Talking About Super Columbine Massacre RPG (Exclamation Point)

If you happen to be in Denver tomorrow, around noonish, and have nothing to do, you might want to swing by the Denver Film Festival.

I'll be speaking on a panel about the relationship of video games and real world violence with Columbine Super Massacre RPG creator Danny Ledonne and occasional Kotaku contributor Bob Denerstein. More »

Aurora Feint II, She's LIVE

OK, maybe I'm getting a bit too excited about Aurora Feint II: The Arena. But it is a Puzzle Quest-ish, multiplayer-ish iPhone game.

And now it's live. That's right you can hop onto iTunes this second and download it at its holiday price of $7.99. I'm all over it as we speak. I'll try to get something up Monday in the way of impressions. Sure beats yelling at Skate It and my Wii Fit board all weekend long. *mumblemumblemumble*

Hellooooo Indies

To: Luke
From: Crecente
Re: ChildBeard

ChildBeard!!! Sounds like someone needs a puppy!

As you've probably noticed. I've long been a big fan and, in my own way, supporter of the independent games movement. I love checking out the raw acts of creation that are the result of not a focus group or a company but a team or maybe even one person. And I'm not the only one. I think all of us love watching these quirky games struggle through the layers of anonymity to become discovered, and often enjoyed by others. Ash did that great write up about the future of Independent Games Festival winners. McWhertor, I think it was him, came up with the whole Hot Flashes idea for posts about cool flash games. Maggie covers the crap out of the serious games initiative and find loads of cool indie goodies to talk about. More »

NCSoft Doles Out Freebies to Tabula Rasa Subscribers

I suppose you could call this the silver lining for Tabula Rasa players.

Shortly after they announced that they were pulling the plug on the Richard Garriott led massively multiplayer online game and that people who worked on the title were losing their jobs, NCsoft broke down some of the things they are going to try and alleviate the sting of playing on a soon to be dead MMO.

Starting January 10, the game will be free to play. Any active player as of 10 a.m. this morning (pacific) will also get: More »

We've decided to dirty the iTunes water with some of our original videos. Adam has been hard at work digging through our stack of vids looking for some of the better stuff to put up on our brand spanking new Kotaku Video Podcast page over on iTunes.

So far we've just got our first Video podcast up, though I've asked Adam to throw GTA DUI in there as well as a few others. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We will also be using this in the future for what I hope will become regular video podcasts.

Here's the link if you want to subscribe. Be warned, those of you new to iTunes, clicking this will eventually launch iTunes.

Magic Click

Tabula Rasa Shutting Down, Team Hit by Lay Offs

With NCSoft slowing sinking, teams being laid off, Richard Garriott himself exiting the company, it should come as no surprise that another round of lay-offs have rippled through the company.

Sources tell us that today many of the Tabula Rasa team were let go. The plug has also been pulled on the game, according to both our sources and the official Tabula Rasa website: More »

Target Promises Wii in Stock This Holiday

Despite apprehension about another Wii-free holiday season, Target is promising that they’re going to have both the console and Balance Board in stock for the shopping madness. The consoles will be hitting stores starting this Sunday.

On top of that, and that rumored Black Friday sales circular we posted, Target will be offering a free $5 to $10 gift card with the purchase of Rock Band 2, Fable 2, Left 4 Dead and Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels.

Don't forget! Time is ticking away. So if you want to enter our DSi contest, you better do it sooner rather than later. This DSi right here is up for grabs.

Ash picked this bad boy up in Osaka and then popped open the box and got it lousy with fingerprints. After tinkering with it enough to do a few posts about the thing, he boxed it up and sent it my way. It now sits safely on my desk, away from prying eyes, and Tristan's fingers. Click here to find out how to win it in my sadistic scavenger hunt.

Don't forget to send your answers to the correct place, deleting all of those entries sent directly to me can be tiring.

Atari 2600 Devs Talk About Pot Smoking, Whips and Flying Frogs

Howard Scott Warshaw, creator of Yars' Revenge, has been tracking down the former game developers for the original Atari, the 70s company that gave us all of those great (and not so great) 2600 games. The resulting video interviews, Once Upon Atari, give us a glimpse into the chaotic, bizarre and drug-filled world of game development in the decade of sex, drugs and game development.

Hit up the link to check out the other six chapters.

Once Upon an Atari [IGN]