- Culture
Brighten Up Your Morning With This Brilliant Tron Art
The latest Tron movie was a funny thing. And the game was just as funny as the movie. Forgettable content, but with art design just gorgeous to look at. Good thing we’re just looking at Tron art today, then, and not playing it. These pieces are all courtesy of Daryl Mandryk, a freelance concept artist…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Closed World, a Role-Playing Game About Growing Up Queer
For someone growing up gay, life can be a challenge. So the team behind A Closed World decided to turn it into one of gaming’s most institutionalised ordeals: the Japanese role-playing game. It’s a great project, using the genre as a means to both parody games and use them as a productive tool to do…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Japanese Television Ruining Uncharted
Starting Oct. 3 on late night television, TV Tokyo is broadcasting a new program to promote Uncharted 3. It will ruin the game’s prequel. Literally. The show, dubbed UnchaTV, isn’t a live action drama, but the cutscenes from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves edited together into sixteen episodes. File this under either “spoilers” or “lazy”. The…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Turning Video Game Food Into Real, Delicious Food
Daniella Zelli is making me hungry. She runs a website called Gourmet Gaming, which exists solely to take the food found in video games and bring it into the real world. Notice how video games never really feature bad food? It’s always pies, or drumsticks, or pizza. The good stuff. Stuff that Zelli takes to…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
When Cosplayers Get in the Way of Crazy Cars
Over the weekend, bishoujo (beautiful young girl) game festival Dream Party steamrolled through Tokyo. Computer games weren’t the only place bishoujo popped up. They also decorated itasha Itasha, or literally “painmobiles”, are covered in decals that feature characters from popular anime, manga, and video games. This year’s Dream Party had tuned itasha on display. I’d…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 4, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallRAGE Has Been a Long, Long Time Coming
It’s not every day you get to play a new id game. If you’re not counting iPhone games (and we’re not counting iPhone games) or re-releases, the last new title the studio released was Doom 3. And that was in 2004 So this week’s release of post-apocalyptic buggy death simulator RAGE is something to be…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Modern Classics Reborn on NES Cartridges
Cult classic PlayStation 2 game Okami got a Wii port. It never got a NES version, because that system was well before the game’s time. But what if it did? Website 72pins reckons that the game’s 8-bit cartridge would look something like this. It also reckons that you can buy this mock-up for US$20. Other…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 4, 2011 -
UncategorizedThis Four Year-Old Kid Lets us Relive the Magic of Star Wars All Over Again
After so many decades, so much merchandise and so much tinkering, it’s easy to forget just why so many people fell in love with Star Wars as a kid. It’s because of moments like this. Watch, as four year-old Faris is treated to his first viewing of Empire Strikes Back, the film’s spoiler having been…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 -
UncategorizedKinect Hacked for Bigger Boobs
Kinect hacks provide an endless rabbit hole of would-be tech wizards using the peripheral for a rainbow of results. Some of them are amazing, such as this Kinect-controlled drone. Some of them are silly, such as this. This is a multiplayer-supported Kinect hack that gives both women and men “giant breasts” that they can shake…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Remember, Those Downloadable PS2 Games Don’t Have any Extra Stuff
There are PS2 games coming to the PlayStation Store. An inevitable, if unfortunate turn of events. And just to be clear, these are PS2 games through and through: no remastering, no fancy updates, nothing. I mean, that seemed fairly obvious yesterday (given the nature of the announcement and the means of delivery), but there are…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Japanese Schoolgirl Finally Rides with Kamen Rider
Ever since Kamen Rider first fired up his motorcycle over forty years ago and kicked evil Shocker ass, one thing has been missing: a pleated-skirt and sailor-suit-wearing rider. That will change. Kamen Rider is a tokusatsu series that debuted in the early 1970s. It’s since spun off movies, toys, and video games. This December, Kamen…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Zombie Luigi is Trying to Bite Mario’s Face Off
Custom toy creator KodyKoala, who you’ve seen here once or twice (or thrice!) , is back with another great piece based on the Mushroom Kingdom. And it’s a Mushroom Kingdom gone bad. Luigi has eaten a zombie mushroom and turned flesh-eater, depicted here trying to eat his brother’s face off and wear his guts for…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Xbox Live Brought Down by “Human Error”
Earlier this morning, at around 9am Pacific, Xbox Live went down for a little while. What’s interesting is not the downtime itself (it was brief), but the cause: human error. A Microsoft statement issued later in the day reads: The root cause of this outage was human error. A change resulted in an interruption to…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Should You Buy Rage? Yes.
id Software’s Rage is out there ready to be purchased, or rented, and played. But should you invest the time and money? Here’s Kotaku‘s Gut Check: Evan Narcisse: Buy it to see whether ID can make a game with modern sensibilities, or how appealing their old-school approach still is. Buy it to see where the…
By Brian Crecente Published October 4, 2011 - Uncategorized
Why Is Disney Trademarking Mickey Mouse’s Castle of Illusion?
Early Sega Genesis adopters remember Sega’s Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse as one of the system’s initial highlights, a platformer bursting with charm and gorgeous level design. So Disney trademarking Castle of Illusion more than 20 years later is certainly cause of cautious excitement. Siliconera spotted Disney’s a new trademark for Castle of Illusion…
By Michael McWhertor Published October 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
Taste The Happy
Hey, Kotaku [said in Buster Bluth voice]. You ready to wrap up this Monday with a little off topic conversation? Good, because this open thread is just kind of sitting here unused. Will somebody do something with this thing? As you’ve probably heard over the past 24 hours or so, that Arrested Development movie is…
By Michael McWhertor Published October 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
There’s A World of Goo For Your Android Device Too
World of Goo, already a hit on WiiWare, PC and iOS, is building a gooey bridge to Android. Yes, that means phones and tablets, says 2D Boy, which is “working out the final kinks in the machinery.” [2D Boy]
By Michael McWhertor Published October 3, 2011 -
UncategorizedThis Pac-Man Musical Makes Me Weirdly Hungry
I’ve seen mock musicals for a good number of video games, but still I enjoyed this excerpt from Pac-Man The Musical entitled “A Pacapella Song.” (Though if I’m being a stickler, it’s not technically a cappella, since the song has instrumental musical accompaniment.) In the song, the ghosts from Pac-Man sing about how excited they…
By Kirk Hamilton Published October 3, 2011 -
UncategorizedSkyward Sword‘s Motion Controls Feel Fine, Just Fine
Ever since Nintendo announced the Wii’s upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, there has been much debate and consternation over its control scheme. Skyward Sword will be the first Zelda game to use Nintendo’s more advanced Motion Plus controls for the Wii—players will either have to buy the MP add-on for their standard Wii…
By Kirk Hamilton Published October 3, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Week In Dangerous Games: Fish Punching, Erotically Engraved Cannonballs and Some Light Treason
You know, video games will rot your brain. They’re filled with nothing more than gratuitous fish abuse, LEGO toilet humor and references to pornographic cannonballs—or so this week’s most potentially offensive video games might lead us to believe. Those warnings of erotic ammunition and trout slapping come courtesy of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the…
By Michael McWhertor Published October 3, 2011