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Cars Love Gran Turismo 5 Too!
If you thought the first Japanese TV commercial for Gran Turismo 5 – the one with the toy cars – was fun, it’s more fun when the toys are swapped out for dozens of real cars. I lost count of the number of different cars I saw in this ad, but suffice to say, it’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 18, 2010 -
Sorting Fact From Fiction In Call Of Duty: Black Ops
For a game based on a historical period and littered with historical figures, the latest Call of Duty game sure does take a lot of liberties with, well, history. So let’s try and sort the fact from the fiction. Call of Duty: Black Ops takes place during the Cold War, a period of time in…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
Video Game Characters Are Older Than You Think
How old is your favourite video game character? Ten? Twenty? That’s nothing. Some of Nintendo’s characters are as old as the 121 year-old company itself if these old black & white photos are anything to go by. They’re the work of David Cole, who has placed some of Nintendo’s most iconic characters not in screenshots…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
This Isn’t “Character Creation”, It’s More Amazing Than That
Have you ever created a character in your own (or somebody else’s) likeness in a game? Oblivion, perhaps? Or FIFA? If you have, no matter how good it looked, it suddenly looks like crap next to this. This is the new character creation suite for space MMO EVE Online, currently being tested out by the…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
NSFW: Mario Shouldn’t Have To Put Up With This
Mario has endured many trials over the decades. Fire. Monsters. Bad mushrooms. And he’s overcome them all. But racism? That’s something else entirely (click through for the NSFW punchline). By the always-excellent John “Waffle House Ninja” Pading. As seen on 1UP, via 4CR
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
Thousands Of Years Of Time Travel, All In One Spot
Normal calendars show twelve months of the year, have some public holidays and pictures of either puppies, paintings or boobs. Booooring. We prefer ones that feature thousands of months, Chrono Trigger and Timesplitters. Graphic designer Alex Griendling, whose Left 4 Dead “movie” poster we featured a few months back, has now made this, the 2011…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
We Would Never Play A Game Set In Bullcrapistan
Six Days In Fallujah, a game based on the recent war in Iraq, was deemed too controversial by its publishers Konami and dropped. Developers Atomic Games still hope it’ll see a release. Some day. Despite languishing incomplete and without backing from a publisher to finish the project, Peter Tamte, Atomic’s president, believes that the artistic…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
How To Hack Kinect
You’ve seen the kind of cool stuff people can get up to when they hack their Kinect. Now you can too, with this simple rather complex guide. Adafruit, the team behind the recent “bounty” on hacking Microsoft’s new motion-sensing peripheral, have posted an in-depth and incredibly technical guide on how to get the camera doing…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
Play Minecraft On Your Fridge
And I don’t mean on one of those fancy fridges with the computer screens on them. I mean play PC indie smash hit Minecraft on a normal, everyday refrigerator, with this handy magnet set. At just $10 for 64 tiles, it’s a steal for those who feel the need to mine the crap out of…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
Why The Hell Does The PS3 Need Another Movie Service?
In North America, the PlayStation 3 currently plays host to Netflix, Hulu and Sony’s own Video Marketplace. Now, Sony has decided to offer another video delivery service, bringing VUDU to American PS3s. VUDU is a video marketplace that lets PS3 owners rent or purchase movies by streaming them. And while it may seem farcical to…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
Korean Kid Murders Mother Then Kills Himself Over “Internet Games”
A sad reminder tonight that video games don’t always end up in good times: a 15 year-old boy from South Korea has murdered his mother then killed himself following “a fight over Internet games”. The boy, from Busan in Korea’s south-east, got into an argument on Monday night with his mother when she “scolded” him…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
Are You Good Enough At Gran Turismo To Race A Real Car?
Having previously been restricted to Europe and Australasia, the Gran Turismo Academy is now open to North Americans as well. What this means is that the best GT5 players can now compete for a spot on a real race team. Sounds bananas, but that’s exactly how it works, and has worked in PAL territories for…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 17, 2010 -
Call Of Duty Looks More Fun When The Computer Does All The Shooting
Your AI buddies in Black Ops may not be able to shoot the hinges, but they can shoot hundreds of heavily-armed soldiers, and do it so well you can clear a level without firing a single shot. Those must be some hinges! And OK, so ONE shot is fired, but we can overlook a glorifed…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2010 -
Would You Buy Half A Game Now And Pay For The Rest Later?
Rod Cousens, CEO of Codemasters, has an idea on how to solve the growing dispute between publishers and retailers over pre-owned sales: sell you part of a game now then have you download the rest later. The battle, which has gotten rather public over the past twelve months, is over the revenues retailers like GameStop…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2010 -
Stormtroopers Wanted, Enquire Within
While the world waits for somebody to actually get a Battlefront game finished, fans of multiplayer Star Wars shooters may have to settle for a four-player game for the iPhone. Star Wars: Imperial Academy — which should be out in the U.S. any day now (it’s already available in Canada) — pits the player as…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2010 -
Turning Old Genres Into New Games
A good adventure game needs two things: tricky puzzles and pretty graphics. Kaptain Brawe certainly has the latter covered. It’s a new point-and-click adventure game made in the style of old point-and-click adventure games (think Day of the Tentacle), and from what we played of the demo, Kaptain Brawe is shaping up quite nicely. You…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2010 -
PS3 Racer Gets In Touch With Its Musical Side
While I’d forgotten all about PS3 game Modnation Racers, I could never forget about rhythm action game Gitaroo Man. So it’s lovely seeing the two come together like this, helping each other out. User D-Mise has used Modnation’s robust character-creation tools to whip up what must surely be one of the most impressive things we’ve…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2010 -
Xbox 360 Over-Heating? You Could Always Try This
The Xbox 360’s famous Red Ring Of Death was usually caused by over-heating inside the console. We’ve seen many backyard solutions claiming to fix this, but none as elaborate — or possibly effective — as this. It may not be easy on the eye, and certainly won’t win any awards for style, but piping a…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2010 -
Can Microsoft’s New Online Store Compete With Steam?
As expected, Microsoft’s new online shopfront for PC games has gone live. We were promised a bigger, better store. So has it delivered? I don’t like it. Not yet, anyways. It certainly looks pretty, its minimal appearance a nice break from Steam’s clutter of buttons and menus and buttons within menus within menus. This theme…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 16, 2010
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