about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
If you've ever wanted to understand the fuss over Crazy Taxi but didn't want to spend money on a piece of gaming history, you now have your chance. Sega has made it free to play both the Android and iOS versions of the original title, giving you a solid excuse to check out its classic mix of open-world racing and over-the-top style. That includes the original punk rock soundtrack, too. However, there's one big catch: ads.
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
"Novels follow protagonists, but in Fallen London, the protagonist is the player, and they're a mystery to us," Failbetter Games narrative director Chris Gardiner says. "While we know some things about them -- mostly the decisions they've made in the game -- there's still a lot we can't assume. Novels have a plot; there's no spinal plot to Fallen London, no single story we're telling and will finish. We're exploring a setting, establishing its status quo, then letting the player kick bits of it over. Novels are complete, while Fallen London is a living game. We add new stories and events to it constantly."
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
When Nintendo announced Splatoon for the Wii U, gamers weren't quite sure what to make of it. The idea of a competitive shooter from Nintendo was so bizarre, it was kind of hard to assess from a distance -- so the company invited players to try the game early with a free, limited time multiplayer demo. This weekend, Nintendo is doing the same thing with Arms: serving up the game's telescoping pugilism in a free "Global Testpunch" demo over six one hour chunks. Don't have a Switch? You can join us on Facebook for the first session today at 5pm PT (8pm ET).
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
After a slight delay, the first official Friday the 13th game since 1989 is available today on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. If you want to jump right into the action at Camp Crystal Lake, though, you might have to wait for Friday the 13th: The Game's servers to accommodate the apparent rush of people trying to kill the counselors/survive the maniacal Jason Voorhees. The official Twitter account has been dropping updates since the wee hours of this morning, so if you're having issues make sure to check there first.
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
The UK-based company, one of the leading payment processors worldwide, used the HTC Vive for its prototype. In their system, to pay for an in-game item you use the Vive's controllers to pick it up, revealing a bubble with its price. Staring at the virtual price tag for a few seconds allows you to make the purchase, which you do with a virtual version of your real credit or debit card. You then hold your card over a VR payment terminal. And, if you need to type in a PIN, number bubbles pop up all around you in random order so that onlookers can't guess your code.
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
Live, die, repeat -- the tagline for the 2014 science-fiction film Edge of Tomorrow -- describes its protagonist, who "respawned" every time he died in the real world. Critics noted that the conceit resembled the cyclical experience of playing a video game, in which dying resets a staged arrangement of obstacles. Often these are enemies, and the most common way they're surpassed is by the player violently dispatching them. Some games have kept this as cartoonish as Mario jumping on a Goomba's head, but others strive for vivid action and more-lifelike foes to pit the player against. But we know what enemies look like today -- how will we treat them in the games to come?
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
Far Cry 5 is going to be a little different than you might expect. The new announcement trailer paints a picture of pastoral life that lends itself surprisingly well to the franchise's familiar trappings: hunting, off-road vehicles, airplanes and guns. And it seemingly wraps it all together in a way that seems like a more grounded version of Grand Theft Auto V's depiction of a rural life of crime.
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
The Oculus Rift has technically supported room-scale VR since the system's Touch motion controllers first went on sale last December. But purchasing an additional sensor didn't guarantee foolproof 3D tracking for greater immersion right off the bat. Oculus labelled the feature "experimental," alerting early adopters to the likelihood of bugs and other gremlins you might expect from in-development functionality. Six months and several updates later, however, Oculus has decided room-scale support is robust enough in its latest software release that it can ditch the beta tag and be called a bona fide Rift feature.
about X hours ago from
Engadget Gaming
Superhot VR didn't start life as an Oculus Rift game, but it eventually made it to the VR headset. With dual-wielding guns and further tweaks to improve the title for a new interface, it turned into a short-but-sweet slice of virtual reality gaming. Now it's HTC Vive owners' turn to slow time, evade bullets, and return them in kind.