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Home Check
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: We’ve been going through the process of adopting a Great Dane recently. I had a Great Dane when I was in high school and every since I’ve wanted to have another. Sure, I guess I could go out and buy one from a breeder or (shudder) a pet store, but…
By Brian Crecente Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
No. 1 Xbox Live Indie Game Made Six Figures
Major Nelson released a list of the top 20 Xbox Live Indie Games more than three weeks ago, but self-reported sales data from the creator community puts the first full year of the service in greater focus. While full numbers for sales, trial downloads and revenue are not available for all titles, the developers of…
By Owen Good Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Broken Sword Polished Up For The iPhone
Fresh jokes, new puzzles, and cutscenes from celebrated Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons put the Director’s Cut in Broken Sword: The Director’s cut, an enhanced version of the beloved adventure game, available now for Apple’s iPhone. It’s been a long time since I’ve played through the story of journalist Nico Collard and American tourist George Stobbart,…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Assassin’s Creed II PC Priced, Dated, And Spec’d
Blood flows free in the streets of Renaissance Italy anew come March 16th, when the PC version of Assassin’s Creed II hit store shelves, balancing a $60 price tag with free downloadable content. The PC version of Ubisoft’s Game of the Year contender is priced a bit steeper than PC gamers are used to, but…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Few Of History’s Top Books Made Into Games, Good Or Bad
With EA’s Dante’s Inferno game on the verge of release, draw your eyes to some lists of the 100 greatest books of all time. Few games have been made based on the books, for better or worse. I found a Top 100 Books list from Newsweek (a meta list of other lists), posted last summer.…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Darwinian Invasion Of Xbox Live Begins Next Month
In 2008, independent developer Introversion announced an Xbox Live Arcade version of its innovative PC strategy action puzzler, Darwinia. Now Darwinia+ is only a few short weeks away. Introversion’s long struggle with MIcrosoft’s high standards has finally come to an end, and the XBLA release of Darwinia+ is scheduled for February 10th. 1200 Microsoft points…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Video Games, Still Too Neglected By The Masses?
You might quibble with exactly how important British writer Naomi Alderman says video games are, but if you’ve ever felt that games don’t get their due by the public at large, here’s a verbal salvo to keep handy: It’s a curious fact that, though videogames are now the world’s largest entertainment industry in financial terms,…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
PSN This Week: Hustle Kings
The North American PlayStation Store racks its balls this week, with the debut of VooFoo Studios gorgeous pool game, Hustle Kings. While Europe’s been playing Hustle King since December, those of us in North America have had to sit and wait and look at pretty screenshots of the game. This Thursday we’ll finally have a…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Scottish Prisoners May Get DSes For Brain Training
The Sunday Times reports of a plan by the Scottish prison system to raise “literacy” and “numeracy” skills among its prison population by giving the inmates access to Nintendo DS systems. The program would be tested in a small number of prison libraries and would involve literacy experts working with the prisoners. Prison officials note…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Debris Rains Down Over Bad Company 2’s Squad Rush
The action is fast and furious in this trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s four-on-four Squad Rush multiplayer mode, but I can’t take my eyes off the crumbling scenery. So enthralled by the crumbling masonry was I that I nearly missed the real news about the Squad Rush mode. It’s a four-player per team version…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kotaku’s 2009 Game of the Year
It’s been a well-fought discussion: Which game was the hand’s down best title of 2009. But all good fights have to end, hopefully with a clear winner. At Kotaku Tower we spent the better part of January nailing down the games we agreed were the best contenders for best game of 2009. In the end…
By Brian Crecente Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
One Of These Games Is The New Duke Nukem Forever
Duke Nukem Forever is dead and gone (I think.) Its possible successor on the great video game milk cart of missing games, Alan Wake, is on the verge of release. So what, then, is the New Duke Nukem Forever? Here are some candidates: Black Mesa First Inklings: This fan-made re-creation the original Half-Life using development…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 25, 2010 - Reviews
Alienware Area-51 m15x Laptop Review: It Ain’t Heavy, It’s My Laptop
Alienware has long been one of my favorite computer and laptop makers. It’s purchase by Dell didn’t change that. The computer maker’s latest line of gaming laptops promise to deliver on-the-go gaming in a slick looking new laptop. But can the Area-51 m15x deliver the goods at an affordable price and in a package you’d…
By Brian Crecente Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Italian Teen Stabs Father Over FIFA 2009
An Italian man giving video game advice to his son Sunday evening was repaid with a 15-inch kitchen knife to the neck. A 46-year-old storekeeper identified as Fabrizio R. was watching his 16-year-old son, Mario, play EA’s FIFA 2009 on the PlayStation Sunday evening. According to reports, the father began giving his son advice on…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Game Industry In 2185
Mass Effect 2 pokes fun at Second Life, sports games, and traditional role-playing games, with a candid glimpse of the intergalactic game industry in the year 2185. Those of you avoiding Mass Effect 2 spoilers might want to go read up on this week’s Nintendo downloads, which contain nothing Mass Effect 2 related whatsoever. One…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Are Game Companies Spoiling Their Own Games?
You may have noticed that over the past couple of years video games marketing has become increasingly pervasive, many publishers intent on telling us as much as they can about a game before we can get our hands on it. But are they telling us too much? There once was a day that all you…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Nintendo Download: Uno!
Too late! I shouted it first, so you folks all have to draw two cards while I tell you all about this week’s releases for WiiWare, DSiWare, and the Wii Virtual Console. Can you guess what this week’s biggest WiiWare release is? That’s right! It’s “Aha! I Found It!” Hidden Object Game by Ateam Inc.…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Secret World: Postcards From The Edge Of Madness
A mysterious postcard pointed me towards the outwardly unassuming website of a small New England town, where I am invited to become an honorary citizen “by being dunked in the Miskatonic River.” Wait, what? With the back of the postcard reading “Dark Days are Coming,” there can be no doubt that this is a viral…
By Mike Fahey Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
iPhone Chart Toppers: Wars… in Chinatown
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars slammed onto the list this week in the number one spot. Rock Band managed to pop back on the list at number two, thanks in large part to the lite version that hit last week, I suspect. Fingers crossed for those new song packs that Harmonix promised me. Here’s the…
By Brian Crecente Published January 25, 2010 - Uncategorized
Apple Tablet Detected Running Games At Apple HQ, Research Group Says
The Apple Tablet is still just a unicorn, a publicly unseen beast of questionable evolutionary logic, but research group Flurry Analytics claimed yesterday to spot its presence at Apple headquarters and detected a heavy amount of gaming on the thing. In a blog post on Sunday, Flurry’s vice president of marketing, Peter Farago, announced that…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 25, 2010