Millions of people spend small amounts of money to obtain virtual items for their video game characters or avatars to wear and use proudly. But how many people do you know have spent a small fortune for one single video game item?

A Chinese man did just that, paying $16,000 for a one-of-a-kind sword in the upcoming martial arts MMO, Age of Wulin. The man won the honor of paying such a price for the virtual item through an auction put on by Snail Games, the maker of the title. Other notable acquisitions included two sheathes—one for the Hook of Departure and one for a Lordly Spear—which sold for $2,500 and $1,600.

You can see a trailer for the game below. [...]

Red Wasp Design has been hard at work making all of your Cthulhuian dreams come true this holiday season. It began with the Cthulhu Christmas Calender app and now comes new information and goodies from Red Wasp’s Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land game.

The game is based on the many works of author H.P. Lovecraft, and now has both a release date and shiny new hi-def screenshots to take a peek at, which you can see below now. [...]

Hardcore metal band The Devil Wears Prada has unveiled a first-person slasher game app to coincide with last year’s companion pieces: 2010′s Zombie EP and Zombie, The Comic, the comic book written by JL Bourne.

With creepy artwork by Kevin Mellon, Zombie Slay is a multi-level game with a soundtrack by The Devil Wears Prada’s bruising sounds. You can compete with fellow metalheads/zombies via OpenFeint to spread the massacre. The video below has some clips of awesome game play footage [...]

Jeff Matsuda, the Emmy Award-winning creative director for The Batman animated television series, took to Reddit on Wednesday to promote his new mobile game Age of Monsters – Rock Paper Scissors by offering to draw any and all requests.

Reddit users took this advantage to have fun with Matsuda by asking for humorous Batman-related sketches such as Batman and Alfred playing frisbee (seen above), a Breaking Bad inspired image featuring characters from the hit show dressed as Batman and Robin, as well as Batman and Spock high fiving (my personal fave) [...]

Dead Island
Xbox 360 I PS3 I PC
DEVELOPER: Techland
PUBLISHER: Deep Silver
RELEASE DATE: September 06, 2011

Ever since the release of that incredible first cinematic trailer, fans of horror video games and the zombie sub–genre have been frothing at the mouth to get their hands on the latest title from developer Techland (Call of Juarez and its two sequels, Bound in Blood and The Cartel) and publisher Deep Silver, Dead Island.

The game takes place on the island of Banoi at a beautiful vacation resort. Unfortunately, the beauty is quickly diluted by pure hell when a plague breaks out, turning most of the tourists on the island into bloodthirsty zombies and leaving you to fight to survive and try and escape the many horrors you’ll encounter.

But does the game live up to all the hype created by that first trailer, or does it fall a little short?

First of all let me just say I never allow my anticipation levels for a game to elevate over a cinematic trailer (apart from Skyrim, perhaps). [...]

Monopoly is without doubt of the most popular and most recognizable board games ever created. And when it comes to the game, Hasbro has released about as many variations on it as possible—over 550 of them, ranging anywhere from Star Wars and Star Trek, to The Simpsons and Family Guy, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean—all except one, that is.

Elisabeth Redel of Germany has created her own variation of Monopoly, this one inspired by the hit video game franchise, Fallout, which is owned by Bethesda Softworks. Redel spent many hours crafting the special game for her boyfriend…who I’m very, very jealous of.

Continue on over to the other side to check out some images of Redel’s work.

Now all we need is for Hasbro to see this and deliver a real Fallout version of Monopoly so we can all own it. That, or I need Miss Redel to make a second one for me. [...]

Universal is dump–happy lately, dropping numerous projects that they had been developing for multiple years.

First was the Guillermo del Toro–directed H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, At the Mountains of Madness, which was followed by Ron Howard’s The Dark Tower, the insanely big three–film and two–season TV series adaptation of Stephen King’s book series of the same name. The studio also dumped two of its Hasbro board game movie projects not too long ago in Clue, which is being developed by Gore Verbinski, and Monopoly, which was being set up with Ridley Scott attached as a potential director.

Now comes word that Universal has dropped yet another Hasbro board game project, Ouija, based of course on the popular game where kids pretend they can communicate with the dead.

