Gaming

This game teaches you to become a master of fake news

So you can look out for them in the real world

Published

February 22, 2018

Luigi Leonardo

We live in a time rife with questionable (if not, outright fake) news. With a lot of discourse happening online, it’s getting trickier to separate the fact from the lie. A trending game hopes to help you discern fake news by doing the most counterintuitive thing — teaching you to write fake news.

The game, called Bad News, tags itself as a “vaccine” for fake news by injecting you with humorous doses of lies.

Bad News launches directly from your browser (no installation needed). In the game, you’re a fledgling writer hoping to establish a globally recognized, cringe-worthy fake news blog in the future. Through a series of text prompts and questions, the game’s narrator guides you through the journey of creating fake news.

Image source: Bad News

The game asks you tap into either your virtual reader’s anger or fear. Through your choices, the narrator will tell you if a headline is too fake or too right-wing. By guiding you, its goal is to optimize your headlines for gaining the most followers while maintaining a decent amount of credibility. The game also teaches how to spin the most positive of news into the most outrageous conspiracy theory. And yes, it also lets you use Twitter bots to boost your followers by thousands.

You win the game by building an empire of fake news, breaking down rational discourse into conspiracy chaos. You lose by becoming too rational or too outlandish. Throughout the game, you earn “badges” which correspond to the tools that fake news writers leverage on — impersonation, polarization, conspiracy, among others.

All fun aside, the game’s ultimate goal is to teach players how to spot fake news in the real world. While the news articles you write in the game are completely fictional, the methods it uses are completely credible. Also, the game shows the massive implications that a fake news Twitter army can cause.

The game was created by the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab and Drog, a media literacy organization. Besides a tool for change, the game hopes to power research efforts on the effect of fake news.

Gaming

Alienware, Hilton Panama opens hotel room for hardcore gamers

If Panama gets too boring

Published

April 22, 2018

Luigi Leonardo

What’s more relaxing than lounging on a beach in Panama? Playing Overwatch in the hotel room, of course!

Sand is coarse, irritating, and gets everywhere. Why would you settle for Panama’s sands when you could enjoy PUBG’s new desert map instead?

Finally, Hilton Panama will fulfill your inner gamer’s dreams of playing away from home. In the newly built Room 2425, the hotel has packed in more Alienware in a suite than Mass Effect 3.

Besides Hilton’s usual amenities, guests can enjoy an Alienware PC, equipped with an Intel Core i7-8700 processor, 32GB DDR4 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 11GB, 512GB SSD, and 1TB HDD.

Additionally, if you still want to enjoy the sun, you can take an Alienware 15 gaming notebook with you. The laptop rocks an Intel Core i7-7700 HQ quad-core chip, 32GB DDR4 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 at 8GB, 256GB SSD, and 1TB HDD.

The room also comes with a 34-inch Alienware monitor for your gaming needs. Further, you can enjoy heavier gaming with a 65-inch 4K OLED TV with 5.1-channel audio support.

If you feel the need to stretch your legs, you can use the room’s Oculus Rift headset. The room fulfills your desire to transport yourself away from boring, old Panama.

Pulling yourself away from the action, you can rest in two king-sized beds and an extravagant bathroom filled with Alienware-branded amenities.

Alienware’s Room 2425 at the Hilton Panama is now available for booking at a steady US $349 per night.

Apps

There’s a Neko Atsume VR game coming to the PS4!

Cat lady dreams come true

Published

April 20, 2018

Leez Escalona

Remember Neko Atsume? The adorable, noncommittal mobile game that lets you collect cute cats and watch them do the silliest of things? Well, if you were one of the people who squealed over virtual pet cats and wanted to hop into the game, you might want to warn your friend for some intense screams. Neko Atsume VR is an actual game that’s coming to PlayStation 4.

The game was first announced in September last year but had no details on when it was going to launch. Well, all the cricket noises have cleared out and the developers, Hit-Point, just announced that Neko Atsume VR will be launching for the PlayStation 4 on May 31. Before you get too excited though, the game will, unfortunately, be available only in Japan — for now.

But this doesn’t stop us from checking out the features before Hit-Point releases it worldwide. In Neko Atsume VR, you can place snacks, toys, and items in your yard. Players will have to buy these items from the shop. You can take photos and watch your cats grow in numbers. Admittedly, the game is not too different from your typical Neko Atsume but it’s still a cat lover’s dream come true.

The selling point is undeniably clear: to immerse yourself in the cute cat world and to interact with them in ways you couldn’t have before. Neko Atsume is still in the works seeing as Hit-Point has only integrated 20 types of cats you can collect. That’s not even half as many as the ones you could collect on the original version.

As of now, the rest of the world will have to wait it out since it’s, again, only available in Japan on May 31.

Apps

Kingdom Hearts 3 has adorable retro mini-games!

Game inception intensifies

Published

April 17, 2018

Leez Escalona

This weekend, Square Enix showed off the Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer featuring adorable playable retro-style mini-games! The new mini-games are inspired by classic Disney cartoons and 1980s LCD games. They’ll be available to play in both Kingdom Hearts Union Cross and Kingdom Hearts 3. You’ll have to check this one out now.

As you can see, the trailer is set in Twilight Town where Sora is given a handheld where he plays various cute mini-games. You can see Donald and Goofy cheering Sora on as they lean over to watch. There are over 20 LCD games available to play but Square Enix only featured four of them in the trailer.

Here’s a quick rundown of all four of the games they featured:

The Barnyard Battle

Sora and Mickey stand on two anvils. You have to turn them left and right to smack enemies with a hammer as they come down. Your goal seems to be to smack enemies before they get through you — a linear whack-a-mole, I guess.

The Karnival Kid

The Karnival Kid looks to be a black-and-white Disney Diner Dash where you’ll be taking orders from customers that come to your hotdog stand. It looks to be a nice classic strategy game that you might get addicted to.

Giantland

Giantland looks like a typical boss battle with a giant, but looking closer into the trailer, it seems like players will need to swing on chandeliers to rescue Minnie who is calling out for help. It looks like you have things on the table to hide from him so you might want to use that to your advantage.

Musical Farmer

There are chickens on the top of the screen that drop eggs into tubes. Your goal is to guide them into crates by rotating the tubes to guide the eggs. If they reach the crates, you can give them to Mickey or Minnie. The crates can only hold a certain number of eggs at a time, so you’ll need to keep a close eye.

The other 16 games have not yet been revealed and fans may have to wait it out. If you’d want to give them a try, they’re available on Kingdom Hearts Union Cross on Android and iOS.