Five games to watch at E3

Editor's note: John Gaudiosi is co-founder and editor-in-chief of Gamerlive.tv video syndication network. He's covered video games for hundreds of outlets over the past 20 years and specializes in the convergence of Hollywood and games. (CNN) -- The video game industry has had a slow start to the year, but that's about to change. As the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) takes over the Los Angeles Convention Center this week, the biggest games of this year and next will be showcased in front of 45,000 attendees. With a big slate of blockbusters scheduled to hit retail shelves this holiday, things are looking up for gaming. The game industry is growing rapidly through new business models like free-to-play games, mobile games and cloud-based gaming. But it still relies on big-name titles...

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'Build and Battle,' multiplayer action shine in 'Starhawk'

(CNN) -- Using a new "Build and Battle" game mechanic, "Starhawk" offers more than your typical third-person shooter, tapping ino the player's strategic thinking while creating an enjoyable ride. Lightbox Interactive founder Dylan Jobe wanted to take one of their old titles, "Warhawk," and make it into something more enjoyable and more complete. "Warhawk," released in 2007, was widely praised for its multiplayer action, but it had no single-player campaign. Jobe and his team took the best ideas from "Warhawk," combined them with a new setting and single-player campaign, then added his a new mechanic that effectively creates what can be considered a new way to think about shooters. "Build and Battle" allows players to call down hardware from a ship circling high above the planet. When...

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How MIT could help you pour ketchup

(CNN) -- The video is as short as it is surprising. A hand tilts a glass bottle containing a red glob of ketchup, which -- instead of oozing out in slow motion or getting stuck -- slides out easily, leaving the bottle nearly spotless. Posted last week, the 20-second clip has been viewed more than 125,000 times on YouTube, prompting dozens of news stories and brightening the spirits of impatient ketchup lovers everywhere. But it's not exactly what Kripa Varanasi had in mind when he and his students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set out to develop a new kind of slippery coating that would keep water droplets from sticking to steam turbines in power plants. "I never thought a ketchup bottle would make us this famous," said Varanasi, a professor of mechanical engineering...

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