The Ouija movie is being developed by Michael Bay and his production company, Platinum Dunes, with Terminator Salvation director McG attached to helm the flick. [...]

As the new season is nearing its debut, and with the last season now on DVD and Blu-ray, Showtime has announced and subsequently launched a new online game for fans of their hit series, Dexter.

Entitled “Dexter Confessions,” the game asks you to pick your favorite Dexter Confession, and post them onto either Twitter or Facebook. It’s not the most involving of games, but when you complete the task, you get a trailer for the upcoming season, and honestly, that’s enough reward to do pretty much anything [...]

A student at Chicago’s University of Illinois’ Electronic Visualization Laboratory named Arthur Nishimoto has developed a pretty impressive new Star Wars strategy game called Fleet Commander, but unfortunately it’s not one you’ll get to play anytime soon. Unless you’re friends with Arthur, of course. Which I am, despite the fact that Arthur does not yet know it yet.

Basically the game is like Angry Birds on your iPhone, except the fact that there are no birds, it’s played on a touch screen big enough to take up a large wall (I can’t WAIT until every home has a wall–sized touch screen for movies and gaming!), and that it’s really not like Angry Birds at all.

If confused, the best way to see what the game looks like is to just continue on below now and see it for yourself. Once there, you’ll find two videos: the first is the latest version of the game on said gigantic touch screen; while the second video is an earlier version on a tabletop–like touch screen. [...]

Independent game developer Hothead Games is working on a new Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game.

The announcement was made on May 25, 2011 — Towel Day — by Megadodo Publications, who you might recognize as the publishers of the actual Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sited within the novel of the same name by the late Douglas Adams [...]

For a limited time only, all BBC Games for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch are on sale for only $.99 each.

Included in this sale is the Doctor Who game Doctor Who: The Mazes of Time.

Here’s the link for the BBC games in iTunes [opens up iTunes application]: BBC iTunes. Also, here’s the direct link for the Doctor Who game: Doctor Who: The Mazes of Time. (See synopsis and gameplay video here below.) In the BBC iTunes section, be sure to look under the “iPad Apps” section for I Am A Dalek, which is FREE [...]

Angry Birds is one of the most popular games/apps of all-time, nearing 100 million downloads so far. So it should come as no surprise that multiple plans are in motion for other platforms, spin-offs, and adaptations are well in the works.

The company behind Angry Birds, Rovio, has revealed that they have a new version of the title currently on the way for none other than Facebook. Rovio’s Mikael Hed says the game will have new aspects to it that players haven’t seen on other platforms, and that because of the “collaborative nature,” the pigs will play a bigger part.

This comes after it had already been revealed that the ornithological projectiles were making their way to most game platforms including PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Along with all of this expansion, Angry Birds isn’t stopping there. World domination is the ultimate goal, and that means possible movies and TV show adaptations as well. It’s unclear if and when we’ll really see the birds on the big screen, but it looks to be happening some day in the near future. [...]

Just a friendly tip from one geek to another—SteelSeries is running a 10th Anniversary giveaway for computer gamers the likes of which I do not think I have ever seen.

Anyone in the know is aware that SteelSeries is pretty much the grandfather of PC gaming accessories, and like all good grandparents they’re showering us geeks with gifts aplenty.

If you go to their site and bear through a super quick sign-up process where you are asked to select your favorite SteelSeries mouse, keyboard, headset, mouse pad and even a pair of gamer glasses (which are suppose to help reduce eye strain from the long hours of staring at your monitor), you’ll be entered into their big ‘Decade’ giveaway. [...]

Almost everyone who made their way through an American elementary school system since the ’70s has gotten their hands on a game of Oregon Trail, which teaches kids how to plan, make choices, and be efficient while trying to get you and your companions through a 2,000 mile trek safe and healthy.

The game has always been popular, and as time has gone on newer versions continue to be made for everything from schools to cell phones and just good old online time wasting fun. Ahh, nostalgia. It can’t be beat.

For everyone who’s played a round of Oregon Trail, some exciting news has arrived. A brand new version of the game has been developed exclusively for Facebook, and will be arriving on the site February 2. It’s also been announced that a special Facebook version of another popular game is on the way as well: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, which arrives on February 9. Still can’t even think of that title without the Rockapella theme song for the old Carmen Sandiego game show ringing through my head.

