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A Side-Scrolling Team Fortress 2? Why, Yes, Please.
The creator of this side-scrolling interpretation of Team Fortress 2 entered it in a map-modding contest last year and, for obvious reasons, won the sucker outright. [Correction] Dylan Loney entered this and won his modding contest. (Here’s another top-flight entry.) An earlier version of this story said his entry had missed the deadline. Steaky says…
By Owen Good -
L.A. Noire‘s Lead Actor Says He Skips the Cutscenes
The voice actor for the lead character in L.A. Noire is “Mad Men’s” Aaron Staton, while Staton says he enjoys games, particularly Grand Theft Auto IV, he usually skips over the cutscenes. Staton, who portrays Ken Cosgrove on the AMC series, tells Game Informer in its latest edition that he’s played all of the Grand…
By Owen Good -
Negotiations Underway to Inflict Space Invaders Movie on Us All
Did you ever play Space Invaders and, while you were dodging and firing and shooting, make up a story about who was in the tank and wish you could someday see them in a movie? Yeah, I didn’t either. Apparently someone at Warner Bros. has. The Los Angeles Times reports that the studio is negotiating…
By Owen Good -
Man Accused of Exporting PS2s to Fund Hezbollah
Federal authorities say a Florida man exported PS2s to a Paraguayan mall believed to be a front for the terrorist organization Hezbollah. He’s been indicted on 11 counts tied to the funding of terrorism. The suspect is Khaled Safadi of Doral, a Miami suburb. He’s a Paraguayan citizen with U.S. residency. The indictment alleges that…
By Owen Good -
Deal Brings MLG Tournaments to EA Sports Titles in 2010
Tournaments sanctioned by Major League Gaming will be a multiplayer feature of certain upcoming EA Sports titles, under a deal announced today by the two parties that proposes to establish “the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America.” The pact deepens the ties between MLG and EA established last year with a live…
By Owen Good -
Top Game Design Schools Ranked
The Princeton Review, most commonly known for its rankings of top party schools and other quality-of-life ratings of colleges, has compiled a list of the 50 best undergraduate schools for video game design, ranking the top eight in order. The rankings, compiled in partnership with GamePro, are: 1. University of Southern California, Interactive Media Division…
By Owen Good -
The Rules for Chasing That Million-Dollar Perfect Game
MLB 2K10 releases tomorrow, and the first person to chuck a perfect game on it – under certain conditions – gets a million bucks. 2K Sports has posted those conditions, and they read like a Charlie Sheen restraining order. Twin Galaxies, the international high-score certification authority, is the judging partner with 2K Sports on this,…
By Owen Good -
Grab a Major League Jersey in PlayStation Home
Now that everyone can finally connect to PlayStation Network, this is probably a good time to tell you that you can pick up a free baseball jersey for your Home avatar, just by going and watching a trailer. The duds are Joe Mauer’s No. 7 home shirt for the Minnesota Twins (pictured). Mauer’s the cover…
By Owen Good -
Urgent Evoke: The Game That Seeks to Do Good, in Real Life
Jane McGonigal believes in gamers, because they’re trained to believe they can win. She’s built an alternate-reality game to tap that confidence and channel it into good works benefiting gamers’ communities, with the larger goal of fostering empowerment in Africa. Urgent Evoke is the name of this game, profiled along with McGonigal (pictured) today by…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx Micro-Review: Hot Coals Over a Cakewalk
After two underwhelming DLC extensions, Borderlands returns to the formula that made it a breakout hit last year – guns, loot, and a crack-cocaine addiction to leveling up – with The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. It’s billed as an appropriate challenge for players who have beaten the main game once already. But for higher…
By Owen Good -
Money Well Spent
To: Luke From: Owen This past week I got my taxes done – because I lived in three states last year, and other circumstances, I figured a professional was the best way to go. The bill wasn’t so bad. California got nothing. Considering how badly they screwed up my vehicle title transfer, and rejected my…
By Owen Good -
Natal Marketing Effort Targeting Women’s Magazines
You know those women’s magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan that promise BIG SEX NEWS every single month? Well, if a report’s to be believed, they’re going to be delivering BIG NATAL NEWS as the product nears release. MCV reports that Microsoft’s ramping up marketing plans for Natal that go after Nintendo’s top-of-mind awareness in nontraditional…
By Owen Good -
Mario 1Up Quilt, as Made by a Dude
Two years ago, longtime reader Jacob C. was expecting his first child, a daughter. “I wanted her to have a handmade video game quilt, unrivaled in awesomeness as only they can be.” Problem is, neither he nor his wife quilted. Jacob enlisted the help of four female friends (“Maija, Grace, Rebecca, and especially Carol) to…
By Owen Good -
Week in Games: Baseball’s Back
Pitchers and catchers reported last week. One week later we have opening day on the consoles, as MLB 2K10 and MLB 10 the Show release on Tuesday. Oh yeah, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is also out. This week’s count: Eleven for PC, 10 for Wii, nine for DS, six for PSP, five for Xbox 360,…
By Owen Good -
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. •Top 7 Least Irritating Quick Time Events [GamesRadar] Lazy bastard that I am, I love QTEs. They allow me to grab a swig of my…
By Owen Good -
Activision Terminates Fan-Made King’s Quest Extension
The team of King’s Quest enthusiasts who had, since 2002, been working on an unofficial continuation of the seminal adventure game, have complied with a demand by Activision to cease all development of their game. The Silver Lining has a long and unusual history, even for fan-built games. The final official installment of King’s Quest…
By Owen Good -
Heavy Rain Film Rights Optioned Long Ago
Heavy Rain was announced way, way back at E3 2006, which was the week of May 8. One week after the show, May 15, 2006, the U.S. Copyright Office recorded an option for the film rights to the game. The option, re-filed in 2007, is between Quantic Dream chief David de Gruttola and New Line…
By Owen Good -
Indoctrinating the Veterans of a Virtual War
In the past year, 70,000 men and women enlisted in the U.S. Army. Sixty-seven times that amount – 4.7 million – played Modern Warfare 2 on a console or PC, released one day before Veteran’s Day. In the latest edition of Foreign Policy, P.W. Singer examines the growing phenomenon of “militainment,” a type of game…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Next-Gen Cereal System Edition
Last week a box of 22-year-old cereal sold for more than $200 on eBay. Video game cereals died in the 8-bit era. Since then there have been four console generations – and zero cereal systems. That’s where you come in. This week’s assignment: Create a game-themed cereal box whose crossover is just as cynical, whose…
By Owen Good -
Final Fantasy XI to Get Three Expansions in 2010
At Vanafest 2010 in Tokyo, Hiromichi Tanaka, the lead developer of Final Fantasy XI, announced that game will get three new high level battle area additions this year: Vision of Abyssea, Scars of Abyssea, and Heroes of Abyssea. Vision of Abyssea will be the first release, this summer. The other two are not yet dated.…
By Owen Good
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