People often mean more than they say, but psychologist James Pennebaker would argue that sometimes even they don’t realize it. From his research, he’s found out a lot about people’s relationships based on the way they talk to each other and it’s a lot subtler than one person talking louder than the other. It’s actually all about function words, things like I, this, that, there, their (the list goes on). The example Pennebaker gives is using the word “I”. In any relationship, whoever has more power will actually use the word less. In an email Pennebaker received, an undergrad used…

Not the biggest news day, but what would you expect from a Monday? – The Max Payne 3 PC specs have been revealed. – The Walking Dead game is coming out on PC, Mac, PS3 tomorrow. – The Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year edition has been announced and will include all previously released DLC as well as the newly announced Harley Quinn’s Revenge DLC. – Trine 2 developers Frozenbyte have shown off a bit of concept art for the expansion planned for the game in a short video. – Gotham City Impostors has announced a bunch of updates including…

If there’s one thing that Fez has taught me (in the limited time that I’ve played it) it’s that there’s always some other corner to turn, a new way of seeing things and another secret you can find. It’s more than just your typical hidden items though, there’s an unsolveable monolith puzzle and now it’s been found that even the game’s soundtrack is keeping some secrets of its own. Geek.com‘s Sal Cangeloso revealed that if you take the files from the soundtrack (available here, pay what you want, at least 7 dollars) and look at them as a spectrogram, some…

Sam McNerny of Big Think used a recent article to ask why kids draw pictures of monsters but adults don’t. It’s that kind of creativity that dies out over time, either due to natural causes or slow execution from the education system. In many ways, children flourish where adults fail. Children are more creative and are natural inventors. Their worldview is incomplete and demands discovery. They prosper because they embrace their ignorance instead of ignoring it. And they are willing to explore, investigate and put their ideas to the test because they are willing to fail. Unlike adults, they don’t care…

The wonderful tumblr Pokemon Battle Royale mixes some heavy nostalgia with a healthy dose of modernization. The result is 151 pokemon as you’ve never seen them before. From adorable to realistic to unusal to disturbing, the gallery is an incredible collection. Here’s Squirtle, Wartortle and Blastoise to get you started, check out the rest at the site. Squirtle by Bryan Ische Wartortle by R.M. Hanson Blastoise by Kris Anka

Thursday! Thor’s day!  – The God of War: Ascension (not quite God of War 4) trailer leaked recently and the game will be coming to PS3 Spring 2013. – Bethesda insists that Prey 2 is delayed, not cancelled.  – The Humble Botanicula Bundle has launched bringing with it even more pay-what-you-want Indie goodness. – The recent launch of Trials: Evolution meant the servers buckled under the weight of 100,000 players. – Syndicate developer Starbreeze has acquired Overkill, the studio behind the recent crime first person shooter, Payday: The Heist. That’s all for today! 

Wired is currently featuring an excerpt from Generation Xbox: How Video Games Invaded Hollywood by Jamie Russell. The excerpt details Microsoft’s attempt to break in to the film game by offering Halo up as a blockbuster.  The Master Chief suits were Shapiro’s idea and they ensured that the Halo deal made headlines even before the trade papers learned how rich the demands were. It was a spectacular attempt to turn Microsoft’s first foray into Hollywood filmmaking into a theatrical even and it very almost worked. Master Chief, the hero of Microsoft and Bungie’s bestselling Halo games, made his debut in Hollywood. Sadly, though, his…

In what I had thought was a video made by The Onion (it’s not), IKEA has announced a new piece of furniture, the UPPLEVA. The new all-in-one solution combines your media stand with your TV, bringing a Blu-ray player with it. The idea is to consolidate all of your living room’s tech goodies into one compact package. It seems functional, if really strange. And though it’s promising in some ways, it also seems like it would force a bit of stagnation in terms of technological development. If we’re not able to change the boxes we have in our living rooms,…

Monday’s almost over so let’s get to it: – Nintendo has confirmed that they will be showing off a new Wii U Mario game at E3. – EA has weakly denied allegations that they have laid off anywhere from 500 to 1,000 employees. – Crysis 3 has been announced and will be coming out next Spring. – A demo for Dragon’s Dogma will be out next week. – PSN will be offline for the rest of today, until 2 AM on Tuesday. That’s all for today!