Staying true to its theme of Childhood Items We Miss The Most Month, Gallery1988 will debut its Old School Video Game Art Show tonight with an opening reception in Venice. More than 90 artists will give their creative spin on ‘80s favorites, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donky Kong, MegaMan, PacMan, Metroid and many more. more ›

A ruling today by the Supreme Court may be felt as a loss for California Governor Jerry Brown, but a boon for youngsters with a love of video games and some cash in pocket. A 7-2 ruling made today "determined that California’s 2005 violent video game restrictions violated free speech rights protected by the First Amendment," according to the Sacramento Bee. more ›

Big news today from Nintendo's E3 press conference at the Nokia Theater -- Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime announced that their new console Wii U will arrive in 2012. more ›

Agoura Hills-based video game empire THQ's big plans for promoting its latest first-person shooter game turned out being the epic fail of this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. more ›

Activision released the new Tony Hawk: Shred skateboarding and snowboarding video game into the retail-wild this week with a 64-song soundtrack to backdrop any and all motion-sensing, board-controlled antics. Included on the soundtrack are Los Angeles rockers The Happy Hollows and The Henry Clay People in the company of Sam & Dave, The Beach Boys, Iggy and the Stooges, Vampire Weekend and Devo. more ›

The demo room at Nintendo's Redwood City offices got a charmingly patchwork makeover by Los Angeles video game artists i am 8-bit last week. Decorated in cloth and burlap, felt and buttons, iconic mushrooms and, of course, yarn, the anticipated Kirby's Epic Yarn for Wii was on display with gush-worthy cuteness, pleasing musical tinklings, shape-shifting transformations, and all the precision textiles of Patch Land you can expect on Oct. 17 when the game is released. more ›

Those of you who didn't get to attend E3 - that's, well, most of you - Sorry for the lack of posts. That ends now. more ›

There are things that you think about, again and again, about how awesome it will be when you finally get to do it. Sex is the obvious one. Scooters also, too. Maybe traveling somewhere awesome. But unlike skipping school to watch Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country, they turn out to not only live up to your expectations but to exceed them in every possible way. E3 is exactly like that only better because you don't have to be embarrassed that you only took 30 seconds. more ›

Last-night's multi-million dollar Activision E3 event at Staples Center included fire, a 60-foot stripper pole, and performances by Eminem, Usher, Jane's Addiction, N.E.R.D., Chris Cornell, and Maynard James Keenan. more ›

Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have between them a ton of ginormously successful, and completely awesome games. Despite this, it's no secret that Wii has completely kicked their nearly-combined asses (67 million Wii consoles sold worldwide, compared to 39 million 360s and 33 million PS3s) - for 5 years running, neither have ever been able to best their Magical Plumber Overlords. Of course, that hasn't stopped them from feverishly trying to devise a means of scraping off some of that sweet, sweet Nintendo scrilla. more ›

A hallmark of the series has been the deft combination of various gaming conventions - hack-n-slash, platform gaming, inventive puzzle solving, quick-time events, quest based item collection - with epic, over-the-top carnage, a viciously black sense of humor, and a homoeroticism-free take on Greek mythology. Plus, gratuitous titties. Two weeks ago, after nearly 3 years since seems almost superfluous - those who've played the previous games are going to love this one, sight unseen. more ›

Alison Haislip is a native of New Jersey who left the cold winters of the East Coast for Los Angeles after graduating from Boston College with a BA in Theatre Arts. This former Ford Model has been acting since she was 12, performing in numerous works ranging from films and television shows to music videos and plays, including the hit show Pieces(of Ass) which she rocked out for in both Los Angeles at the Roxy and Las Vegas at the Joint. more ›

Last Thursday night, an improbable collection of DJs, Douchebags and Dorks gathered in a posh Downtown penthouse for a sneak preview of DJ Hero, the latest entry in Activision's increasingly ginormous Guitar Hero video game series. The appetizers were exquisite, the ambiance (provided by actual, non video game playing DJs) was redonkulous, and DJ Hero, a game which finally does for knob twiddlers and air-scratch nerds what the main Guitar Hero series did for vicarious cock-rockers, was, well, pretty damn good in the same way that the Dead Sea is kind of brackish and Sir Paul McCartney has a couple of extra dollars lying around. more ›

Maybe some of the popular designer trucks like Kogi BBQ will stop by this event tomorrow that's expected to attract tons gamers. Microsoft has gone all out and modified a 27-foot M820A2 military truck outfitted with eight Xbox 360 consoles in anticipation of Halo 3: ODST, which will be released on September 22nd. more ›

Mike Tyson is back. His documentary, Tyson, released in April won over critics and fans alike for it's brutal honesty. Earlier this month, the "Baddest Man on the Planet" was once again on the big screen in the surprise hit of the summer movie season, The Hangover, singing a Phil Collins tune and punching Zach Galifinakis. Today, gamers will find Mike on the shelves at their local retail stores as he graces the cover of EA Sports' Fight Night Round 4 alongside the "Greatest of All Time" Muhammad Ali. more ›

