Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Flaws Winners

Last week, Kotaku ‘shoppers took red pen in hand to annotate the lesser appealing aspects of games’ looks and suggest airbrushing instructions. I don’t know that we made things any worse, but we did make them funnier. 8thR (1), Ambolee (2), KidFlik (13), Shanzay (14), soren121 (16), SP-Butters (17) and William Henry Harrison (18) all…

Ratings Board Tips Metal Slug X, Front Mission 3 On PSN

ESRB certificates for Metal Slug X and Front Mission 3 indicate both titles will be released as PSOne Classics sometime soon. Both titles got ratings of T-for-Teen, for violence. Examiner, which spied the listings first, notes that Front Mission 3 was re-released on the Japanese and European PlayStation Stores in March 2009 and September of…

Kinect Hacked To Play Super Mario Bros.

This unholy marriage of Microsoft technology and Nintendo software comes from Yankeyan, who probably just gave Shigeru Miyamoto an inspiration for the Wii’s next exergaming title. Yankeyan programmed this with OpenKinect drivers and Nintendo emulation, so that Kinect recognized his motions and virtual button presses onto the emulator. “I could have placed a simulated keypad…

FarmVille Maker Settles Trade Secret Lawsuit With Disney

Zynga, makers of Farm- Frontier- and all things -ville on Facebook, slapped Disney with a lawsuit after it acquired social games competitor Playdom and, Zynga alleges, hired off ex-Zynga workers to learn its “secret sauce.” The matter is now settled. The lawsuit, settled for an undisclosed amount, accused Playdom of poaching Zynga employees and convincing…

The Games For All Of Us

With respect and admiration for, if not apologies to, the late Ernie Harwell, here’s something adapted from his famous Induction Day speech at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Aug. 2, 1981, which itself was adapted from this 1955 essay Sports video games are the very first video game, a glowing ball bouncing back across…

Rampant Cheating Results In Sonic Scoreboard Reset

Hackers and cheaters figured out how to post redonkulous (and bogus) times in Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1; Sega has informed the community that the game’s scoreboards are all being reset. Seriously, cheating at Sonic? This is something the community has been asking for since about three weeks after the game released. It’s not…

Super Street Fighter IV’s Yun And Yang Also Delivering To Consoles?

Capcom’s official Japanese-language blog posted a few screens of new characters Yun and Yang in their Arrange Costumes, where they change from a mere skateboarder and rollerblader into a skateboarder chef and a rollerblader waiter. Additionally, EventHubs got a tip that new achievements for Super Street Fighter IV on the Xbox 360 show Yun and…

Box Scores: BCS Buster

Two missed field goals effectively ended Boise State’s shot at a BCS title game bid. Bodies will hit the floor in college football’s penultimate weekend, but zillions of strivers are still alive – in EA Sports’ NCAA Football, that is. Reader Koda89 dusted off a copy of NCAA Football 2007 and challenged himself to take…

Super Street Fighter IV Yun and Yang

Games That Never Existed But Should Have: Falling Down

Practically any movie released during the SNES’ lifespan was licensed into a video game – except the 1993 angry-man cult hit “Falling Down.” But Pete Curran of Firefly Productions has, uh, gameplay video from a, uh, review copy. No, really. As if that wasn’t enough for you, hang on to the end, where you can…

The Moneysaver: It’s Not Over Yet

Holiday retail season is officially upon us, and the deals aren’t offered only on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We have a blimpful of them in this morning’s Moneysaver. No snazzy movie quotes – not sure any are recognizable in this 1977 tale of a terrorist plot at the Super Bowl. Black Sunday was a commercial…

The Week In Review: Retail Therapy

We’re just 24 hours into the Christmas shopping season and we’re thankful there are no reports of tramplings, maimings or tear-gassings. Yet. Update: Apparently there was a Buffalo stampede. No, really. There was a trampling at a Buffalo-area Target. None were seriously hurt. All that said, all of the holiday shopping is not done within…

A Visual Guide To Gran Turismo 5

Working windshield wipers come at a premium. Literally. They are available only on the Premium cars. Mario Kart, this ain’t. As players level up, the level of car damage increases as well. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. GT5 has a replay function for the online multiplayer. Not only does GT5 have…

Review: Gran Turismo 5 Is Premium Class

When I bought a PlayStation 2 my wife told me flat out, “If you are going to get a PS2, you need Gran Turismo.” I knew this, but it underscored the series’ impact. Nearly a decade later little has changed. Gran Turismo 5 is a racing game that brands itself as “the real driving simulator”.…

Can You Guess Who This Is In 16 Pixels?

“An experimental pixel art project by David Stoll,” 4×4 Pixels has 23 entries so far, some of video game characters, some not. Stoll promises a new entry every day. Above, Sonic the Hedgehog. [via 4×4 Pixels]

Col. Sanders Phantasy Star Screens Are Phinger-Lickin’ Good

Back in September we learned that Col. Harland Sanders would be appearing in Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan. We now have five screengrabs of his secret recipe in action. The Colonel appears in game as a partner character. Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity is out…

MLB 2K11 Gets The Numbers Right

The first screenshot of MLB 2K11 has been released and it – quite deliberately I think – shows that the hideous uniform numerals from MLB 2K10 have been corrected and made consistent with real life. Roy Halladay (pictured), the game’s cover star, also looks much better, as Pasta Padre’s side-by-side comparison shows. First MLB 2K11…

None More Black

Did you successfully manage to avoid being trampled today by the Black Friday shopping masses? Are you nowhere near the events of Black Friday madness? If you want to vent about these subjects or any other, this is the place. I’m limiting my Black Friday shopping to clothing. I really don’t need any more video…

Col. Sanders Phantasy Star Screens

The Smart Way To Launch An Xbox Live Game May Be To Keep It A Secret

You can play adorable, clever cooperative puzzle game ilomilo via Xbox Live Arcade right now, a small surprise of a video game launch that somebody’s trying to keep “secret.” Xbox 360 owners can now download the demo version of ilomilo via Xbox Live Marketplace, but only if they access a special site and receive a…