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James Cameron: Today’s Online Gamers Are The Future’s Smokers
According to the New York Times, someone out there thinks that James Cameron’s Avatar is big budget mental poison because of its on-screen tobacco use. Let’s start there, as we walk the winding path toward Avatar’s video game association. The someone who thinks that Avatar showing a fictional character smoke is “like someone just put…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty Comes With Protoss “Mini-campaign”
Fans of StarCraft’s Protoss may not have to wait until 2011—or later—to get their hands on the teleporting, psionic blade-wielding alien race. The Protoss will apparently get their own mini-campaign in the first part of StarCraft II’s trilogy. While we weren’t expecting to take control of the Protoss in anything but multiplayer until StarCraft II:…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Rumor: NBA Jam Returning — to Wii
Were you unenthused by the rumor that EA Sports new title would be an NFL-branded trainer for the Wii? You’ll like this one better. ESPN.com says the game will be an updated NBA Jam, for the Wii. Citing “unnamed sources,” ESPN.com says EA Sports got the rights from the NBA to deliver an updated version…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Adventures in Zoonosis
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: When The Jonas Bros. Came To the Shopping Mall It’s been a stressful past week or so at the house. Last week we had to put our 15-year-old Border Collie to sleep. Days later our 12-year-old greyhound stopped eating. Then she stopped getting up. Then she stopped walking. We took…
By Brian Crecente Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Report: Apple’s Game-Playing Tablet Unveils This Month, Ships March
Apple is set to unveil its take on the tablet computer, the touchscreen bigger brother to the iPhone rumored to be branded the iSlate, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The Journal’s report cites “people briefed by the company” who say the multimedia device will “let people watch movies and television…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Cheevers Try One Last Time for NBA Live Mark
Achievement boosters failed back in October to claim the 100-point bounty for being signed in with 1,000 others to NBA Live 07. With servers for the game deactivating Feb. 2, they’ll take another crack at it on Jan. 31. Xbox360Achievements.org is once again staging the final run at this damn-near-impossible mark, which appeared in the…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
There Are Responsible Parents Out There
I’ve often criticized parents for not taking enough responsibility for the gaming habits of their children, but an experience I had over the weekend gives me hope that there are indeed responsible parents out there. I was at a GameStop off of Dallas Highway in Marietta, Georgia on New Year’s Day, looking through the used…
By Mike Fahey Published January 4, 2010 - Reviews
Darksiders Review: Harbinger Of The Apocopylypse
There are many games you will play in 2010 that will be unique, original creatures. Titles that truly innovate, and for years will be remembered for the trail they’ve blazed. Darksiders is not one of those games. Instead, it’s an action/role-playing game hybrid where you play as War, one of the Four Horsemen of the…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 4, 2010 -
UncategorizedGeorge Costanza’s Frogger Record Shattered
The one shining achievement in the life of Seinfeld’s George Costanza is no more, as a Connecticut man shatters the fictional Frogger record previously thought unattainable by real people. In the 1998 Seinfeld episode “The Frogger,” George Costanza tries desperately to save the Frogger machine that holds his greatest achievement – the fictional world record…
By Mike Fahey Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Amazon’s Kindle Offers Refunds For Digital Downloads, Why Don’t Game Companies?
Ever download a video game to a console or handheld and want a refund? Tough. Can’t do it. But in the world of Amazon’s Kindle, you can download books digitally — and return them. A workable idea for gaming? I don’t have a Kindle nor have I found anyone yet who has returned a book…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Bayonetta, Madworld Makers Start Countdown To What’s Next
Now that Sega has shipped Platinum Games‘ infinite climax action game Bayonetta to stores, the third release from the developer after Madworld and Infinite Space, what’s next for the developer? Countdown clock teasers! The Platinum Games official web site is now putting CPUs through their paces with a lovely looking teaser for… something. Something Platinum…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
PSP Porn Ruins Christmas
Ten-year-old Kade Goodman’s holiday dreams were shattered on Christmas Day, when it was discovered that someone had left a penis on his used PSP. The PSP-nis was uncovered by Kade’s thirteen-year-old brother shortly after the gift was unwrapped, as thirteen-year-old boys have an uncanny knack for uncovering porn no matter how hard my father tried…
By Mike Fahey Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Tiger Woods Xbox Game, Broken Hand Converts Boxer To Golfer
The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reports that an amateur boxer has become a promising golfer, and he owes some of that to a Tiger Woods‘ video game. Usually, stories about people getting inspired by video games aren’t this… positive. The newspaper tells the story of Joshua Anglin, who went 115-15 as an amateur boxer, but…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Japan Celebrates Christmas By Buying Many, Many Wiis, DSis
After taking a backseat to Final Fantasy XIII and the PlayStation 3, Nintendo had a very merry Christmas week in Japan, another 215,000 Wiis in Japanese gamers’ waggle-hungry, Mushroom Kingdom-platforming hands. With a little help from Mario, Luigi and two Toads, the Wii scored first place on Media Create‘s weekly hardware chart, nearly doubling PS3s…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
MAG Beta Off To A Rocky Start
Zipper Interactive has launched the promised open beta test for the PlayStation 3’s MAG, but early server issues are causing frustration for players unable to connect. Judging by the comments posted in the PlayStation blog entry by Zipper’s senior community manager Jeremy Dunham, many players have already had a chance to log in and go…
By Mike Fahey Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Think Of It As James Cameron’s Beyond Good & Evil
Who is that lady who appears in the new Avatar video game from Ubisoft? Why, it’s Kendra Midori who just may have starred in another Ubisoft game under a different name. If I drank while playing games, I would have done a spit take when I first laid eyes on Ms. Kendra Midori, nature-loving scientist…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Love For Everyone On January 7th
Eskil Steenberg‘s procedurally-generated online adventure game is coming along quite nicely, and he’s spreading the Love around later this week with the launch of the “feature complete” open beta. According to a new post on Eskil’s Quel Solaar website, the Love open beta is arriving weeks ahead of schedule due to new infrastructure he’s introduced…
By Mike Fahey Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Final Fantasy, Super Mario, Doom, What’s On Your Phone’s Desktop?
On a lark last week I asked friends on Twitter to show me the image they have on their phone’s desktop. The results included quite a few video game references. Here are some of my favorites. What’s on your phone?
By Brian Crecente Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
The 10 Most Avidly-Played Wii Games In America (As Of Jan 1)
As 2010 begins, Kotaku’s monthly tabulation of the most avidly-played Wii games continues. As always, these are not the 10 games that have sold the most. These are the ones that get played the most by people who have them. (Click the chart to enlarge) We have one change in the rankings as Rock Band…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 4, 2010 - Uncategorized
Matt Hazard Bathes PSN, XBLA In Blood This Week
The star of the “2009 blockbuster next-gen hit” Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard makes his way to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this week in Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond. “2009 blockbuster next-gen hit” are the words Vicious Cycle Software president Eric Peterson uses to describe Eat Lead on his…
By Mike Fahey Published January 4, 2010