I still remember the first time I played Wolfenstein 3D. "What fresh hell is this?" I exclaimed as I gleefully mowed down marauding, bitmapped Nazis and various mutants, inevitably coming face-to-face with Hitler himself, wearing some type of tunic and hurtling deadly fireballs. Widely acknowledged as the initial first-person shooter (FPS), Wolfenstein 3D was developed in the early '90s ... [Read]

"We are very aware of the fact we are standing on the shoulders of giants. We are playing in the space of some of the most critically acclaimed games of all time." Warner Bros. Montreal's Ben Mattes, a senior producer for the game Batman: Arkham Origins, on his company's being awarded the Batman series over Rocksteady, which had created ... [Read]

The tech sites are abuzz with news that Microsoft might just release -- or at least seriously preview -- the new XBox, code-named Durango, at a just-announced special event on May 21, 2013. Of course, Microsoft could pull a Sony and be a big flirt, not actually show us the device, as its rival did with the PS4 -- ... [Read]

Reviewing the new SimCity in last week's issue, Metro Weekly video game critic (and regular Technocrat contributor) Rhuaridh Marr raves about the look of the game -- and for good reason: Its detail, as he notes, is "astonishing," as is its general visual aesthetic. He writes: SimCity is gorgeous. Skyscrapers gleam in the morning sun, casting dark shadows over their ... [Read]

Today, Grindr turns 4. True, that's still a toddler in human years, but for an app, it's akin to middle age, or at least the early 30s. The gay social app -- which a press release from the company more elaborately calls a "groundbreaking all-male, location-based meet up app" -- touts users in 192 countries with more than 6 ... [Read]

Samsung is expected to announce its newest handset, the Galaxy S4, on an event Thursday, March 14. The company leaked a picture of a handset in shadow this morning on Twitter with the update, "The countdown for #TheNextBigThing has begun. Who's ready for the Global Unpacked Event on March 14?" Rumors surrounding the phone claim it has a 1080p display, ... [Read]

"Although Apple created one of the most revolutionary devices of the past decade, other manufactures have caught up, with some Android powered devices now commanding higher levels of user satisfaction." -- OnDevice Research marketing manager Sarah Quinn, on the iPhone's failure to hit the number one slot in a poll conducted among more than 300,000 smartphone and tablet users ... [Read]

Research in Motion is now BlackBerry. That's the big news out of Canadian company's announcement today. Oh, and RIM -- er, BlackBerry -- also showed off its new 10 series: the BlackBerry Z10, which has a touch-screen interface, and the Blackberry Q10, which combines a physical keyboard with a more minuscule touch screen (dainty, really). They were hardly a surprise, ... [Read]

"This makes it the most comprehensive launch in mobile history. There has never been a platform launching with that many carriers." -- Frank Boulben, RIM's Chief Marketing Officer, to ABC World News regarding Wednesday's anticipated launch of the Blackberry 10, the completely new version of the company's software, written from the ground up. Blackberry hopes to regain market share with ... [Read]

Bethesda Softworks is taking beta applications for its new MMO, Elder Scrolls Online, based on the popular single-player RPG series. "Completing the optional sections will significantly increase your chances of being selected for beta participation," notes the company on the sign-up page. It also displays helpful ranking, so you can see what your chances of being selected are. Clearly, this ... [Read]

Along with all the other rumormongers out there, Technocrat feels in its gut that both Microsoft and Sony will be announcing new game consoles at this year's E3. Now, fueling the rumor even further is this report from CVG UK, which notes that Sony may be ditching its venerable DualShock controller for one that may feature biometric sensors and an ... [Read]

I'm not going to even pretend to be "The Car Person" of Technocrat. Those would be Sean Bugg and Rhuaridh Marr -- they're the auto-aroused ones. Me? I wouldn't know the difference between a hood ornament and tail fin. I've even been known to refer to the stick shift as "the thing that makes the car go." But even ... [Read]

Hey, this is pretty awesome, folks. Delta Air Lines has released an iPad app whose features include a "glass bottomed" view at the ground beneath the plane. Can you just imagine a cabin full of people all staring into their laps? Okay, so it's not live live, but rather a combination of maps, satellite imagery, photos, social media updates ... [Read]

"We have demonstrated that using today's most popular social network, Facebook, may have a detrimental effect on people's self-control." So says Dr. Andrew Stephen, of the University of Pittsburgh, who, along with Dr. Keith Wilcox of Columbia University conducted a study with more than 1,000 Facebook users that demonstrated that social networking platforms could lead certain users to exhibit a ... [Read]

For those of you totally obsessed with the extraordinary Minecraft ("one more block, one more block"), here's a bit of trivia you'll explode like a creeper over: The Xbox 360 version of the sandbox game amassed 5 million downloads by the close of 2012. In all, the game has sold 17.5 million copies across all platforms, including the Xbox version, ... [Read]

*Name subject to change. It seems fairly likely that the E3 countdown clock just posted by Microsoft's Larry Hryb on his blog is evidence that there's a new Xbox console on the horizon. In fact, we'd pretty much bet on it, given the rabid speculation across the web. And, as Technocrat will be at this year's E3 Expo, covering ... [Read]

"Research shows that you're more likely to achieve your resolutions if you write them down and have support. Try sharing your goals with communities around you. When you're ready to share your new year's ambition with the world, or if you're interested in seeing what resolutions look like around the globe, add it to the interactive resolution map on ... [Read]

Metro Weekly Multimedia Producer Aram Vartian took a new micro-video camera, GoPro's Hero3, to check out the big features that come in very small package. The new Hero3 is the third offering in a line of small, wearable camcorders from GoPro. They are designed for portability, but are still capable of capturing amazing 12 mp photos and HD video up ... [Read]

Remember those good old days of Polaroid? Well, maybe you don't, but I sure do -- the fun of snapping a picture and watching in utter astonishment as it materialized before your eyes, in just about two minutes. I actually own an old Polaroid Swinger -- though god knows if it works -- and recently unearthed a Polaroid taken of ... [Read]

I don't often feel the need to get help while using Facebook -- I mean, really, it's not that complicated -- but it's nice to know that help is available should I ever need it. That said, I'm fairly impressed with the site's overhaul of its Help Center. Elegantly designed with a nod toward streamlined simplicity, and anchored by ... [Read]