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Get Your GOTY: the Winners
I’ll take the blame for this. We have only 10 finalists this week because my ‘Shop Contest idea was so narrowly drawn, and invited many entries that didn’t take a lot of effort other than just slapping text on something. I think I may have outkicked my mental coverage in trying to design a contest…
By Owen Good -
inFamous Actor Gets Back in the Mo-Cap Suit, Tips off Battle Royale Appearance
If Cole McGrath, the hero of inFamous, isn’t in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale I’d really like to see what Sony-exclusive character pushes him out. So it’s not a shocker when Cole’s mo-cap actor says that he was back in a suit filming sequences recently. In a couple of Tweets yesterday, spied by VividGamer, Eric Ladin…
By Owen Good -
Maybe There will be an Avengers Video Game After All
Thursday, the day before The Avengers was released in U.S. cinemas, an Ubisoft contractor registered the domain “avengersbattleforearth.com,” reports the domain registry watchdog Fusible. There is, of course, no retail adaptation of the superhero film. Those who want to play an Avengers video game must wait until Zen Studios The Avengers table set arrives for…
By Owen Good -
Xbox Live Listing Outs the South Park RPG’s Name: The Stick of Truth
Though there has yet to be an announcement from developer Obsidian Entertainment or publisher THQ, the upcoming role-playing game set in the South Park continuity appears to have a name, according to an early listing on the Xbox Live Marketplace. It’s “The Stick of Truth.” You can see its provisional cover art at the link…
By Owen Good -
A Kotaku Reader has Big Plans, and Sees a Big Future, for the ‘Sixth Grade MMO’ He Built
If you ever complained about homework increasing as the days got longer and the weather warmer, well, the tables have been turned. Ben Bertoli is up late doing a lot of it himself as the school year ends. Bertoli, affectionately known here as the commenter GiantBoyDetective, revealed ClassRealm—described as a “sixth-grade MMO”—to the general public…
By Owen Good -
See, Video Game Covers in the U.K. are Like This and in Australia They’re Like ƨiʜT
Because of the size and position of the Australian ratings classification for video games (CTC here is a placeholder), Ubisoft had to mirror the image of the Far Cry 3 box art, in order for us to see that poor bastard buried up to his nostrils by that psychopath, posing like a dual-wielding Le Penseur…
By Owen Good -
Sony Survey Suggests New Games, Call of Duty: Elite May Be in PlayStation Plus’ Future
A marketing survey conducted by Sony suggests it’s pondering content changes to PlayStation Plus, potentially including free, full-size Blu Ray games on the day they release, and a free Call of Duty: Elite subscription, reports IGN. PlayStation Plus, the premium content service Sony launched in 2010, currently offers annual subscriptions for $49.99, or three-month subscriptions…
By Owen Good -
What Does the Military Think of ‘Militainment’?
There couldn’t have been a better time for this panel. Tuesday brought the eyebrow-arching news that Lt. Col. Oliver North was a special guest celebrity consultant of the next Call of Duty. And Friday, former Kotaku editor-in-chief Brian Crecente was on a panel with a Navy captain at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Crecente, now…
By Owen Good -
The Ghost for the Least
Still scratching your head over what to get Mom for Mother’s Day? Tell her you love her with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier! And flowers. And breakfast in bed. And a picnic lunch. And another Mother’s Day present. You should be able to afford one with all of the savings we’ve got in this week’s edition…
By Owen Good -
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
I inherited this feature from Mike McWhertor, who has been gone from Kotaku more than six months, and who I hope to see again in San Diego at Comic-Con. “Mike,” I would always say to him, “if we get fired, well, we’ll finally have time to play all the video games we never got to…
By Owen Good -
The Week in Evil DLC [Update]
Downloadable content. Everyone hates it—but everyone buys it. Yes, even you in the comments, smart guy. Here’s a look at the latest package of extensions and pre-order bonuses designed to crowbar the last dollar out of your wallet. Can you still respect yourself if you buy it? Saints Row the Third: Enter the Dominatrix Available:…
By Owen Good -
Black Ops II Chooses Someone Who Failed the Call of Duty
When you face low expectations, falling short of them doesn’t count for much either. And that’s the dirty secret of Call of Duty, which has spent four years solidifying its image as a crass chickenhawk brand thanks to some particularly dumb marketing initiatives. But hiring Lt. Col. Oliver North as a spokesman for Black Ops…
By Owen Good -
Imperfect Game: Big Problems With Million-Dollar Video Game Contest Lead to Accusations of Cheating
It is now four days since the conclusion of qualifying for the MLB 2K12 Perfect Game Challenge and there has been no official declaration of the final eight contestants. Scott Young thinks he should be one of them. And, he says, someone who is going to New York—for a shot at a million dollars—cheated. Young,…
By Owen Good -
I’ve Seen the Future of Mobile Sports Gaming and, for Better or for Worse, It Looks Like Big Win Hockey
After two years of playing console ports with virtual control pads on my iPhone, I think I’m starting to grasp the future of team sports video games on mobile devices. And it is nothing like what I play in my living room. It’s more like what I expect to play on Facebook, and Big Win…
By Owen Good -
Minecraft Creator Calls Electronic Arts a ‘Bunch of Cynical Bastards’
The hip, small-time boutique publishing label Electronic Arts revealed its “Indie Bundle” yesterday—curiously for sale over Steam and not Origin, and there was a passionate response from many observers of the video game artistic community. Including Markus “Notch” Persson, better known as the creator of uber-indie hit Minecraft “EA releases an ‘indie bundle’? That’s not…
By Owen Good -
No Instrumental Cover Has Ever Done Justice to Metroid’s “Brinstar”
We’ve heard all of the Super Mario Bros. themes performed by an orchestra. Simon Viklund’s blood-pumping update of the Bionic Commando soundtrack is still on my workout playlist. And this version of Tecmo Super Bowl‘s opening cinematic makes me eat lightning and crap thunder. The great NES chiptunes of the past have all had great…
By Owen Good -
These Are All of the Umpiring Crews—and the Parks They Work—in MLB 12 The Show
As is well known, the officiating in MLB 12 The Show can be set to a variable quality of accuracy. You can either have it perfect, or home plate umpires can have personal strike zones and tendencies, blow close plays and refuse to ring up hitters on a checked swing. Those who frequently play MLB…
By Owen Good -
Better Know an Umpire: Wally Hughes of MLB 12 The Show
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements—deliberately programmed into a computer simulation—who have ultimate decision-making power over millions of games played in MLB 12 The Show on the PlayStation 3. Name: Wally Hughes Uniform number: 67 (crew chief) Age: 57 Height/weight: 6-foot-0, 210 pounds First year as…
By Owen Good
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