Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was one of the most talked-about demos in the PAX exhibit hall; those who braved the epic wait times were treated to an exclusive twenty minutes of live gameplay footage from the forthcoming post-pandemic action/survival title. Emphasis on the survival.

Patient gamers were herded through a door and locked in a small, filthy, fake bathroom, complete with rotting corpse in a tub—a set piece from the game’s teaser trailer. Before the hands-off demo began, Naughty Dog reps introduced the main characters of The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie. Joel is a survivor of the plague that destroyed modern civilization two decades prior. He remembers life before the collapse. Ellie, a streetwise young girl, only knows the brutal environment of infected mutants and ruthless gangs of outlaws.

[Stealth strategies, topnotch AI, and danger at every turn...]

Bad, True Blood, bad!

Now go sit in the corner for a year and think about what you've done.

The season finale of True Blood was so full of awesome, evil cliffhanger goodness, it wasn't until after the end credits rolled that I realized we were kind of cheated out of some closure. Everything and nothing happened, especially to some of our favorite characters.

[Bloody mega spoilers after the cut. Emphasis on bloody...]

In an interview with Eurogamer earlier this week, Warren Spector—creator of such gaming classics as Deus Ex, System Shock, Thief, and (some of) the Ultima series—threw down the gauntlet to fellow developers, including Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney and id’s John Carmack, challenging them to shift the focus of the gaming medium from the easy aim-shoot-kill mechanic to (among other options) the considerably more difficult characterize-engage-sustain mechanic.

[Should we be trading in our BFGs?]

Better late than never, True Blood. I thought a whole season would pass without a real clear favorite episode, but then along came “Sunset.” The penultimate episode rocketed along with lots of soapy, bloody goodness. Bill has really lost his damn mind, Eric may have started World War III, and Pam opens a charm school for wayward babyvamps and steals all the scenes, even from Russell and his big hair.

[Elder Fae: For or against?]

Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III has, in many ways, been somewhat of a disappointment since its launch mere months ago. Despite the fact that the game shattered many a modern-day sales record, critiques have been pouring in since the day the servers opened—many of the negligible variety, but just as many with validity. Blizzard appears to have taken this criticism to heart, and plans to roll out a mammoth patch in about a month’s time to address some concerns.

So what are some of these notable issues that plague Diablo III? The list is long.

[“Look! More hidden footprints!”]

“Why wouldn’t the gods of the world be giant squid? What better beast? It wouldn’t take much to imagine those tentacles closing around the world, now would it?”

China Miéville’s Kraken is kind of the ultimate in beach reading, thematically at least. I’ve been a fan since his editor at Tor thrust a copy of King Rat in my hands and my appreciation for the scope of his vision has only grown with each subsequent release, including Perdido Street Station, The Scar (my favorite of the Bas-Lag novels), and 2009’s Arthur C. Clarke Award—winning, mind-bending mystery The City & The City. Haunting and cerebral, the noir trappings of that novel were a stylistic departure from Miéville’s trademark baroque voice. Kraken is no less baroque or cerebral, but it’s also a world of silly, squiddy fun.

[Tentacles, Trekkies, and WTF...]

This week on True Blood, it’s all about evolution.

Russell has seen the light, quite literally, and he wants more. Bill’s still on his Lilith trip, leading to a big loss for Eric. Maybe. Pam and Tara bond over some murder and Jason loses a friend, but gains... well, nothing. But at least there was nary a smoke monster in sight.

Lastly, the mystery behind the senior Stackhouses’ deaths deepens with some troubling implications for Sookie.

[“It’s a good thing you didn’t order a pizza...”]

Earlier this week, footage from the once highly anticipated Half-Life 2 mod, Black Mesa: Source, leaked online before being quickly vacuumed back up by copyright claims. The perpetually-in-development mod — long thought to be vaporware — ambitiously intends to recreate the original Half-Life using the Source engine. Its recent, seemingly unintended re-emergence may serve, at least, to re-ignite hope of its completion amongst the Valve community.

[“Welcome to the Black Mesa research facility...”]

There were a lot of bared fangs (and more) on this week’s episode of True Blood. And pigs. As tensions rise across the South, Eric tries to outsmart the Lilith-worhipping Authority, the Shreveport werewolf pack receives a gift, and supernatural folk can all sleep a little easier now that the Dragon has been captured.

We’re closer to the end of the season than the beginning — only three episodes left. So are the smaller stories going to get closure a little earlier this year to make room for a bigger, better, more vampire-centric epic finale? I can only hope so because the emotional center of this season isn’t exactly happening. Why does True Blood get thirteen episodes a season and Game of Thrones only ten despite having three times the story material? And real dragons?

At least Lafayette wasn’t tortured this week.

[“I ain’t Gmail for dead bitches.”]

Windows 8, in all its mobile-revolution promotin’, touch-screen totin’ glory, is due to hit PCs everywhere in late October, and represents a major departure from previous Windows iterations in several respects, including interface and, in what promises to be a hot-button issue for game developers everywhere, a closed platform designed to promote the use of Windows apps. Valve and Blizzard execs took the past week as an opportunity to chime in and explain the potentially hazardous landscape Windows 8 could present for gamers, as well as the possibility of the rise of Linux.

