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King Denies Little Boy’s Wish to Be Named ‘Sonic X’
This reads like a fairy tale, but it’s all true. A 6-year-old Norwegian boy wanted to change his name to “Sonic X,” and in his land, such things must be approved by the king. Wise King Harald of Norway politely declined the request of young Christer on the grounds that, being only six, he was…
By Owen Good -
Create-a-School Returns to NCAA Football
NCAA Football enthusiasts are already rejoicing– promotional materials tout a “teambuilder” feature in NCAA 10 that signals the return of “Create-a-School,” which has yet to appear on any next-gen versions. Tuesday, the back side of a GameStop placeholder for the game made its way to the forum NCAA Strategies. One of the details listed is…
By Owen Good -
Apple Approves, Quickly Removes “Baby Shaker” App
This is probably not how Apple planned to celebrate the week it hit a billion downloads from the iTunes App store. It’s apologized for admitting the unabashedly tasteless “Baby Shaker” for distribution, and removed it. Baby Shaker makes revolutionary use of the iPhone and iPod Touch’s accelerometer to simulate killing a crying infant. When the…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Coupons: Cou-pwnage
We’re back again with another round-up of price-cuts and sales events for the frugal amongst you. As stated earlier, this is the week The Orange Box can be had for the stupid-low price of $9.99. The guiding principle here at Weekend Coupons is we tell you about deals on stuff you might actually want to…
By Owen Good -
Microsoft Refunds Braid Overbill, Plus a Little Extra
If you bought Braid back in February when it was XBLM’s first “Deal of the Week,” check your points balance. Microsoft mistakenly overbilled for it, but they’ll be refunding the difference plus 100 points. We’ve gotten word through a few readers about the mistake, which Microsoft attributed to a “technical glitch.” The virtual money should…
By Owen Good -
Activision, Gibson Guitar Settle Claims
Sometime last week, Activision and Gibson Guitar decided to end their legal wrangling over a patent infringement claim made against the Guitar Hero franchise. Terms ain’t disclosed. Gamasutra dug up the docs, which indicate only that Gibson and Activision shook hands on April 17 and a federal judge in California terminated the case. A federal…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Originals: If It Ain’t Broken, We Break It
Let’s recap a week slam-slap full of breaking news that got the gamer gums a-flappin’. Fallout Vegas? We was there. Lego Rock Band? Done tole you about it. The biggie? Stephen Totilo, newly minted editor-mans. Sony had a couple attention-snappers, too – the existence of Uncharted multiplayer (and its beta), and Arkham Asylum’s exclusive play-as-Joker…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
The Godfather II Review: The Don Does No Favors
The open-world crime genre, like real-world crime, is wantonly violent, seductive with promises of easy riches. EA returns to the scene with a sequel that must live up to its predecessorā€”plus two landmark films. In the video game version of The Godfather II, players once again work their way up the ranks of the Corleone…
By Owen Good -
Expensive Resort
To: Luke From: Owen Re: Spring Thunder Snow I know retailers like to make crazy stupid markups, just to offer an even crazier-stupider “discount” that’s still 15 percent above cost, but man, saving $230,541 on Wii Sports Resort? Who’s GameStop selling it to, the Pentagon? Thanks to reader Kai for the tip. I checked the…
By Owen Good -
Week in Games: I Said Gundam, Gundam … the Pusher Man
Mecha junkies get their fix this week with Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2. Excitebots: Trick Racing for the Wii is the other noteworthy drop in a pretty small week. This week’s count, five for PC; three for Wii; four for DS; two for PS2; one for PS3 and 360, zero for Sega Master System. Also, my…
By Owen Good -
One Down, Four to Go for this List
Last week, Pwn or Die made a list of “Five Bands That Don’t Need Their Own Guitar Hero Game.” Number five: Van Hagar Halen, outed by a ratings board listing the very next day. While it’s possible P or D didn’t know or overlooked the rumblings of just such a game, going back a year,…
By Owen Good -
Claim: NFL Retirees Now Intend to Sue Madden, EA
Fresh off a $28 million victory over their own union, a retired NFL player says his comrades are targeting John Madden and Electronic Arts for their roles in games using their likenesses without compensating them. CLARIFICATION: The earlier headline said “NFL Players.” While the entire story refers to retired NFL players, the unclear headline might…
By Owen Good -
Next Killzone 2 Patch Gets More Hardcore
Not six weeks after the first patch for Killzone 2 dropped, Guerrilla has another one coming out of the oven. Among a slew of fixes, It adds three additional ranks to the top-level “hardcore” ranks. In addition to the new ranks, exploits on the Radec Academy, Helghan Industries, Salamun Market and Tharsis Depot maps are…
By Owen Good -
Daigo Wins World SFIV Title
Daigo, as Ryu, bested Justin Wong, as Rufus, in last night’s Street Fighter IV Tournament finals, held in San Francisco. Wong isn’t empty handed, however; he won the U.S. title. The two longtime nemeses are noted for locking up in that epicRyuKen/Chun Li comeback from Evo 2004, with Daigo getting the better of Wong. He…
By Owen Good -
Rapscallion Mega Man Plays Ding-Dong Doorbell
After this Mega Man left a bag of flaming dog poop on Guts Man’s door step. This cartoon makes me feel like Proto Man in the final panel – a head-snapping, “Wait, what? Why’d he do that?” But the artist is known for all sorts of weird takes on video games. Rockman (Pin-Pon) Dash [Tiny…
By Owen Good -
Game to Soldiers: Don’t Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em
If it sounds absurd – a video game, costing taxpayers $3.7 million, that nags people who do dangerous stuff all day long to quit smoking – know that “Escape With Your Life” is surprisingly effective. Players of the game, a version of which the U.S. Department of Defense recently commissioned, will create a customizable avatar…
By Owen Good -
Pip-Berry 3000
This is where BlackBerry’s got it over Apple – user defined homescreens. A modder skinned up a Pip-Boy theme for the device, which actually functions – as opposed to the for-show-only iPod Touch mod. If you have a BlackBerry, you can pick this up over at Crackberry. It comes in green and blue, and the…
By Owen Good -
Prank Rated A for Blood, Comic Mischief, Cop Involvement
Cops at an Atlanta shopping center recently found a box of clothes covered in fake blood – and “Grand Theft Auto in China” promo material. A GameStop employee contacted Kotaku to claim responsibility. First, the story: According to Creative Loafing Atlanta’s bizarre cop report roundup, a woman at the Chastain Square Shopping Center went to…
By Owen Good -
Looks Like Beatles Rock Band Footage From Here … [Update]
At 1:30 or so of this clip, what looks like footage from The Beatles: Rock Band goes up on the screen behind Sir Paul McCartney, performing at Coachella on Friday. The clip is 9 minutes long, but of the ones circulating out there, it offers the longest and clearest look at Rock Band’s animations. Which…
By Owen Good
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