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UncategorizedKinect + GlaDOS is Slightly Terrifying
Who needs a hostile little mobile phone when you can drop Portal’s malevolent artificial intelligence onto a PC and have her watch you via Kinect? Corey Thomas has rigged up his Kinect camera’s voice recognition to not just operate his PC, but to snap back at hi with canned lines from GlaDOS. The implementation isn’t…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Borderlands Fan Passes Away, Honoured as Borderlands 2 Character
Michael John Mamaril sadly passed away last month at the age of just 22. Being a big Borderlands fan, Michael’s friend Carlo thought a nice way to remember him would be to have the game somehow pay tribute. Borderlands developers Gearbox did this and then some. The game’s loud-mouthed robot assistant, Claptrap, has recorded a…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011 - CultureTotal Recall
The Wonderful, Shady World of Knock-Off Nintendo Consoles
The Nintendo Entertainment System, and its Japanese sibling the Famicom, were two of the most successful video game consoles to ever be released. Which led to a lot of, let’s say, imitators. OK, no, let’s say complete unlicensed rip-offs. But we’re not here to tut tut and point fingers. Today, we’re going to celebrate some…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
DC Universe Adds 120,000 Players After First Free-to-Play Day
Shifting to a free-to-play model yesterday, DC Universe Online opened the gates to the freeloading hordes. More than 120,000 signed up for the MMO said John Smedley, the president of Sony Online Entertainment. That figure’s for the PC, though. No word yet on PS3 enrollments. Smedley also touted figures for number of users logged in,…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Layoffs at Gameforge Jeopardize Free-to-Play Star Trek—Infinite Space
Today, Gameforge, the German-based publisher of browser-based video games, laid off 100 workers in a restructuring that canceled two games and threatens its biggest property, Star Trek—Infinite Space In a message to Star Trek—Infinite Space Fans, the game’s development team said that plans for the game’s beta are “currently on pause until further notice” as…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Quality Time With My Friend Salad
Greetings Kotakueers, and welcome to the thursday night open-thread. We’re getting into the thick of things now; big games are dropping right and left, and it’s getting harder and harder to keep up. What better way to blow off some steam than sitting back and engaging in healthy conversation with your fellow man? Here now,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
This Sure Looks Like the Title Screen to the Next Alan Wake
Earlier today we got confirmation that the next Alan Wake will indeed be downloadable, and that more details will be revealed at the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards. Back in May, Kotaku ran a rumor from the site XBLA Fans that the next Wake game would be called “Alan Wake’s Night Springs,” and that it…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 3, 2011 -
UncategorizedAssassin’s Creed Turns to Sports Stars to Tout Its Stats
For me, the big question is not why NFL running back Adrian Peterson, NBA point guard Derrick Rose, or MMA fighter B.J. Penn are stumping for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. For me, the question is “Where the hell do I get one of those hoodies.” You can contact Owen Good, the author of this post, at…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Harmonix Isn’t Doing Too Bad (For Not Making Shooters)
A couple of weeks ago, Dance Central and Rock Band studio Harmonix was being advised—by someone from the company that sold it off—to make “the world’s first immersive shoot-’em-up,” using Kinect. Today, the firm reported it is doing juuuuust fine by sticking to the rhythm genre. Florian Hunziker, Harmonix’s chief operating officer, expects $100 million…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
EA Sports Avoids Campaign-Year Headache by Keeping Obama Out of NFL Blitz
A year after appearing in NBA Jam (with Vice President Biden, and eight other political figures of both parties), President Obama will not cameo in January’s NFL Blitz, one of the game’s designers said recently. Though Yuri Bialoskursky didn’t say so specifically, it’s probably because a presidential election year is coming up, and EA Sports…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Fresh Look at the Video Game Time-Suck
You’re playing a game, moving from objective to objective, and suddenly you look over and… six hours have passed. Where did the time go? I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. It’s a situation that seems to manifest while playing video games more than other activities. I’ve lost hours reading a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Second Life Winds Up In FBI Gang Intelligence Dossier
Second Life isn’t simply a virtual realm where people starve horses, troll others having sex, and traffic in counterfeit groovie-goolies sex devices. No, it’s also a network through which gangs discuss and plot their evil deeds, says none other than the Eff Bee Eye. On page 41 of the FBI’s latest “National Gang Threat Assessment,”…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Infinity Blades
Infinity Blade –Did you know that there was an Infinity Blade 2 coming? Did you know that there was an Infinity Blade book and iPhone case and t-shirt? I love the game, but man that’s a lot for two iPhone games to support. How to Buy a Copy of Modern Warfare 3 Today Last night…
By Brian Crecente Published November 3, 2011 -
UncategorizedThis Little Girl is the Key to Surviving the Horror of Amy
When the world’s population has been transformed into rampaging flesh-hungry monsters and the infection is spreading through your system a little psychic girl can make all the difference. Surviving the Horror of Amy: Salvation is Within Reach [PlayStation Blog] You can contact Michael Fahey, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find…
By Mike Fahey Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Game Reviewers Protest Middle-Earth’s Senseless War in the North
There once was a small hobbit that left the Shire on a grand adventure, performing brave deeds and overcoming impossible odds for the sake of all Middle-Earth. This is not his story. The Lords of the Rings: War in the North instead follows the story of a trio of adventurers going on a journey so…
By Mike Fahey Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
The next Alan Wake Will Indeed be an Xbox Live Downloadable Game
Mr. Xbox, Major Nelson, confirmed some rumor and speculation today, saying that the Alan Wake game that will be shown at this year’s Spike Video Game Awards will be a downloadable game. We’ll know more in the coming weeks.
By Stephen Totilo Published November 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Branching Levels Driven By Moral Choices Could Be Rainbow 6’s Secret Weapon
While other shooters are pursuing more weapons, more maps, higher polygon counts, higher body counts; Tom Clancy’s latest Rainbow Six game is pushing the envelop on morality. In unveiling Rainbow 6: Patriots this week, developer and publisher Ubisoft says that the game “adds an unprecedented level of humanity that will make (it) an extremely tense…
By Brian Crecente Published November 3, 2011 -
UncategorizedGet Swept Up in the Sound of Skyrim‘s Barbarian Choir
Back in 2006 Skyrim game director Todd Howard called up composer Jeremy Soule and told him he wanted the music for the game to sound like The Elder Scrolls theme as sung by a barbarian choir. Lacking barbarians, Soule just hired some men with deep voices. I am posting this video specifically so I can…
By Mike Fahey Published November 3, 2011 -
UncategorizedPimps, Gimps, Outer Space Combat and… Burt Reynolds? Must Be a Saints Row the Third Trailer
At some point, describing a new trailer for Saints Row the Third is just going to devolve into a list of the various ridiculous things that it shows. Hmm, actually, I actually believe that point in time is upon us. In this trailer we have: A blow-Up doll, a guy in a cape with a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 3, 2011