Stories by McKinley Noble

The 24 Best PS3 Games

From action epics like God of War III to the masterfully told interactive thriller Heavy Rain, we count down the very best games ever released for the PlayStation 3.

Portal co-creator Kim Swift's new game is Quantum Conundrum

As revealed this morning by Gamespot, that upcoming game from Dark Void's Airtight Games, now joined by Portal's Kim Swift, is called "Quantum Conundrum".

Mass Effect 3 collector's edition content revealed

Several Mass Effect fans were quite happy to learn that promotional content and trailers for Mass Effect 3 will feature "FemShep" as well as the male Commander Shepard. Of that content, one particularly exciting piece comes by way of the Mass Effect ...

Xbox Live temporarily goes offline

With all the hacker activity that's been plaguing the gaming industry lately, any interruption can seem like an early indication of foul play. Luckily, that's not what happened to Xbox Live today, although the service did go offline for a matter of h...

10 strange facts about the Kingdom Hearts franchise

It's been almost nine years since the Disney-Square crossover Kingdom Hearts debuted on the PlayStation 2 and the series has developed a strong following in the near decade since. To celebrate the release of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, we've unearthed t...

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

In a nutshell, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded is a remake of the 2008 Japan-exclusive episodic mobile title "Kingdom Hearts coded," albeit rebuilt from the ground up for the Nintendo DS. While both games cover the same narrative threads, Re:coded benefits f...

The 32 Best Xbox 360 Games

Spending a little extra time with your Xbox 360? Wondering which games are worth your holiday cash? Take a look at the 32 Best Xbox 360 Games

Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom

Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom doesn't do a lot that's really original. All the dungeons borrow heavily from the Zelda playbook, the enemies are little more than 'roided-up versions of the shadow creatures from Ico, and even the titular giant himself...

Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage

Fist of the North Star has never bored me before. Even though most episodes of the manga and anime series are pretty formulaic, there's always been some perverse entertainment factor in watching Kenshiro scream "ATATATATATATATATATA" as he makes human...

Costume Quest

It's no wonder that even into our adult years we still wear elaborate and lovingly crafted costumes on Halloween. It's a holiday that gives us the opportunity to be something extraordinary, from ninjas to monsters to comic book heroes -- and the only...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

In theory, making a Harry Potter game shouldn't be difficult. With the magical world and gripping story already crafted by J. K. Rowling's novels and the adapted films, all that's really left for a video game developer to do is essentially fill in th...

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem

Like previous titles in the portable Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, the aim of Mini-Land Mayhem adheres strictly to puzzles and planning by way of Mario's little wind-up "Mini" action-figures.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Aside from the vividly detailed environments that teem with colour and light, Ninja Theory's pedigree is on full display here with characters that carry the game's plot extremely well. Of course, there are also plenty of great action sequences to be ...

Invizimals

Before this review gets rolling, let's establish one thing about Invizimals -- the technology behind the game is pretty damn interesting.

Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Sign

The family friendly Pokemon Ranger series has always had some features that I wish other Pokemon games would adopt. For one thing, the main gimmick of capturing the titular creatures by furiously scribbling circles around them would be a great side-g...