• 

  Uncategorized

  The Universe Is Beautiful When People Aren’t Trying To Blow You Up

  When a game is set in space, invariably it’s set there so you can fly a spaceship and shoot at things. Space Engine does away with all that nonsense, leaving you with just…space. Billed as a “free universe simulator”, whether you call it a game or not depends on how much you like exploring (and…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  So How Much Work Went Into Duke Nukem Forever?

  Duke Nukem Forever, the game that was in development for forever, was first revealed in 1997. This year it’s finally being released by another studio, Gearbox Software, which began working on the game in 2009. “I have estimated that 3D Realms invested between 3,500 and 4,500 man-months of effort into the game, a lot of…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  The Folks Behind Crummy Ports And Crappy Concerts Are Gulped Up

  Japan’s 5pb., known for Xbox 360 games like Steins; Gate and crappy Miku Hatsune concerts, is being absorbed into its affiliate company. Oh, 5pb. also has crappy shmup ports. No word if the 5pb. brand will survive. [via ソーシャルゲーム情報]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 21, 2011
• 

  Uncategorized

  Monkey Ball‘s Got Nothing On This

  We got our first look at gorgeous indie…racer (?) Proun last year, but the game’s developer, Joost van Dongen (one of the devs behind De Blob and Swords & Soldiers), has just released a second trailer. And it’s even better. The game’s currently shaping up for a Spring release on the PC. If you want,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Oh Boy, It’s A Monkey Island Action Figure!

  It’s sadly not an official one, but for a custom piece, it’s not so bad! Sure, the face could do with some work (even if it is based on the original pixel art design of LeChuck and not his proper artwork), but the devil (or zombie ghost in this case) is in the details. Get…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Make Games Or Porn? He Picked Games.

  Back before Sega game designer Toshihiro Nagoshi turned golden brown, he was just another kid from rural Japan, moving to Tokyo, trying to make it big. Originally, Nagoshi wanted to make films. “I graduated with a film degree,” Nagoshi tells website ZakZak, “but at that time the Japanese film industry was in a shambles and…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Michael Jackson’s Golden Game Boy Is Only $75!

  According to the bill of sale, this Game Boy was owned by Michael Jackson. He used it to court Macaulay Culkin. Culkin even set Tetris records on it. So $75 to call it your own is quite a steal! Or, it would were that actually the story behind this golden Game Boy, but it’s not.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  The Clever Art Of Stealing

  The quote “Good artists borrow, great artists steal” is often attributed to Pablo Picasso. There doesn’t seem to be solid evidence that he actually said it, but the quote is often misinterpreted anyway. It’s not that stealing is okay, but rather, stealing implies taking something and making it your own. What’s more, not every artist…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Is The Entire PlayStation Network Down? [Update]

  Can you log onto the PlayStation Network via your PS3 console at the moment? We can’t, and we’re getting reports plenty of other people can’t either. Attempts to log into the PSN on consoles are being met with the error message 80710A06. While American users began reporting the issue a few hours ago, I’ve since…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2011
• CultureTotal Recall

  Nintendo’s First Arcade Games Were, Well, Pretty Sucky

  It’s one of those quirks of history that Nintendo, a company synonymous with colourful characters and fun video games, made its very first independent venture into the world of arcade gaming with…a board game adaptation. While 1981’s Donkey Kong and 1983’s Mario Bros. are most people’s introduction to Nintendo arcade games, the company’s first coin-op…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Super Mario 3DS Might Be Out This Year?

  When the Nintendo 3DS was first unveiled, we were shown a bunch of trailers from games that barely even existed yet. And even then, saw nothing of a new Mario game. So it’d be sweet if it actually came out this year. But it just might, if comments by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto can be…

  By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Mobile Games Maker Sends a Message With Amnesty International App

  The iOS games studio Mobigame – best known for titles like Edge and Perfect Cell – has teamed up with Amnesty International to publish a game raising money for the human rights advocacy organization, observing its 50th anniversary this year. Bulletproof, costing 99 cents on the iTunes App Store, places the player as a political…

  By Owen Good Published April 20, 2011
• Uncategorized

  April Twentieth

  What were we talking about? Oh, wait, we didn’t actually start talking yet. I must have been thinking of Talk Amongst Yourselves. Anyway, man, why don’t you join us in the open thread, pass some of that sweet conversation around. If you’re looking for some pot-related things to read tonight, don’t miss io9‘s great write-ups…

  By Michael McWhertor Published April 20, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Fans Vote Heisman Winner For The NCAA 12 Cover

  Alabama’s Mark Ingram, the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner, was voted the cover athlete of NCAA Football 12, whose debut trailer you saw yesterday. Ingram, expected to be a high draft pick in next week’s NFL draft, beat out candidates Nick Fairley of Auburn, Jake Locker of Washington, and DeMarco Murray of Oklahoma in a fan-voted…

  By Owen Good Published April 20, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Gamefly Triumphs in Postal Service Dispute

  The U.S. Postal Service gave an unfair advantage to competitors like Netflix and Blockbuster Video, a regulatory board said Wednesday, awarding game rental service GameFly a victory in a two-year dispute over the postage, breakage and sorting of its disc mailings. The Postal Regulatory Commission found that the USPS gave “an unreasonable preference” to Netflix’s…

  By Owen Good Published April 20, 2011
• 

  Uncategorized

  The Uneasy Shooter Inversion Focuses On The Gravity Of War

  Cover based third-person shooter Inversion looks and feels very much like other cover based third-person shooters—Gears of War, for example—with the exception of one major thing: gravity. That and a rare innovation with one other video game staple, the exploding barrel. We’ve seen Inversion before and been impressed with its gravity manipulation based gameplay. But…

  By Michael McWhertor Published April 20, 2011
• Uncategorized

  The New No More Heroes Is For Adults Only In Japan

  There’s another version of the original No More Heroes coming to the PlayStation 3, but this one’s for Japan only and only for adults. No more toning down the graphic violence of Travis Touchdown in No More Heroes: Red Zone. As previously reported, Grasshopper Manufacture’s No More Heroes is being given another shot on the…

  By Michael McWhertor Published April 20, 2011
• 

  Uncategorized

  See The Sims Creator Will Wright Deliver A Dizzying, Fascinating Talk About Video Games And Education

  If you’ve ever seen Will Wright, the big brain behind games like The Sims, Spore and SimCity, deliver one of his humorous, hypnotizing talks, you’re probably going to want to settle in and watch this one too. If you’ve never had the good fortune to be assaulted by Will Wright’s smarts, well, you’re in luck.…

  By Michael McWhertor Published April 20, 2011
• Uncategorized

  Spoiler-Free Tips For Enjoying Portal 2

  You’ve heard of Portal 2, but are you ready to play Portal 2? Do you need help determining which part of the game to play first? Want to know how to find the game’s coolest hidden items? The answers to that and much more are below (some of them hidden behind links, to protect unspoiled…

  By Stephen Totilo Published April 20, 2011
• Uncategorized

  See (Almost) Every New Mortal Kombat Fatality, Then See Kratos Become A Baby

  We’re still plugging away at our Mortal Kombat review, but if you want to skip to the good and gory stuff, GameTrailers has a montage of the many, many ways to kill kombatants in the new game. They also have every single “Babality” in a hilarious diaper-filled montage. It’s kind of amazing

  By Michael McWhertor Published April 20, 2011