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Industry Types Confess the Evil Deeds They’ve Done (in Games)
What’s the most cruel, unfair, downright evil thing you’ve done in a game? Bitmob polled some industry types with the question. Hal Halpin was a real jerk in Mario Kart 64; Todd Howard created a suicide squad in X-Com. Halpin, the Entertainment Consumers Association’s president, deployed the lightning bolt with ruthlessness on fellow racers attempting…
By Owen Good -
Why Games Should Have a Few More Senior Moments
In video games, senior citizens are largely stereotyped NPCs. Rare is the kind of game like Metal Gear Solid 4, with a truly aged, playable protagonist. Can games create more roles for the elderly? Should they? Matthew Kaplan of GameCritics thinks games have a lot of growing up to do, especially as the median age…
By Owen Good -
Valve: Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Did Not Reveal DLC Names
Speaking at an event today sponsored by Eurogamer, Valve’s Chet Faliszek said the names for DLC packs found in the Left 4 Dead 2 demo were spaceholders only, put there as a test required by Microsoft. According to audio of the event, Faliszek said: If you’re reading in the forums and you’re reading about the…
By Owen Good -
Hungary Prevails in Dragon Age 24-Hour Contest
Hungary made goulash out of a 10-team field in BioWare’s 24-hour competition called Dragon Age: Origins Wardens’ Quest, netting each team member a cool $12,500. Second place was, apparently, a separatist nation-state known as “BioWare Community,” with Canada and Poland in third and fourth place, respectively. Good ol’ U.S. of A finished ninth, not lasting…
By Owen Good -
With NCAA 10, EA Guns for Two Shining Moments
Connor Dougan had me at “Nana-na-na-na-NA-na-naaaahhh!” Anyone who’s hoisted a driveway three has hummed a TV sports anthem to set it up, and that one’s the CBS Road to the Final Four theme, one of two in NCAA Basketball 10. “You hear that,” Dougan, a producer in EA Sports‘ Vancouver studio, said after humming the…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Coupons: Keep on Diggin’
You might strike oil. Or China. Ain’t much out there, but it’s to be expected as the zenith of the new release season crests right before the holiday retail splurge. Hardware • The standard Wii config (Wii Sports, ‘mote) is $20 off through Dell. [TechDealDigger] • The typical PS3 Slim SKU is $25 less through…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Originals: T&A
That would be Terrorism and Alexis. Modern Warfare 2 stirred up plenty of controversy, and then came Crecente’s interview of gamer pornstar Raven Alexis. Afterwards, we still found room for more than 60 original headlines over the past week. Top Stories Games, Not Porn, is Adult Actress’ Secret Pleasure Modern Warfare 2 Features Skippable Scene…
By Owen Good -
Xbox Live Smashes Mass Banhammer on Pirates
“A small percentage” of Xbox Live users with modded consoles that allowed pirated games to play woke up to find an early treat in their Halloween bag: a banhammer. IGN noticed scuttlebutt about bannings in technical feedback forums and asked Microsoft about it. A spokesperson confirmed they banzored some modded consoles. Said the spokesperson to…
By Owen Good -
[Update] Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Doesn’t Name Upcoming DLC
PC gamers dissecting the Left 4 Dead 2 demo found files that might reference the names of future DLC packs, CVG reports. [Update] Valve’s Chet Faliszek shot down this rumor. They were spaceholder test file names. Original story follows: “Miracle Pack” and “Apocalyptic Pack” are both mentioned in the demo files. The original L4D survivors…
By Owen Good -
NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10: It’s Fargin’ War
Because of exclusive arrangements and wide disparities in quality, pro basketball is really the only sports title where there’s genuine head-to-head competition. And it’s getting nasty between 2K Sports and EA Sports. Earlier this week, Pasta Padre found a forum post – since taken down – in which a 2K Sports representative questioned whether NBA…
By Owen Good -
Patch Means Lilith’s Power Now ‘Works as Intended’ in Borderlands
I’ve logged about a zillion hours in Borderlands, none of it as Lilith. But apparently her phase strike “now works as intended” thanks to patches for the PS3 and 360 versions that rolled out today. Here are the PS3 fixes, from the Gearbox official forums (fora?) • Load times have been improved • Lilith’s Phase…
By Owen Good -
Cole Hamels Reminds You That Grenades are “for Pussies”
Well. This is edgy as all get-out. Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels comes to Modern Warfare 2 to tell us that mindlessly hucking grenades is a dickbag cop-out. And then there’s “Fight Against Grenade Spam,” which makes a cheerful acronym. It looks like this video (NSFW language), posted by Infinity Ward, just went up. I’m not…
By Owen Good -
Lego Indy Trailer Discreetly Avoids Dr. Jones’ Creepy Past
Here’s the Nepal bar shootout scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, for Lego Indiana Jones 2. I guess the Lego-talk gibberish can’t get across the sequence’s subtle implication that Dr. Jones was boinking Marion when she 16. Then again, it’s rated E10+, so maybe we should just let Marion’s fist do all the talking.…
By Owen Good -
PlayStation Home Manager: Exec was Misquoted
And finishing off the PlayStation Home priorities controversy, the service/virtual world’s community manager has told users on the official Home forum that the Sony executive was misquoted in reports that he’d said Home is “not a priority.” From CydoniaX: Allow me to put your minds at ease about this recent press. The coverage of what…
By Owen Good -
Insomniac Dev: Ratchet & Clank “Probably” Our Last 60fps Game
“Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time will probably be Insomniac’s last 60fps game,” writes the studio’s Mike Acton, who examined improved framerate and concluded that it does little to drive purchases or good reviews. Acton says Insomniac’s community team took a look at the reviews of 47 top-notch games and found that while…
By Owen Good -
Gamers Not Great at Finding Explosives
Soldiers who grew up in the burbs playing video games instead of shooting varmints in the country, or avoiding trouble in a bad neighborhood, are singled out by Army research as particularly poor at spotting roadside bombs. Writes the Los Angeles Times: Military researchers have found that two groups of personnel are particularly good at…
By Owen Good -
AC/DC Rock Band No Longer Walmart Exclusive; Also Cheaper
The 18-song Walmart exclusive AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack, which went out a year ago, will be available at GameStop beginning next month, and for less than the disc’s original full price. GameStop lists it for shipment Nov. 4 at $19.99 – of course, less than the $29.99 to $39.99 it sold for when…
By Owen Good -
PlayStation Home “Not a Priority Right Now” Says SCEE Exec
Speaking at the London Games Conference yesterday, Sony’s director of PlayStation Home in Europe said the virtual world accrues users who spend money and stick around for long stretches, but Home is nonetheless “not a priority right now.” “It’s been a long road,” Pete Edwards said, according to Edge Online. ” We’ve proved there is…
By Owen Good -
Eidos Buyout, Taito Severance Drains ¥5 Billion from Square-Enix
Square Enix amended its consolidated results forecast today, lowering its income projections for the fiscal year, which is now half over. Severance payments to get rid of some Taito employees and the company’s takeover of Eidos were blamed. The revision takes some ¥4.9 billion off their net income – about $53 million US – in…
By Owen Good
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