- Culture
A New College Try
It seems like we just had graduation, but EA Sports returns to campus this week with NCAA Football 12. A new L.A. Noire case and Ms. ‘Splosion Man round out the highlights. Tuesday NCAA Football 12 (Xbox 360, PS3) — A raft of new features in the game’s Dynasty and singleplayer Road to Glory modes…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Donkey Kong Turned 30 Yesterday—or Did He?
Researching the exact birthday for a tribute to the 30th birthday of Donkey Kong, Patrick Scott Patterson of the Arcade Examiner came up with conflicting information. Absent official word from Nintendo, he thinks the big ape—and therefore Mario (né Jumpan)—turned 30 yesterday, July 9. “Some sources specifically state the date as July 9, 1981,” Patterson…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
The Vapors
Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •Vaporware: 5 Video Games That Should Be Released By Now (But May Never Be) [OC Weekly] With the release of Duke Nukem Forever and L.A.…
By Owen Good -
UncategorizedThe Past is Present in this San Andreas/GTA IV Mod
We’ve seen a teaser of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City imported into Grand Theft Auto IV‘s visual and physics engine, RAGE. Another mod team is hard at work on the same conversion for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas At work since December, the team hopes to release a public beta this fall. Above is about…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Namco Sues Over European Distribution, DRM Removal from Witcher 2
Namco Bandai is suing the parent company of the maker of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, the acclaimed PC role-playing game that will make its way to Xbox 360 later this year, over the rights to distribute that version of the game in Europe. Namco is also suing CD Projekt RED for removing DRM…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Old School DLC
For many, downloadable content—especially day-one DLC or pre-order DLC—conjures feelings of getting less but paying more. Let me tell you: I paid $45 for Defender on the Atari 2600 and I still have the savings account withdrawal record to prove it. That was in 1982. If Atari had thrown in an extra set of mutant…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Jen on Friday sent out a plea for more TAYpics and Koda89, a veteran of the ‘Shop Contest, knows I report for duty the next day, and how eminently publishable I find anything featuring Asshole Dog from Duck Hunt. Thus, your image to start the day. Unless I’m giving Koda89 too much credit; I dunno.…
By Owen Good - Culture
Sunday Comics
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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published July 4. – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published July 8. – Read more of Nerf…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Board Game Box Art Winners
There’s box art and there’s box art, and just as CD insert is no comparison to an album cover, so is a DVD case no match for the artistry of a board-game box. Last week’s ‘Shop Contest asked everyone to reconcile the latter two. Leading off, Laodicea-Dude (14) captures what a perfectly boring obligation it…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
NCAA Football 12‘s Ultimate Conference Call
In NCAA Football 12 players have an extraordinary amount of control over the college football landscape. Last year, many diehards and purists pursed their lips and grumbled over a wave of conference realignments that forsake traditions and regional sensibilities for television contracts. NCAA 12 is their chance to put things right in the world. Their…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Bungie Says ‘Halo is Now Yours’ as It Prepares the Handoff to Microsoft
As it did a year before, on Bungie Day (July 7), the Halo creators made available to the public the Bungie Armor and Nameplate in multiplayer, and prepared to wind down its stewardship of the Halo franchise it created with a sentimental note that hinted at future projects. “As we prepare to become fans of…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
PSN Extends Registration for Free ID Protection Until the End of July
The time to collect your PlayStation Network welcome-back freebies has come and gone — twice, even — but Sony has extended one component. Registration for identity-theft protection will run through July 31, the company’s top spokesman said on PlayStation’s official blog. AllClear ID Plus, a service of identity protection firm Debix, Inc. is available to…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Online Franchise Mode Unchanged in Madden NFL 12 [Corrected]
The improvements to Madden NFL 12‘s Franchise mode will not carry over to its Online Franchise, the game’s community manager says, making this the second year that Online Franchise has gone without an update. EA Sports promised Online Franchise upgrades are a top priority for next year’s game. Correction: An earlier version of this story…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Mario Bids Bon Voyage to the Space Shuttle
So you’re attending the final launch in the U.S. space shuttle program’s 30-year history. How would you document the moment? One guy whipped out his 3DS and AR cards and put Mario among those in attendance. Alberto Saldamando of El Mundo Tech covered the liftoff (writing for Piensa Digital), which he shot on a digital…
By Owen Good -
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UncategorizedThe Resistable Force and the Movable Object
I don’t know that I’ve ever played online multiplayer in baseball and not struck out at least 10 times. Human opponents almost always throw in the strike zone, meaning you can work neither the count nor a walk. Lag is especially problematic in baseball, making it difficult to get consistent contact even on meatball pitches…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Digital Art Book is Dead Island‘s Preorder Bonus
A preorder of Dead Island with Amazon will land buyers a digital art book filled with “game art and concept art of everything from the characters, that fat tourist dude with the camera, zombie types, environment concepts” and more, Deep Silver says. It moved two concept pieces with a news release on the bonus, written…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
It Just Doesn’t Matter
Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win, it just…
By Owen Good