Luke Plunkett

The New Elder Scrolls Can Actually Make Humans Look Attractive

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was famous for two things: wide open spaces and ugly people. Looks like the upcoming sequel has fixed the ugly people part. Yes, while the limitations of the old Gamebryo engine resulted in Oblivion being full of gnomes with plastic faces, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s new engine is capable of…

The Finest Cast Ever Assembled For A Video Game

In 1996, a PC adventure game was released that has been all but forgotten. Which is strange, seeing as it features probably the greatest ensemble of actors ever assembled for a video game. While many contemporary games boast the names of impressive stars on the back of their box, those are generally restricted to voice-over…

Kids Shouldn’t Play Games About Jerking Off

NSFW: If you’re a parent — or even just an all-round concerned citizen — and think games featuring cartoon violence and mild cussing is bad, spare a thought for me. One of the first ever games I played was about jerking off. In 1984, and at the age of four, my father (rightly) realised that…

The Dark, Lonely Art Of Dead Space 2

Since there aren’t many (living) people around in Dead Space 2, you’re left with more time than usual to admire the architecture of Titan Station. And what better way to admire it further than with this concept art. It’s the work of Joseph Cross, who as well as doing art for this game has also…

LEGO Uncharted, LEGO Call Of Duty, LEGO Halo…

We will never see official LEGO versions of Resident Evil, Modern Warfare, Max Payne, Gears of War, Final Fantasy or Killzone. That being the case, we’ll have to make do with Andy Pescovitz’s customised renditions instead. Pescovitz has amassed an impressive collection of figures that he’s both painted and in many cases scultped to look…

How To Clean Your Cartridges When Blowing Doesn’t Work

By virtue of the fact they’re old, game cartridges are normally filthy as hell. Which means sometimes they won’t work! Not to fear. If blowing on them won’t get them up and running, a chemical fix probably will. This handy instructional vid shows that all you need — provided the problem is dirt and not…

Cheaters Are Messing Up The Gran Turismo Academy

This year’s edition of the GT Academy, a long-running competition that has now been turned into a TV show, is in a bit of a mess after so many people were caught cheating the last round was called off. First picked up last week, there was a “loophole” which users had discovered which allowed them…

EA Might Be In Trouble For Using Scared Moms As Game Bait

Electronic Arts’ Dead Space 2 marketing campaign is in the sights of a parents advocacy group. Well, actually, it is, since a “parent advocacy group” is calling out the campaign for the same reason I think it’s stupid: it completely overshoots (and in many ways insults) its target market, pandering to a demographic that won’t…

Here’s One Thing We Want From The NGP

This. This is what we want. Well, not Okami specifically, just the idea of it, where we can walk into a store, pick up a game and know it spans the divide between three PlayStation consoles. We don’t want mere re-releases. Or simple remakes. We want Sony to make good on its retreat from the…

It’s Time To Make More Jerk Babies

One of the most popular indie games on Xbox Live Arcade last year was Baby Maker Extreme. Here’s the sequel. You are still pushing out babies who are still acting like total jerks.

In This Game, You’ll Want To Cross The Streams

In Magicka, you don’t just shoot fire or ice at things. You can combine them with electricity then shoot everything on the screen. Including your friends. And yourself. It’s the surprise PC hit of the year (so far, anyway!), and while it’s had a litany of technical problems, it’s also a lot of fun. If…

And You Thought YOU Were Excited About Elder Scrolls V

There’s a new Elder Scrolls game coming! That’s enough to get most fans of the series excited, but not this guy. He gets really excited. Excited enough to go questing It’s the work of web animation darling Harry Partridge (of Saturday Morning Watchmen fame), who normally focuses on things other than gaming. The way he…

Bet You Couldn’t Play Fallout With Your Chin

This is Gareth. He’s playing through the early stages of Fallout: New Vegas on the PC. Why are we watching him? Because he can play it without using his hands. Gareth, who through disability does not have the use of his hands, is able to customise a game’s controls to the degree that he can…

Would You Do A Game After Spending Five Seconds With It?

Gearbox Software’s Randy Pitchford does a delightful job of explaining the need for a game to “hook” the player. It can be heard on the latest instalment of the always-excellent Irrational Interviews podcast

A Boy Screams As He Is Locked In An Invisible Prison

Griefing. The act of undermining another’s online gaming experience. It’s usually a dirty word, one associated with cretins and assholes. Yet when applied to the right target, it can also be associated with great things. This is Garry’s Mod. It’s a PC “game” based on Valve’s Source Engine, and lets people run around just…doing stuff…

Saints Row III Out This Fall

Publisher THQ said today that Saints Row III will be out this Fall. Fingers crossed for more Busey Teeth

Guile, You Would Be Perfect On The Simpsons

Simpsons fan artist Dean Fraser revisits the world of Street Fighter to show us a man whose haircut would actually fit right in on the animated series. Impressive! As impressive at is, however, we know as well as you that Guile’s theme not only goes with everything, but makes everything better. Even Guile. [Street Fighter:…

Ship “Wreck” Maroons Video Game Launch

Upcoming PC title Two Worlds II was supposed to launch in the UK tomorrow. That launch has been pushed back to the end of February, however, after the freighter carrying all the games had a little trouble “We just received the container from China with the Collector’s Edition and other components and they are wrecked,”…

Microsoft’s First Console Adventure Was A Lesson In Failure

Like most other things associated with Sega’s ill-fated Dreamcast console, it’s been largely forgotten that the ahead-of-its-time machine featured the first ever console appearance (at least in terms of the console itself) for a company by the name of Microsoft. While Microsoft would of course enter the console business properly with the Xbox in 2001,…

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