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‘Blowing Up’ a Best Buy Was Just a Figure of Speech, Says Modern Warfare Fan Facing a Shitload of Trouble
Described in a police report as plotting to blow up a Best Buy and murder its employees because they didn’t have his preordered copy of Modern Warfare 3, a Denver-area man says his upset outburst was interpreted to an illogical extreme just to punish him for being upset on the game’s highly anticipated rollout night.…
By Owen Good -
NBA 2K11 Resuscitates Online Support in Wake of 2K12‘s Multiplayer Woes
Scheduled for termination this month, online multiplayer support for NBA 2K11 is being extended until April 2012, another tacit acknowledgment by 2K Sports of the ongoing problems in NBA 2K12‘s online feature set. Last week, 2K Sports said it was taking down the servers for last year’s game, barely a year after release. While 2K…
By Owen Good -
What the PSN Outage Tells Us About the Steam Hack
While the scope of the Steam Hack remains to be seen, for millions of gamers its early developments—indeed, even Valve’s early statements—match those of this spring’s notorious PlayStation Network outage, which may provide a guidepost for what is to come. Earlier today, Valve confirmed that a database containing private information, including encrypted credit card information…
By Owen Good -
Steam Hacked, Valve Investigating Possible Credit Card Theft
A message sent just now from Valve Corporation head Gabe Newell says credit card numbers and other personal information were inside a database compromised during a defacement attack on the Steam forums this Sunday. Valve is advising all of its Steam customers to keep close eye on their credit card activity, as those numbers were…
By Owen Good -
Simpsons! Simpsons Arcade Here! Who’s Ready?!
A listing with Australia’s Classification Board says The Simpsons, the fondly remembered arcade beat-em-up, is coming soon to modern platforms. The certificate says that Backbone Entertainment, linked to SEGA ports, is handling the game, to be published by Konami. Konami handled another port of a revered arcade brawler last year, X-Men The Simpsons Arcade likely…
By Owen Good -
Million-Dollar Grant Seeks to Spark Young Gamers’ Interest in Science
The National Science Foundation is funding a project at N.C. State University [pictured above] to develop a video game that helps improve computer science knowledge retention in middle school kids. The NSF called the $1 million grant to State necessary in light of the decline in students enrolled in the so-called STEM fields – science,…
By Owen Good -
Red Sox’ Gonzalez is The Show‘s Cover Star
“Well played, Mauer,” appears to be finished as a catch phrase for MLB The Show with today’s naming of Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez as the cover star for next year’s edition of the game. He displaces the Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer, who held the packshot for the past two years. Sony dated the game, too,…
By Owen Good -
Fight Night Champion Offers Its Modes a la Carte on PSN
As tipped off yesterday, Fight Night Champion is being offered a la carte over PlayStation Network beginning today—gamers can buy the boxing title’s “Champion Mode,” the cinematic narrative of fictious boxer Andre Bishop, for $5. If they enjoy that, they can add other game modes on a piecemeal basis. EA Sports made it official with…
By Owen Good -
Should You Buy Super Mario 3D Land? Yes.
Eight months after the 3DS’ North American debut, Mario at last debuts on the handheld in Super Mario 3D Land. Nintendo is keen for a big hit to energize interest in the device, and they’ve put their best plumber on the job. Should you hire his services too? Owen Good, the Sports Guy Who Went…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
Sonic Generations: The Kotaku Review
Even after 20 years, it’s amazing how quickly muscle memory returns. And not just in the hands or the arms; I’m talking in the extraocular muscles—the ones that move your eyeballs. Blasting through that first, long runway that opens good old Green Hill Zone, Sonic the Hedgehog plowed headfirst into a garden-variety badnik. On restart,…
By Owen Good -
Wham, Bam, Thanks M.O.D.A.M.
Wham, Bam, Thanks M.O.D.A.M. That’s not M.O.D.O.K. in drag. That’s M.O.D.A.M., and she’s an alternate costume in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. You can see many more alternates through Marvel’s and Capcom’s blogs. The Sports Video Games of the Year Rarely considered for overall video-game-of-the-year honors, the uncommon diversity of sports video games support a…
By Owen Good -
Pirates Unwelcome at Swedish Games Expo
Sweden’s Pirate Party had a booth all paid for at this weekend’s Gamex, the nation’s largest video games expo, until someone from Gamex came to their senses, phoned the pirates and said GTFO. The real head-scratcher is why, as Piratpartiet says, they were invited in the first place. Indeed, there’s the party name on the…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Warfare Recipients
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 releases on PC and all three consoles on Tuesday, (with a separate version for the DS). The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim arrives Friday for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 is also out Friday. Tuesday also sees the special editions Metal Gear Solid HD Collection…
By Owen Good -
Kevin Butler Thanks You for Not Rage Quitting
You don’t have to be any good at video games to get a hat-tip from Kevin Butler. In fact, you can be quite terrible at them, as Legit Bitness is here. What seems to matter most in PlayStation’s ongoing thank-the-average fan campaign on YouTube, is that you play a PS3 exclusive. Still, this one touches…
By Owen Good -
Namco’s Game Changers
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. •Namco’s Top 5 Revolutionary Firsts [Ranker] A couple of these stretch the definition a bit (I’m not sure Namco intended to create Pac-Man as a…
By Owen Good -
Trials HD Studio Explains Why It Sold Out to Ubisoft
Earlier this week RedLynx, the studio behind the Xbox Live Arcade smash Trials HD, announced that Ubisoft had bought up the independent developer. Once RedLynx finishes Trials Evolution, to be published by Microsoft, it will officially join Ubisoft’s in-house stable of some 25 studios. Speaking to Edge, RedLynx’s co-found Antti Ilvessuo said they didn’t mind…
By Owen Good -
UFC Undisputed 3 Shifts Its Release Date to February
In a UFC broadcast last week, THQ in slipped word of a publishing delay for UFC Undisputed 3. The game now will release on Feb. 14, after originally being planned for January. That means UFC 3 will now go head-to-head with EA Sports’ SSX, a rather bold choice as UFC 3 would have held January…
By Owen Good -
Bird Games
Two children playing the Angry Birds tabletop game. Aren’t they happy? Yes. Aren’t they adorable? Absolutely. But are those kids funny? Not yet. That’s where y’all come in this week. These exercises are kind of like a deranged rorschach test. What do you see? I see two child models earning money for their parents by…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Happy Standard Time Solstice everybody! I hope you used your extra hour of sleep productively rather than, well. for sleep. You probably used it for sleep, didn’t you. Yeah. I did too. Thanks to pan1da7 for today’s TAYpic. Want to be featured atop Talk Amongst Yourselves? Just get the image in this thread and add…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Sunday Comics: Generational Conflict
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. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Nov. =4.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik published Nov. 2.—Read more of Penny Arcade…
By Owen Good
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