Blog Posts by Ben Silverman

Toa Mata band (Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opificiosonico/)You can build a lot of cool things with Legos, but we weren’t aware “functioning band” was one of them.

That’s just what Italian sound designer and all-around musical genius Guiseppe Acito managed to create, however, and the result is as adorable as it is awesome.

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed games star lethal killers tasked with bringing down a powerful organization obsessed with taking over the world. Players dispose of their foes in countless ways. They're assassins, after all.

But to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Ubisoft’s top-selling franchise didn’t really cross the line until it went after whales.

The animal rights group has come out in force against Ubisoft for its inclusion of whaling in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, announced earlier this week. Set in 1713, the pirate-themed game includes the ability to hunt whales on the open sea.

To PETA, that’s simply not fair game.

BioShock Infinite (Credit: 2K Games)Flu season might be over and done with, but don’t be surprised if your gaming co-workers suddenly come down with a month-long cold in March.

A glut of the year’s biggest games all arrive in the next four weeks, turning what’s typically a sleepy month into a nonstop video game party. It’s all by accident, of course: game publishers don’t exactly relish retail competition.

So what happened? Blame that on the volatility of game release dates. Several of the month’s biggest hitters were initially planned for release during the higher profile holiday season of 2012, but for various reasons got pushed back into the third month of 2013. What’s bad for Christmas is great for spring-- and downright awesome for gamers. Polish up your ATM card and check out what the month has in store.

Tomb Raider (Credit: Square-Enix)It’s been a wild ride for Lara Croft.

After stunning gamers with her innovative 1996 debut, the Tomb Raider star leaped, shot, puzzled, climbed, tumbled and very much raided through a feast of follow-ups. Few reached the heights of the original game, however, and despite big-screen success via Angelina Jolie, the Tomb Raider franchise has been somewhat lost at sea.

Fittingly, that’s just where we find Lara at the start of the rebooted Tomb Raider, releasing March 5. Marooned on a not-entirely-deserted island, the heroine seeks salvation not only from the cruel twist of fate that led to her shipwreck, but from the fickle tastes of gamers grown tired with her cliff-clinging schtick.

As it turns out, salvation is exactly what she’s found. Currently averaging an 87 at Metacritic, Lara’s newest tale finds her back on top of the video game peak.

Destiny (Credit: Bungie/Activision)Is there life after Halo?

The ace game developers at Bungie Studios, best known as the folks who turned Master Chief into a household name, believe there is, and they’ve poignantly named it Destiny.

At a recent event at their sprawling headquarters in Bellevue, WA., Bungie and publisher Activision finally pulled the curtains back (a bit) on their first non-Halo project in a dozen years. And while Destiny shares some general sci-fi themes with Master Chief’s expansive mythos, the creators believes their new shooter is significantly more ambitious.

Chris P. Bacon (Credit: https://www.facebook.com/CPBaconWheels)We’ve finally stopped squealing enough to crank out some words about what is undoubtedly the cutest use of K’Nex ever.

Meet the heroic Chris P. Bacon, a four-pound piglet who was born without the use of his hind legs. Chris was brought to the attention of Dr. Len Lucero, a veterinarian at Eastside Veterinary Hospital in Clermont, Fla., by an anonymous young woman who figured the poor pig should be put down.

Dr. Lucero instead decided to take him home, where the good doctor dove into his son’s toybox and crafted a makeshift piglet wheelchair out of some spare K’Nex parts. The rest is pig history (and so cute it might hurt):

A new report on Microsoft’s next Xbox is making the rounds today, and it’s not leaving many smiling faces in its wake.

Citing "sources with first-hand experience of Microsoft's next generation console," Edge Online reports that the successor to the Xbox 360 (Xbox 720? Xbox 8? Durango?) will require online connectivity to function, though games will be available in both downloadable and disc form. Specifically, Edge’s sources claim the new system will adopt Sony’s Blu-Ray format and that games will ship with one-time activation codes, effectively rendering used games unplayable.

Madden NFL '13 (Credit: EA Sports)Looks like Ray Lewis’ storied career will get a storybook ending after all.

EA Sports just released its annual Super Bowl simulation, and it’s great news for the legendary linebacker. According to Madden NFL '13, the Baltimore Ravens will edge out the San Francisco 49ers by a mere field goal, winning the Lombardi Trophy, 27 - 24.