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If “Ranger Mode” is the way Metro: Last Light is “meant to be played,” why is it a preorder bonus and not in the main edition? “Offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail,” the game’s publisher told PC Gamer Ranger Mode is $5 to non-preorderers because that’s the minimum they…
By Owen Good -
The Awesome, 100% Accurate Planetary Orbits of Blast Corps‘ Map Screen
Blast Corps, for the Nintendo 64, didn’t give much of a damn for accurate physics. You could drive on gas-giant Neptune, and it had the lowest gravity of any of the game’s extraterrestrial levels (it should be the highest). But as GameXplain marvelously demonstrates, the map menu is jaw-droppingly true to life. The orbital periods…
By Owen Good -
Highest Bidder Backs Out as Ultra-Rare Console Fails to Find a Buyer
About a month ago, renewed interest in the “Sega Pluto”—a prototype console that was more or less an online-enabled Sega Saturn—led one guy to rummage through his closet and find he was in possession of one of two surviving units. He put it up for bid, but a second auction has ended without his reserve…
By Owen Good -
Crimefighting Babysitter Foils PS3 Robbery by Telling Suspect’s Mom
Oklahoma’s most idiotic robbery (this week) ended in the arrest of two teenagers who brandished a firearm at a babysitter and two children and stole a PlayStation 3 from their home. However, one of the suspects forgot to tuck in his bandana properly, helping Nancy Drew crack the case before the commercial break. Cops say…
By Owen Good -
A Love of Learning is the Guide to Life—and Video Games
Video games are not a complete and total waste of time. Assassin’s Creed teaches you world history. Metal Gear Solid teaches politics and philosophy. And Cooking Mama teaches you, well, cooking. Those are some of the nuggets of wisdom at “Real Things Video Games Teach You,” a tumblr that in two days has compiled nearly…
By Owen Good -
Top Warcraft Guild Disbands, Blaming the Raiding Community
These past few weeks haven’t seen a lot of good news thrown World of Warcraft‘s way. The MMO shed more than a million users over the past year, a development Activision’s CEO called “troubling.” Before that, some of the game’s hardest-core players called it quits, too. Exodus, on April 26, said it was disbanding as…
By Owen Good -
EA Sports’ Boss Sells All of His EA Stock, but Isn’t Going Anywhere
Andrew Wilson, the man in charge of EA Sports and newly in command of Electronic Arts’ Origin digital distribution service, sold all of his shares in the company on Thursday, cashing out for about $687,000. It’s a curious move but it wouldn’t appear that Wilson is going anywhere, and indeed a statement from an EA…
By Owen Good -
Whistleblower on MLB 2K Cheating Scandal at Last Finds Perfect Justice
Yesterday I mentioned that some familiar faces cashed $25,000 checks in MLB 2K13‘s Million Dollar Challenge, including a guy accused of cheating in last year’s contest. But I missed another important name: The man who blew the whistle on the scandal. Scott Young, edged out of a shot at a million-dollar prize last year by…
By Owen Good -
Remember, We’ve Got a Lot More than Los Santos to Discover in GTA V
At first I thought we were getting a subtle glimpse of San Fierro in Grand Theft Auto V, but now I’m not so sure. The bridge in this shot, one of a dozen screens Rockstar released yesterday, doesn’t bear enough of a resemblance and the location is out of whack. Hell, I was hoping that…
By Owen Good -
NBA Live Will Be a Next-Generation Title
In Electronic Arts’ quarterly earnings call today, Frank Gibeau, the president of EA Labels, strongly indicated that EA Sports’ troubled NBA Live series will be a next-generation console title when it launches later this year. Gibeau told investors the company plans “a full reveal at E3 including more next generation titles in development,” for the…
By Owen Good -
Female Footballers Still Sidelined in FIFA 14
Women won’t make an appearance in FIFA 14, despite an insistent campaign of petitions to include them and a summit, last year, that left one organizer with the feeling that it was just a matter of time before women would be included in the world’s most popular video game for the world’s most popular sport.…
By Owen Good -
Familiar Names Get Paid in MLB 2K13‘s Perfect Game Contest
A contestant accused of cheating in last year’s scandal-plagued MLB 2K Million Dollar Challenge pocketed $25,000 in this year’s contest, staged under a new format—and with the exploits patched out. William Haff, of Owatonna, Minn., is not a finalist for a $250,000 grand prize in this year’s contest, but he still did better than in…
By Owen Good -
The Nazis Won World War II in Wolfenstein: The New Order
Wolfenstein: The New Order by MachineGames, will arrive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC at the end of the year, Bethesda just announced over at GameSpot. (Versions for next-gen consoles are also coming.) That’s the debut trailer. The game is set in 1960 but, yes, Nazis will still be the bad guys. That’s…
By Owen Good -
Watergate: The Game: What a Long, Strange National Nightmare It’s Been
I’m about as old as Watergate and it has had a constant and vaguely Oedipal influence on me. Dad was a newsman; I’m a newsman. Dad hates Nixon; I hate Nixon. Newsmen took down a president; my Dad’s badder than the president. So I came to Watergate: The Game confident I could win with solid…
By Owen Good -
Minnesota Vikings Cut JRPG Fan
Chris Kluwe, the outspoken NFL punter, World of Warcraft and JRPG fan we’ve featured here frequently over the past season, was let go from his team, the Minnesota Vikings, today. Kluwe would frequently refer to his team’s upcoming game in the language of an MMO. His next objective, so to speak, is to find a…
By Owen Good -
Hilarious FIFA Fails Fall Down—but They Don’t Flop
FIFA, we kid because we love. You are one of the Big Four—the best sports video games each year. But you know the risks of having a real-time physics engine: It means the occasional noggin’ knockin’ (and salad-tossin’) in this anthology of wild moments via Rooster Teeth‘s Achievement Hunter. (NSFW language.) To contact the author…
By Owen Good
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