Contributor: Stephen Strong

You may not have heard any sinews twanging or backbones creaking into an upright position, but a kind of evolution is being seen in America’s family rooms. You don’t need to worry that Fido will start walking on his hind legs and ask you to go fetch th …

A heavily shadowed sub strategically swims in and out of the crack-your-hull-like-an-eggshell ocean depths, having battled its way past a gauntlet of PT boats, torpedo-bombers and destroyers. The captain throws a quick glance toward the instruments and …

My introduction to fantasy role-playing games came in sixth grade. At a bookstore, I noticed a fascinating tome called the Fiend Folio detailing abilities of various monsters. I didn’t know it, but the book was a Dungeons & Dragons resource. I boug …

In retrospect, I’d have to say my high school days were pretty typical. I’d worry about tests. I’d worry about friends. I’d worry about whether Suzy thought I was cute or not, and if not, what it showed about her character that she was more interested …

OK, I’ll admit it. Whenever I play a flight/combat simulation game, I usually pick up the controller expecting full-throttle action straight out of the movie Top Gun. But after a few hours, I put the controller back down feeling like my wingman got tir …

After releasing eight Tony Hawk games, the creative team over at Activision has decided to ollie up to tweens who probably haven’t played the skateboarding series before. (An ollie is when a skateboarder pops his board up into the air by kicking down o …

After 75 years, hundreds of books, 14 games, and a handful of movies and TV shows, Nancy Drew is still a teenager and going undercover once again in the video game Nancy Drew: Danger by Design. This time she’s off to Paris, to ostensibly take a summer …

When the very first Star Wars film hit theaters, I took my girlfriend to see it. I know that makes me sound ancient, but I was only, uh … 3 at the time. Anyway, we were late getting there and ended up reluctantly sitting in the front row. By the time …

When the game-designing guys and gals behind Velvet Assassin hit on the idea for their new title, they surely must have slapped each other on the back with collective enthusiasm. I mean, a Lara Croft-type heroine (complete with crisp English accent and …

When the original God of War hit video game shelves a couple of years ago, with its arresting visuals and dynamic gameplay, it left reviewers reeling. They crowed over the rage-filled odyssey and looked excitedly toward a sequel. Well, II is here and i …

A mysterious, magical tablet has been shattered, and it’s playing havoc with the universe. So it’s up to Spider-Man to pick up the pieces. Or, should we say, Spider-Mans. There are four of them here, each with his own nifty suit—and set of problems.

Sam Fisher is the gaming world’s answer to TV’s Jack Bauer—trained to sneak in the shadows, kill on sight and save America. Oh, yeah, and swear. Jack’s a Sunday school teacher compared to Sam when it comes to swearing.