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We Can Unlock Portal 2 Early By Playing Indie Games Together
Now we know: Portal 2 will launch early—if enough people get together and play all the indie games in the “Potato Sack” on Steam. The countdown clock ended a noon, revealing the “GLaDOS@Home distributed computational grid status” page, showing what appear to be real-time stats of how many people are playing the games of the…
By Joel Johnson -
Wii 2 Controller “Like an iPad with Buttons”, Says a French Person
Destructoid has done us the kindness of translating some rumors about the upcoming successor to the Nintendo Wii from French gaming site 01net. The most interesting part? There’s a new controller coming around the bend that’s part Wiimote, part mini touchscreen tablet. The controller itself is said to include a 6″ single touch screen, d-pad,…
By Joel Johnson -
Will Portal 2 Release Early? We’ll Know In One Hour
The interactive marketing campaign surrounding sure-to-be-megahit Portal 2 has been dropping hints that the game, scheduled for release next Tuesday, might be released earlier. Despite Valve PR holding fast to a Tuesday release date in response to all our queries, a message has been added to the Valve-owned ApertureScience.com website with a countdown timer that’s…
By Joel Johnson -
World of Goo Is Just One Dollar for iPhone Today
If you’ve missed World of Goo in one of its many iterations over the years, there’s another chance to play the superb physics puzzler. It’s now available on your iPhone or iPod Touch—the iPad version has gone Universal. It’s all of $.99 in the iTunes App Store, which when coupled with the ratings in the…
By Joel Johnson -
Kinect for Netflix is a Catastrophe. Microsoft Has No Idea What to Do with Kinect
“Let’s find out how long it takes to select and watch our favorite Netflix movie using Kinect instead of the Xbox 360 controller!” That was the simple metric we wanted to try to test the new Kinect support in the Xbox version of Netflix. I suspected that it’d take a little bit longer to use…
By Joel Johnson -
Basement Defense? Anomaly Warzone Earth Turns Tower Defense On Its Head
I think the moment where Anomaly Warzone Earth—I don’t see a colon on the game’s website; letting all three words of the title evenly plod from the mouth pleasingly highlights its Eastern European pedigree—really grabbed me was the first time I rerouted my caravan of tanks and mechanized walkers to loop to endlessly pummel a…
By Joel Johnson -
The Making of Gears of War 3 Multiplayer
I’ll stay out of the way of this one, since I know you really just want to watch it. I will indulge myself to say, however, that I like the slight cooling of the color palette while still allowing more varied hues than previous titles. It’s still “gritty” but looks much cleaner.
By Joel Johnson -
Quite Cute Pinball, a Facebook Ad Masquerading as a Totally Decent Free Pinball Game
While it might be tempting to poke fun at M.A.C. for making a saccharine “Quite Cute Pinball” game to market their cosmetics to women on Facebook, truth is that it’s a totally decent little timewaster. It’s generous with the number of balls, the advertising doesn’t get in the way of the gameplay, and excepting the…
By Joel Johnson -
Are You Ready for Ads in Your Achievements?
“Real rewards for virtual achievements.” That’s the pitch behind “Kiip,” a new Silicon Valley startup that intends to become the company that connects gamers with advertisers in a sort of Groupon for games. Land a 360° flip? Get a coupon from Sephora. Murder a certain number of mutants? Free burger from Carl’s Jr. It all…
By Joel Johnson -
PlayStation Hacker Geohot Settles with Sony Computer Entertainment America
Hacker George “Geohot” Hotz, the man who Sony accused of cracking the PlayStation 3 security, has settled with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). According to a statement issued by SCEA, Hotz has “consented to a permanent injunction” against the information published by Hotz. While full details of the settlement are not yet available, it’s hard…
By Joel Johnson -
Best Worst New Setting: “Call of Duty 4 Meets Universal Classic Monsters”
Wolfman! The Mummy! The Creature from the Black Lagoon! Frank Stein! When Universal describes these characters as “Classic Monsters” they aren’t joking, considering most of us weren’t even born when they were last truly dominating the horror film scene. Will the crusty old devils make for a good video game setting? According to internal documents…
By Joel Johnson -
Where Does Portal 2‘s Co-Op Campaign Fit Into the Half-Life Universe?
From an interview with Valve Software’s Chet Faliszek from Beefjack.com: With regards to the co-op campaign, how does it fit in the Portal universe? Chet Faliszek: It has its own separate story, with its own characters, and takes place after the single-player game. GLaDOS has a little thing for you to do, and I’ll say…
By Joel Johnson -
The Time Michelle Pfeiffer Healed a Lizard, and Other Ghost Stories from the Filming of Super Mario Bros: The Movie
There’s a reason most people remember The Super Mario Bros. Super Show or The Wizard when they think of ‘90s Hollywood adaptations of Nintendo properties: because if they didn’t they’d be left only with Super Mario Bros: The Movie, the 1993 monstrosity starring Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper, a film only vaguely resembling the cartoonish…
By Joel Johnson -
Atari’s Greatest Hits Shoves the Loot of a Thousand Garage Sales Onto Your iPhone
Atari just dropped a whirling, aliased asteroid in the iTunes App Store: Atari’s Greatest Hits brings 100 classic titles to iOS in a single application. The app itself is free and includes a copy of Pong. You can pick up four-packs of games as an in-app purchase for $.99 a pop, or spring for all…
By Joel Johnson -
U.S. Border Patrol Spends $1 Million Making a Videogame Simulating Their Job
Researchers at a government-funded laboratory have built a giant touchscreen video game that simulates the capture of illegal aliens. In a statement made to Kotaku by an official spokesman, the entire project and underlying systems cost “in the ballpark of $10 million [worth] of internal investments,” with the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border…
By Joel Johnson -
World Exclusive First Look Under the Hood of the Next Unreal Engine
You’ve seen the sexed up trailer showing what games based on Epic’s Unreal Engine will look like in the coming generation. Now join Kotaku and Gizmodo for the world’s first peek at the tools and technology that will be used to create some of the biggest games on every platform from PC to iOS in…
By Joel Johnson -
UK Tabloid Reporting 3DS Backlash; Is Reality Next?
Squawker rag The Sun says a “refund row” is hitting the UK around Nintendo’s 3DS, with “record return levels were reported after thousands suffered headaches and dizziness.” Nintendo says returns “in single figures per retailer.” [The Sun]
By Joel Johnson
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