Kotaku: Internet

Electronic Arts Loses Fight for SSX Domain Name

Owen Good — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST

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Electronic Arts has lost its bid to win the domain "ssx.com" from a holdings firm that bought it up in October. While the holdings firm parked the domain and briefly served ads leading to the game—an action that EA used as the basis for its complaint-an arbitration panel didn't see that as enough evidence of bad faith to justify turning over the domain. More »

Why the Hell Are You Online Right Now?

Mike Fahey — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:30:12 EST

Is there any reason you're sitting in front of a computer or plinking away at your cell phone right now, or are you part of the 53 percent of 18 to 29 year-olds that go online just to pass the time on any given day? A new study has determined that a large number of us are here for no good reason. More »

The Internet Really Is a Bunch of Tubes. Here's What They Look Like.

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:00:00 EST

Xbox Live. The PlayStation Network. Steam. This website. Your email. They're all nothing without the internet. Yet do you ever stop and wonder what the internet actually looks like? Where all the cables go? Where it sleeps? More »

Is Your Online Photo an Animated Character? You Might Want To Read This

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:50:00 EST

Online, people create alter egos. New identities are born out of names and avatars. They also bare their real identities. And your avatar or your profile pic is causing others to silently judge you. More »

Virgin Admits They're Not the Best For Online Gaming, Gets Censured

Brian Crecente — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT

Virgin Media was told it can no longer run broadband ads claiming that their UK internet service is the best for online gaming. More »

Regulator Orders Canadian Cable Giant to Stop Throttling Online Games

Owen Good — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Last week, Rogers Cable and Telecom, Canada's largest cable provider, admitted that its network monitors may "inadvertently" throttle traffic of customers playing online games. "Inadvertently" or otherwise, Canada's telecommunications regulator has told Rogers to knock it off. More »

Comcast May Credit You After All For Lost Internet, Cable, Phone During Hurricane Irene

Brian Crecente — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:40:00 EDT

Responding to our request for comment, Comcast officials say that they may credit people who lost service because of Irene. Read the full statement here. More »

Comcast Will Charge for Hurricane Irene Service Outages, Blames God

Brian Crecente — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EDT

Comcast customers who lost—or still don't have—cable, phone or Internet service in the wake of Hurricane Irene have a nasty surprise in store for them when they seek to get credit for their downtime. Comcast says they won't be crediting customers who lost service during the hurricane because it was an "Act of God". UPDATED More »

Americans, Your Download Speeds May Vary

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:15:00 EDT

Like most countries, download speeds in the US vary from city to city. Unlike most other countries, though, the United States is huge, meaning those differences can be, well, just as huge. More »

Japan's Nintendo Online Shop Carries the AWOL Bits You Need

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 03:00:00 EDT

Nintendo catches heat for being clueless about the internet. That's not exactly fair, because Nintendo is doing cool stuff online—selling instruction booklets, for example. More »

It's Frightening How Persistent a Child Predator Can Be

Mike Fahey — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:00:00 EDT

In December of 2010, 18-year-old Alex Trowell of Idaho was on his way to visit his 12-year-old World of Warcraft girlfriend in New Mexico. Alerted by the girl's mother, New Mexico police called Trowell and had him turn his car around. More »

After Murder, There Was Online Gaming

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 02:00:00 EST

Earlier this month at a supermarket in Japan's Kumamoto, 3-year-old Koko Shimizu went to the restroom while her mother paid for their groceries. Within minutes, the little girl was missing. Her body was discovered 500 meters away inside a large drain near a river. More »

The Stupidest News Report Ever?

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:30:00 EST

There's stupid, and there's stupid. According to the country's biggest newspaper, South Korea's Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation ran a segment that sounds rather "thick". This might not be the dumbest TV news reporting on gaming ever, but it's up there. More »

Online Gaming Marriage Leads To Real-World Criminal Charges

Mike Fahey — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:20:00 EST

A 54-year-old Massachusetts man is in police custody in Detroit after allegedly initiating multiple sexual encounters with his virtual bride - a 13-year-old girl he married in the online role-playing game Runescape. More »

Chinese Parents Are Able To Control, Ban Online Gaming

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:30:00 EST

There is a war raging right now in China, and it's against online addiction. The latest recruits aren't doctors or bureaucrats, but parents. More »

Japanese Net Cafes Are A Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:00:00 EST

Internet cafes dot the Japanese urban landscape and offer a moment of pause for regular folks. Ditto for criminals. More »

Japan Gets Tough On Warning Screens

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:00:00 EST

On January 1 of this year, Japanese copyright law changed. If you've seen this warning screen and you're downloading DS games from the internet, you might end up on the wrong side of Johnny Law. More »

Chinese Youth Dies At Boot Camp

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:40:00 EDT

The Chinese government has taken swift steps to deal with teenagers that are addicted to online games and the internet. One step has been the creation of boot camps. More »

Google Instant vs Video Games

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:00:00 EDT

Google launched a new search service today, which returns query results as you type them in. Let's see how it handles some of the most popular video game series. More »

The 288,945 Most Popular Websites On The Internet

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:30:00 EDT

Earlier this year, Alexa sat down and compiled a list of the top 1,000,000 websites in the world. Listing those sites would be good reading, but looking at a picture of the most popular ones is much cooler. More »

Does "Net Neutrality" Mean a Golden Highway Paved By Gamers?

