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UncategorizedLet’s Check out a Sports Game That Isn’t American (or About Soccer)
The biggest sports game in the world is EA’s FIFA series. After that? A whole bunch of American sports. Great for Americans, or the sport’s fans, but they’re not the only sports in the world. So let’s take a gander today at Rugby Challenge, from New Zealand outfit Sidhe Interactive. A common complaint levelled against…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011 - Uncategorized
Your Steam Downloads Are Now Faster, Stronger
This may not be the sexiest PC gaming news of the year, but for many it may well be the most important to their week-to-week purchasing habits: Valve’s Steam service is now promising vastly improved download speeds. Only a week after Steam was brought to its knees by a massive sale, many downloads trickling down…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011 - CultureTotal Recall
A Celebration of Awesome NES Title Screen Art
I know we recently took a look at the “forgotten” art of the video game title screen, but those were contemporary examples, from the time the art had already been forgotten. It’s probably a better idea to look at a time when it was in its prime, featured on the games of the Famicom and…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 18, 2011 - Uncategorized
Japan’s Cup Runneth Over
Japan’s Cup Runneth Over | Homare Sawa celebrates her equalizer in extra time of a final won—with tremendous resilience and courage—by Japan. Congratulations! (Photo by Friedemann Vogel | Getty) Activision Seeks to Sieze Nettlesome ModernWarfare3.com Domain It appears that Activision is fed up with the owner of ModernWarfare3.com. The publisher filed a complaint with a…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Here’s What the ESRB has to Say About Dead Island
It’s no surprise that Deep Silver’s zombie title is getting an M-rating. The certificate just handed to it by the ESRB is still a little interesting for the bits of details it gives up from the game, from dialogue to gameplay features. From the listing, we get these details: • Bats, knives, axes, shotguns, rifles…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Culture
No Country for Old Men
This week Techland’s western series Call of Juarez makes a run for the present-day border. Other releases include the latest Fallout: New Vegas expansion, a Captain America movie tie-in, and the early release of some Left 4 Dead 2 DLC. Tuesday Call of Juarez: The Cartel (PS3, 360) — A drug war in Mexico forms…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Microsoft-Sony.com a “Defensive Domain Hold” Says Microsoft
The discovery this week that “microsoft-sony.com” is a domain owned by Microsoft set off all sorts of speculation as to what a potential collaboration could mean. Microsoft’s Frank X. Shaw, the company’s top spokesman, tweeted on Friday that “Sony = great MS partner. No scoop here, this was just a defensive domain hold.” [h/t ThisLife17]
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Guilty Pleasures
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. •Seven Games You’d Better Keep to Yourselves [The Pause Button] A good roundup of guilty pleasures, rated on a scale of “forgot to clear my…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
A New Look at Mass Effect 3‘s New Character, James Vega
Mass Effect 3 executive producer Casey Hudson dropped this rendering of new team member James Vega, as a community reward celebrating his 10,000th Twitter follower. Whoever’s No. 10,000, thank you for that. Vega debuts in ME3 and is meant to represent the perspective of a new player coming to the story. As a character, he…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 -
UncategorizedRetro Game Master Episode 4: Solomon’s Key
In this fourth episode of Retro Game Master, our game-testing everyman, Shinya Arino, faces off against Solomon’s Key Released for arcades in 1986, Tecmo’s Solomon’s Key was brought to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Atari ST and other consoles. In the game, players maneuver Dana through 50 or so maze-like rooms on the…
By Brian Crecente Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
VVVVVV Creator Makes Super Meat Boy a Tad More Impossible
Super Meat Boy is no joke. That’s a hard game, and that’s part of its appeal. Put it in the hands of the maker of another, harder game, and it collapses into a singularity of motherfucker-what-do-you want-me-to-do difficulty. There’s now a playable flash game of Super Meat Boy done in the style of VVVVVV, by…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Chillin’ with Chell
After a few weeks of tortured crossover themes, we are back in the land of no-brainers with that image, taken about two weeks ago at the Anime Expo. This one, frankly, should ‘Shop itself. You need instructions? That’s already funny. Add more funny. As the image already is video-game themed, you may do as you…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Sundays in my home used to begin with that trumpet solo and a jowl-sloshing Charles Kuralt bidding everyone a good morning. Now it begins with you guys and TAY. Keep it on topic, or I will have to chide you in a gentle, avuncular way. Once again Incursor delivers the goods for this morning’s TAYpic.…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - 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 11. – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published July 13. – Read more of Nerf…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2011 - Uncategorized
Old School DLC Winners
Last week’s ‘Shop Contest posed the challenge of creating downloadable content well ahead of its time—like, back in the 1980s and 1990s. Could our smart shoppers take classic franchises and serve them up with virtual tchotchke’s just as money-grubbing and half-assed as modern games? Find out inside! Leading off, Halfbee (5) supplied a nice zinger.…
By Owen Good Published July 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Uncharted 3 Beta: 1.5 Million Played, Over 1.9 Billion Got Served
1.9 billion kills, 48 billion shots fired, and more than 362 years worth of matches later, the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta was the largest ever held on PlayStation Network. More fun facts can be found on the PlayStation Blog, or check out McWhertor’s detailed impressions of his time spent in the beta.
By Owen Good Published July 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
More a Trip Down Memory Lane Than a Road to Glory
Two weeks ago the offers started pouring in. Duke. Vanderbilt. Wake Forest. Places well beyond what my parents could ever hope for me, much less pay for. They aren’t real offers, as I’m not really a football player. That’s OK, I’m not a real college student either. Mom and Dad stopped worrying about how to…
By Owen Good Published July 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Free-to-Play? Star Wars: Galaxies Cannot Make “a Change of this Magnitude”
When Sony Online Entertainment said it would shut down Star Wars: Galaxies by the end of the year, many teeth were gnashed and many garments were rent. A lot of people, thinking SOE failed to consider this, postulated about taking the game to a free-to-play model, and voila, the orphanage is saved! If only they…
By Owen Good Published July 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Epic Exec Says ‘Stupid Acquisitions’ Lead to Studio Closures
Noting the string of studio closures lately, the chief of European operations for Epic Games says there’s a pretty simple cause for them. “It happened because of stupid acquisitions,” Mike Gamble told Eurogamer at the Unreal Engine University Day in London. “What was the point of a well-known children’s IP holder buying a hardcore racing…
By Owen Good Published July 16, 2011