- Uncategorized
Can We Interrupt This Video Game for a Studio Update?
One of the few broadcast features in Madden NFL 12 that I didn’t punch away with a quick button press was the official league bumper video at the end. You know, when the smooth narrator puffs up and says “This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL,” and lays down the law of the league’s expressed…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Sure Looks Like Steam Wallet Cards Are Coming to GameStop This Week [Update]
The pictures looked good, but we couldn’t get confirmation back when Luke broke the news a week ago that GameStop would begin selling Steam cash vouchers. Well, a second tipster’s sent us another couple of pictures of the cards and their display, basically confirming that the games retailer will start selling them. Though the picture…
By Owen Good - Culture
Choose Your Payne
Diablo III is this week’s long-anticipated release, but it is not the only one. Max Payne 3 also arrives on consoles, as does the Game of Thrones adaptation. It’s a busy mid-May for both physical releases and downloadable titles. Tuesday • Diablo III (PC, Mac) • Max Payne 3 (360, PS3) • Game of Thrones…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Star Trek Online Developer Admits the Game’s PvP Sucks
While being forthright with his community about the woeful state of Star Trek Online‘s player-vs-player combat, a developer at Cryptic Studios also admitted to something of a self-fulfilling prophecy: PvP in the game is so bad, no one’s participating in it. Participation is so low, the studio has seriously considered removing PvP altogether. “Something has…
By Owen Good -
UncategorizedYou Can’t Judge Dragon’s Dogma by It’s Launch Trailer. But It Is Nice to Look At
We’ve been circumspect about Dragon’s Dogma, coming May 22 from Capcom. Totilo and Chris Person, the site’s video editor, have grown attached to it despite also calling it “one very messy, clumsy game, full of bad dialogue, cumbersome menus and annoying supporting characters.” But there are legitimately good qualities, they insist; this simply isn’t so-bad-it’s-good…
By Owen Good -
UncategorizedSkyrim YouTube Parody has Big Plans—Like Bringing Gregethor Back from the Dead
When last seen, he looked like he was done for. Gregethor, the scene-stealing bearded shopkeeper from the enormously successful parody Skyrim 2012, was getting blasted in the stomach by his own Staff of Lightning. It appeared to be a fatal blow. I was so distraught I re-rolled a Breton in Gregethor’s honor. Well, the Grosjean…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Zynga’s Next Big Game Sounds Like … a Farmville Sequel
Zynga’s next big Facebook game is an improved version of FarmVille currently beta testing under the name Big Harvest, reports TechCrunch. Their source says the game is being tested out in the Phillippines. Zynga replied to TechCrunch’s inquiry with a standard no comment that neither confirmed nor denied the project. The game, according to screenshots…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Are You ‘Shop Enough
Most everyone has taken a swing at Time magazine’s blatantly desperate attempt to stay relevant for one more week. But there is a breed of satirist, known and feared for a cutting, cruel wit, that has yet to have its say: the video gamer. So here we go. If it’s good enough for Time’s cover,…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Pan1da7’s adaptation of Bakery Ninja Kinect serves us breakfast in bed this Mother’s Day. I hope everyone here has called his or hers to wish her a happy day or, better yet, said so in person. Good morning and welcome to Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves. Want a piece of the TAYpic action atop this six-day-a-week…
By Owen Good - Culture
Sunday Comics: Simple Math
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. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published May 9.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published May 7.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Suspects of the Old Republic: The Winners
The moving-violation misdaventures of a California man actually named Obiwan Kenobi formed the inspiration for our latest Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the 20 finalists inside, plus overall winner musica! Plenty of movie poster themes here. Toolsoldier (17) had the best of all of…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Is This Year the Last Hurrah for the Games Expo as We Know It?
I had lunch with a friend and colleague on Thursday, a guy who has been to every E3—and before that he was going to the Consumer Electronics Show when it was the gaming industry’s big expo. Absent some miracle hardware reveal, he thinks we could see the quietest and most depressing E3 ever this year.…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Games Industry Analyst Michael Pachter Estimates Gamers Outnumber Complainers 100 to 1 [Corrected]
I like Michael Pachter. I really do. I get Castleville requests from him all the time. Seriously, though, I do go to Pachter for comment occasionally in my sports columns, mostly because the deals cut in that genre are complex and often rely on a publisher partnering up with older businesses, and he understands those…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Pro Wrestling Talent Search Series Relocates to Games Design School
Here is an oddball news item, but it’s legit. WWE NXT, a kind of talent-search/reality show featuring wrestlers looking to become the circuit’s next new star, will now be taped at Full Sail University of Winter Park, Fla. Full Sail is recognizable to many video gamers as one of the main universities teaching game design…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Which Microsoft Creation is More Despised: Clippy? Or Games For Windows Live?
Maybe I’m the only one keeping score every time this is noted, but Max Payne 3 is the latest game to say fuck no, we’re not using Games For Windows Live. A tweet Wednesday from Rockstar, as noticed by PC Gamer, says it straight up. Being not a PC gamer or a Windows user, I…
By Owen Good -
UncategorizedGo ‘Behind the Wall’ on the Seven-Year Effort to Make a Game of Thrones Video Game
When Cyanide Studio began working with George R.R. Martin on adapting a role-playing game from his fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, the Game of Thrones television series was “only a rumor.” That was seven years ago. Certainly, the fact Game of Thrones has become such a mainstream sensation helped speed things along.…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
If You’ve Pre-Downloaded Diablo III in Europe, Read This to be Sure You Can Play the Game
A notice on Battle.Net’s European web site says that Blizzard recently became aware of an issue in the digital installation downloader for Diablo III‘s English and German versions. This affects European versions only, not North American. They’re asking that anyone who downloaded the game before Saturday (today) at 10 a.m. Central European time/9 a.m. GMT,…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Say It With Rage
If you’re still out of ideas for Mother’s Day, well, all we’ve got here are video games. Which, who knows, maybe your mom does want a game or two for her special day tomorrow. Not much in the way of new or upcoming releases, but there are some golden oldies and digital download deals among…
By Owen Good
