Owen Good, Author at Kotaku

Why I Created the ‘Washington Whiteskins’ in a Football Video Game

A few months ago a guy reached out to me over Twitter with a common question, but for an unusual purpose. He asked if gamers can create or rename teams in Madden NFL. No, I replied, that hasn’t been a feature for several years. His reason for asking is probably why: the guy wanted to…

By Owen Good Published September 21, 2013

Capcom’s PS4-Exclusive Deep Down Will Be Free-to-Play

Deep Down, Capcom’s strange, beautiful, displaced-time online RPG, is going to be free-to-play, and its beta will appear “near the launch of the PlayStation 4 in Japan,” Sony’s president of worldwide studios said via Twitter after the news was announced at Tokyo Game Show earlier today. As was revealed earlier this week, PlayStation 4 will…

By Owen Good Published September 21, 2013

Why the PS4 is Waiting Until February to Launch in Japan

A dearth of Japan-focused titles is why Sony is slowing the roll of the PlayStation 4 there until Feb. 22. In fact, western appetite for a next-generation console well outpaces that in Sony’s home country, said company executives to Eurogamer “Perhaps you could say that a few western developers have been more aggresive in readying…

By Owen Good Published September 21, 2013

Culture

Vote on Your New Sunday Comics Lineup!

OK, first a mea culpa. It was dumb of me to open a call for nominations for new strips in our Sunday Comics feature and then go on vacation. I promise I did not forget about this. In fact, we’ve got a good list of nine new candidates, and right now you get to vote…

By Owen Good Published September 21, 2013

Before Violent Video Games, There Were Just Plain Violent Games

Covering sports video games means I can take a break from the politically motivated and manipulated controversy of What Must We Do About Violent Video Games. Well, gee, thanks PBS. As this discussion argues, it turns out sports were simply society’s first violent games. Wrestling, as host Jamin Warren (of Kill Screen) notes, is basically…

By Owen Good Published September 11, 2013

Attack on Titan‘s Opening—Starring the Cast of Super Mario Bros. 3

Uploaded in July, about a thousand or so people have viewed this fan’s virtuoso recreation of Attack on Titan‘s opening using Super Mario Bros. 3 sprites. The Bill Blaster at the one-minute mark, followed by the billowing Mushroom Kingdom standard and the squadron of Tanooki Toads—this is strict attention to detail. Dedicated Attack on Titan…

By Owen Good Published September 11, 2013

Developer Jailed on Immigration Charges After Swimming to the U.S. [UPDATE]

An independent games developer is in custody and charged with violating U.S. immigration law after allegedly swimming the Detroit River, which forms the U.S.-Canadian border, to gain entry to the country. Sam Smolders (pictured), creator of the role-playing game Victim of Xen, was found by border agents around 2 a.m. on Thursday, soaking wet on…

By Owen Good Published September 11, 2013

Culture

Go to Hell and Back in Under Seven Minutes with This Spelunky Speedrun

Speedruns on most games don’t particularly enthrall me though I do acknowledge the skill and knowledge it takes to pull off one in record time. This sub-7 minute dash through Spelunky is a different story—probably because of the element of luck involved in procedurally generated levels. And the fact Spelunky‘s damn hard. Spelunky is a…

By Owen Good Published September 10, 2013

Two Quarterbacks, One Eyebrow: Madden Brokers a Ridiculous Bet

EA Sports managed to goad Madden NFL pitchmen Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson into making one incredibly ridiculous bet when their teams meet next week: The loser will shave off an eyebrow. Not in the game, either, in real life. In fact, some unibrow options notwithstanding, players can’t be given a single eyebrow in Madden…

By Owen Good Published September 10, 2013

Neighbors of Xbox Burglary Victim Suffer Shirtless Scare

Crime is a constant feature of video games writing. Somewhere, someone is doing something illicit with them—sometimes comically stupid, sometimes tragic. Games and consoles are currency, objects of dispute, sometimes even weapons themselves. Kotaku‘s Police Blotter is here to round up the latest in games crime. He’s Fed Up and Wants Answers Now, Dammit LORAIN,…

By Owen Good Published September 9, 2013

The free-to-play “StarCraft MMO,” StarCraft Universe, being made with Blizzard’s approval—surpassed its $80,000 funding goal on Kickstarter with a day left in the campaign. A five-player boss raid demo (that’s the video) released in the last week of the drive is credited with pushing the team over the top.

By Owen Good Published September 9, 2013

Activision Hires Big-Time Lobbying Firm as Violent Games Bill Looms

Activision has gone out and hired a lobbyist—one of the biggest lobbying firms in Washington—for representation when Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s violent video games bill, which would order research into any causal links between violent video games and violent behavior, comes to the Senate floor. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is no joke. It’s a…

By Owen Good Published September 9, 2013

Watch Some Hot Sexy Xbox One Dashboard Action, Right Now

[Update:] The video has since been removed. Someone with a copy of Ryse and, apparently, an Xbox One or hardware strong enough to run that game, released this video yesterday, showing less about the game and the new console and more about how the dashboard performs on it. Awesome. The Xbox One dashboard. That really…