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Star Wars Pinball Proposes a Unique Trilogy With Its First Three Tables
When Zen Studios went to Lucasarts about a year ago, they offered a straightforward pitch for a series of Star Wars-themed pinball tables. OK, here’s the Original Trilogy pack: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi. OK, now here are the three prequels … “They said no,” said Neil Sorens, Zen’s creative…
By Owen Good -
Say Happy Valve-entine’s With This Delightful Card Series
Portal is a natural theme for Valentine’s Day, as we saw with these cards Valve released in 2011 before Portal 2‘s arrival. This one is the best of a Valve-themed series done by Tumblr user applenail, which got a lot of attention over the weekend and yesterday. Print them out and put one in a…
By Owen Good -
Anti-Censorship Group Shushes New Jersey Library for Banning Games From Its Computers
I wasn’t aware people play video games like Call of Duty in public libraries, but evidently in Paterson, N.J., they do. Or did, anyway. The library board there specifically banned first-person shooters from being played on library computers last month. The National Coalition Against Censorship, the same outfit that upbraided Massachusetts for yanking light-gun games…
By Owen Good -
You Will Not Believe You’re Watching This L.A. Noire Blooper Reel
Is this reel real? Depth Analysis, which created the face scanning technology used in 2011’s L.A. Noire, for some reason released an outtakes reel on Thursday and it shows just how sophisticated the technology really is. We’re not just hearing voice actors flub lines, snicker and look off-camera, we’re seeing their game characters do it,…
By Owen Good -
These Are the Candidates for Madden NFL‘s Cover This Year—I Think
The past three years on Super Bowl Sunday, I’ve tried to handicap the field for the cover of the coming year’s edition of Madden NFL, the bona fide Wheaties box of sports video gaming. It’s gotten increasingly difficult as EA Sports has opened the search to a fan-voted process, from three candidates to 32 and…
By Owen Good -
Culture
The Week in Games: A Thief in Time Saves Nine
Fire Emblem: Awakening warms up the release schedule tomorrow in time for a new Sly Cooper and Dead Space 3 on Tuesday. Monday • Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) Tuesday • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dragonborn (PC DLC) • Dead Space 3 (360, PS3, PC) • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, PS Vita)…
By Owen Good -
Kevin Costner’s Tatanka Hunting Simulator 2013 Dances With Irreverence
It may look like a cel-shaded reboot of Activision’s Stampede. However, this is Kevin Costner’s Tatanka Hunting Simulator 2013, an unauthorized adaptation of the Academy Award-winning Best Picture for 1991. It’s the work of Acid Wizard Studio at the Global Game Jam, which wrapped up last week. And it looks insane. From its instructions: “If…
By Owen Good -
Let’s Go Apartment Hunting in Gotham City with DC Universe Online
In July I moved back to my hometown to buy a house. After nearly 20 years of renting, I was grateful to never again worry about noisy upstairs neighbors, proximity to a laundromat, rent increases, security deposits or apartment hunting. And then DC Universe Online released Home Turf this week. The latest extension to the…
By Owen Good -
The Latest ‘Working Portal Gun In Real Life’ Hack Is Pretty Damn Cool
Mirrors lined with blue and red LEDs have long been a staple of Portal-themed decoration. Taking it to the next level, however, is jamin101wolf. He bought the Portal gun prop available through ThinkGeek and Amazon, then plugged the two mirrors into remote-control power boxes. With this he pulls off the effect of firing a red…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Horsing Around With Gabe
We’ve had a run of good luck with no-brainer exploitables, and that continues this week with Gabe Newell, donning a horse mask after giving a talk in Texas, and then firing up some kind of Half-Life gang sign. Here are a couple of still frames taken from a video; if the student on the right…
By Owen Good -
Culture
Sunday Comics: Starting Over
Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published Feb. 1. Read more of Brawl In The Family Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Feb.…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Dildover: The Winners
Jason Rubin, the former THQ president, left work with head(s) held high last week. Though the publisher is no more, we’ll always remember his member, the good ole Penetrator from Saints Row: The Third. I couldn’t pick a single winner this week so there are two, the retro Atari VCS cartridge front from ParamedicFoetus, and…
By Owen Good -
MLB 2K13 Actually Has Some Marketing, Sort Of
In January, 2K Sports shocked sports video gaming with the announcement that it would, in fact, make Major League Baseball 2K13 this year. The label’s prior license with MLB expired at the end of 2012, and no one expected it to be renewed. Of course, it’s not like any other publisher was building an MLB-licensed…
By Owen Good -
Space Invaders Makes for a Great Themed Chess Set
It’s no secret I’ve stayed away from Kickstarter topics, as the whole thing by now strikes me as an Etsy for things that don’t exist. That said, there are some pretty cool projects there that have some reasonable fund-raising expectations and stand a good chance at delivering on their promise. This is one, a Space…
By Owen Good -
Minecraft Creator Made $101 Million Last Year, May Buy a Car With It
In 2012, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson took home 640 million kronor—$101 million US—in licensing fees for the game, according to a report in the Swedish financial press. What’s he going to do with that kind of money? Well, he tells Reddit, he may finally get a car. “It’s weird as fuck,” he said, in…
By Owen Good -
Record Smashed as Arsenal Beat Spurs 190-Nil
Guinness and video games have made quite a partnership over the years, to the point where many of their honours now sound more like adverts. (Yes, I’m deliberately writing in UK English here.) Here, however, is one that harkens back to Guinness’ old-school marathon and milestone roots: Shattering the record for margin of victory in…
By Owen Good
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