You can see preview videos for both games by heading down below now! [...]

DC Universe Online
Sony Online Entertainment
PlayStation 3/PC
Price: $59.99 with a $14.99 monthly subscription
Released January 11th, 2011

DC Universe Online is not the first superhero Massively Multiplayer Online RPG to be released, but it is the first to have a major license behind it and it has been widely anticipated by its audience. Thanks to this game, players have the chance to fight alongside some of their favorite characters as well as interact with other fans. The game doesn’t stray too far from the formula perfected by World of Warcraft, which is a good thing, because the setting is really the selling point of the game. Never before have players been able to explore a living, breathing DC universe in this way. However, the game is not without its flaws, and those looking to check it out may want to wait a few weeks while the inevitable bugs are worked out of the system.

The story sets up the flavor of the DC universe right from the start. Lex Luthor has traveled from a future in which he has defeated Superman, but met defeat at the hands of Brainiac. [...]

As you suffer through the post-Christmas hangover and wait for the New Year celebrations to begin, you need something to keep your mind ticking over. Well, you’re in luck!

The Daily Mail has created a giant Blockbuster Quiz picture. Within the picture are clues to the titles of fifty movies. This is very similar to last year’s Cryptic Canvas from Empire magazine, so some of them are very tricky. But us movie geeks love a good challenge, don’t we!

As tempting as it is, I’m not going to look at the answers. I managed to race through the first 30 or so, but since hitting the 40 mark I think my brain is about to explode [...]

It’s nice to see GWAR getting some attention lately. They’re getting some good coverage online, starting with the brilliant Christmas video we posted here the other day.

Following that awesome abuse of Christmas Carols, comes this video filmed by GameInformer who aimed to find out whether GWAR could successfully use the new Kinect system for Xbox 360.

Following their attempts of gaming, and the attempted rape of a Wampa (yes), GWAR tour the GI offices and nobody is free from the abuse they hurl their way. Another epic video from GWAR, let’s hope we see more.

You can check out the video by clicking the image below [...]

Any MMORPG fan who’s not been hiding under a rock since around last Christmas knows that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is going live in just one day on December 7, 2010.

If you were hiding under that rock, it’s probably only been about a month for you. That’s right, while we were waiting Blizzard had been dropping down little patches laden with treats to make those “end of the expansion blues” just a little less tedious to bear with. Most recently we saw a complete overhaul to every character class in terms of talent trees, timed events that wracked an Azeroth already in the midst of small changes with a surprising amount of elemental attacks, cults preaching the end of the world, and finally, with the last sizable patch came ‘The Shattering’ of the World we all knew.

So with a whole new ‘World’ before us and absolutely zero meaningful raiding going on while we all wait for the expansion to officially drop, what would one do to pass the time?! Well, I’ve complied a list of the 5 things you are going to love about the new Azeroth, the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, and for some of you, a game you thought had grown stale and old [...]

The trailer for the Evil Dead app game is now online.

Watch the trailer here below!

Evil Dead Game will be available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

There’s not much information out there regarding this upcoming game, but we spoke to the Evil Dead app team and they told us that this is an officially licensed game that will be released later this year. No final release date or pricing has been announced at this time. Also, the trailer features actual characters from game, and most importantly, the team promised that there will be “lots of gore.”

Check out the trailer and let us know what you think. Is this a game you’d like to play on your phone or iPad? What do you think of the animation? [...]

A 22-year-old woman in Jacksonville, Florida named Alexandra V. Tobias has pleaded guilty in the death of her 3-month-old son, Dylan.

The reason for such a despicable act? She tells investigators that she was busy playing the highly popular Facebook game, Farmville, when the child started crying. She explains that she became so angry, she shook the baby, went and smoked a cigarette to try and calm down, and then shook the baby more. She also added that while she was shaking him, he might have hit his head on something.

Tobias has been charged with second-degree murder, and could face up to life in prison…though it is noted that this sentence could be much, much less because “state guidelines” place the charge at 25-50 years imprisonment.

Farmville is a real-time strategy game that allows users to maintain their own virtual farm, plowing your lands, planting crops, harvesting what you’ve grown, and raising your own various livestock. [...]