Owen Good

Foul Play Battles its Demons in a Crowd-Pleasing Way

A daemonologist, a chimney sweep, a stage play in Victorian England. Foul Play could have taken its inspiration from any number of sources. In fact, a music video from 1996 is largely how developer Mediatonic ended up with these themes on this type of game, a sidescrolling beat-em-up coming to Xbox Live in mid-September. “We…

Xbox vs. PAX Pox: Looks like Microsoft took Fahey’s hygiene primer yesterday to heart, bundling Xbox-branded hand sanitizer with its display models to do its part in the fight against con crud. We haven’t seen any PlayStation Purell yet.

If you’re a fan of sports video games and you aren’t listening to the Press Row Podcast, what are you waiting for? The latest edition is out now, and I discuss the review of Madden NFL 25 with a panel of the leading writers on sports games. Hear it at Operation Sports or subscribe on…

Dragon Age‘s Save File Solution Lets You Rewrite Your History

For those who haven’t fully completed both Dragon Age I and II or, worse, lost or deleted their save files, the third installment of the series will let them build (rebuild) an entire backstory before jumping into Dragon Age: Inquisition This is good because it doesn’t appear they have a clear solution for actually importing…

Oh God, Uwe Boll’s on Kickstarter, Raising Money for Postal 2

Well, it finally happened. Uwe Boll, maker of terrible movies in general and terrible video game adaptations in specific, has gone to Kickstarter in search of money for his next flick, which of course is a sequel to 2007’s wretched Postal. He’s raised $2 so far. Boll, the creative force behind flops based on House…

Test Your Powers of Observation with NBA 2K14‘s First Big Trailer

There’s always a little bit of a Where’s Waldo game when NBA 2K releases its first big trailer in the summer. New inclusions are featured without being highlighted or called out with text. So what can you spot in this reel? Well, there appear to be customizable wristbands (as has been hinted at before); probably…

Dirty Bomb Gets a Publisher and a New Name

Dirty Bomb, the free-to-play shooter coming soon from the makers of Brink, has changed its name to Extraction and while one might think the swap was done for reasons of taste or not attracting government surveillance, the real reason is more quotidian, says the studio. “Extraction was Dirty Bomb‘s original name,” developer Splash Damage wrote…

Madden NFL 25: The Kotaku Review

The history of Madden NFL in the age of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is a history of inconsistent execution, of hit-and-miss features, some more easily marketed than implemented or understood. Of all the memories Madden NFL 25 could evoke in the series’ silver anniversary year, the strongest are of the gimmick Maddens, thanks…

Kid Saving for PS4 is Robbed at His Lemonade Stand—by a BB Gun

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. When Life Gives You Lemons JOHNSTOWN, Pa.—Ten-year-old Anthony Sanders…

This Game Uses Your Hard Drive’s Files to Build Its Levels

Yeah, you just stay the hell out of my porn folder, AdventureOS; I’m not interested in a boss battle with Peter North. OK, that’s not actually how AdventureOS works. The files themselves don’t actually come (heh heh) to life, the game uses a folder to create a room in a castle and stock it with…

Your Microsoft Points Will Be Exchanged for Real Money Today

If you haven’t already, when you connect to Xbox Live today, you’ll get the console update that finally does away with Microsoft points. I logged in just now and had 680 points turned into $8.50. Microsoft has said this was coming for some time, but now it’s official. There are still a few quirks with…

Portal on the DS: Aperture Science, the homebrewed version of Portal for the DS shown off back in February, now has a “mostly playable” version. You’ll need a flash cart to play it, but the file can be found here.

They Studied Madden in College, and Now Play It For a Living

Zach Farley didn’t know much about the others in his residence hall when he moved back in at Westfield State University as a sophomore about seven years ago. He did know one suite had a PlayStation 2 and a copy of Madden, the communal fire of a dorm for most of its 25-year existence. Farley…

This Game Sold 144 Copies and Was Pirated 50,000 Times

Gentlemen! is, in the words of its creator “a 2-player head-to-head Victorian dueling game for tablets.” There is no singleplayer mode and its multiplayer is local only. This wouldn’t figure to be an attractive piracy target, but the game’s features don’t seem to matter. In its first three weeks Gentlemen! was downloaded more than 50,000…

Who Are the ‘Whales’ Driving Free-to-Play Gaming? You’d Be Surprised

Few words in the video games industry are as cynical as “whale,” taken from a Las Vegas term for a high stakes gambler. The difference is, a Vegas high roller may actually win something with his money, and at minimum is comped for everything during his stay. In free-to-play games, a whale is nothing but…

StarCraft World Championships: The final of the StarCraft II World Championship Series played today in Cologne, Germany. The winner is on the jump. Bomber, playing as Terrans, swept Jaedong, playing Zerg, 4-0. Bomber is third in the WCS points standings, whose top 16 will play in the Grand Final at Blizzcon in November.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Unhappy Family

Another week, another chance for me to thwart sciteach by taking one of his pre-emptive strikes for the ‘Shop Contest splash image and declaring it ineligible from further competition. Y’all demanded Psyduck Kid last Sunday, and you wanted him followed by bickering Sims family. Well, you got it. I don’t know what the hell is…

Sunday Comics: Planned Obsolescence

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published Aug. 20. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Aug.…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Psyduck Kid: The Winners

Last week a torches-and-pitchforks mob came to my door to demand Psyduck Kid and so I relented, sacrificing him to a horrible fate in order to preserve peace, or whatever passes for it, in our quiet community here. Of course, there will only be more victims, but today, we should celebrate the winners, beginning with…

Sony Acknowledges Grand Theft Auto V Leak, Says It’s Sorry

Sony has acknowledged—and apologized for—a leak of Grand Theft Auto V files yesterday that revealed the game’s main theme and its soundtrack, among other details., potentially. “We sincerely apologize to Rockstar and GTA fans across the world who were exposed to the spoiler content,” Sony said on the official PlayStation blog. Yesterday, a digital file…