There’s just something about shiny little things that makes children – and some adults – put the objects in their mouths. But that’s dangerous and even more hazardous when the object happens to be a magnet. To that end: Target is recalling thousands of magnetic tic-tac-toe boards. [More]
games
Pokemon Go To Add Over 80 New Critters, Some New Features
By 2.15.17
Pokémon Go was an all-ages breakout mobile game hit in the summer of 2016, and it kept on existing even after it was no longer in the headlines. This morning, there was good news for lapsed and loyal players: The game is introducing more than 80 new species of critters, adding more in-game boosts, wardrobe options for players’ avatars, and items that will help players direct the evolution of their Pokémon. [More]
Hasbro Putting The Fate Of 8 Monopoly Tokens In Hands Of The Masses
By 1.10.17
Three years ago, we as a nation of board game players voted, and told Hasbro to ditch Monopoly’s classic iron token in favor of a cat. Now, with 50 new contenders — including a hashtag (what the heck?!), bunny slipper, and monster truck –bearing down on them, the fate of the eight current Monopoly tokens is once more hanging in the balance. [More]
Has Pokémon Go Run Its Course?
By 8.23.16
And just like that, the uber-popular Pokémon Go game has begun to fizzle out. Or at least, that’s the takeaway from a new report that found usage of the app has dropped by tens of millions of users. [More]
More Than 2,000 Amiga Games Now Online
By 8.9.16
Update: As of Aug. 12 the Amiga games are no longer available. The Internet Archive removed the games and software for further development after completing a beta test.
Long before we wandered the streets, using our smartphones to hunt virtual creatures, some of us huddled around bulky home computers like the Commodore Amiga to play Bubble Bobble, Double Dragon, and (when the parents weren’t looking) Leisure Suit Larry. Now you can relive that aspect of your youth thanks to a new online library of thousands of Amiga games available to play for free. [More]
Pokémon Go Shouldn’t Be Used To Sell Fast Food To Kids, Say Advocates
By 7.25.16
Last week, Niantic, the company behind the wildly popular Pokémon Go app, unveiled its first sponsored partnership with McDonald’s in Japan, turning the country’s fast food restaurants into PokéStops where players can purchase items for their characters. While there currently aren’t any sponsored stops stateside, one group is trying to get ahead of the Poké-ball, urging the game maker not to deliver personalized ads to kids based on PokéStops and gyms at retail locations. [More]
Twitter To Live-Stream Some MLB, NHL Games
By 7.25.16
Want to take your favorite Major League Baseball or National Hockey League team with you wherever you go? Twitter is hoping to make that a reality by live-streaming select games soon. [More]
Is Pokémon Go Partnering With McDonald’s?
By 7.13.16
With Pokémon Go coming out of nowhere to become an overnight obsession, it makes sense that the game’s maker, Niantic, is looking to cash in with brand-name partnerships. Who will be the first to pay up to be associated with the wildly popular game? [More]
Pokemon Go: Some Businesses Embrace The Craze, Others Just Want It To Go Away
By 7.12.16
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably familiar with the Pokémon Go craze currently sweeping the country. But not everyone is amused by this new digital obsession: some businesses are banning patrons from playing the game inside — even if it means missing out on capturing the virtual creatures — while others are turning the popular game into a way to drum up business. [More]
AAA Would Like To Remind You Not To Use Pokémon Go While Driving
By 7.12.16
While it might seem obvious that you shouldn’t have your phone in front of your face for any reason while you’re operating heavy machinery, AAA would still like to remind all those Pokémon Go players out there to keep their eyes on the road and not on the app. [More]
Lumosity Ordered To Quit Claiming Their Games Make Users Smarter, Prevent Dementia
By 1.5.16
Improving every day at a casual mobile or computer game might make you feel like you’ve accomplished something, but does it make you smarter? It’s possible, but if recent ads from Lumosity made you wonder how a company can legally claim that playing a simple game can help stave off Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, well, they can’t. As a result, Lumosity must pay $2 million to customers. There is also a court-ordered $50 million penalty involved, but that has been suspended because Lumosity doesn’t have the money to pay it. [More]
Google Subsidiary Apologizes For Including Concentration Camps In Mobile Game
By 7.2.15
It can be a good thing for game developers to include real-life sights in the unreal world of video games, but there are cases where such inclusions are simply unacceptable. This was the case for a unit of Google, which has apologized after including Nazi concentration camps as “portals” in a mobile role-playing game. [More]
How Do Video Game Publishers Continue To Get Away With Mistreating Their Customers?
By 6.17.15
It’s E3 time: the annual video game conference — still, barely nominally, a trade show — is taking place this week in Los Angeles, drawing developers, publishers, and media from around the world to gawk at titles large and small. From Facebook games to Fallout, everything is on display… including the long history of the contentious, adversarial relationship between the companies that make the games and the consumers who play them. [More]
Windows 10 Will Come Pre-Loaded With Candy Crush Saga Because That Is The World We Live In Now
By 5.15.15
Get your best “back in my day” grumble face on: Solitaire and Minesweeper might’ve been good enough procrastination tools in times past, but Microsoft is getting hip to the times, and will pre-load Candy Crush Saga into its upcoming Windows 10. [More]
Amazon Shuts Down Service That Let Users Test Apps Before Buying Them Because No One Was Really Using It
By 4.17.15
If you haven’t used — much less heard of — Amazon’s TestDrive service, designed to let customers check out how an app works before buying it, you’re not alone. The company says it’s shutting the program down due to “a significant decline” in usage, among other factors. [More]
Nintendo Announces Plans To Make Games For Mobile Devices
By 3.17.15
Have a hankering to play Super Mario at the bus stop but don’t have the portable gaming console to satisfy that urge? Soon video games from Nintendo will make the move from consoles to mobile devices, as the company announces a partnership with an online gaming firm to develop and operate new apps. [More]
N.Y. Museum Announces Creation Of World Video Game Hall Of Fame
By 2.17.15
Why should traditional toys have all the accolades? Not content to keep all the honors for toy soldiers and board games, the upstate New York museum that runs the National Toy Hall of Fame is adding a new attraction to its rolls with a new World Video Game Hall of Fame. [More]
Should Kid-Oriented Mobile Phone Games Serve Up Birth Control Ads?
By 12.2.14
Yes, many people love kittens, but the target customer for a kitten-themed cartoon mobile phone game is somewhat younger than the target customer for hormonal birth control devices. There are exceptions, and some overlap between the two categories, but those are generally different audiences. Why, then, did an ad pop up that led an 8-year-old girl to ask her mom some very understandable questions about NuvaRing? [More]
