take Atlanta yet. I ventured into the tower and was slain in a single round. More grinding is in order. Luckily this is a persistent alternate world, and the tower will still be there when I am ready.
Location-based games are a passion of mine, even if my location seems to always get the short end of the stick. Limited teleportation allows me to visit bustling cities like New York...
...but when I get home, this is what I see.
The downside to living in a sparsely-populated area is there is only one shop in town to influence—The Coca-Cola Employees Federal Credit Union (yes, real-world names on fantasy places). The upside? I own that credit union. It's all mine. Feel free to grab the game and try to take it from me.
Life is Magic — Free [iTunes]
There it is: a glorious new gaming PC, specc'ed out all to hell and ready to take you to all sorts of wondrous places. Or maybe you went the Cupertino route and wound up with a glossy Mac machine that you want some video game bonafides for.
Our Best lists have you covered, either way. Whether you're a member of video games' Glorious Master Race or an OS X loyalist taking advantage of Steam and/or ports, these titles offer first-class experiences for when the work days' over. Get to clicking.
PC gamers have reason to crow, since they get often the best of both worlds. Quirky and cheap smaller titles? Yup. The shiniest, most impressive versions of AAA multiplatform games? Yeah, they get those, too. Mostly. More »
Hey, look! A sleek computer with a piece of fruit embossed on it. Did you splurge for a Mac Pro or save money and get the totally capable iMac. Either way, good move, those things just work. More »
There are what Kotaku thinks are the best games on Facebook, and then there are the games Facebook's game curators and players think are the most playable pieces on the social network. I find their lack of Robot Rising disturbing.
For the most part the official Facebook list contains the usual suspects. There's a couple of Zynga sequels in FarmVille 2 and CityVille 2. Thanks to the inclusion of mobile gaming on the list there's Draw Something, CSR Racing, Clash of Clans, Bike Race and Subway Surfers. King.com's Candy Crush Saga gets a nod, which is good because I am currently addicted to matching colorful candies and cursing at the top of my lungs.
Most of these games we've written about at one point or another, but in case you missed them, here's what Facebook's vox populi likes to play, courtesy of the Facebook App Center.
Dragon City — Breed cool dragons, make them grow and combat with friends in a world of magical islands!
SongPop — Test your song knowledge with Song Pop, the best music game! Play with your friends or other music-loving strangers today!
Bike Race — Drive through amazing jumps and loops as fast as you can to beat your Facebook friends!
Marvel: Avengers Alliance — Lead a team of heroes to keep New York safe from a mysterious threat and save the world from villains in the newest Facebook RPG.
Subway Surfers — Subway Surfers is a game for iOS and Android by Kiloo Games and Sybo Games. Follow the adventures of Jake, Tricky and Fresh!
FarmVille 2 — Grow and harvest beautiful crops, raise adorable animals, and craft delicious treats on your very own lifelike 3D farm.
Draw Something — Play the addictive social drawing game!
Baseball Heroes — Form an unbeatable team with your friends and make it to the Majors!
Angry Birds Star Wars — A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... a group of desperate Rebel birds faced off against the Empire's evil Pigtroopers!
Clash of Clans — Dominate the Realm! Clash of Clans is an addictive combat strategy game with thousands of other players in epic online battles.
Candy Crush Saga — Mix and match candy for spectacular effects in the sweetest facebook game ever! Lots of exciting, fun and challenging levels!
Dungeon Rampage — Join your friends and battle your way to victory in this multiplayer action game.
Jetpack Joyride — Suit up with a selection of the coolest jetpacks ever made and take to the skies on a one-way trip to adventure!
War Commander — Build a powerful army, show no mercy and battle enemies for earth's remaining resources in the hottest MMORTS war game on FB!
Criminal Case — A teenage girl has been found murdered at the entrance of the town. Bring the killer to justice!
You Don't Know Jack — Play the trivia game with an attitude where high culture and pop culture collide!
CSR Racing — Race your dream car in a drag race along city streets. CSR Racing combines stunning high-fidelity graphics with addictive gameplay
CityVille 2 — Build your own 3D city to towering heights as you help solve an unfolding mystery. The city is alive, restless, & yours to create.
Citizen Grim — Battle waves of zombies, fight with Mercenaries & challenge friends on the global leaderboards in the bloodiest game on Facebook!
The Wizard of Oz — Build your own Munchkinland and lead Dorothy down The Yellow Brick Road in this fully immersive 3D environment!
This one is called the Tam-Tara Deepcroft, an instanced dungeon from Final Fantasy XIV. The above video footage shows what this dungeon will look like in version 2.0 of the game, A Realm Reborn, which will launch next year for PC and PS3. Cool music. Reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics.
Square plans to start the closed beta for the new FFXIV in mid-February, according to a new "road map" they've put up to lay out plans for the massive overhaul to their massive online role-playing game.
Everyone, say hi to Reese. He got the thing he really, really wanted most for Christmas. And yes, it's Tank! Tank! Tank!, which was ... not exactly the best launch title for the Wii U.
When Reese's dad sent us this video, we first thought, "Well, wait, surely he's crying because Tank! Tank! Tank! is a clue that he and his brother are getting a Wii U, and that's why he's overjoyed." Nope. Reese is actually this happy because he's getting Tank! Tank! Tank!.
"We were on vacation in Disney World when we were hit with a particularly rainy day," Reese's father told us. "I brought them down to the resort's arcade, and they played Tank! Tank! Tank! for hours, literally. Reese and his brother are 7 and 5 so the ability to take photos of themselves in odd costumes, the bright colors and the rumbling of the arcade really got them hooked."
Reese's dad thinks that the crying might have been brought on by the totality of the video game bounty, which did, in fact, include a Christmas Day Wii U. "But to him the Wii U was merely a means to an end to play Tank! Tank! Tank!," he said. "It's not the best game in the world, but you can see how a young child would fall for something as whimsical as the game is."
As for dad, "Not sure if this was picked up in the video, my nervous tittering in the background was a guise to cover up the fact I was on the verge of tears." Ah, jeez, now I'm gonna cry.
Let it be known that the Tearjerker Video Games of 2012 are, in order, The Walking Dead and Tank! Tank! Tank!
YouTube video uploaded by egress99
There's a reason Nintendo owned the on-the-go gaming market for decades. From the Game Boy to the 3DS XL, the House of Mario consistently packs a one-two punch of great software and clever hardware in its portables. Want proof? Take a gander at our compilations of the best games on current Nintendo handhelds. You'll see that these titles offer up great experiences with one of video games' best pedigrees behind them. That's the reason you got one, right?
Long the 800-lb gorilla of handheld gaming, the DS is in its twilight, besieged by smartphones and pushed aside by the 3DS. And, yet, you got one, you old softy. More »
So, 3D, huh? Is that what you like? Leaves and papers and stuff hovering in front of you?
Ok, takes all kinds, we guess.
So, of course, there's only one gaming handheld for your kind and there you are, unboxing it as we speak. More »
After a highly successful stint on iOS, the stylish 2006 Nintendo DS game Touch Detective finally lands on Android. If anyone needs me I'll be playing it all day.
OK, if we're going to be honest, at face value, this LEGO depiction of Halo star Cortana doesn't look that great. It's "2D", and in places looks more like ASCII art than a portrait.
But there's a reason for that. This isn't supposed to resemble Cortana's 3D model in the games. It's meant to resemble the holographic effect she displays, which is accomplished by building rows of 1x1 round pieces and then spinning them in front of a light source.
It was built by Mosaic Bricks, and you can read a full rundown of how it was made below.
Cortana: A Holographic Mosaic [Mosaic Bricks, via Brothers Brick]
