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Reconsidering Mafia II in the Lights of L.A.
In the runup to the game’s release last year, Mafia II‘s development studio and publicity team tried, with limited success, to set reasonable expectations of the game. “It isn’t Grand Theft Auto,” I was told, more than once, in emails and in the game’s review notes. The talking point reflects the popular expectation, built over…
By Owen Good -
Looks Like Carmageddon’s Making a Comeback
Carmageddon‘s official site is displaying a countdown that will reach zero early the morning of June 1. The site is registered to Square-Enix, the series’ owner (acquiring it with Eidos). The series’ last release came in 2000; a Carmageddon 4 had been rumored in 2005 but was put on hold indefinitely.
By Owen Good -
Ocarina Included in Ocarina of Time 3D Premiums [Updated]
French gaming site Le Mag Jeux Video got pictures of what appear to be the official premiums for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D; it includes a wooden (or wood-patterned) pen and a plastic ocarina with the holes identified by their note. I had no idea an ocarina looked like a blue athletic…
By Owen Good -
Report Says GameFly Picking Up Digital Distribution Service
Discs-to-your-door rental service Gamefly will buy Direct2Drive from IGN, according to a report by MCV, likely expanding digital rentals’ availability over PC down the line. MCV notes that Direct2Drive had recently launched a digital rental service. Though neither IGN nor GameFly have commented on this rumor, which spread Friday, MCV says an official announcement is…
By Owen Good -
V.G. Noire
This week on Twitter a bunch of friends were cracking wise about some L.A. Noire crossovers with other video games. That seemed to be as good an idea as any for this week’s ‘Shop Contest. Don’t worry, I’ve included images. Here’s what we’re going to do: Cole Phelps is a video game cop, right? Let’s…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Listen, we can do this the easy way, or we can go down to the station. So talk! Amongst yourselves of course. About games. Welcome back to Kotaku’s official open thread. Incursor is our winner today of the #TAYpics derby. Want your handiwork featured in Talk Amongst Yourselves? Submit an image to #TAYpics (Read this…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Sunday Comics
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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published May 16. – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published May 18. – Read more of Nerf…
By Owen Good -
Welcome Back PSN: The Winners
Last week’s contest asked you to present an allegorical illustration for the glory of PlayStation Network’s return, after an agonizing 23-day outage. We ended up with one of our most-entered contests of the past four months. There are 20 finalists, but aren’t all of us the winners here? stae60 (17) and symbology (18) start us…
By Owen Good -
Tesla Orchestra Gives an Electrifying Performance of the Zelda Theme
Sometimes called the Zeusaphone, a Tesla coil’s musical application is well known and long admired. We’ve heard it with the Super Mario Bros. theme, now admire a high voltage performance of The Legend of Zelda‘s title theme by Tesla Orchestra, a group of coilers from the Case Western Reserve University student and alumni community. [Thanks…
By Owen Good -
My Workout Partner is a Role-Playing Game
Two hundred bucks. My health insurance company will give me $200 if I just go to the gym, 50 times in a six-month span. That’s about two times a week. Coming into May, I only needed seven more visits to collect the moolah. And even with cash on the barrelhead waiting, I started making excuses…
By Owen Good -
Fox News Debate of Federal Funding for Games Goes About Like You’d Expect
Here’s a video that is uncomfortable to watch on two levels. The first is that I feel terrible for Brian Ambrozy, the editor-in-chief of Icrontic, who is appearing on Fox News to try to explain why and what kind of video games are now eligible for federal arts funding. The second is the nonstop assault…
By Owen Good -
Leaked Video Gives In-Depth Look at FIFA 12 and its ‘Impact Engine’
A leaked webcast of the improvements to and new features in FIFA 12 graced YouTube earlier this week, was removed, and has returned. It’s about 10 minutes of new stuff, some of it highly technical, but for FIFAphiles, it sheds plenty of light on the “Impact Engine” anchoring this year’s batch of upgrades. Operation Sports…
By Owen Good -
Voting on TF2‘s “Saxxy” Awards Opens Today
This a nominee for “Best Replay” in Team Fortress 2‘s “Saxxy” Awards, designed to celebrate the game’s new replay camera feature. With the entry period closing yesterday, voting has begun on a field of entries numbering “in the tens of thousands,” according to Valve. The panel of jurists is anyone with a copy of the…
By Owen Good -
Indie Studio ‘Hates’ Its Name, Tries on a Size Five
“I’ve always hated the name Zombie Cow Studios,” says Zombie Cow Studios’ Dan Marshall. “It was a mistake from Day One.” So the maker of Privates and Time Gentlemen, Please! is putting in for some new letterhead and business cards with the name Size Five Games on them. “To me, it felt like the sort…
By Owen Good -
Give the B’s an A for Effort
The Boston Bruins are a tough bunch, having come back from a two-game deficit to open the first round of the NHL playoffs, and currently leading Tampa Bay 2-1 after losing the conference finals opener at home. Feeling confident, one bigtime B’s fan decided to test their mettle online against a live opponent taking the…
By Owen Good -
Fatigue Ends Q*Bert World Record Bid
It was estimated that George Leutz would have to play Q*Bert for more than 70 hours -nearly three days straight- to break a 28-year-old all-time world record. If you, like me, wondered if there was some way to stick Q*Bert in the corner of the board and grab a nap during the record attempt, evidently…
By Owen Good -
Judgment Day
May 21st, 2011, it’s gonna feel pretty fucking real to you too. Anybody not wearing 2 million sunblock is gonna have a real bad day. Get it? It figures PlayStation Network isn’t even back a week and the Earth is scheduled for destruction. Shit, I don’t even get to pick up my free copy of…
By Owen Good -
Dirt 3 Multiplayer Gets the Online Pass Treatment
Dirt 3 due out Tuesday, will also include a single-use code to enable online access – a growing trend, if not the new norm, in console games with heavy online components. The “VIP Pass” also comes with a set of five vehicles, and it’s free in retail copies. If you get a used copy of…
By Owen Good -
What Else Can We Talk About?
Folks, I am exhausted. Out-Raptured and out-wrestlered. But in our discussion group, the Earth’s prophesied demise and Randy Savage’s actual one blot out many other topics today. Let’s see what else we can yack about. • Writer Clive Thompson engages an IM chatbot trying to hustle him to a sex site, and realizes it has,…
By Owen Good
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