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Make a Laser Out of Sort-of-Essential 360 Parts
Want to build a super cool James Bond laser that burns shit, but don’t have a blue diode? Well, they cost about $50 here – nah, screw it, let’s trash this $200 Xbox 360 instead. Click to view Seriously, after watching this, I can’t figure out why exactly the 360’s blue diode, and not any…
By Owen Good -
Some Things You Can’t Unsee (or Unhear)
The other day I was playing Left 4 Dead and I said to myself, “Self, I really wish this game had more obese zombie asscrack.” Lo and behold, FPSBanana heard my silent plea. One of its users, DarkSider1972, uploaded this thong skin, which puts the boomer in a “Sexy Beast” thong. He attaches this droll…
By Owen Good -
Illinois Legislates Out of Existence Something That Doesn’t Exist
Alcopops are a huge concern for fear-addled parents, because they’re sweet, alcoholic, and a gateway drug to total douche behavior. So Illinois is taking a courageous stand by banning alcopop ads from video games. That’s right, Illinois, home of Senate seat firesales and previously abortive (and unconstitutional) efforts to regulate game content, made sure that…
By Owen Good -
A Look at the Cancelled, Never-Announced “Stormbirds”
Before THQ shuttered Juice Games, the studio was working on a H.A.W.X.-esque game called Stormbirds. A Juice artist put out and then pulled back some pics and a video, but cat’s outta the bag now. The team working on this were “made redundant” (i.e., fired) on Dec. 1 because THQ made the decision Stormbirds was…
By Owen Good -
Steve Wiebe Explains His Stampede Score
If you saw this week’s King of Stampede, you might have wondered “Why the hell was Steve Wiebe getting a certified score on that game?” In this outtake, I asked, and he answered. Steve also explains how he ended up with a cameo in “Four Christmases” (as “Jim”, the husband-who-never-talks, playing Donkey Kong on the…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Originals: Holiday Clearance
We rounded up the year in Kotaku Kontent, did some podcast postapalooza, and unveiled our nominees for the Goaties this week. Oh, and managed to get in posts about farting and pee-pee. Here is your week in original coverage, with another reminder that the weekend-mans gets a New Year’s holiday too, so we’re running a…
By Owen Good -
The King of Stampede
The thing about goals, they must be measurable, and they must be achievable. That’s how I justify going after some low hanging fruit – beating Steve Wiebe’s score on an Atari 2600 classic. Click to viewYou may remember Steve Wiebe, the protagonist of “The King of Kong” (and with a cameo in the more recent…
By Owen Good -
A Long December
To: Luke From: Owen Re: Why Don’t You Like Gingerbread Men? Why? I’m not sure if I’ve ever been more ready for a month or a year to be over. In fact, I’d love to declare 2008 complete right now, by acclamation. Like a crap hand of Hearts, I’ll eat the rest of the cards,…
By Owen Good -
Anyone Want to Buy Free Radical?
TimeSplitters developer Free Radical Design is now officially up for sale, providing the end-all verification to a set of rumors about the company about a week ago. The word last week had Free Radical founder Steve Ellis setting up shop at a new studio, called Pumpkin Beach, taking with him some of his former company’s…
By Owen Good -
Sunday Funnies: 360 Origins, Console Reviews, Storage is Gangsta
Here’s another roundup of multimedia laffs culled from the Interwebs. I make no representations of the freshness/expiration/ enjoy-by dates of any of this, only that I consider it gaming germane, and, at minimum, grimace-inducing. First up, a 4chan MS paint rage-meme cartoon figures out the origin of the Xbox 360 name. Oh Microsoft! You steal…
By Owen Good -
Home is Where You Can’t Say “Hello”?
Anything as deep and complex as PlayStation Home is bound to have its growing pains. SCEA’s hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, took a look at some, including some hypersensitive chat filtering. For a time, seems “hello” was filtered out of chat (I’m assuming this is if a user entered it from a keypad himself,…
By Owen Good -
Former NBA Big Man Now Serious Pinball Gamer
Earlier this decade, Todd MacCulloch was a center with a lot of promise, and a lot of money. A foot injury sent him into early retirement. Now he collects and plays pinball machines. MacCulloch was forced into retirement at age 28 by a nerve condition in his foot — basically, parts of his feet would…
By Owen Good -
WeeP5: Badass Case, Same Old Rate of Fire
When Nintendo says it puts more smiles on more faces, I’m sure it’s not including the maniacal grin one must get blasting away raving Rabbids with this gangsta MP5 mod. User THeOReos joined Instructables on Christmas day just to show us how to put this bad bastard together. Disappointed with the variety of gun cases…
By Owen Good -
Study: Video Game Physiques Give Guys Body Image Issues, Too
Playing as super buffed up hunky dudes can make men insecure, according to a Kansas State study. But read on, if these stories are correct, this piece of scholarship has some serious problems. The study’s investigators themselves say other factors may contribute to one’s perception of body-image. But, after watching groups of men and women…
By Owen Good -
Chatting With Samus and Naomi Hunter — at the Same Time
This week, Maxim named Metal Gear Solid’s Naomi Hunter the top babe in gaming. Sadie Ultraneko talked to her voice actor, Jennifer Hale (right), who also voices Metroid’s babelicious Samus Aran. Hear her hold forth on being considered a gaming babe, the vagaries and challenges of voice acting a good death (“I hate when I…
By Owen Good -
Monolith Guy: Expansions, Ports Sunk F.E.A.R.
Dave Matthews (not this guy), the primary art lead for F.E.A.R. 2, has an idea what tanked the franchise: expansions and console ports — ones not made by Monolith. Talking to CVG, Matthews said the Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate expansion packs, made by TimeGate Studios, may have brought some new people to the brand…
By Owen Good -
Retro Edutainment: Talking with Speak & Spell’s Dev
The talkies of video games wouldn’t come until 1980, with Berzerk, Gorf and Intellivoice. But 1978’s Speak & Spell undoubtedly contributed to the DNA of early gaming. Vintage Computing talked to Richard Wiggins, the man who wrote its voice processing algorithms, and reminds us just what a thunderbolt this so-called child’s toy was when it…
By Owen Good -
Gatling Glitch > Rocket Jump
Here’s a trick for those rompin’ and stompin’ with zombies this Christmas: A physics glitch that enables you to charge up a gatling gun and launch yourself across the map in Left 4 Dead. Basically, wham on the gun like Engineer fast-building a sentry gun in Team Fortress 2, and when you think you’ve hit…
By Owen Good
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