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Extras and Add-Ons
The 3DS’ second slide pad got its big hands-on reveal at Tokyo Games Show this past week, and now we’re going to give the concept the respectful treatment and consideration it deserves. But this week’s ‘Shop Contest may not be exactly what you think it is. Because so few exploitable images of the 3DS slide…
By Owen Good Published September 18, 2011 - Uncategorized
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves: Paid Programming Edition
Mornin’. I have company this weekend, and my friend’s deliberately watching infomercials on the regional sports network, waiting for “Seahawks All Access” to come on. There was a damn awesome contraption that looks like a handheld version of the chainsaw the Swamp Loggers use. I was about to buy it until I realized I did…
By Owen Good Published September 18, 2011 -
UncategorizedI Can See Myself Playing Ridge Racer on the PS Vita
Back in December 2004, I bought two things. One was a PSP. The other was Ridge Racer Ridge Racer was a PSP launch title, and I played the crap out of that game. I haven’t played a Ridge Racer before or since as much. As time passed, my interested in Ridge Racer waned, and I…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 18, 2011 - Culture
Sunday Comics: A Fraction of the Price
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 Sept. 12.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Sept. 14.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by…
By Owen Good Published September 18, 2011 - Uncategorized
Japan’s Wildest Gaming Designer Wanted To Be in America’s Wildest Game
If Tomonobu Itagaki, the hard drinking cigarette smoking game designer behind Devil’s Third, were a video game, he’d be Saints Row: The Third. No wonder he wanted to lend his voice to the game. At a Tokyo Game Show press event, Itagaki professed his love for Saints Row character Phillipe Loren, who leads the Syndicate…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 18, 2011 -
UncategorizedTokyo Game Show Is Also about Chinese Arcade Games
Chinese arcade games with characters named “Lancelot” or with sharks that can drive and are dressed like pirates with some sort of Native American headdress. The game’s dedicated cabinet moves and blinks its light. A good time is conceivably had by all. You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 18, 2011 - Uncategorized
Why Japan Never Got Rock Band
A few years back, Rock Band exploded in North America. In Europe. In Australia. It didn’t in Japan. There must be a reason for that. There is. The game was never released in Japan. There must be a reason for that. There are—several. According to Harmonix Music Systems’ boss Alex Rigopulos, there was interest in…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 18, 2011 -
UncategorizedBooth Companions Make Gaming Easier in a Glass Box
Those hoping to check out Sega’s Binary Domain at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, got the opportunity to play the game in small rooms with large windows overlooking the show floor. Standing in a small room with a window, gaming alone is no fun! So Sega threw in a booth companion for some good old…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 18, 2011 - Uncategorized
It’s Steel Battalion, Minus What Made It Bananas
The original Steel Battalion is remembered for two things: It was an Xbox exclusive, and it had a batty controller. The latest Steel Battalion gets the Xbox part (well, Xbox 360) right, but something is sorely missing. That is an enormous controller. With Kinect, players become the controller. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor does not use…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 17, 2011 -
UncategorizedThe PS Vita’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Looks Marvelous
Not only does Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 do fighting games just fine on the PS Vita, it also looks great. Here, Kotaku films some random dude as he play through the Vita version. You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Yesterday Was the Biggest Tokyo Game Show Day. Ever!
Some of the booths are smaller, sure. Some companies weren’t even there. Right now, they’re probably having regrets, because the first public day of the 2011 Tokyo Game Show was the biggest ever On the first day, over 86,200 people attended TGS, compared to 81,469 people last year and 61,138 people the year before. The…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 17, 2011 -
UncategorizedA Three-Minute Look at THQ’s Avengers, Disassembled
THQ’s big-time bloodletting back in August meant the end of its Brisbane, Australia studio and scuttled the publisher’s planned video game adaptation of The Avengers. Evidently those who were involved with the project can’t take no for an answer; footage of the game in its pre-alpha state released last week and was immediately smashed by…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Boxplay Winners
Video game cosplay normally involves cosplaying as characters, not the video game itself. One Call of Duty fan turned that premise on its head in Canada a couple weeks ago, showing up as the Black Ops box itself. Last Sunday, our sensible shoppers swooped in to make everything even more absurd. We’ve got 20 of…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011 -
UncategorizedThere’s a Reason this Call of Duty: Rezurrection Trailer is Behind an Age Gate
Dismemberment? We know you can handle that. Zombie vomit? I’ll admit to some queasiness watching that in action. Activision’s pimping the PC and PS3 release of its Rezurrection map pack, on Sept. 22, with this latest video. It’s already out for Xbox 360 of course, and it’s at least as believable as Apollo 18 You…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
NBA 2K12 is not a “Roster Update”—and That’s the Problem
Roster update. In sports video games, it’s not a selling point as much as it is a term of abuse, one that implies that accurate rosters in annual titles have almost no value to a discerning video gamer. Well, in a couple of weeks, we may find out how important this baseline expectation really is.…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Regulator Orders Canadian Cable Giant to Stop Throttling Online Games
Last week, Rogers Cable and Telecom, Canada’s largest cable provider, admitted that its network monitors may “inadvertently” throttle traffic of customers playing online games. “Inadvertently” or otherwise, Canada’s telecommunications regulator has told Rogers to knock it off. The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission cited Rogers’ own policy, which claims that online games like World of Warcraft…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011 -
UncategorizedToday’s Punishment: Thirty Minutes of Pointless Death in Dark Souls
Alright, you sinners. Last week’s confessional was … adequate. I still feel that you are holding back, and you cannot purify your gaming soul unless you make a full accounting of all your trespasses. So we’re going to have another round of punishment today, starring Dark Souls This is 10 minutes (entirely in Japanese) of…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
How Tall is Link? If This Lifesize Papercraft is Any Indication, He’s 5-foot-5
Requiring more than 200 pages, 12 hours of work per day for a solid month, and what must have been gallons of printer ink, is this jaw-dropping life-size papercraft Link that the artist Michaela M. completed this week. Yes, she has a template for those with the time and the patience to try to re-create…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011 -
UncategorizedA Video Compendium of 25 Years of Console Loading Screens
There’s something weirdly nostalgic about these two videos, which are a compilation of every boot screen for every console ever to have one, going back to the Sega Master System (the Mark III in Japan) of 1985. And by every one, it looks like this video means it, bringing in such systems as the Casio…
By Owen Good Published September 17, 2011