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Bethesda Settles Lawsuit with Mojang, Whose Next Game Can Be Called Scrolls
Over Twitter, Mojang founder and Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson said his company and Bethesda Softworks reached a settlement in their trademark dispute over Scrolls, the name Mojang has chosen for its next game. “The settlement is that we give them the trademark, get to keep the name, and won’t make an Elder Scrolls competitor…
By Owen Good -
Even if the Audio is Faked, Fat Mega Man’s Street Fighter X Tekken Ending is Just … Bizarre
The guy who uploaded this admits the audio is dubbed over, but he says that it’s the English sound file from the the on-disc DLC of Street Fighter X Tekken This is the ending for Original Box Art Mega Man, who releases (with Pac-Man) for free on Tuesday, and he name-checks two major publishers, including…
By Owen Good -
Expansion Plans
StarCraft II‘s next expansion, Heart of the Swarm is available for pre-order—at two different prices—so be sure to pick the one that’s about $20 less while it still lasts. That value, plus discounts on this week’s new releases, and next week’s too, highlight this 60-deal edition of The Moneysaver Software • StarCraft II: Heart of…
By Owen Good -
Can We All Please Ignore Roger Ebert From Now On? Thanks.
Let’s stop giving a shit what Roger Ebert says about video games, and art, OK? We’ve tried like hell to make him into a punching bag, and neither he nor the rest of America gives a crap for the fact we choose to feel so insulted every time he says something about video games. This…
By Owen Good -
The Week in Evil DLC
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? Street Fighter X Tekken: The Dirty Dozen Available:…
By Owen Good -
Backhanded Box Quotes: ‘I’d Rather Be Sodomized’
Welcome to “Backhanded Box Quotes,” a collection of super pissed-off user reviews from people just like you! Whoa, whoa, don’t take that personal. This week, Backhanded Box Quotes could have given over the entire feature to the fanboy backlash against Mass Effect 3. There are many day-one complaints against the space-opera RPG below, and also…
By Owen Good -
Biff Tannen’s Special Tournament Edition Gives You All the Conference Champions Right Now!
Hey, are you a sports fan on the go? Who has time these days to watch the big game, or bother with messy DVR, or boring highlight shows? With Biff Tannen’s Sports Almanac, we’ll give you the weekend’s biggest matchups before they happen, thanks to these highly accurate peer-reviewed scientific simulations of sports video gaming’s…
By Owen Good -
ReviewsMLB 12: The Show: The Kotaku Review
When you have done so much right for so long, to the point that very little needs to be changed, the paradox of your success is that what you offer risks becoming stale. For years, MLB The Show has been one of the most universally acclaimed video games, regardless of genre, and its improvements—while observable—sometimes…
By Owen Good -
NFL Kicker Is Up, and It’s Good
I figured I had the perfect last name for an NFL placekicker. I’d come in and toe an impossibly long game-winner in the Super Bowl, and the next day, over a picture of me with both arms raised, the banner headline would read “IT’S GOOD.” Of course I am. The truth is that the breed…
By Owen Good -
In One of the Greatest Comebacks in Sports History, Fans Fund “The Tecmo Bowl MMO”
Two days ago, the “Tecmo Bowl MMO” was left for dead, less than halfway to its funding goal on Kickstarter. Today was the deadline for the game. If it didn’t raise $7,500, every cent contributed would be lost. In a last ditch effort, Gridiron Heroes‘ project leader, Dave Murray, asked me, Operation Sports, and Epic…
By Owen Good -
How to Make 10 Million Sound Like an Unimpressive Number
At GDC, Sony engineer Gabe Ahn proclaimed that 10 million PlayStation Move units have been shipped to retailers since the motion-control system was released in late 2010. Yeah, that’s “shipped,” not necessarily “sold,” but we can infer a decent portion of them have at least cleared shelves. Of course, included in that total is the…
By Owen Good -
Trust Us, Install The Witcher 2 to the 360’s Hard Drive, Says Studio
It sounds like the console port of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, one of the top-role playing games as a PC-only release in 2011, will need a hard drive installation. Otherwise, well, enjoy the slow loading times and janky visuals, says the game’s studio. “If it’s possible to install the game [then do so],…
By Owen Good -
No. 18 Leaves TEAM_ID 10
Of all the things written, posted, tweeted, shouted or cried about the end of Peyton Manning’s tenure in Indianapolis, I thought one of the most poignant came from a guy who has gotten to know him very well over the past decade. “Going to be weird taking Peyton Manning off of TEAM_ID 10 tomorrow,” Donny…
By Owen Good -
ReviewsMLB 2K12: The Kotaku Review
This could be the last dance for Major League Baseball 2K. For more than a year, all signs have pointed to Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of 2K Sports, leaving a licensing deal many have ridiculed from the day it was signed in 2005. 2K Sports has ended three team sports series in the past…
By Owen Good -
The Winners of the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards
Here are the winners of the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards, announced tonight at GDC 2012: Best Game Design: Portal 2 (Valve) Innovation: Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik) Best Technology: Battlefield 3 (DICE) Best Handheld/Mobile Game: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capy Games/Superbrothers) Best Audio: Portal 2 (Valve) Best Downloadable Game: Bastion (Supergiant Games)…
By Owen Good -
After Five Crummy Games, Marvel Wants No More of Sega
“No current plans” is politespeak for “this ballgame is over.” And that was the reply given by Marvel’s senior executive responsible for video games production, when asked what the future holds for the publishing label and Sega. “There are no current plans for additional Marvel games to be published by Sega,” T.Q. Jefferson told The…
By Owen Good -
You Lived to See the Day When the Cubs Finally Win the World Series
I was on a six-hour flight back from Washington last week and struck up a conversation with my seatmate, a woman who was, literally, a brain surgeon from Arizona. She asked what I do, and I told her, and she asked me what value sports video games provide that playing an actual sport does not.…
By Owen Good -
Who’ll Win the First Round of Madden‘s Cover Contest (I Think)
EA Sports yesterday completed its announcement of the field of 64 candidates for the cover of Madden NFL 13, and opened voting today in its joint promotion with ESPN. Having tried to predict the entire field before it was announced (I went 38 for 62), I’m now going pick who wins the play-in round. How…
By Owen Good -
Trying to Recapture that First-Time Feeling of “Whoa” in Borderlands 2
I’ll never forget the moment when Borderlands—a game into which I would pour at least 60, probably 80 and maybe 100 hours—utterly hooked me. I peered through my scope at a slow, stupid, posturing Bruiser and blasted him with my newly acquired electrified sniper. I held the scope view, and watched him spasm and jerk…
By Owen Good -
A Delightful Baker’s Two Dozen
Can You Name All 26? | Here are 26 games represented in minimalist design, in alphabetical order. Can you identify all 26 right off the bat? (Video Games ABC, by YouTube’s thijlkema) Is This a Photo of Valve’s Rumored Console, Or At Least a Prototype? Less than 24 hours since the website The Verge reported…
By Owen Good
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