Owen Good — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:30:00 EDT

Though today's much-discussed proposal was long on talk of transparency, there are two loopholes in Google and Verizon's plan for "Net Neutrality" rules, and, yep, one of them covers "gaming options." More »

Americans Turn To Their Phones For Gaming And Internet

Mike Fahey — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:40:00 EDT

A report from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project shows an increasing number of Americans using their mobile phones as personal computers, with substantial leaps in gaming, internet use, and other non-voice applications over the past year. More »

The President May Get The Authority To Kick Us All Offline

Kate Finegan — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 01:00:00 EDT

As weird and scary as it sounds, there may be a time when you'll be able to blame your server going down on the current U.S. President instead of your internet provider. More »

Report: Chinese Superstar Zhang Ziyi Loses Fiance To The Internet?

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:00:00 EDT

One of China's most successful actresses Zhang Ziyi (Rush Hour 2, 2046) is engaged to Vivi Nevo, a venture capitalist and a hardcore online gamer. Make that was engaged, rumors say. More »

What If Kotaku Had Been Around In 1996?

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EDT

In case you just joined us, Kotaku has only been around this century. And yes, it's always been based on a formula of baby-sick green and Amsterdam-hooker pink. But what if we'd been blogging in the last century? More »

Why Gamers Should Care About Net Neutrality

Mike Fahey — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:30:00 EDT

We've heard the term 'net neutrality' bandied about the internet for more than a decade, yet many gamers aren't aware of how important the concept is to their continued online entertainment. Why should you care about net neutrality? More »

They Grow Up So Fast: EA's Website, Circa 1997

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 05:30:00 EDT

Some of you would have been very young in 1995. Some of you may not even have been born. Point is, it was a while ago, but even back then, in the mists of time, Electronic Arts had a website. More »

Microsoft: Browsing Web on TV a 'Poor Experience,' on PS3 It's 'a Nightmare'

Owen Good — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:00:00 EDT

In a recent interview Microsoft's director of product management was asked why there was no browser on the Xbox 360, and if one will ever be made available. Don't bet on it anytime soon. More »

Credit Card Fraudsters Love Their Video Games

Mike Fahey — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:20:00 EST

Credit card fraud prevention experts Retail Decisions have detailed the four most fraud prone products on the internet this holiday season, and wouldn't you know it, three of them are video game related. More »

Wii Internet Channel Is Free, Free, Free [UPDATE]

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EDT

Nintendo has announced that starting today the Opera-powered Wii Internet Channel is available free of charge. More »

And The StarCraft II LAN Petitioning Commences

Mike Fahey — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EDT

Angered by news that Blizzard has decided to leave LAN multiplayer out of StarCraft II, fans are doing what fans have done in such situations since the dawn of time - signing a letter. More »

How The DSi Can Filter Your Internets

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:30:00 EDT

Being a Nintendo product, the DSi is big on shielding children from the evils of the world, perceived or otherwise. And the DSi is no different, shipping with an internet filtering program. More »

Online Game Corps Not Panicking Over Time Warner Pricing

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EDT

A broadband tiered-pricing trial by Time-Warner Cable has rankled many, particularly gamers, who fear sock-it-to-me overages incurred by online gaming. Sony, Microsoft and OnLive have now weighed in, and they're not too worried. More »

Time Warner Revises Plans to Charge for Internet Bandwith Usage

Brian Crecente — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Broadband internet provider Time Warner Cable seems to have caved slightly to the rising public sentiment against their plans to charge its subscribers for the amount of bandwidth they use. More »

Cocky & Cash-rich? BringIt Will Allow 'It' To Be Brung.

Stuart Houghton — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:20:00 EST

Internet gaming is serious business, where a simple insult or misplaced "LOL! I PWN J00!" can result in a bitter feud. In the real world - say at a pool table - loudmouth players can be quickly made schtum with a gentlemanly wager. But how can you make those eejits on LIVE put their money where their mouths are? More »

Even Sony's PlayStation Website Infected

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:00:00 EDT

A recent spate of virus attacks has infected over 790 websites. Included in those attacks was the Sony PlayStation site. Pages for SingStar Pop and God of War were infected with SQL-injected code, which caused visitors to those sites to see a bogus antivirus scan and a message that their computer was in fact infected with malware. The aim was to frighten users into purchasing software to delouse their computers. Not to worry as Sony has since removed the injected code. Says security research expert Dancho Danchev: More »

Digg Bitch Slaps Kid For 360 Ransom

Brian Crecente — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:20:13 EDT

The Internet's got Jesse McPherson's back. More »

Evites Offers Wii Invites

fdemarco — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:00:00 EDT

Evites, the invite site for all your party needs, has now added Nintendo and the Wii to its roster of pre-made internet invites. Birthday parties, family reunions or just a simple Wii Sports or Mario themed party, all your bases are covered. So get with the hip internet set and send a Wii evite today. Or you could just embarrass yourself by sending a terribly outmoded Party City invitation over snail mail. The choice is yours. More »

Gaming Makes MySpace and YouTube Its Bitch

Mike Fahey — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:00:19 EDT

Every day, millions of people log into MySpace to make bitchy comments and troll for naked pics in between surfing YouTube for more Charlie the Unicorn remakes. MySpace and YouTube are two of the biggest time-wasters on the internet in the US today, but according to research and analysis company Parks Associates, there is an even bigger one. Gaming. In a report entitled "Casual Gaming Market Update" the company found that while 19% of adult internet users spent their time on social networking sites and 29% watching short films (does porn count?), 34% spent their time playing video games. Hooray, we're a statistic!

"Despite the growing popularity of YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook, gaming remains the king of online entertainment, driven largely by casual gaming activities," James Kuai, a research analyst at Parks Associates, said in a prepared statement.

Chinese Internet Deathcamp, In Graphic Video

Mark Wilson — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:00:32 EDT