ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Fifteen video games that have engrossed gamers for untold hours were named finalists Tuesday for the new World Video Game Hall of Fame. The list includes arcade trailblazers Pong and Space Invaders, smartphone favorites Angry Birds and Minecraft and an array of others for console and computer. They are: Doom, FIFA soccer, the … Continue reading
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — “Call of Duty: Black Ops 3” is enlisting a few new recruits. The third installment in Treyarch’s popular military shooter saga is adding the option to play cooperatively with other gamers in the plot-driven campaign. The developer is also ditching traditional avatar customization in its multiplayer mode, instead opting … Continue reading
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A new group plans to produce a stage version of “To Kill a Mockingbird” in author Harper Lee’s hometown, where leaders fear a stalemate over rights to the play will kill an annual production that lures thousands of visitors annually. An actor in the play, Connie Baggett, said Friday that … Continue reading
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — American graffiti artist Caleb Neelon, creator of street murals in numerous cities around the world, has enlisted youths from different sides of Bosnia’s ethnic divide to work on a peace-promoting project. Armed with cans of spraypaint, youngsters from Bosnia’s Croat, Serb and Bosniak ethnic groups joined forces with Neelon on … Continue reading
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A reputed mobster told an undercover FBI agent that he had access to two of the long-sought paintings stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 and could negotiate a sale of each for $500,000, a prosecutor said Monday. Robert Gentile, a 79-year-old convict from the Hartford, Connecticut, suburbs … Continue reading
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Force isn’t merely awakening on the big screen. It’s also returning to the video game realm. “Star Wars: Battlefront” publisher Electronic Arts and Swedish developer DICE showcased their next-generation rendition of the “Star Wars” multiplayer shooter Friday at Star Wars Celebration, the annual fan extravaganza celebrating the sci-fi franchise. … Continue reading
MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are asking the public’s help in finding two paintings — one of them by famed American Roy Lichtenstein — that were stolen from a Malibu foundation established by the late co-creator of “The Simpsons.” City News Service says the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department issued the call Wednesday as … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Excrement thrown at the statue of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes began a wave of vandalizing protests in South Africa. Memorials to South Africa’s colonial past were defaced by mainly young black protesters, as statues of British monarchs Queen Victoria and King George V were splashed with paint, in the cities … Continue reading
“The Beekeeper’s Daughter” (Simon & Schuster), by Santa Montefiore International best-selling author Santa Montefiore writes an epic romance that spans two generations in her new novel, “The Beekeeper’s Daughter.” Readers are transported back and forth between Massachusetts and England unraveling a timeline that stretches over four decades. It’s the story of a daughter’s journey … Continue reading
Bachman, “Heavy Blues” (Linus Entertainment) Where has THIS been for the past four decades? Randy Bachman, who made classic rock history with Bachman-Turner Overdrive and The Guess Who, has recorded his best album since 1976. The name says it all: heavy blues, delivered with help from an All-Star cast of guests, including Neil Young, … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Amber Tamblyn writes about dead Hollywood actresses in her new book of poems. But “Dark Sparkler” is more than that. “The book is about the lives and deaths of celebrity women in a certain way, but it’s also about voyeurism, it’s also about projection, it’s also (about) … what … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At first it seems like a fluke — a 2-year-old playing with the knobs and buttons of a sophisticated music system. Yet, the tiny boy is in control of the big beat of the bass-heavy house music. He is South Africa’s youngest disc jockey, DJ AJ. At a shopping mall appearance, … Continue reading
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Replicas of a sculpture of a knotted pistol that was designed in honor of the late musician John Lennon are being displayed this month in Monterrey, a northern industrial city that knows about gun violence. The 13 pieces in a variety of colors and designs were made by individuals and … Continue reading
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The virtual streets of Google Maps are being transformed into Pac-Man’s chomping grounds in celebration of April Fools’ Day. Google added the option to convert its popular navigation service into the Pac-Manvideo game on Tuesday morning, around the same day the calendar turned to April 1 in Asia. That ushered in … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — A new audiobook recording of Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” will soon be available with the perfect narrator — the scheming royal adviser Littlefinger from “Game of Thrones.” Audible Inc., the world’s largest seller of downloadable audiobooks, is getting ready to release a new version of the Chinese military … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 