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If This is a Practice Mode for NBA Live 14, Better Late Than Never
This weekend NBA Live 14 rolled out a patch, but cautioned it was more of a building-block update, designed mostly to help future patches improve the game more conspicuously. The team also dropped this tutorial video, which is notable because it appears to show a new practice mode. The lack of a practice mode may…
By Owen Good -
Owen’s Top 8 Games of 2013
This year I turned 40 and, looking back, my gaming habits appear to have aged as well. In 2013, I probably acquired more titles and played fewer of them, overall, than in any other year. My pile of shame is so large it might spontaneously combust. Some of this is because I’m the site’s jock,…
By Owen Good -
DayZ Holiday Cease-Fire Will Be a Nice Moment or Greatest Troll Ever
DayZ‘s standalone alpha was released last week and you know what that means: A shitload of overly trusting newspawns to grief. Pardon me for being cynical, but a proposed “cease fire” on Christmas Day absolutely reeks of a trap. A hilarious trap, if it is one. The cease-fire proposal was posted four days ago on…
By Owen Good -
Drunk Gran Turismo Champion Drives About as Well as I Do Sober
Responsible Young Drivers, despite its English name, is a Belgian advocacy group that, well, advocates responsible driving for the young. What better way to illustrate that than with a video game, and a smashed driver behind the wheel? Tina was skeptical that AMO_RACING87, the top Gran Turismo driver in all of Belgium, was really this…
By Owen Good -
Dead MMO’s World Could Live On as an Explorable Relic, says Developer
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning closed down on Wednesday when the licensing agreement Electronic Arts had with Games Workshop ended. A developer who worked on the game says there is a way to preserve its world in a kind of museum-exhibit way, should EA choose to release it. Andrew Meggs, who was the lead client…
By Owen Good -
The Creepiest Legend of Zelda Character Gets His Own Live Action Movie
Here’s an early Christmas present for Legend of Zelda fans: a live-action preamble to the story of Majora’s Mask, giving the backstory of the Skull Kid who stole it, fell under its spell, and emerged as the principal antagonist of the game. Majora’s Mask Live Action: The Skull Kid was written, directed, produced and edited…
By Owen Good -
Problem Gaming: When You Take Five iPads Into The Shower
“I hate my job,” George Yao told The New York Times. After moving across the country to a tiny apartment, to a city where he had no friends, he found an outlet in Clash of Clans. Then Yao found himself standing in the shower with five iPads—individually bagged—struggling to preserve his No. 1 ranking in…
By Owen Good -
Nine Years Later, Latin America’s Leagues Keep MVP Baseball Alive
We are nearing the 10-year anniversary of the licensing deal that killed MVP Baseball, yet still the game lives on—on PC, even—thanks to “MVP Caribe,” a celebration of Latin American baseball that just published its seventh “total conversion” mod. “MVP Caribe,” the work of a team of modders from across Latin America, replaces teams in…
By Owen Good -
Cops Say Man Broke Baby’s Leg When Diaper Change Interrupted His Game
A Florida man is in jail without bond after authorities say he broke a one-month-old child’s leg when he was interrupted from a video game to change the infant’s diaper. Paul Lejeunesse, 20, of Citrus County Fla. faces a charge of aggravated child abuse and, according to a report filed by child protection authorities, appears…
By Owen Good -
Culture
The Week in Games: PS4 Pinball and Spartan Assault
By God, we are going to wring every last new game out of this year if it’s the last thing we do. And sure enough there are a couple of digital releases worth a look this Christmas week. But the hay is in the barn for 2013, folks. That’s why the Steam Holiday Sale is…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: ‘Shop Talk
Let’s go ahead and give credit to reader JustWaitingForAMate for this idea. This week Luke wrote about Nintendo’s first electronic toy—a walkie-talkie from the mid-1960s. “Does this scream Kotaku photoshop contest to anyone else?” wrote JWFAM. Well, it did to me. Some folks already took to the comments of that post with ‘Shops of their…
By Owen Good -
NBA Live Gets Its First Patch, but Don’t Expect It to Change Much
NBA Live 14 showed a lot of problems at release a month ago—problems EA Sports vowed to fix through title updates. They rolled out the first patch for the game on Friday and, like everything else with this series for the past three years, it’s another promise this will be a good game at some…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Sunday Comics: It’s the Thought That Counts
Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best in video game webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Dec. 16. Read more of Penny Arcade Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Dec. 16. Read more of Awkward Zombie…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: The Ballad of Greychalk: The Winners
Two weeks ago The New York Times revealed the National Security Agency was operating from a base within the Goldshire Inn on the Moon Guard server of World of Warcraft. These communiques compromised Greychalk, who is the NSA section chief for Azeroth—and the subject of our latest ‘Shop Contest! Congratulations to CATSOLDIER, the overall No.…
By Owen Good -
After the Sandy Hook school massacre last year, Antwand Pearman of GamerFitNation organized a “cease fire” day during which gamers avoided first-person shooters and other violent games. Today is the second Cease-Fire, a statement against gun violence and supporting victims of it. The Cease-Fire lasts to midnight. “It’s an opportunity for gamers to show that…
By Owen Good -
Peggle 2 Marriage Proposal Level Had ‘Nope,’ Just In Case
Rob and Shireen are bigtime Peggle fans. Big enough that Rob went to PopCap and asked if they’d help him pop the question. Hell yes they would! Game studios love this kind of thing. But just in case Rob and Shireen weren’t like, an actual thing, Peggle 2 made sure to leave a way out.…
By Owen Good -
Woman Tortured as Kidnappers Demand a PSP for Her Release
A Las Vegas woman was tied to a chair for six hours, had her head shaved and was forced to take pills and drink alcoholic drinks while her captors demanded a PSP as ransom, according to local news reports yesterday. Both suspects are still at large. The victim, a 30-year-old woman, also had had her…
By Owen Good -
PS4, Xbox One ‘May Use 3 Times More Power’ Than the Last Generation [Corrected]
I just got my power bill for Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, and while I was ready for a big number after switching from oil to a heat pump, I’m wondering if my PS4 and Xbox One weren’t the real culprits. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, I can expect to pay $150 in…
By Owen Good
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