FarmVille Makers & 7-Eleven Giving Away Bulletproof Vests With Hot Dogs

You may already know about 7-Eleven buddying up with Zynga, the maker of Farmville and Mafia Wars, for farm flavored ice cream, but are you aware that purchasing one of the convenience store’s hot dogs gets you a bulletproof vest? In Mafia Wars, that is. 7-Eleven products like Slurpees and Big Bites now come with…

Here’s What Ubisoft Is Bringing To E3

E3 is right around the corner, and the big publishers are rolling out lists of what they’ll be bringing to the show. Ubisoft’s list includes Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Shaun White Skateboarding, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the next installment of the Driver series, and “many other titles” that haven’t been revealed yet. Keep an…

This has been bothering me for some time: The word “pwn” is not pronounced “pone” or “pawn” or anything using the sound of the “p”. It’s “own”. The generally accepted etymology of the word is that it was a typo, the “p” and “o” keys are right next to each other on the keyboard making…

Mario’s Voice Yearns For Waluigi Games

Three out of four Mushroom Kingdom plumbers have scored starring video game roles. The man who voices them all, Charles Martinet, wants to make it four out of four, lamenting the lack of a game starring Wario’s skinny lackey, Waluigi. Charles Martinet is a prolific video game voice actor, and if he had his way,…

Let’s Discuss The Ending Of Alan Wake – Now

Our latest Game Club ends today, as we’ve reached the final episode of Alan Wake. Let’s talk about it. But first! A couple of thank-yous are in order, to all of you who have contributed to the discussion for the past week and to Mikko Rautalahti, one of Remedy’s two writers of the game. As…

Maybe You Only Think You Smell Bad

What’s worse: Smelling bad, or only imagining you smell bad? Psychiatrists are considering adding olfactory reference syndrome – a syndrome where the victim believes they emit an imagined foul odor – to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. As a lifelong gamer and frequent science fiction convention attendee, I tend to run into…

Ride Again with Rockstar

Rockstar Games is hosting this year’s Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic on June 20. Of course that means that there will be an eclectic sampling of pop stars tooling around Marcus Garvey Park come Father’s Day. Among those riding the .75 mile track for the $15,000 prize will be Olympic Champion Walter Perez of Argentina, four-time…

Are You Ready For Some Different Football?

The first thing game reviewers see in the box containing review code for next week’s Xbox 360 and PS3 football game Backbreaker is that piece of paper, that saying. Hope the game isn’t maddening.

Battlestar Galactica Composer Signs on For SOCOM 4 Tunes

Bear McCreary, the man behind a wicked-cool name and the music of Battlestar Galactica, is working with developers Zipper to produce and record SOCOM 4‘s soundtrack. Better still, you have a chance to hang out with Bear at his secret studio next week.

Metal Torrent Micro-Review: Not As Good As A Coinstar

The minute you start playing Metal Torrent, you’re almost done. But the brevity of Nintendo’s first DS shoot-em-up isn’t the worst of it. My local bank offers more entertaining ways to press buttons and hear jangling sounds. Metal Torrent is a $5 vertical shoot-em-up for the DSi from publisher Nintendo and development studio Arika, the…

Round Abound!!!

What Kind Of Gamer Are You?

The average U.S. gamer is spending more time gaming than ever before, but only 4% of the gaming population is classified by the NPD Group as “Extreme Gamers.” What kind of gamer are you? The NPD group has released the 2010 edition of its Gamer Segmentation report, which looks into gaming and game purchasing habits.…

Killzone 3 Hands-on: Bigger, Better & More 3D

Killzone developer Guerrilla Games and Sony showed off the first playable version of the PlayStation 3’s next entry in the series, a Killzone that feels familiar, but much improved, a bigger world with smarter enemies. Oh, and stereoscopic 3D. The playable demo, available in both 2D and 3D versions at Sony’s Killzone 3 showing, started…

Killzone 3 Screens

Frankenreview: Red Dead Redemption

John Marston faces off against some of the toughest hombres the waning Old West has to offer in Red Dead Redemption, but he’s never faced a posse quite as cantankerous as the game reviewers we’ve rounded up for this Frankenreview. We’ve gathered the roughest, toughest game reviewers this side of the 1900’s to size up…

Bulletstorm Storms GameTrailers TV Tonight

Want more Bulletstorm? Tonight’s episode of GameTrailers TV has you covered, with interviews with the shooter’s design director Cliff Bleszinski and producer Tanya Jessen. We’re told the 12:20 AM Eastern and Pacific episode on Spike TV will include some “big gameplay reveals,” including one gigantic boss battle.

Tension Keeps Video Games Interesting

At present, the word “tension” is almost exclusively considered negative. The quest of the modern man is to reduce tension, or stress, which are known causes of disease and emotional distress. The desired state is one of complete relaxation. However, in the artistic world, we find that many descriptions of good works imply tension: taut,…

Crash Bandicoot 2 Finally Brings Multiplayer

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D was plenty fun back in the day, back when Apple just opened the floodgates to iPhone gaming. But these days it’s looking threadworn. That’s probably why Activision just released Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D 2. Now with mulitplayer and a “new adventure.” But for $10? Kinda crazy!

Load-Time-Shortening ModNation Racers Update In The Works

ModNation Racers on PlayStation 3 may be a fine racing game, but its frequent 30-plus-second load times are lamentable. Good thing one of the game’s producers told us a fix is coming. “That’s something we are aware of,” ModNation producer Dan Sochan told Kotaku on our latest edition of Kotaku Talk Radio when I mentioned…

Monkey Island Success Could Mean More Adventure From LucasArts

Could the success of the Monkey Island Special Editions herald LucasArts’ return to straight adventure games? I spoke to Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge project lead Craig Derrick about the new remake and the possibilities it raises. It’s a time of resurgence for Guybrush Threepwood and the cast of the Monkey Island series.…