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Reviews
Major League Baseball 2K13: The Kotaku Review
Major League Baseball 2K13 is an offensively recycled product and an embarrassment to sports video games. In my five years as Kotaku‘s sports writer, I’ve spent a good deal of time in comments defending the genre, and those who make its games, from the worn-out slur that annual sports titles are nothing but reskinned roster…
By Owen Good -
It Would Take ‘Significant Engineering’ to Make SimCity an Offline Game
Later this afternoon, Lucy Bradshaw, the general manager of SimCity maker Maxis, is going to take over the studio’s official account to answer questions from gamers who, four days after the game’s release, are still unable to play the thing they purchased. She’s already given a preview answer to the question most of them likely…
By Owen Good -
Reviews
MLB 13 The Show: The Kotaku Review
The oldest memory I have is of catching a baseball. Coming from a sports fan, this may sound like treacly, lump-in-your-throat stuff, but it’s true. I was three years old. My father was mowing one side of our front lawn, I was standing in the other, and I underhanded a pop fly into the air.…
By Owen Good -
PETA’s Whale of a Complaint with Assassin’s Creed has Nothing to do With Animals
The m.o. of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals complaining about video games is by now completely transparent. They’ve had problems with everything from Pokémon to Mario’s Tanooki suit, and little of it has anything to do with the harmful depiction of animals in a video game, or the corrosive attitudes that may spread.…
By Owen Good -
EA Sports May Add “A Couple of New Sports Franchises,” But Don’t Get Your Hopes Up for MVP Baseball [UPDATE]
A top Electronic Arts executive, speaking at an investor conference, hinted that EA Sports could add “a couple of new sports franchises,” in the coming year, and reaffirmed the label’s commitment to publishing NBA Live, which it canceled for a second time at the end of last year. In remarks reported by Polygon, Blake Jorgensen,…
By Owen Good -
Minecraft Looking at PlayStation—When Its Exclusive Deal With the 360 Ends
Minecraft on the Xbox 360 is no joke. In October, it briefly dethroned Call of Duty as the Xbox 360’s most-played game, and is still a solid No. 2 five months later. So its viability as a console title isn’t in question. Mojang is considering a PlayStation version, said Jens Bergstein, the lead designer of…
By Owen Good -
Please, Sports Games, Knock It Off With the Social Media Voting Already
This will be the third year EA Sports runs a March Madness-style vote-off for the cover of Madden NFL and on the whole, I’ve really enjoyed the first two. It’s a fun bar argument and the promotion is well run in conjunction with ESPN. Anthony Stevenson, the game’s chief marketer, has been forthright with me…
By Owen Good -
Rumors of Dead Space‘s Demise Are False, Says Studio and EA
A report earlier this morning, citing unidentified sources, suggested that Electronic Arts had terminated its Dead Space franchise—including work on an unannounced Dead Space 4—in light of poor sales of Dead Space 3. The game’s studio says the rumors are false, and EA itself disputes the portrayal of Dead Space as a troubled brand. “The…
By Owen Good -
Tomb Raider‘s Film Reboot Will Mirror the New Game, Studio Says
Tomb Raider‘s reboot as a video game seems to have worked out well, so Crystal Dynamics is comfortable talking about their reboot plans for the film, too. Speaking to Variety, Darrell Gallagher said his studio is working with GK Films, producers of “Rango” and “The Departed.” Gallagher’s remarks stress that whatever the next Tomb Raider…
By Owen Good -
Hey, SimCity, Fix Your Servers so Francis Can Get His Free Disaster
SimCity launched overnight, if by “launched,” one means “was as inaccessible as it was the day before.” For some, anyway. Here to give voice to their rage is Francis, who’s upset that billions of simoleons in vital public infrastructure is needlessly delayed by EA’s inability to offer preloading. Sit back, take a pull on a…
By Owen Good -
Nixed My Little Pony Fighting Game Gets Help from Friendship is Magic Creator
Shut down by the lawyer-mans at the beginning of February, the My Little Pony fan-made fighting game still lives. The glum backers and developers of Fighting is Magic may have to go on without using MLP art or characters—but they will have the creator of the current animated series in their corner. “Mane6,” the coalition…
By Owen Good -
Remember: It’s Not Just the NFL’s Exclusive License with Madden; the Players’ Union Has One, Too.
Gamers, including those who don’t even play sports video games, love to hate the exclusive license the NFL sold to EA Sports in 2005, making Madden the only NFL video game on consoles. Let’s not forget the NFL Players’ Association is a part of this, too. With just one exception (GameLoft’s NFL 2010 for iPhone,…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Sunday Comics: Getting Hitched
Whoops! Sorry bout that folks. A publishing error this morning meant Sunday Comics didn’t roll out in its usual slot. Here they are—don’t worry, we didn’t do anything truly stupid like cancel the feature. Enjoy. Brentalfloss the Comic by Brent Black, Andrew Dobson and Dan Roth. Published Feb. 28. Read more of Brentalfloss the Comic…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Hands Down: The Winners
He took first place among the finalists for this week’s ‘Shop Contest. Who is arniejolt? Correct! I’ll take potpourri for a thousand, Alex, and another 19 hilarious send-ups of Bungie’s weird keep-your-hands-where-we-can-see-em performance at the PS4 announcement event. See them in the gallery above! arniejolt arniejolt Beau.b Bloodyford CrazyPotato DeadPooLBoy DoctorOverated Emucratic GR1M RACER HampstaSandwich…
By Owen Good -
Burt Destruction‘s Difficulty Gets in the Way of a Good Joke
Full disclosure, I know one of the guys who worked on Burt Destruction, which landed on Android and iOS stores a couple weeks ago. Jeff Reitman is the CTO of RunWilder Entertainment, the game’s maker. He and I performed in some stand-up comedy showcases together back before I joined Kotaku, and Jeff was a favorite…
By Owen Good -
The “Screaming Brave” Gets Back In The Show Despite MLB Removing It In Real Life [Update]
For the second time in as many seasons the Atlanta Braves have tried to use the “Screaming Brave” patch on an official uniform piece and pulled it back under public outcry, leaving MLB The Show holding the bag. Operation Sports noted yesterday that all of the new batting practice cap designs will be featured in…
By Owen Good
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