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Asteroids Movie is About Relationships; Also, Blowing Up Crap

The Asteroids movie will deliver a “really strong, deep mythology,” for “this big thing in space,” says the guy blamed credited as the film’s producer. IGN talked to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, also responsible for such tours de force as Transformers, G.I. Joe and Doom, and asked why a 1979 vector-graphics shooter starring a space fighter,…

Today’s Punishment: Jack Thompson’s “I’m OK” Reviewed by Guy with Rain Man Voice

Not sure what’s worse – the subject matter, its narration, or the fact that it is five whopping minutes of nonstop punishment. This is going to hurt you more than it hurts me. This is a user video created by apathylad on Gametrailers – probably the most apt user name ever created in the history…

Second Life Lawsuit Dropped by Taser, Bro

Remember that dumb-ass lawsuit Taser filed against Linden Lab, because Second Life users were selling and using taser-like devices? Well it’s been dropped, but it could come back. Taser was looking $75,000 from Linden Lab because they allowed virtual Tasers to be sold in the game they run. Turns out they very swiftly dismissed their…

ESRB Gives Up Sexytime Spoilers for Dragon Age

Just in case the blood and killin’ wasn’t enough to grab an M, Dragon Age: Origins threw in some trannies and implied bestality to leave no doubt that children shouldn’t be playing it. The ESRB’s rating is not a surprise; its ratings description is a barrel of jolly time fun, though. Sounds like you can…

UK Mag’s Exclusive Review Fits Alleged Eidos Conditions

Earlier, The RAM Raider accused Eidos of trying to fix review scores for Batman: Arkham Asylum, a claim Eidos categorically denied. Now one magazine’s exclusive review fits all the conditions said to have been made. Games Master’s got “the world’s first review” of the game, and man, is it glowing. Eidos, which had been behind…

EA Apologizes for ‘Sin to Win’ Booth Babe Promo

Can the Dante’s Inferno marketers do anything right? At E3, they had that phony religious wingnut protest. Now they’ve apologized for their Comic-Con contest that painted them as booth babe objectifiers. Which, you know, most of us are guilty as charged. But Electronic Arts, being the big corp it is, had to cover its ass…

Rockstar Pretty Much Kiboshes the Idea of GTA Film

Speaking of movies, forget about seeing one based on Grand Theft Auto. The Los Angeles Times, examining Ubisoft’s and Microsoft’s entries into filmmaking, went asking why Rockstar hasn’t thought of the same thing. Turns out they have, and they didn’t like the mental image. Says Dan Houser, the Rockstar vice president: We don’t believe that…

‘The Book of Eli’ — is This a Fallout Movie?

You may have heard of “The Book of Eli,” a post-apocalyptic action tale coming in January and starring Denzel Washington. One reader noticed the film’s resemblance to Fallout 3. Reader Roger N. put together this comparison. While destruction and ravaged wastelands are motifs, not the story itself, the film does involve a heavily armed badass…

Weekend Coupons: Control Yourself

Deal-hunters know you never have to, and never should, pay full price on peripherals, if you know where to look. This week we feature three that are off the beaten path. Hardware: • If you have a Nintendo Entertainment System and want a truly giant-ass arcade quality stick for it, the Generation NEX Wireless Arcade…

Kotaku Originals: I Said Turn Off That Machine Now!

This week Crecente ported some game classics to a more analog platform – the back yard. Reminds me of the time Mom kicked me and Fletch out of the house and we played Atari’s “Adventure.” This was also in the middle of summer vacation and Mom was at the end of her rope. Fletch and…

Criminal Lies About GTA; D.C. Radio Station Spreads It

You know how in Grand Theft Auto you can drive around swatting pedestrians with an open car door? Yes? No? Doesn’t matter, a teen headed to jail for doing that blamed it on the game. The prosecutor in the case of Nathan Hartley, convicted of “door-checking” two Maryland kids and sent to jail for 7…

Ultimate Sith Trailer Delivers Ultimatum

And here is aforesaid trailer regarding the DLC for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. You’ll battle with Obi-Wan and Luke (on Hoth) and, quite gratuitously, Boba Fett. Wonder how they’ll retcon that one. OK, so, you look like Isaac from Dead Space, and the Emperor’s VO is loud enough to make me think this was…

Tekken, TapouT Team Up for T-Shirts

TapouT, it’s not just for rear-window decals or bouncer neck tattoos anymore. The MMA apparel brand is releasing a line of Tekken 6 themed shirts, which will also be available as in-game customizations. The arrangement, announced at Comic-Con 2009 on Thursday, will produce five co-branded shirts IRL and in the game. The shirts will be…

Catan Officially Settling on iPhone

Settlers of Catan, the award-winning resource-allocation and strategy board game, will have a version on the iPhone and iPod Touch “this summer,” developed in conjunction with Catan’s creator, according to the game’s official website. An announcement on the Community & News board of the official Web site Catan.com declared today that “the game is being…

Borderlands Gameplay Trailer: ‘The RPG and FPS Made a Baby’

Sick of muted earthtones and dessicated grays in post-apocalyptica? Exempt Borderlands from the bitching, please. Click to view This latest trailer hits all the right notes – guns blazing, formidable monstrosities, Law and Order walkdown swagger – in showing you what the “role-playing shooter” (more descriptive than “first-person game”) delivers Oct. 20, Oct. 23 in…

Xbox Division Sees 66 Percent Slide in ’09 Profit Despite 11 Million Units Shipped

Microsoft’s Xbox division booked an eye-popping 66 percent drop in profit for the 2009 fiscal year, reflecting a terrible economy and mirroring steep declines across all of the software behemoth’s business segments. For the fiscal year, Microsoft’s revenue from the Xbox 360 and from PC gaming was down $161 million, which the company mainly attributed…

Second NCAA Star Sues — but has a Good Idea

Another college star has sued over the use of his image in video games. But if Ed O’Bannon’s successful, what he’ll do with the money could be a model for solving the NCAA’s licensing problem. O’Bannon, who starred on UCLA’s 1995 national championship team and has since retired from the NBA, has filed suit against…

Borderlands Puts Its Ass Out Oct. 20

The speculation that Borderlands would ship in October turns out to be good. It releases for all three consoles on Oct. 20 in the U.S., Oct. 23 in the U.K. Europe and Australia, GameSpot reports. Christoph Hartmann, the president of 2K Games, said his shop has no problem taking a new IP up against Uncharted…

Epic Honcho Says Money Woes Made PS3 Cut Impossible

We always love it when one business comments on another business’s business. In this case, Epic’s Mark Rein says a PS3 price cut everyone’s whined for would have made a bad year worse for Sony. Speaking to Eurogamer, Rein, the Epic vice president, said Sony has “their own financial issues to solve and lowering the…

Bad Company 2 will Support Battlefield 1943 Weapons

DICE revealed today that Battlefield Bad Company 2 will support Battlefield 1943 weaponry, when BC2 drops in early 2010. The word went out over Twitter on the official Battlefield 1943 feed yesterday “Think you’re a Bad Ass with BF1943 weapons? What if I said you’ll be able to use your Semi-Auto Rifle, Sniper Rifle, or…