Just hours after a 17-year-old killed 10 people at a high school in Texas on Friday, Dan Patrick, the Lt. Governor of Texas, said that maybe schools should have fewer entrances and exits. But yesterday he explained that there are a lot of other things to blame than just doors. For instance, Facebook, Twitter, and…
The technical skills of programmer John Carmack helped create the 3D world of Doom, the first-person shooter that took over the world 25 years ago. But it was level designers like John Romero and American McGee that made the game fun to play. Level designers that, today, might find their jobs threatened by the …
YouTube’s My Mate VINCE has a knack for wiring modern video game consoles to old-school TVs. After perfecting his skills, he’s hacked together what is undoubtedly his greatest, most absurd creation: a resurrected boombox that lets gamers play their favorite titles anywhere they’re strong enough to carry this…
Many actors have donned the bat-mantle to provide a voice to Gotham’s Dark Knight—the latest example being the delightfully loopy Batman Ninja, out now on Blu-ray and DVD—over decades of film, TV, and games. But who’s done it best? Here’s our bat-ranking of Gotham’s finest voice actors.
As far back as the NES, the video game industry has been trying to sell us unnecessary accessories. (Remember R.O.B.?) Companies have occasionally come up with fun alternatives to playing with a controller—think Guitar Hero—but when you eventually finish or get bored of a game, you’re left with a mountain of unwanted…
You know how annoying it is when people take out their phones in the movie theater while you’re just trying to enjoy seeing the Avengers fight Thanos or whatever? Well, Fox wants to make that a feature with a new film based on the Choose Your Own Adventure books. There is an app involved.
Are you cool with hugs? What about the most all-encompassing hug you’ve ever had? That just about sums up how Disney Research’s new force feedback jacket works. Using inflatable airbags, it can simulate physical experiences when you’re lost in VR, like getting hit by a snowball, or turning into a muscular beefcake in…
Before the Super Nintendo, and even before the original NES arrived in North America, I cut my gaming teeth on the Commodore 64. It was sold as one of the first personal computers, but to many kids of the ‘80s, it was instead their first gaming console. I have many fond memories of the C64, but thanks to the C64 Mini,…
Despite the fact they are flesh-eating guerilla warriors capable of thoroughly thrashing a vastly technologically superior foe, everyone’s takeaway about the Ewoks is that they’re cute, stress-lowering, fuzzy teddy bears. But Star Wars: Battlefront II has added a new mode that reminds us that these teddies can be…
If you’re a gamer who doesn’t want to haul a PC with you on vacation, you could book your next trip to Panama City where the local Hilton has packed a ridiculously customized hotel room full of high-end gaming gear and accessories. The beanbag chairs, VR goggles, and racing seat all make sense to me, but why did the…
Nintendo’s upcoming Labo accessory for its portable Switch console certainly looks like it introduces some unique gameplay mechanisms. But do you really want to pay $70 for some cardboard origami? Not when you can build similar accessories using all the Lego you never stopped buying once you grew up.
On April 25, fans are going to get the chance to go back to J.K. Rowling’s school for sorcerers in the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery mobile game. When they get there, they’ll be welcomed by familiar voices from the Harry Potter films.
Pokémon Go developer Niantic thinks being the very best like no one ever was should include a bit of community cleanup in honor of this year’s upcoming Earth Day.
App developer Niantic has settled a lawsuit over a botched Pokémon GO festival in Chicago’s Grant Park in July 2017 for nearly $1.6 million, TechCrunch reported on Saturday.
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly roundup of shiny toys and merch we desperately wish we had the money to waste on. This week is getting a bit life-sized, with a giant Star Wars trooper, a slightly less giant (but still life-sized) baby Groot, and a cool look at Thor’s new Infinity War weapon. Check it out!
Building a computer is a lot like making a delicious omelette, only the eggs are solid-state drives and cost about $300 a pop. Instead of spending what could amount to thousands of dollars on your first custom PC build for gaming at insane resolutions and blazing fast framerates, fire up your ultrabook and spend your…
Video game adaptations have had a rough history. They’ve been almost uniformly crappy over the past few decades, meaning the recent release of Tomb Raider represents a leap forward by being average instead of just awful. But here’s a thought: Why aren’t we bringing video game adaptations to the small screen instead?
The original Game Boy was the first device to push my fascination with gadgets to an obsession. I saved for months to buy one, and to this day it’s still one of my favorite gaming platforms. That explains why, despite every gadget I use having an alarm clock built-in, I now prefer waking up to this adorable Game Boy…
It was a foregone conclusion that when the Batman: The Enemy Within video game was done, John Doe would complete his metamorphosis into the Joker. What remained to be seen was how culpable players would feel at the end of it all. Personally, I was so exhausted and guilt-ridden that I made my Batman do something that I…
