Owen Good

A Children’s Treasury of NBA All-Stars Shrugging

Kevin Durant wonders what the fuck is going on. What is this bullshit? Kevin Love seems to ask. Eighty-eight points in an all-star game? Are you fucking kidding LaMarcus Aldridge? To reiterate, neither Kobe Bryant nor Durant can believe this shit. I love it that this is Kobe’s signature highlight.

Puzzling Choices—Both Good and Bad—Define Furmins

Having seen enough of physics puzzles scored on one-to-three star scales, Furmins was going to have to show me something enjoyably different to get a nod in my App of the Day writeup. It did, but this game, by Housemarque, brings another unnecessary problem on itself in how it gets you to pay for it…

A Wireless Headset That Changes Channels and Gets Out of the Way

How do you review a product for something that isn’t there, and isn’t supposed to be there? That’s the distinguishing trait of the Turtle Beach X32 headset for the Xbox 360. It’s identical in nearly every way to its X31 predecessor, released in 2009, except for one. A big one. It’s the frequency at which…

Madden 13 Focusing on More Fun Defense, Says EA

News and notes from around the world of sports video gaming: • EA Sports is aiming to create “a better defense that’s more fun to play” in Madden NFL, according to Richard Hilleman, Electronic Arts’ chief creative officer. The game’s design team, which came under new management in the past year, “haven’t accepted any of…

The Ultimate Jeremy Lin Highlight Reel Arrives in the Nick of Time

Of all the tributes to the Knicks phenomenon Jeremy Lin, the best one on video might be stitched together from highlights in NBA 2K12, where Lin is currently rated a 75 and, who knows, may see the mid-80s before the end of the month. This video was cut by Operation Sports’ Shady 00018. Last night…

EA Sports Keeps NBA Live in the Game, but Can It Compete?

At the time I asked about its readiness, EA Sports’ next NBA game didn’t even have a name. Peter Moore, then the label’s boss, avoided my question and told me was doing so. “It’s in the shape you would expect it to be for a title that’s a year and four months away,” Moore said…

EA Sports Confirms the Return of NBA Live

Kyrie Irving, the NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick for 2011, appears to have outed EA Sports’ intention to return to the NBA Live name when it publishes a simulation basketball title this fall for the first time in three years. “In Orlando for #AllStar checking out the #FutureOfBasketball with @EASPORTSNBA. Get to see the…

Why the Hell is Justin Bieber Giving a Shout-Out to 2K Sports?

From the Beeb’s official Twitter: “shoutout to @Ronnie2K – everyone follow him. good people. thanks for the good time. the eye will heal. ha.” That’s a name-check from Bieber—at 17 million followers, the second-most in all of Twitter—of 2K Sports’ Ronnie Singh, the label’s digital marketing manager. It immediately followed a tweet from Singh that…

Pouring Like an Avalanche Down SSX’s First Mountain

The SSX demo landed yesterday, with the full title arriving, at last, on Tuesday, rebooting EA Sports’ much-loved snowboarding series. The last SSX release was the Wii-only Blur in 2007; before that, SSX on Tour in 2005. It’s long enough that even some old hats may feel like newcomers in the seven-year layoff this game…

Huge FIFA Roster Update Kicks Off Tomorrow

News and notes from around the world of sports video gaming: • Managing the player population for more than 30 professional leagues means that when FIFA drops a post-release roster update, it’s usually a whopper. That will arrive tomorrow, per Romily Broad, the game’s community manager. The title update will address the changes that took…

WWE Wrestlefest iPhone and iPad screens

From Tebow Time to the “Tecmo Bowl MMO”

Whatever you think of him, Tim Tebow has made a contribution—if indirect—to video games development. Last fall, as the quarterback was leading the Denver Broncos to an improbable six-game winning streak, David Murray got an idea to create a “Tecmo Tebow” image—Tebow, as an 8-bit Tecmo Super Bowl player, kneeling in the end zone. The…

You Can’t Shoot that Damn Jackal, Either

Before Asshole Dog, there was Asshole Anubis | “The Hunting of Ducks,” by Jenny Haines. This is the first of her “Games in Art” series, which is “inspired by my studies of ancient art history and my passion for gaming.” Reporter: Activision Blacklisted Us Because I Refused to Pull Call of Duty Sequel Story Yesterday,…

Syndicate-d Action

The reboot of Syndicate joins Capcom’s sci-fi/fantasy battler Asura’s Wrath as the top console releases this coming week. The rollout of the PlayStation Vita’s launch titles continues, in time for the device’s full North American release on Wednesday. Tuesday • Army Corps of Hell (PS Vita) • Asura’s Wrath (360, PS3) • Metal Gear Solid:…

Mojam Raises $440,000, but Notch’s Beard Appears to be Safe

The Humble Bundle Mojam, a weekend-long game jam by the makers of Minecraft and its friends, wrapped up about an hour ago, though Mojang, Oxeye Games Studio and Wolfire Games are still working overtime to tighten their creations, built from scratch in the past 48 hours. That screenshot above was taken when the clock hit…

Assassin’s Creed‘s Next DLC is “Lost Archive,” Says Listing

An email to GameStop customers on Friday named and priced the next downloadable content extension for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. It is called “Lost Archive,” and it will be $14.99 or 1600 Microsoft Points, for both PS3 and Xbox 360. The email said the pack would drop on Feb. 28, but that is unconfirmed.

Kotaku’s Top 5 List of Top 10 Lists

Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •The 7 Deadliest Birds in Video Games [Ranker] Not on this list: Larry Bird, in NBA Ballers •11 Hardly-Seen Sequels [Arcade Game Examiner] Frogger II:…

The Sequel No One Wanted: 2QWOP

QWOP, the notorious, accursed, and “most realistic simulation” of the 100-meter dash ever made, has a sequel. 2QWOP now delivers two-player split-screen multiplayer, good for settling stupid bets and drunken taunts among friends. In 2QWOP, the top player uses QWER to move his athletes thigh and calf muscles, while the second player uses UIOP. That…

Far Cry 3 Looks Like a First-Person Action Flick

A five-minute promotional reel of gameplay from Far Cry 3 hit YouTube late Friday, and appears to be cut to show you all the game’s set pieces as much as the game’s luxurious visuals. There’s some swearing in these clips so, headphones if you’re somewhere where hearing that is inappropriate, like church. All I recognize…

Boldly Gone [UPDATE]

Ground control to major commenters. Ground control to major commenters. Take your funny pills, and turn your photoshop on. The sheer silliness of Electronic Arts’ Mass Effect 3 marketing stunt simply cannot go to waste this week, even if the base image faces, well, some challenges. For starters, there’s not much in it to look…