Matthew S. Smith – Page 5 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

November 11, 2019

Gamers in the U.S. create as much carbon dioxide as 5 million cars, study says

A new study puts the spotlight on gaming's power consumption, and it's not good news. Energy tied to gaming in the United States puts out carbon dioxide equal to 5 million cars.

November 1, 2019

Blizzcon 2019: Blizzard’s president opens ceremonies with Hong Kong apology

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack started the Blizzcon 2019 opening ceremony with a much-anticipated apology. He expressed regret, saying that the company “didn’t live up to the high standards that we really set for ourselves.” His statement went on to say Blizzard aims to do better in the future. “When we get it right, we […]

October 8, 2019

The PlayStation 5 will cut your load times and open your wallet

The PlayStation 5's dashboard will let players load directly into game activities, and even see rewards before they play. That could completely change game design.

Microsoft’s Pro IntelliMouse goes all-in on retro design, for better or worse

Microsoft's Pro Intellimouse attempts to fuse the comfort and simplicity of a professional mouse with the extreme responsiveness of a gaming mouse. It's a successful effort, but not without sacrifices.

Dota Underlords and Teamfight Tactics are a mess, and gamers love it

The up-and-coming autochess genre, lead by Dota Underlords and Teamfight Tactics, is different from most strategy games you've played. Both titles are a bit of a mess, with chaotic battles and mediocre interfaces. Gamers love them anyway.

Google’s Stadia is about to unleash a wave of terrible cloud gaming consoles

Google's Stadia will bring 4K HDR gaming to any device that can run Google Chrome. That's great for gamers, but the ease of building a Stadia compatible device will open the floodgates for bad cloud gaming consoles.

June 13, 2019November 21, 2019

Call of Duty: Mobile is the best shooter I’ve played on a smartphone

Call of Duty: Mobile attempts to put the franchise's tight gameplay in the palm of your hand. It's largely successful, thanks to precise controls and attractive graphics. The game arrives on iOS and Android later this year.

Don’t call it retro. Atari’s VCS is a modern console for PC gamers

You might think the Atari VCS is another retro console like the Nintendo SNES Classic or Sega Genesis Mini. You'd be wrong. Atari's VCS is actually a modern console that runs PC hardware. Yes, it can play Atari games, but it does much more.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is an aggressively familiar reboot

Modern Warfare takes the Call of Duty franchise back to the glory days of Call of Duty 4 with a new campaign mode that bills itself as "realistic" and "morally complex." In truth, it's rather simple, but it could still be a great shooter.

E3 2019: Microsoft’s hasty, brave Project xCloud demo can’t handle the pressure

Microsoft brought Project xCloud, its cloud gaming service, to E3 2019. I played Halo 5 and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrafice on a smartphone powered by an xCloud server hundreds of miles away. It worked, but it wasn't magic.