“Margaritaville” Trademarked for Video Game Use

Another cull of patent and trademark filings turns up this gem: Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville,” the soundtrack for public drunkenness and amphitheater-humping for more than two decades, has been trademarked for use in a video game. You can see the filing here, but my bet is that this is for some mobile game. I can’t imagine…

Sony’s Mystery Science Theater-Like Interactive TV Patent Puts You In The Movies

Your PlayStation 3 may become a reasonably priced, earthbound Satellite of Love, if Sony Computer Entertainment America’s patent application for a Mystery Science Theater 3000-like interactive television becomes a real-life product. Sony’s patent for a “Method and Apparatus For Real-Time Viewer Interaction With A Media Presentation” was filed back in April, but eagle-eyed patent watcher…

Pumpkin Chop Makes Top 10 Indie Games List

Major Nelson’s got the Xbox Live numbers up for the week of October 26th and who should be in third place on the Indie list but Pumpkin Chop. I took a look at the virtual pumpkin carving sim not too long before Halloween and liked what I saw. So I’m glad to see its done…

KFC Madden NFL Box Unboxing and Review

On the heels of 2008’s Guitar Hero: World Tour KFC Fully Loaded Box Meal, this year the purveyor of alleged poultry allegedly from the Bluegrass State has teamed up with EA Sports for the KFC Madden NFL Box. The meal comes in four configurations, offers four “collector’s cups” featuring NFLers rendered, interestingly, in their cartoony…

Rumored Kameo 2 Killed To Make Room For Natal Projects

Microsoft owned developer Rare won’t be returning to the world of Kameo any time soon, thanks to the studio’s shift toward multiple Project Natal titles, according to unnamed sources cited by CVG. Microsoft is reported to have canceled a sequel. CVG’s source “close to the platform holder” says that sales of action-adventure eyesore Kameo: Elements…

New UK Gaming Addiction Center Uses 12-Step Program

The Telegraph reports that Britain has gone and opened its first computer rehab clinic Broadway Lodge in Weston-super-Mare, England. The clinic — which treats hundreds of people addicted to gambling, alcohol and drugs as well as people suffering from eating disorders and co-dependency — employs an abstinence approach to breaking addiction. Additionally, they have detox…

GameStop: PS3, Borderlands & Scribblenauts Sales Are “Strong”

Post price drop sales of the PlayStation 3 in the United States appear to have giving the console “strong momentum” following a “strong surge” that should give the console a “very strong” October, according to GameStop VP Tony Bartel. The vice president of merchandising and marketing tells IndustryGamers that GameStop has seen fit to use…

Never Gonna Give You Up…

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: What You Call C3PO And R2-D2 When You Don’t Know Star Wars But I’m pretty sure I’ll be letting you down. I do that. It’s my thing. So I spent 16 minutes last week trying to carefully dismantle a old wooden crate that was singly Rick Astley in the face……

$25 Million In Left 4 Dead 2 Ads Gets You At Least Two Trucks

Valve is earmarking an impressive $25 million in marketing to make sure that everyone with functioning eyes knows that Left 4 Dead 2 is coming this November. That includes at least two putrid trucks, dedicated to promoting the game. One of those trucks was spotted by Kotaku reader Britt, who not only supplied us with…

Losing At Video Games Makes This Man Better

Normally, throwing one’s controller into one’s pool is not recommended. But, if that action can be linked to success in non-gaming endeavors, maybe you should do it. It works for one successful person interviewed recently by The Oklahoman. The newspaper was profiling Kevin Durant, guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder has chucked his controller many…

Left 4 Dead 2: The Truck: The Gallery

The King Of Fighters XII Gets Pricing Beatdown From Japanese Retailer

The bad news for SNK Playmore is that retailer response to The King of Fighters XII, at least at one major Japanese retailer, is that they’d like to be rid of it altogether, marking the fighting game down to $11. The good news is that Bic Camera, the outlet responsible for dropping KOF XII to…

Nintendo Thinks WiiWare Demos Might Be A Good Idea

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says that Nintendo is planning to test downloadable demos of some WiiWare games, a program that should kick off—in Japan at least—later this month. That’s according to IGN‘s translation of the oft-cited investor Q&A that Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto dropped minor details at last week—nuggets of news that range from Miyamoto’s…

Report: North Korean Military Digs Clams, Exports Fake Nintendo Games

One would think that the North Korean military is primarily involved with matters of combat. But, as recounted in one amazing Washington Post paragraph, they do other things: North Korea is perhaps the world’s most secretive and repressive state, but it makes no attempt to hide the ubiquitous role the military plays in the daily…

Rare Hopes To Evolve The FPS Genre With Project Natal [Update]

Banjo Kazooie and Viva Pinata developer Rare has made some important contributions to the first person shooter genre, a space it hasn’t visited since Perfect Dark Zero hit the Xbox 360 in 2005. That may change, thanks to Project Natal. Rare’s Mark Betteridge tells MCV, as part of a feature on the first-person shooter, that…

Rabbids Developers Remembered Wii’s Neglected Features

The Wii has more special features than motion-sensitive controllers, a stand that tilts the system back and a power cord. The developers of Ubisoft’s latest Wii game seem to have remembered and decided to support some more neglected Wii features. The Controller Speaker: Did you remember that your Wii Remote has a speaker and that…

Dedication To Dedicated Servers Earns EA At Least 60 Bucks

As seen on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 blog, where, I’ll guess, the redacted words include “Infinity” and “Ward.”

Dragon Age: Origins In Stores Now

Dragon Age: Origins is here. Ready for all that epic RPG combat? Dust off your mage outfit and plug in for the ride. Oh, and for the sexytimes. And for Tim Curry! Dragon Age: Origins, the new dark fantasy epic from BioWare is in stores now. NOW. Go get. 9 out of 10 stars. Dragon…

Splinter Cell Conviction Gets Collector’s Edition, Night Vision Not Included

Ubisoft is unfortunately foregoing offering replica Sam Fisher night-vision goggles for the collector’s edition of Xbox 360 exclusive Splinter Cell Conviction attempts to make up for it elsewhere. Does it succeed? For $79.99 the “limited run” version of Ubisoft Montreal’s stealth action game—still due February 23 in North America—packs in the requisite art book, “collectible”…

Let’s Spy On Fahey

Here at Kotaku today, there’s a sense of emptiness due to Mike Fahey’s day off. If only there was a way to invade his privacy and, say, snoop through his Dragon Age playing history. Ah, but there is! If you have a free account to BioWare’s “social” site, you can check out Fahey’s accomplishments in…