The vast majority of Microsoft Xbox users have known that May 21st was likely the date that the next generation of their console would be revealed. Now, it’s finally official. Invitations were sent out today to the media, most of whom had already been publishing the speculations of the special event on the 21st. This will be the final unveiling of a major console with Nintendo unwrapping the Wii U last November and Sony unveiling the Playstation 4 in February. This is by design – Xbox has been dominant in sales the past two years and wanted to be the last to the party. Nintendo needed a boost but are still…

The email that Sony sent to its Playstation subscribers marketing the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron had a neat little Easter egg available when opened with image loading turned off. As Redditor sarranoob discovered, behind the cover art was the Autobot emblem. One might go so far as to say that the email was properly optimized. Apologies for the pun. Here’s the screen capture of the email:  …

A company called Tactical Haptics demonstrated their new device at GDC 2013 last month. The company was founded by Professor William Provancher earlier this year for the purpose of commercializing haptic feedback technologies. The device, called Reactive Grip, uses four moving sliders on the handle to simulate certain feelings and movements while the user is holding it. For example, when shooting a gun in-game, the sliders move in such a way that the user feels kickback from the gun. When swinging a morning star around their head, the sliders move in such a way that the user can feel the grip twisting…

Nintendo ushered in the era of modern console gaming with its first and second generation systems. Their history since then has been up and down as it fights with their primary competitors, the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox systems, to stay relevant. Things turned for the worse with the introduction of the Gamecube, clearly inferior to the competition at the time. They revived the family of systems (and arguably the company) with the innovative Wii. Now, they’ve taken a turn for the worse with the Wii U, the first entry into the 8th generation of gaming consoles that has disappointed fans…

Sony started teasing a big event that they’ll be hosting on February 20th. Much of the blogosphere is buzzing that it may be the announcement of the PlayStation 4. If so, this could be the move that Sony has needed to make for a while. It isn’t that the old platform is outdated. At just over 6 years old, the PlayStation 3 is still technically the state of the art when it comes to pure console play. The Nintendo and Microsoft counterparts have had their share of interesting developments such as the Wii U and Kinect, but neither has been enough to really distance themselves from the competition. Sony has…

It could be a play to increase the number of Internet Explorer users. It could be a differentiator between them and Playstation. It could be both. Either way, Xbox 360 users may soon have a Kinect-driven full version of Internet Explorer available to them for full web browsing in between games of Call of Duty. By applying voice and gesture control, Kinect integration may have people surfing the web while waving wildly and screaming madly. There is no time frame laid out at this point, but expect to hear something before E3 in June. Related articles Rumor: Kinect-enabled Internet Explorer browser…

As Sony continues to get pounced on by gaming aficionados over the poor roll out through improper marketing and bad initial titles, Playstation is moving onward and upward with Mortal Kombat to give it another boost in sales following recent success. To do it, they have turned to arguably the most popular character in the series: Kitana. The female killer should get some attention for the launch of the game on May 1st. It needs to. Another failure may be enough to send even the most hardcore Playstation portable gaming fans to other platforms. Here’s the trailer: …

It’s not a cute little chimp pushing buttons randomly. As you’ll see in the video, this guy plays Far Cry 2 well enough to get some kills and blow up some barrels. Rise of the apes? Probably (see below). Still, the power of the opposable thumb is evident, as is the highly developed brain and oddly natural thirst for blood. Our closest relative in the animal kingdom may be more than just stronger and faster. In the future, he may be a better shot with an AK-47. Update: This “viral video” from 20th Century Fox for Rise of the Planet of the Apes got us. At the 0:44 mark, the controller isn’t on, nor is the chimp…

Only a short while after its release, the Nintendo 3DS, the successor to the most popular handheld of all time, sold a mere 97,000 units in the US last month. That is a big deal. After all, who could have imagined just a few years ago that a new Nintendo mobile console would sell so comparatively poorly? Years into its life cycle, the Nintendo DS would sell two to three times that. It is, at the very least, surprising. The reasons for this sluggish start are many. The 3Ds’s launch lineup wasn’t spectacular. What’s more, US$249 is the highest price ever for an Ninty handheld. But with the PS Vita coming out…

For the last two weeks, one of the largest security breaches in online network history has been grinding along. As of today, the Sony Playstation Network is still down. To make things worse, Anonymous, who claims to not be involved with these particular hacks, pointed their scowl at Sony today in a release titled, “SONY, I AM DISAPPOINT.” Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it just did. In the release, they outline four points of contention in the way Sony and journalists are handling the situation and pointing fingers at the group who has never been known to get involved with direct theft…