Earlier this week I received an email alerting me that the new Dungeons & Dragons Encounters season was here. I’m going to be honest, I knew absolutely nothing about it at the time. Now that I’ve had a chance to delve a bit deeper, I found it to be a pretty awesome set up. It’s what I would consider mini-modules that are tailored to fit a certain number of characters but not specific ones. A lot of the build up for the campaigns are generated prior to play and it deals with the core fundamentals of role playing games.

Now, I’ve been playing these games off and on since 1984. That’s a lifetime to some people and a mere drop in the bucket for others. But one thing I have learned is that a good D&D game is comprised of many things. From the players to the Dungeon Master to having a great campaign quest, these are all important components to any great RPG. Of course, a Big Gulp and some cash for pizza never hurt anything. But having spoken to all that, I must say that there are so many things that change as we get older. College, marriage, children, location, timing…these all play a part as to why some of us haven’t continued playing RPGs the way we once did. [...]

Most of us have checked out a fundraiser that this friend or that friend posted on one of the many social media outlets, right? I’ve backed quite a few over the past couple of years, mostly comic related (of course). But this one is different. My Little Geek is a Kickstarter that needs to be funded. If not, millions of kids might not follow in their nerdy mom’s or geeky dad’s footsteps!

Luckily, this is the perfect way to help. The very attainable goal will help these New Zealanders (Andrew and Sarah Spear) create and produce two board books and an app to start these pre-school kids off on the right foot! Named Nerdy Numbers and Sci-fi Shapes, these books are sure to please. They are including numeric basics like one through ten, but also threw in pi, the speed of light, and (of course) 42. The shapes book will cover the well-known squares and circles, but will also have a dodecahedron, twin helix, and the ever awesome tesseract. The app will include both of these books as well as the original My Little Geek alphabet book, which has important and memorable letters like “Z is for Zombies!” You’ll be able to level up and gain achievements as you go through the mini-games and they already have plans to add more books as upgrades! [...]

On May 24, 2013, Wizards of the Coast released a new expansion set for their trading card game, Kaijudo. Named Kaijudo: Clash Of The Duel Masters, it is their largest expansion to date. It includes new creatures, new spells, and new multi-civilization cards! I received a sample of the new cards and two pre-built decks to try out.

Check out the preview here below. [...]

A new writer has been hired to pen Angry Birds, the animated 3D movie version of the hit Rovio mobile game phenomenon that involves agitated avians dropping aerial attacks on a group of rival pigs.

Sony Pictures Animation has brought in Jon Vitti to write the script for Angry Birds, which is still years away from its scheduled July 1, 2016 release date. [...]

Tomb Raider
Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | PC Download
Third Person/Action Adventure/Puzzle Game
Rating: M
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix
Designer: Darrell Gallagher
Writer: Rhianna Pratchett
Artists: Visual Works (CGI)
Composer: Jason Graves
Release Date: March 5, 2013

Not to sound like that old guy, but I can remember playing the original Tomb Raider back in 1996, dear God I am old. I was in college and I was living with a few friends, and we were taking turns playing the game, while the other helped out by reading the walkthrough. I don’t think we ever beat it, but there were some fun times either way. I think I dabbled in the series as it continued on various systems, but never really got into enough that I finished the game. Any time a game revolves around timed jumps so perfectly timed, that is where I fail in video games.

But when I heard they were rebooting the series and giving us a sort of prequel, I was interested in checking it out. And much like most things on the internet, the initial buzz was not favorable, well that was until people actually got to see it and play it. [...]

Bioshock Infinite
Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | PC | PC Download
Rating: M
Developers: Irrational Games/2K Australia
Publisher: 2K Games
Creative Director/Lead Writer: Ken Levine
Original Music by Gary Schyman
Release Date: March 26, 2013

I can remember the first time I popped in the original Bioshock, and was literally blown away as I watched our hero survive a plane crash and end up finding this lighthouse, and then taking the magical journey to Rapture, an underwater paradise that surprised and fascinated me with every turn. I can say that that initial journey to Rapture and the first time we come in contact with a Big Daddy, will forever be sketched into my video game history.

I have gotten about halfway through both Bioshock and Bioshock 2, although since I have finished the newest game in the series, BioShock Infinite, I have decided to go back and finish both of the previous installments. [...]

