If you’ve ever played any Sims game, you’ll know that the characters speak in a nonsensical, fictional language called Simlish. This extends to music featured in the game. For example, a Sim listening to the radio will hear musicians singing in Simlish. The Sims 2 took this a step further and featured famous artists such [...]

This week, dynamic detective duo Sam and Max will call Xbox Live Arcade their new home as the award-winning series Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space debuts on that console. Starting tomorrow, all five episodes will be available as one bundle and cost 1600 Microsoft points. The game is the sequel to Sam and [...]

5th Cell, developers of Drawn to Life and Scribblenauts, are hoping to please gamers worldwide again with the sequel to their first game, Drawn to Life: the Next Chapter for the Nintendo Wii and DS. The original Drawn to Life was best known for its inventive mechanics which had players drawing items rather than having to [...]

The idea of extra terrestrial life has been one of the prevailing influences on American culture since the middle of the twentieth century. But whenever any alien actually did attack any part of the Earth—US or not—in films, books and videogames, they were always eventually demolished by either the fierce power of human ingenuity or [...]

In the classic film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character hears someone whisper in a cornfield, “If you build it, they will come.” Oddly enough, that message can be applied to the quirky little DS title Scribblenauts, with a slight twist. In this case, it’s “If you write it, they will come.” Dogs, doctors, helicopters, [...]

Finally! Everyone’s been waiting for the day they could somehow rock out to Metallica and play with their Legos at the same time, and that day has come. Lego Rock Band is another iteration of the Rock Band franchise to be released alongside the Beatles edition this fall. Players will jam to their favorite tracks [...]

As a grammar and spelling nerd, I enjoy playing word games. One example is PopCap’s Bookworm Adventures 2, which I reviewed about a month ago. Recently I fired up a few rounds and stumbled upon some very interesting, downright questionable word usage.
Check out Exhibit A at the top, with the word PIMP. Admittedly it’s really [...]

Developer 5th Cell’s highly anticipated title, Scribblenauts, launches tomorrow. I spoke with lead designer and 5th Cell co-founder Jeremiah Slaczka during last week’s Penny Arcade Expo about their quirky little DS game, which was a surprise hit at E3 2009 and crowd magnet at PAX. He also showed me a little demo of what can [...]

The return and revamp of the beloved Monkey Island series has been welcomed warmly by fans and new players alike.  Telltale has done a remarkable job in continuing the adventures of quick-thinking pirate Guybrush Threepwood and his spunky wife, Elaine. At this month’s PAX, I spoke briefly with Design Director David Grossman on what to [...]

CDV’s physics puzzle game for the DS I Heart Geeks was featured at this weekend’s Penny Arcade Expo. I had the opportunity to check out the game early last year at a CDV press event and was curious to see what has changed since. The answer is: not much except for the artwork, which is [...]