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Culture
Sunday Comics: Bone-Headed
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. Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik published Aug. 20.—Read more of Penny Arcade Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Aug. 20.—Read more of Awkward Zombie…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Raising Excitement: The Winners
Farming Simulator 2012 is coming out very soon, and if that doesn’t blow up your skirt, well, join the club. So we invited our skilled artisans to sex up the recreation of the means by which society is fed. We’ve got all the finalists inside, plus overall winner yuaiya! Leading off, it’s simple, it’s silly,…
By Owen Good -
Recreate Neil Armstrong’s Landing on the Moon in this Tough Video Game
Neil A. Armstrong, first human to set foot on extraterrestrial soil, died today at age 82. His name figured tangentially in the continuities of some science fiction games—the Armstrong Nebula in Mass Effect was a notable tribute (two other nebulae also were named for early space explorers in that game.) Moon landings have been featured…
By Owen Good -
Lionel Messi Headlines FIFA 13‘s Lineup of Cover Stars
Lionel Messi, who once starred on the cover of two editions of Pro Evolution Soccer, will star on the cover of FIFA 13 in all regions when the game releases Sept. 25. He’ll be joined by other popular players local to other regions getting a separate cover. That’s the main cover art at right. The…
By Owen Good -
The Amalur MMO was Fun, Says a Former 38 Studios Employee. And Here Are Three Gameplay Videos to Prove It
All we’ve seen so far of “Project Copernicus,” the Kingdoms of Amalur MMO lost in the collapse of developer 38 Studios, are still shots and videos of in-game environments. It’s helped build up the idea that the game might have been pretty, but it wasn’t any good. Curt Schilling, the 38 Studios owner, himself said…
By Owen Good -
Happy Wars is Xbox Live’s First Free-to-Play Game
Last year there was a lot of rumbling about Xbox Live someday offering free-to-play video games. Well, that day is coming soon. Happy Wars, by ToyLogic, will be available for free to all Xbox Live Goldmembers this fall. The game promises “large scale multiplayer action” that supports up to 30 players in a single battle.…
By Owen Good -
The Moneysaver: Guild and Gridiron
Two big releases highlight the coming week, one of which, Guild Wars 2, is offering early access to those who preordered the game, beginning today. If you didn’t and want to get in on the action, you can grab it for $12 to $14 off, depending on which version you want. Madden NFL also offers…
By Owen Good -
Well, One Guy Kept His Job at OnLive
That would be the CEO, Steve Perlman. More than 200 other employees were summarily dismissed when the cloud-gaming service caved in last week, though a corporate statement said half would be hired back, and others offered consulting gigs. That doesn’t exactly shut down speculation that this “rebooting” of the company was meant to vaporize employees’…
By Owen Good -
Nintendo Wants to Celebrate Kirby’s Birthday With Chewing Gum
Kirby’s 20th birthday is this year, and Nintendo plans to observe it with a stunt at PAX Prime on Sept. 1. They’re trying to get more than 304 people together in the same place to collectively blow chewing-gum bubbles, which would set a Guinness World Record. Given how solicitous Guinness is of video game companies…
By Owen Good -
President Obama Isn’t In Madden‘s Championship Scene—But He’s Still On For NBA 2K13
One feature I was keen to check on in Madden NFL 13 was its treatment of the Super Bowl postgame. The past two years have included a trip to the virtual White House, complete with an in-game President Obama, for the winning team. That doesn’t happen in Madden 13 The reasons are very understandable. One,…
By Owen Good -
Madden NFL 13 Delivers the Ultimate Throwback Look: No Facemasks
Creating my player in Madden NFL 13, I was startled and confused by the new helmet options. There was the Riddell TK, and the Wilson F2000. Neither had a facemask. You could put a modern-day visor on them, in clear plastic, smoke or dark, but still there was nothing standing between Brian Urlacher’s forearm and…
By Owen Good -
ReviewsMadden NFL 13: The Kotaku Review
The question is asked every year and yet it seems irrelevant for a franchise with no competition: “Is this the best Madden ever?” It’s a high and a low bar at the same time. Of course it should be the best Madden ever. They had a year to update and improve the last one, after…
By Owen Good -
EA Sports Gets to Work Putting Assassin’s Creed Canoeing Into Madden
Best Buy got a little too enthusiastic with its promotional copy for Madden NFL 13, promising features such as “slow-motion chain kills,” pickpocketing unsuspecting victims, and a new pursuit system involving a canoe. Truly, this is how you innovate in the sports genre. Yes, obviously, some Best Buy web manager accidentally copypasted a bullet point…
By Owen Good -
The Most Pointless Twitter Feud Happened Today Among Sega and a Bunch of Sonic Roleplayers
Are you role-playing a Sonic the Hedgehog character—even an extremely minor one—on Twitter? You better tell everyone your account isn’t official, otherwise Sega is going to call you out, and turn your colleagues on you, requiring a lot of double-parenthetical out-of-character tweets. And nobody wants that. The most insane foofaraw involving Sega’s official Twitter and…
By Owen Good
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