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Alex Howell was the only freshman in the tunnel that Saturday, his chinstrap so tight it fused his jaw shut, 89,000 people packed into to the last row at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium. Earlier in the week the graduate assistant tapped Howell on the shoulder and asked if he'd like to dress for the game against Mississippi State. Howell doesn't remember the exact words he said, other than it was an emphatic affirmative. So here he was. More »
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Felice Herrig has taken a punch from a man before. Many. She's also hit back. Hard. She's a mixed martial arts fighter, in a comparatively small population of women professionals, and, like it or not, in many gyms her only sparring partners are men. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5783700&view=rss&microfeed=true One could forgive a child of 1991 if he were to look at a photo of Captain Lou Albano and say, "That's Super Mario," or a teenager from 1986 if he were to say, "That's Cyndi Lauper's dad." [Deadspin] More »
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You may recall Casey Heynes, the chunky kid who was tired of being bullied and became an icon. Now he's immortalized—overmortalized?—in this video that mixes back in all the sound and visual effects we all heard in our mind when we first watched Casey piledrive his bully into the schoolyard concrete. [via Calm Down Tom] More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5782603&view=rss&microfeed=true Here's a PSA for bullies: That tubby kid you're taking pot shots at? He might be Zangief's nephew. [Deadspin] More »
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Even if a lockout doesn't happen - even if the dispute between owners and players is solved tomorrow - the labor unrest in the National Football League will have ramifications reaching well into the future - for video games. More »
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The last roster update for Madden NFL 11 hits sometime tomorrow, boosting Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers to the coveted 99 OVR rating. This could be the roster Madden NFL 12 plays with if next season is interrupted by a lockout. More »
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It's an appropriate opening for a song placed in a game that begins in prison. "You know you fucked up, right?" begins "The Loser Wins," by Atmosphere. In another sports game, this would have to be blanked out, or just not used. More »
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The cover of Madden NFL is the modern Wheaties box. Every sport has its video game and a cover athlete, but only Madden gets the bar-argument debate over who deserves the front. That begins tomorrow after the clock hits zero in Super Bowl XLV. More »
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Madden NFL 11 called Sunday's big game for the Steelers. There's still a robust roster-editing culture for the exiled, six-year-old NFL 2K5. Using current rosters, one devotee offered his own prediction for Super Bowl XLV. More »
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With a work stoppage in the National Football League increasingly likely, Electronic Arts has said that Madden NFL 12 will be published - but the company is assuming a lockout will wipe out the entire 2011-12 season. More »
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505 Games has teamed up with Olympic superstar Michael Phelps to create Michael Phelps – Push the Limit, "one of the most realistic and intense sports simulation video games ever." Is it time to flood your living room? More »
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This weekend, Japan's "Samurai Blue" soccer team beat Australia to win the Asia Cup. Pundits are pointing to the team's young players and new coach, Alberto Zaccheroni. But there might another reason for their chemistry — perhaps, like Monster Hunter. More »
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He'd given up six runs in three innings of work when MLB 10 The Show sent the manager out to remove him from the game. Even in a video game, the bad losses stick with you. They stick with Hans Smith a little more. More »
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But first he has to put on some makeup. With a Sharpie. And then find his sword. More »
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Being unlicensed means you can be uncompromising, says Ricci Rukavina. It also means you're unaccountable, especially to those heavily invested in a sport built with violence and blood, who bristle at any association with them. More »
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As you tour the 30 ballparks of Major League Baseball 2K11, you'll see games there from a center field camera view unique to each stadium. I can vouch for this feature's authenticity - because I did the work behind it. More »
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A cat innocently wanders by his owner playing Kinect, and is accidentally kicked across the room directly into the camera. Do you want to watch that? Hell yeah! But is it fake? You make the call! More »
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Sports titles just aren't supposed to be game-of-the-year contenders. Their annualized nature sends the message that this year's game, no matter how great, won't be worth owning in 365 days. If anything could rise above that, it is NBA 2K11. More »
