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‘Grifball’ is Officially Added to Halo 4‘s Multiplayer
“Grifball,” the insane, deadly multiplayer sport Rooster Teeth created for Halo, will be featured as one of the main multiplayer modes in Halo 4, 343 Industries said yesterday at PAX 2012. GrifballHub.com supplies that video of its PAX demo. In the mod, opposing teams hustle a “grifball” back and forth on the map attempting to…
By Owen Good -
GaymerCon is Fully Funded—and Then Some—for a 2013 Meeting
GaymerCon, an effort to convene the “first gaming and geek lifestyle convention with a focus on LGBT culture,” drew backing and support from the likes of Xbox Live, Penny Arcade, and even the Sniper from Team Fortress 2, beat its funding target by a mile after its Kickstarter closed on Friday. Organizers set $25,000 as…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Art Restoration
A couple weeks back, some old lady in Spain attempted to “restore” a peeling fresco and ended up turning Jesus into, quite ironically, a caveman. As the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest is the highway to hell upon which all good intentions are paved, we’re gonna take it upon ourselves to fix some classics this week. This…
By Owen Good -
Relax, They’re Not Really Turning Final Fantasy Type-0 Into a Dating Sim
At Final Fantasy‘s 25th Anniversary event yesterday in Japan, Square Enix thought it’d pull a fast one on the audience, putting Final Fantasy Type-0 director Hajime Tabata up to revealing the concept for something called “Tokimeki Final Fantasy: Suzaku Magic Institution Peristylium: Oh no! I’m in Love With the Crystal’s Divine Guardian.” Aka a dating…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Sunday Comics: Roll a Joint
Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Aug. 28.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Aug. 27.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Assassin’s Cross-Breed: The Winners
Mixed messages in Madden‘s marketing copy gave rise to last week’s ‘Shop Contest challenge, which asked everyone to mash up Assassin’s Creed with another video game. We’ve got the weekly winners inside, plus overall No. 1 Johnny Stanley inside! [Correction] An earlier edition of this story misattributed the winning entry. Johnny Stanley is this week’s…
By Owen Good -
Do You Want a Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! Coffee Table Book? Of Course You Do.
Lots of Kickstarter video game projects come over the transom here every day, a lot of them wishful thinking. So it’s rare to see one that is both a great idea and eminently attainable, but that’s my gut feeling about a coffee table book celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! If you want…
By Owen Good -
Console Gaming’s Oldest, Still-Standing Record Was Set 30 Years Ago Today [Corrected]
Many video game records are thought to be extremely difficult, if not theoretically impossible to beat. There’s one out there that may in fact be physically impossible to surpass. It’s the fastest time in Dragster, an Activision title by Pitfall! creator David Crane, and the mark was set 30 years ago today. [Correction] Video game…
By Owen Good -
Here’s How to Throw a Hadouken—in Real Life
Babycastles, the video games arts collective, is back in New York, teaming with Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi to deliver interpretations of Mario Bros., Ms. Pac-Man and a Defender-style side-scrolling shooter. Here’s their latest concept, which brings hadoukens to real-life, sort of. Watch this video of “Throw Ball” and you’ll understand.
By Owen Good -
Alleged Domestic Terrorists Said to be Inspired by the Next Rainbow 6 Game
A video game that hasn’t even been released is said to be the inspiration for a group of soldiers charged with murder and accused of plotting terrorist acts, including the assassination of the president. Prosecutors in Long County, Ga., part of the larger community surrounding Fort Stewart, home of the Army’s Third Infantry Division, said…
By Owen Good -
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Has Screens and a Video It’d Like to Share, Too
If thought yesterday’s news of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was all you were going to hear out of this series as it celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend, well, you’re wrong. Square Enix this morning uncrated another 17 images—nine of them screenshots, the rest concept art—plus that new trailer showing gameplay, for its rebooted…
By Owen Good -
See The International Dota 2 Championships Live Here, or Watch them Via Steam
The livestream for The International Dota 2 Championships is included in our roundup of feeds coming out of (or nearby) PAX 2012, but we’re highlighting it here for you with a reminder that competition resumes at 12:30 p.m. EDT today with the semifinal rounds of the double-elimination tournament. Valve, maker of the game and sponsor…
By Owen Good -
The Moneysaver: Heed the Call
The Labor Day weekend brings us pre-order savings on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and NHL 13, plus half-off savings on Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes—but only for the DS. If you’re still looking to get in on Guild Wars 2 the standard edition isn’t seeing any discounts currently but the digital deluxe…
By Owen Good -
Backhanded Box Quotes: Cursing Madden
Welcome back to “Backhanded Box Quotes,” a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic, Amazon and elsewhere. This week’s Backhanded Box Quotes concern a game that needs no introduction: Madden NFL 13, which has somehow managed to sell a zillion copies the past eight years despite not having anything good said…
By Owen Good -
Customer Service Sucks For Those Inside the Gaming Industry, Too
Console failures don’t just happen to the little people. No, they happen to gaming industry professionals, too, and we’re happy to report they don’t get a customer service batphone and valet replacement service just because they happen to work for a major publisher, as “Frank” does here. He gets to suffer through the same tale…
By Owen Good -
The Thousands of New Animations in NBA 2K13 Include This Insane Dunk
NBA 2K13 will include, for the first time, NBA All-Star Week competitions such as the Three-Point Shootout and the dunk contest. Bet your ass you’ll see this crazy dunk (at 1:15 in the video) in the latter. The 2K Sports motion capture team brought in a duo called the Team Flight Brothers to put on…
By Owen Good -
Plants vs. Zombies Comes to Zen’s Pinball Suites Next Week
At PAX today, Zen Studios said the next table in its acclaimed pinball lineup will be Plants vs. Zombies, licensed from PopCap, makers of the tower-defense hit. Plants vs. Zombies releases with Zen Pinball 2 on PlayStation 3 and Vita (it’s a cross buy title) on Tuesday in North America, and on Wednesday in Europe.…
By Owen Good -
Spec Ops‘ Multiplayer Developer Defends Mode Called ‘Cancerous’ by the Game’s Designer
The studio responsible for the multiplayer component of Spec Ops: The Line, whose lead designer called it a “cancerous growth” foisted upon the game by publisher 2K Games, defended its work in a statement today. In a feature published earlier this week by Polygon, Cory Davis, formerly of Spec Ops developer Yager, ripped the multiplayer…
By Owen Good -
Fun, a Little Frustrating, but Still Free, One Epic Knight Gives a Good Run for the Money
I was having a fun time hustling through this dungeon, darting left, sliding, slicing up a gelatinous cube, picking up loot, when suddenly I turned splat into the wall. That’s a fitting metaphor for One Epic Knight, too. For a free game, released last week by Simutronics, whose Tiny Heroes lends its knight character to…
By Owen Good
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