[Is a revolution at hand?]

No, True Blood thankfully didn’t play that Gotye song over the ending credits, despite it being as omnipresent as Lilith this summer. But that didn’t stop it from worming its way into my head tonight. Ergo, Gotye is more insidious than a naked vampire goddess.

Lafayette is basically Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost now. The wolf pack in Shreveport gets its leader. Despite being a vampire, Tara hasn’t evolved since high school. And Sam comes weirdly close to kissing himself.

Sometimes I can’t believe the sentences this show makes me type.

[Read more]

Mobile games such as Angry Birds, Plants Vs. Zombies, and the Infinity Blade series have been around for some time now and have firmly established their niche in the wide world of video games. Indeed, modern mobile games have a lot going for them: they’re fun, they’re pretty, they can be played for a minute or an hour (likely the former, based on the average American attention span), and they’re relatively affordable. Given this, one might assume that mobile gaming is settling into a peaceful co-existence with traditional gaming.

[So what’s the catch?]

We saw a lot of familiar faces on True Blood tonight, old friends and not-so-loved ones, ancient vampire goddesses and brujo spirits. Sookie learned something about herself and we, the audience, were treated to some vintage Sam investigative techniques and the final nail in Hoyt’s character.

The episode would’ve been tighter than Alcide’s bandana, if not for all of the vampires.

[“@!&? you, ’I’m depleting!’”]

Earlier this week, Rockstar released a couple of new screenshots for Grand Theft Auto V, but not much else by way of news or details, leaving GTA fans chomping at the bit for more information. Since the game’s announcement trailer last November, Rockstar has pulled the curtains shut on its development, with all news drying up to a slow trickle. The silence surrounding the game strongly suggests that the kerfuffle raised earlier in the year by developer’s resume stating a fall 2012 release may indeed have been for naught.

[Some things we’ve gleaned about the game]

In honor of Silver Age comics, we present to you: 60’s Robin (circa Adam West Batman) and the Dark Knight versus Bane. Enjoy.

Variety (yes, yes, we know. Of all the gaming sources...) reports that Rocksteady’s next Batman game will depart from the dark, Nolan-esque stylings of the fantastic Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, and instead revisit DC’s lighter, somewhat goofier Silver Age comics for their next project, perhaps even recounting Batman’s very first encounter with Joker. Word is we can expect Batman’s various other DC compatriots, circa the Justice League, to appear in this game, as well.

[“Hand me down the Shark Repellant bat spray!”]

This week on True Blood, the ball keeps rolling as everyone takes their first steps on new courses. This puts Eric, Sookie, Alcide, and Bill on the hunt for Russell, Lafayette stomps some shade-throwing saints, and Tara has maybe the tiniest flicker of a smile cross her face. It also puts Jason in a He-Man onesie. Incredible.

But much better than Joe Manganiello’s abs (frankly, I’m ab-fatigued. That guy is everywhere lately) was the long-awaited return of Russell Edgington.

[Took you long enough."]

This week we’re looking at the novels nominated for this year’s upcoming Hugo Awards. Today we look at Embassytown by China Mieville, an excerpt of which can be read here.

In Embassytown, China Miéville’s latest novel out in the U.S. on May 17th, there is language and there is Language.

Language is the communication system of the alien Hosts that co-exist with the human diaspora on the unforgiving backwater planet of Arieka. Yet Language with a capital “L” could also describe the linguistic acrobatics Miéville deploys in his first science fiction venture. Meaty, high-concept passages of Language to digest in every chapter. This isn’t a light summer read. But it’s certainly not without the thrills and dazzling eyeball kicks that have come to be expected of Miéville, either.

[Into the out...]

So what has everybody been buzzing about in the gaming world for the past few weeks? Naughty Dog’s new post-apocalyptic title? Planetside 2? 38 Studios’ collapse? Some rising indie developers?

Nope.

Story after story has been making the rounds online about men treating female gamers, professional or casual, like so much dirt. Shocking, we know. The gaming community is filled with misogynist assholes? News at 11. Take your pick of stories.

[Click to read more.]

Break out the champagne and Tru Blood! Finally, an episode of True Blood that didn’t suck.

Things happened. Lots of things happened and they were, by turns, exciting, heartbreaking, funny, and a welcome relief. And all this was without Russell. I was enjoying the regular cast so much, I forgot to wish for him to return and liven things up. It’s good to know that this show can still get my blood pumping when it reigns in the manufactured drama and just lets the characters be themselves.

[“Finish your Orange Marzipan.”...]

This past week, Epic Games developer Cliff Bleszinski (known more commonly in the gaming community as CliffyB) ruffled some feathers during an interview discussing the upcoming Gears of War: Judgment by claiming that “in this current console generation . . . we’ve taken a lot of steps to grow the audience and . . . [modern] games have become more linear and easier, so it feels like a lot of quick-time-events.” While recent throwback games such as Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls may beg to differ, the point he raises is an interesting one, and worth consideration.

[Click if you’ve ever wanted to toss your controller through your TV.]