Here's a little of what we saw this afternoon at E3, otherwise known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where new video games and technologies are being shown off. Yesterday, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr helped introduce 45 Beatles songs to Rock Band. more ›

Earlier this week Michael Jackson and auctioneer Julien's reached an agreement to give all of the 1,400 items that were to be auctioned this week back to the King of Pop. While this agreement may have ruined your chances of owning the singer's bubble hockey game, gold throne, espresso machine or life-sized Darth Vader made out of Legos, it did not, however, put a stop to the public viewing exhibition taking place at the old Robinsons-May in Beverly Hills located next door to the Beverly Hilton. more ›

With two cameras, a highly entertaining photo editing feature, an online game store, and a music player, Nintendo lovers have been waiting with baited breath for the latest installment of one of the world’s most popular handheld gaming consoles. Last weekend LAist was invited to Nintendo’s official launch party, where hundreds lined up at the GameStop at the Universal City Walk to be among the first to get their hands on the new DSi. more ›

D3 Publisher is an L.A.-based video game company that just seems to know what’s up. By refusing to pigeonhole themselves into any particular genre, the developers have projects that range anywhere from cartoon franchise spin offs to sexy heroine hack n’ slashers, all of which cater to any and all gamers alike. Perhaps best known for their intergalactic-themed Puzzle Quest series, D3 is churning out a few fun titles that simply shouldn’t be overshadowed. more ›

It was announced today that Harmonix and Electronic Arts, developer and publisher of the hugely successful Rock Band series, will be releasing the Beatles edition of the record-breaking music game on September 9th of this year. The game will feature tracks from every era of the band's lifespan thanks to Apple Corps., who recently opened up their catalog for the game's development. There will be a limited number of special edition hardware options, including instruments modeled after those used by the Fab Four throughout their career. The game will be offered as standalone software (priced at $59.99), with guitars ($99.99) and as a limited edition bundle ($249.99). Keep track of updates and pre-order information at the game's official homepage. more ›

If there's anything this writer loves more than the release of one of the most anticipated video game sequels of the year, its the fact that one of the finest skratch DJ's around is scheduled to perform the launch party. That being said, Street Fighter IV is a pretty big deal. Celebrating its 20th year as a Capcom franchise, developers went above and beyond to offer fans a completely unique 2d fighting experience for the latest installment. And what better way to launch the game than to rent out the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, set up 100 consoles with the game fully playable, and listen to Q-bert set fire to a couple of turntables? more ›

Some people might be surprised to find out that Sherman Oaks Castle Park, that great place for a miniature golf date, is actually a city owned and operated facility. In a time when the city is searching every corner for a buck or two to fill the depleting city coffers, the park is symbol of an idea past that should be duplicated. more ›

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The entertainment industry is arguably the most dynamic and kinetic facet of pop culture. While the Internet may have turned everyone into a critic, the blogosphere (by way of technology) has turned everyone into a producer, and for those who wish to tell a story can do so without worrying about high profile book publishers or intimidating movie studios. While the entertainment industry may not be as affected by the perils of the spiraling economy as others, there still has to be a degree of consideration when it comes to maintaining an edge, and one group of Hollywood veterans that have shied away from classic media seem to have their fingers on the pulse. In what started as a simple formula for a TV show about video games, the folks at Gamervision have used their industry expertise to take their ideas to the next level by fusing elements of classic entertainment with web 2.0 themes, creating what can only be described as "laissez-faire entertainment" at its very best. more ›

Thursday night Xbox 360 and Activision unveiled two of their most highly anticipated games, "Guitar Hero World Tour" (which hit shelves today) and "Call of Duty: World at War" to a jam packed crowd atCentral. more ›

So its pretty much obvious at this point how excited we've been about the latest installment of Midnight Club taking place in our beloved city. Well the date has finally arrived, and what better way to uphold the Rockstar name than having Hollywood's quintessential rock n' rollers Eagles of Death Metal performing at the game's midnight launch event at the Virgin Megastore? The group has long stated its passion for establishing themselves as LA's band, and with their new album launching in just a few weeks, we can't wait to get our hands on the game and check out some new tracks included on the Midnight Club playlist. more ›

We gotta love when our pals in the gaming industry invite us to check out their latest suite of titles. Since the season is creeping slowly upon us various companies like to invite the press to various events to check out some games for a pre-holiday push, and with free booze and food you can bet LAist was there. This week’s event was held at the Standard in Hollywood by our buddies at Namco/Bandai, publishers of such big named titles as Soul Calibur IV and Tekken and classics like Pac-Man, and Galaga. The night was filled with mine shaft rides, cheerleading, and ninja slashing, all within the confines of the swanky Sunset Strip hotel. Check out more pics and reviews after the jump. more ›

Because there is a Michael Strahan-like gap between the amount of fun had in playing a video game and watching someone else play a video game, the answer I most frequently give when posed with the question "Want to watch two guys play Madden in Hollywood?" is "No." more ›

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