What’s that? You want to play an 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System version of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s immortal classic, The Great Gatsby? No problem, I can make that happen!

If you simply can’t wait for Baz Luhrmann‘s upcoming film adaptation (which opens May 10th), you can whet your whistle for Roaring Twenties mischef with this bad-ass retro game adaptation.

Play as Gatsby’s neighbor Nick Carraway and battle your way past butlers, flappers, and gangsters at one of Gatsby’s bacchanalian parties. In classic NES platformer fashion, collect coins and throw your hat (which acts as a boomerang) to clear a path through Gatsby’s grounds. But beware, if you die, you’re told, “Game Over, Old Sport!” [...]

Syfy, known for its popular TV series like Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, and Warehouse 13, typically makes its presence known with panels and promotions at events like Comic-Con in San Diego and New York. Now, they’re branching out for the first time to South By Southwest (SXSW), currently underway in Austin, TX, and they’re making their presence known in a unique way – with a pop-up hotel!

The special pop-up hotel is part of the Defiance Container Village by Syfy located in a downtown parking lot and includes fully functional rooms featuring minimalist design, a 24-hour concierge service, round-the-clock security, their own bathroom and shower facilities, and twice daily maid service. The area is meant to promote the network’s upcoming television series and accompanying online game, Defiance [...]

In case you somehow missed it, the PlayStation 4 gaming console was made official by Sony Computer Entertainment at a conference held in New York last night.

While the console itself wasn’t shown, the controller and plenty of details were. Also shown were a collection of demonstrations of the console’s abilities, including the first official looks at next-gen games (we have seen some next-gen games before, but whether they would be current or next generation titles was not confirmed)—although many of these games will also be released on the current gaming consoles, as is normal when making the transition to a new console. Not everyone will buy the new system immediately.

One such game is Watch Dogs, one of the standouts at last year’s E3 Convention being developed by Ubisoft. A brand new gameplay demo was shared at the event, and can be seen below now! [...]

After helming the underrated sci-fi drama Moon and the equally exciting Source Code, Duncan Jones is going to take on a tentpole film, a first in his directing career. THR reports that Jones has signed on to direct Warcraft, based on the popular Blizzard MMORPG game World of Warcraft.

The project will be under the Legendary Pictures banner, with Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni producing. Also producing are Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Alex Gartner [...]

Ready, set, game time! The announcement of Disney Infinity, a revolutionary title, has launched Disney Interactive in a positive direction, one that may bolster its presence in the video gaming arena. This Disney In Depth will explore the future of this innovative game, a massive endeavor that may reinvent the wheel. [...]

Rovio Entertainment could not have seen their Angry Birds mobile app game catapult itself into the territory that it is in now. There are Angry Birds shirts, towels, toys, and a few special edition games – Star Wars being the most notable one so far – and now a movie. Yes a movie.

It would have been hard to believe that we’d get to this point when the original game was released a few years back, but it has indeed gotten to it. And now Despicable Me producer John Cohen has signed on to produce the film, while David Maisel (formerly of Marvel Studios) is on board as an executive producer. [...]

Recently we got our first peek at the gameplay in the latest version of the hit mobile game Angry Birds, with a trailer for Angry Birds Star Wars. Thankfully for us, you don’t have to wait all that long for new mobile games to arrive.

The Star Wars version of Angry Birds has officially been released, and you can grab it now for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire, Mac, PC, and Windows 8.

Check out a newer longer trailer for the game showing off plenty of the cool new gameplay below. [...]

For those who don’t know, the next installment in the ultra popular Angry Birds game series will be a Star Wars version, much to the elation of geeks everywhere. Now comes our first look at some actual gameplay from the release.

Better yet, you won’t have to wait much longer to get your hands on Angry Birds Star Wars, either; the game will be released on November 8th for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire, Mac, PC, and Windows 8.

Be sure to click on over to the other side to check out the first gameplay trailer for Angry Birds: Star Wars. [...]

Telltale Games’ episodic video game adaptation of Robert Kirkman‘s The Walking Dead has already mostly been released and enjoyed by a great number of fans. But for those of you not as into downloading games onto your console, all five episodes of the game are being joined together and sold as a full game on disc.

The full game will arrive on December 4th, but you can pre-order it now. Even better, there’s a pre-order bonus Collector’s Edition bundle pack that those of you who have been wanting to read the original Walking Dead comic are going to want to hear about. [...]