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Bungie Definitively Shuts Down Halo: Reach/Natal Speculation
Rumors that Halo: Reach might be Natal-enabled were close to flatlining of late, but the subject never got a flat-out “no.” Well, now it has. The studio says emphatically that it is not a Natal title. That’s the newsy news out of a fun-filled “mythbusters” post Bungie put up about Halo: Reach’s development. Natal rumors…
By Owen Good -
System Shock 2’s Surprise Ending — for Ken Levine, Anyway
Widely acclaimed when it released in 1999, System Shock 2’s cinematic conclusion nonetheless disappointed Irrational Games creative chief Ken Levine. The reason: The video that was shot wasn’t anything like what he had scripted. “Due to miscommunications or differing ideas, a different cinematic video was created from the one that I originally scripted,” Levine says…
By Owen Good -
Three New Screens for EA Sports MMA … Plus a Broadcast?
Three new screens of EA Sports MMA show Bobby Lashley – fighting tonight at Strikeforce Miami – is another fighter signed to the title. In another development, EA Sports‘ web site will stream one of tonight’s bouts live, for free. The live stream starts at 9 p.m. U.S. Eastern time (6 p.m. Pacific) and will…
By Owen Good -
GameStop: We Must Educate Customers About DLC
GameStop’s chief operating officer says the company must embrace downloadable content for the games it sells and educate its customers on its benefits, calling such a posture critical to the company’s survival. Speaking at the Game Business Law conference at Southern Methodist University, J. Paul Raines said the DLC market could see considerable growth immediately,…
By Owen Good -
The Replacements, Still Replaced in Video Games
Fifteen years ago, in the infancy of console sports simulations, 38 baseball players made a choice that would ensure they would never appear in a video game. Only five of them remain in the major leagues. They crossed a picket line, an act of war to organized labor, by signing replacement player contracts with Major…
By Owen Good -
Win a Football Autographed by an NFL Star
This isn’t Super Bowl weekend, it’s Pro Bowl weekend. And to liven up what is otherwise light-hitting exhibition football action, we’ve got a memorabilia giveaway courtesy of Quick Hit Football. Quick Hit, whom I’ve written about before, is the free online American football strategy simulation. They have five current NFL players appearing in the game,…
By Owen Good -
Disgaea Infinite to Hit North American PSPs in May
NIS America‘s latest Prinny Bomb communication announces that Disgaea Infinite is on the way to North America. We’ll see it in May. This will be NIS’s first visual novel, a popular genre in Japan, published in the United States. According to the announcement, players can play with a Prinny as the main character, and they…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Coupons: Spread the Savings
No real theme to this week’s deals, but that means there’s a wide array of cheap stuff being offered out there – some of it meh, most of it good. Hardware • 360 console update: Best Buy has the Elite with free Madden NFL and an extra controller ($76 bonus value, ends this Sat. 1/30),…
By Owen Good -
Courtney Love Now Says Cobain Would’ve Been Cool With Guitar Hero 5
Professional widow Courtney Love, PO’d at Activision for how Kurt Cobain of Nirvana is presented in Guitar Hero 5, says Cobain probably would have found his game appearance amusing. But since he’s dead she gets to do all the suin’. Telling the U.K.’s NME magazine, Love characteristically spewed filth-flarn-flarn-filth when passing along this update. What…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Originals: iPad the Score
Apple’s unveiling of a tablet PC threatened to crowd out the rest of the games and devices news this week, but we didn’t let that stop us from delivering our usual slate of reports, reviews and rumors. iPad Hands On With Apple’s iPad, Everything But The Games iPad Doubts: A Gamer’s Problems With Apple’s Wonder…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Looks like George is late for both the iPad announcement and the State of the Union. Who schedules these things in January, anyway? It’s not a convenient month for travel. But it’s always a convenient time for Kotaku’s open thread. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.
By Owen Good -
Six More Screens for MLB 10 The Show
MLB 09 The Show won wide praise for the strength of its visuals, and in these six screenshots SCEA’s released, it’s a solid bet MLB 10 The Show will live up to those expectations too. I went back into this game this week to reacclimate myself to it, since the March 2 release is not…
By Owen Good -
Multiplayer Patched Into Original Aliens vs. Predator Re-Release
Rebellion’s boss promised the Steam re-release of 1999’s original Aliens vs. Predator would support multiplayer. They’ve delivered, patching in the support for that today. Here’s what it will and won’t do: • Integrated with Steam Overlay • Uses Steam name • Host/Join games via bare-bones in-game lobby browser • Can invite and join friends and…
By Owen Good -
Games Ban Might Encourage Somali Teens to Shoot Real Guns
Somalia has a ton of problems, but at least it does have cybercafes where kids can enjoy playing games. But a fun-killing Islamist group has ordered them shut down in a ban on games in territories under its control. Hezb al-Islam ordered the cafes closed and declared that “laying video games will be prohibited. Video…
By Owen Good -
Will We Ever See Games In The Winter Games?
This happens every two years. Someone looks for an Olympics story, someone thinks up a video game angle, and presto, reconstituted discussion of video games as an Olympic event. This year’s participant: Macleans, the Canadian news magazine. Macleans quotes Ted Owen, who’s certainly beat this drum before. He’s the boss of the Global Gaming League,…
By Owen Good -
EA Sports Says No 3D Games In the Works
EA Sports boss Peter Moore says he’s keeping a close eye on 3D gaming, but while it’s a new priority for Sony it’s not yet one for his division. “Sony has made it a strategic imperative for the company. And when Sony does something of that nature then we as a company need to sit…
By Owen Good -
Game Violence Documentary Can Be Seen Free Online
“Moral Kombat,” the 2007 examination of violent video games by the brother of Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin, will be available for view online free for the next 30 days. Spencer Halpin’s film tries to balance First Amendment rights and free market principles on the game maker’s side with concern over game violence, its…
By Owen Good -
Developer Calls BS on Disc-Based DLC Unlocks
Rebellion’s David Brickley, director of the upcoming Aliens vs. Predator, said there is “absolutely no justification” for downloadable content that essentially makes gamers pay to unlock code already on the disc. “Players are entirely right,” he says. In an interview with SPOnG, Brickley holds forth on DLC – calling it a useful adjunct that gets…
By Owen Good -
A Solid 60 Seconds of MLB 2K10 Gameplay
Some reasonably sharp gameplay renders in this one-minute teaser for MLB 2K10. The worm’s-eye view tracking shots of the baserunning makes me reach for the Pepto, but the animations are sound. This year MLB 2K10 is introducing a ton of new motion captures, including two-player animations that cut down on the kind of fruitball clipping…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond Micro-Review: A Bloody Fun Hazard-Time
Matt Hazard, the guns-blazing game-hero parody with a “legendary” status that’s never quite been explained, goes searching for his backstory again in Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond. Vicious Cycle may have overreached with the predecessor, Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, a 3D action game panned for derivative level design and rote gameplay.…
By Owen Good
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