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Electronic Arts Cuts Ties With In-Game Ad Brokers
Apparently tired of giving space to “Knobby Tires” and “Synthetic” on its virtual stadium walls, Electronic Arts is dropping its two in-game advertising partners and moving that sales operation in-house, beginning with Madden NFL 11 EA, according to the digital marketing site ClickZ, will end its partnerships with IGA Worldwide and Massive Inc., after their…
By Owen Good Published March 13, 2010 - Uncategorized
Weekend Coupons: High-Value Targets
Lots of hardware deals highlight the roundup, but don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten the games that make them go. Weekend Coupons happens … NOW. Hardware • Quick reminder, that Xbox 360 Elite bundle, which delivers Forza Motorsport 3 and Halo 3: ODST for $299.99, went live at Amazon this week and is still selling. [Amazon]…
By Owen Good Published March 13, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Return of NBA Jam, in All Its Catchphrase Glory
Here’s the launch trailer for the Wii re-boot of the arcade and early console classic NBA Jam. All your favorites return, and by that I don’t mean Raiden or Bill Clinton, but “Boom Shaka-Laka,” “He’s On Fire,” and “Kaboom!” Remember last week when I said, “If any sports game is capable of selling a console…
By Owen Good Published March 13, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Originals: Gee, Didya See?
Game Developers Conference 2010 in San Francisco was a power plant of news this week, introducing us to the PlayStation Move. We still found time to review God of War III and report on Steam’s arrival on the Mac. By no means does this week exhaust our GDC reportage. We’ll have much more on the…
By Owen Good Published March 13, 2010 - Uncategorized
Crysis 2 Footage Looking As Nice As Expected
Crysis 2 is at the Game Developers Conference, seemingly there not just for its own ends, but to help developer Crytek shill its engine, CryEngine 3. It’s doing a very good job. Even though this is off-screen footage, the point still comes across that this is one good-looking game, especially so when you consider most…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 13, 2010 - Uncategorized
PAL PlayStation Store Update: Tester-Free
It’s a pretty slim week on the PAL PlayStation Store, but then, looking at the stuff Europeans and Aussies are missing out on – like the Tester – maybe that’s not such a bad thing. What you will notice is there’s plenty of DLC, plenty of random PlayStation One games and, best of all, the…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 13, 2010 - Uncategorized
Rumor: Ratchet & Clank Devs Going Multiplatform?
According to “a trusted source”, IGN is reporting that Insomniac Games – creators of both Resistance and Ratchet & Clank – is about to abandon the land of PS3 exclusivity and become a multiplatform developer. Despite long ties to the PlayStation brand, Sony doesn’t own the studio, so if the team decided to go and…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 13, 2010 - Uncategorized
I Am A Master of Picross 3D, At Least The Tutorial Part
I may have liked Tetrisphere, but I am not a man who believes the puzzle games, like Mario games, can be as good in three dimensions as they are in two. I am ready to make another obsession. I beat the tutorial of Picross 3D on a Nintendo DS XL yesterday. I now understand how…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
Sony Says PlayStation Move Precise Enough To Play StarCraft
There’s been a flood of information coming from Sony about the new PlayStation Move controller for the PS3, but Sony’s technically inclined folks showed off some of the more technically capable members of GDC, getting down to the finer details. PlayStation researcher Anton Mikhailov, platform research manager David Coombes and developer support engineer Kirk Bender…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
Lady Gaga Must Be A Command & Conquer Fan
A deadly cocktail of nerd poisons, featuring the toxic element from EA’s Command & Conquer series combined with a few equally sly Dune and Star Wars references, as seen in Lady Gaga’s (slightly NSFW) “Telephone” video. Thanks, Matt & Charles!
By Michael McWhertor Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
What’s Will Wright Doing at GDC on Saturday?
I ran into Will Wright yesterday just before the Game Developer Choice Awards kicked off. He was wearing a shiny suit and grabbing a drink. I walked up and said Hi, asking if he was giving a talk tomorrow, perhaps under a pseudonym. He just smiled, his Cheshire cat smile. I asked because I couldn’t…
By Brian Crecente Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
Needle Now or Shotgun Later: A Little Dead Rising Cosplay
Almost lost amid the CCP booth loaded up with free kegs of beer, the PS3 Move set-up and Nintendo was the tiny Zombrex booth packed with faux syringes and a shotgun behind glass. If you’re willing to submit to a bit of manhandling, and a fake shoulder injection, you can land yourself a neato Zombie…
By Brian Crecente Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
Duo Behind Modern Warfare 2 Sign With Hollywood Talent Agency
When you’ve built a zillion-dollar video game brand, you’re not going to be hurting for future opportunities no matter how hard your former employer fires you. That said, Call of Duty‘s creators have signed with Hollywood’s biggest talent agency. Vince Zampella, the former Infinity Ward CEO, and Jason West, the studio’s former president, have agreed…
By Owen Good Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
Dragon Age: Awakening Raises Level Cap To 35, Boosts Lesser [UPDATE]
You can be more powerful in next week’s expansion to Dragon Age: Origins. I got a quick demo of Dragon Age: Awakening, today, just enough to get a basic feel for the first major expansion to BioWare’s celebrated 2009 role-playing game. Awakening takes players to a new land where they will be Grey Warden with…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
Look Who Says the Rhode Island Games Legislation is Unconstitutional
An effort to impose fines and even jail time for selling mature games to underage kids has reached Rhode Island’s legislature. “The bill won’t survive a court challenge, nor should it,” says a certain disbarred Florida lawyer. Yes, when Jack Thompson, the bête noire of the video game culture wars, calls this one a dumper,…
By Owen Good Published March 12, 2010 - Reviews
Final Fantasy XIII Review: A New Paradigm For An Old Franchise
The role-playing series that launched a million bad attempts at cosplay is back, with a new group of colorful characters carrying the fate of the world on their shoulders in Final Fantasy XIII. Hovering above the surface of the planet Pulse, the shell-like city of Cocoon was once a haven for humanity, but fear of…
By Mike Fahey Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
PSP Grabs A Big Slice Of The Console War Pie In Japan
Black is back, as Japan went all in on PSP purchasing recently, giving the PlayStation family the win in the weekly hardware contest, nearly doubling sales of the Wii. PlayStation Portable sales saw a big jump in Japan this past week, according to Media Create’s latest figures, a little surprising when a pair of Nintendo…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
BioShock 2’s DLC is on the Disc to Keep Us All Together
Technically, BioShock 2‘s downloadable content released before today. That’s because it’s on the disc. So, again, we’re downloading an unlock. 2K says this was necessary to allow the entire player base to play multiplayer together. The BioShock 2 community noted the downloads were 108K for the Xbox 360, 24K for the PC, so either 2K’s…
By Owen Good Published March 12, 2010 - Uncategorized
How Deus Ex 3’s Cyber Renaissance Averted A Puffy Pants Disaster
How did the combination of Deus Ex’s brand of cyberpunk, the Greek myth of Icarus and baroque fashions almost turn Deus Ex: Human Revolution into a futuristic Renaissance fair? With very good intentions by the new Deus Ex team. Eidos Montreal art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete offered an in-depth, behind the scenes look at the art…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 12, 2010