xbox

Real-time strategy (RTS) titles have been a cornerstone of electronic gaming since the earliest days of computing. With hundreds of miniaturized troops and vehicles fighting atop lavishly rendered landscapes that change every second, these virtual conflicts provided a brisker, more accessible alternative to tabletop favorites like Stratego, Axis & Allies or Risk. Thanks to the success of franchises like WarCraft and Command & Conquer, the genre has swept across PCs.

[ Read Full Story ]

This 50-foot Ethernet cable snaking all the way through my apartment from the router in the bedroom to my Xbox 360 in the living room? That's how I used to play videogames online. The Xbox doesn't come with wireless capability built in, and I didn't want to shell out the extra $100 -- a third the price of the console itself -- for Microsoft's wireless adapter. Third-party wireless bridges cost a bit less but are still pricey. Finally, though, I found a way to ditch the giant wire with a solution that cost me only 40 bucks.

[ Read Full Story ]

Meet today's hottest new star. He's short and balding, but has an infectious wit and smile that can light up any red carpet. Come to think of it, he looks a lot like me. My rapid rise to celebrity came courtesy of You're in the Movies (Xbox 360), which inserts video from a USB camera into faux film trailers.

[ Read Full Story ]

Games are beginning to exploit the computational muscle of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to generate characters and environments that follow the rules of reality, not just preset sequences.

[ Read Full Story ]

A console version of Civilization? For many PC gamers, that's as heretical as a Citizen Kane TV series–you just don't mess with the classics of popular culture. In this case, though, the man helming the project is the same guy who started it all, legendary designer Sid Meier. After struggling with the challenge for two years, Sid's found a way to streamline his turn-based strategy game without lobotomizing it.

[ Read Full Story ]

I arrived yesterday in San Francisco, a city where my evening's entertainment has often taken a turn for the unusual. I certainly wasn't disappointed on this trip, as I joined three friends on a stroll through devastated buildings and wasted streets, blasting hordes of aggressive subhuman attackers into chunks of lifeless meat. Hey, if the local government won't do something about the aggressive panhandler problem in this city….

[ Read Full Story ]

You heard the hype, you read the astonishing array of perfect-score online reviews. So you bought a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV, sat down to play and . . . what's going on here? How can a perfect game be ticking you off? I'm not saying that GTA IV is less than amazing, but it most definitely is less than perfect, particularly if you're not one of the professional gamers writing those frothing-at-the-mouth-with-delight reviews. Some of the most basic elements in the game are just plain aggravating.

[ Read Full Story ]