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People forget how unabashedly capitalist the emotional climax was in Field of Dreams. "It's only $20," Terence Mann told Ray Kinsella, vowing that they would save the farm. "They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it." More »
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Over the steady march of a dozen years' progress, video games have brought us to all the sacred places in sports, awarded all their cherished trophies, and shared all their greatest traditions, except for one, A Tradition Unlike Any Other. More »
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Every year in sports has its winners and losers, but in sports video games, the results aren't about pennants and trophies. And they're not always clear-cut, either. More »
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The folks at Madden NFL 11 put out a list of all plays run by all of its zillion-plus users so far, sorted by average gain. No. 2 is "Cougar Cross," which sounds like Rex Ryan's wife's best-selling video. More »
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The Philadelphia Eagles beat the New York Giants on Sunday with a play that just should not have happened. It defied logic in real life; it defies logic when it's recreated in the classic video game Tecmo Bowl. More »
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In 2011 NASCAR returns to consoles with a dedicated video game. Among the landscape of multibillion-dollar sports enterprises, it had been one of a few without its own game for the past year, much less the past three. More »
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Do you want a college football playoff? Do you love the tradition of a New Year's Day packed with A-list bowls? You can have both, with Stick Jockey's video game simulation of a 16-team tournament - and 27 bowls. More »
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Sports games are sometimes perceived as an outlier to the rest of the hardcore video gaming community. Still, an uncommon diversity of their offerings supports a class of awards unique to the genre. These are Stick Jockey's Sports Video Games of the Year. More »
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The last-minute cancellation of EA Sports' NBA Elite 11 this fall isn't supposed to happen to any video game. How? Why? Kotaku learned the unusual story this week from EA boss John Riccitiello. More »
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iRacing is an extremely realistic racing simulator. Its top driver won $10,000, despite never driving over 100 mph in real life. Top Gear put him in an open-wheel racer to see if digital skills translate to real racing prowess. More »
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With respect and admiration for, if not apologies to, the late Ernie Harwell, here's something adapted from his famous Induction Day speech at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Aug. 2, 1981, which itself was adapted from this 1955 essay. More »
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Do you have a certain someone in your life that owns an Apple Macintosh computer? And would you like to buy them something that's not related to graphic design or film production? Well, read on! More »
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There's no faster way to somebody's heart than to buy them a great PC game. With that (and this week's Black Friday sales) in mind, here are our picks for PC games to stuff in that special someone's stocking. More »
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Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the parade! Delight in your dinner! Prepare for tomorrow's battle. More »
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San Antonio Spurs all-star Tony Parker and Eva Longoria got dee-vorced last week, around the time it was discovered that Parker was doing some dribble-drive penetration with a former teammate's wife. NBA 2K11's latest roster update factors in the breakup. More »
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Somewhere out there is a guy who's spent big money on football cards. He can look at them, but can't touch them. He can use the players - all elite - in a $60 video game, but never does. More »
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NBA Jam on the 360 and PS3 hit shelves yesterday; today EA Sports is taking a page from the Old Spice YouTube campaign that drew raves. The announcer, Tim Kitzrow, is reading off Twitter-submitted catchphrases. Apparently mine (above) wasn't objectionable. More »
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Last night, Manny Pacquiao solidified his claim as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, dominating Antonio Margarito for his eighth title. One year ago to the day, Fox Sports told the unknown story of how far he's really come. More »
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Growing up, I only saw boxing on HBO. With Mike Tyson the premier fighter, it was usually over fast. Anything that wasn't seems sanitized in low-definition hindsight. That changed the first time I saw a bout fought live. In headgear. More »
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It was little coincidence that THQ and Ultimate Fighting Championship waited until Oct. 19 to announce an eight year extension to their exclusive video game pact. That was the day EA Sports MMA released. More »
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