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Aaron Hernandez’s Appearance in NCAA 14 Will Be Brief, says EA Sports
As much as I wanted to say Aaron Hernandez, the NFL star facing murder charges, is free and unlocked (heh heh)—in NCAA Football 14—that ain’t the case. Some are seeing his card pop up if they get a gold medal in one of the events of the game’s new Nike Skills Trainer. Here’s what’s going…
By Owen Good -
Six Champions Emerge from Pokémon U.S. Nationals
Six champions were crowned in Indianapolis this weekend at the largest ever Pokémon U.S. Nationals ever staged. The winners, and the next three finalists, will all travel to Vancouver, in August, for the 2013 Pokémon World Championships. The winners, by division. (By the way, it’s weird to me that someone born between 1998 and 2001…
By Owen Good -
NFL Pros Go Back to College to Fight for Their Video Game Rights
Two letters and a number. That’s all you need to be a household name in college football—or its video game, at least. But this year, when NCAA Football 14 hits shelves on Tuesday, South Carolina’s fearsome DE#7 and Texas A&M’s do-it-all QB#2 will be joined, for the first time, by active players appearing under their…
By Owen Good -
Rumor: Ultimate Warrior Returning to WWE’s Flagship Game Franchise
Not in the 13-year history of the Smackdown/Smackdown vs. Raw/WWE/WWE 2K series has The Ultimate Warrior—one of professional wrestling’s most intense, controversial, and just plain weird superstars—made an appearance. Apparently that will change with WWE 2K14. The forums of SmackDown Hotel, a wrestling enthusiast site, last week published an image of the August edition of…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Let’s Make a Deal
So, after consultation with some readers, it’s been decided that former Xbox boss/current Zynga overlord Don Mattrick should be our next victim subject, coming from his appearance 30 years ago on a Canadian TV quiz show. Don’t worry, I have more than just that one image for you smart ‘Shoppers to use. If Mattrick appearing…
By Owen Good -
Esports
E-Sports League Hit With Lawsuit Over Bitcoin-Mining Scandal [Update]
Three gamers have sued the ESEA League, one of the largest PC gaming leagues, for the surreptitious installation on their computers of malware that “mined” the virtual currency called bitcoins, netting a rogue ESEA employee some $3,700 back in April. Their lawsuit seeks class action status. The suit was filed in San Francisco on Wednesday…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Sunday Comics: A Dose of Reality
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. Brentalfloss the Comic by Brent Black, Andrew Dobson and Dan Roth. Published July 4. Read more of Brentalfloss the Comic Penny Arcade by…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Hairy Situations: The Winners
Dude! What the hell is that growing on your face?! Oh, this? It’s a fungal infection. I’ve got some Absorbine Jr. I can put—No, dude, I’m talking about that nasty-ass Pac-Man on your cheek! The misadventures of Mr. Pac-Man Beard Fail and the kid who got Super Mario shaved into his head provided the grist…
By Owen Good -
This Prototype Cartridge of EarthBound Can Be Yours for $15,000
At long last, EarthBound is coming to the Wii U’s Virtual Console later this year, but if you can’t wait, and you have a ridiculous amount of disposable income, an eBay seller is now auctioning the ultimate in collectible cartridges. This prototype cart of EarthBound is so rare, it can’t be given a grade by…
By Owen Good -
Razer Doesn’t Make PS3 Accessories Because Its Boss Rarely Plays One
Interesting moment of candor earlier today from Min-Liang Tan, the CEO and “chief gamer” of Razer, maker of peripherals, laptops and other gaming hardware. On Twitter, Tan offered that he was “dusting off my PS3” to play The Last of Us. That dust, he said, is the reason Razer doesn’t make products for that console.…
By Owen Good -
Ewoks for Sale Outrages Some Star Wars: The Old Republic Subscribers
The latest foofaraw in Star Wars: The Old Republic—an MMO that exists primarily to make people complain, it seems—concerns an Ewok. Yes, a cuddly Ewok, the action figure picked last (after Mon Mothma, even) when you were choosing up sides for battle. Treek the Bounty Hunter is an Ewok companion for your character who becomes…
By Owen Good -
NCAA Football Has All of Its Fight Songs Back—Except One
One of the stranger sports stories I’ve reported came last year when NCAA Football 13 featured Baylor University’s Heisman-winning quarterback on its cover, but not the school’s fight song in the game. It was one of several songs held by a firm trying to fend off bankruptcy by jacking up the cost to use them.…
By Owen Good -
Shareholder Asks Nintendo Why Its Cafeteria Sucks
Yeah, yeah, Nintendo’s president told investors the Wii Vitality Sensor has been canned. But he says that every year, just about. What fascinated me about his Q&A with shareholders was the fact Nintendo employees think the chow at the company’s cafeteria is pretty bad. From the transcript: “I heard that the quality of the company…
By Owen Good -
Hey, Look, It’s Don Mattrick on a Canadian Game Show 30 Years Ago
Don Mattrick has, reportedly, 50 million reasons to smile this week, ditching Microsoft and all things Xbox for Zynga and the leadership of all things ‘Ville. But you can see traces of that big money smile going back 30 years, when he appeared on a newsmakers-style quiz show on CBC. Here he is on “Front…
By Owen Good -
FACE, MVPC, 11-X—the Original Xbox had Some Ridiculous Alternate Names
We’re all familiar with the etymology behind “Xbox”—it’s a truncation of “DirectX Box.” But, as one of the console’s creators told Edge, Microsoft lawyers at first weren’t too sure of “Xbox” for some reason, and the alternatives favored by the suits were all hideous. The final stage of naming the console “was a battle between…
By Owen Good -
One Year Later, Fez Will Be Patched
Fez will be patched, fixing a potential game-breaking bug, now that Microsoft is no longer charging studios for title updates. Fez creator Phil Fish tweeted the news on July 4, saying the patch would take “a couple of months.” Last year, Fez was updated once on Xbox Live to fix some glitches; it was a…
By Owen Good -
ReviewsNCAA Football 14: The Kotaku Review
The meanest thing I ever did in high school I did to a senior on the football team. His teammates were in my computer class, snickering about his hope of playing big time ACC football. I was a scrawny sophomore trying to be popular. I helped them forge some Clemson letterhead, and signed it “Head…
By Owen Good
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