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My, A Lot Of People Play Runescape
Runescape tends to fly along under most people’s radars. Maybe because it’s free, maybe because it’s browser-based, maybe because of both. Doesn’t matter! Game’s still insanely popular. Publishers Jagex have revealed that the game has had 105 million people sign up since launching eight years ago. Sure, it’s free to sign up, and there’ll be…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2009 - Uncategorized
No Final Fantasy Versus XIII At Tokyo Game Show
According Square Enix game designer Tetsuya Nomura, Final Fantasy XIII will be playable. His title, Final Fantasy Versus, won’t be anywhere to be seen, however. Unlike last year, Square Enix will not be screening trailers for upcoming titles like Final Fantasy Versus XIII and instead will be focusing on playable demos for titles due out…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 31, 2009 - Uncategorized
The People That Play One Game For 200-300 Hours A Year
You think playing a game for 20-40 hours represents good value? You’re playing the wrong kind of game, pal. You need to be playing sports games, where people bleed their annually-released games dry. EA Sports’ Dave Littman – producer on NHL at EA Canada – has told us that “The average EA SPORTS gamer spends…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2009 - Uncategorized
Japanese Popstar Fights Herself In-Game For McDonalds Ad
Jpop music queen Namie Amuro doesn’t only set trends in her native Japan. She also sells hamburgers. In this McDonald’s ad, the Okinawa-born songstress headbutts herself and then a fighting game version with skirts and spin-kicks. There’s even a making-of clip, in case you are dying to know how this marvel was made. Namie Amuro…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 31, 2009 - Uncategorized
Best Buy 360 Games Going For A Song
Mega-retailer Best Buy are having one heck of an Xbox 360 games sale at the moment: buy a 360 game, get a second one for half price. Best part being it’s not limited to a selection of old, unwanted games. It’s limited to, well, 232 Xbox 360 games, awesome to bad and everything in between.…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2009 - Uncategorized
Which PS3 Box Art Is Better For Europe?
PS3 “soul breeding” game Record of Agarest War is being released in Europe by Ghostlight. The publisher has entertained two choices for box art. The Japanese original and the new, more realistic “Westernized” 3D art. Can you guess which is which? (Don’t let the PEGI rating give the answer away!) After getting complaints feedback, Ghostlight…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 31, 2009 - Uncategorized
Morgue Humor in a Hospital Room
To: Luke From: Owen Re: 9 Basterds This weekend I thought I’d be writing about how I’d decided to re-grow my General Zod beard. Then Dad went bicycling and had a close encounter of the handlebar kind. Long story short, he went cycling with Mom on her birthday Wednesday and flipped ass-over-teakettle, taking a handgrip…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Mario Goes All Christian Bale on the Set
Mario Kart: The Movie’s under production – or so we’re led to believe by the trailer you saw earlier this week and now, mister bigshot star flipping out at the lighting guy. Video: Mario Freaks Out On the Mario Kart: The Movie Set [Gay Gamer]
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Piracy Protection is Why PSPgo’s Battery Isn’t Removable
In reconfiguring their portable, Sony paid attention. Pandora’s Battery made modding the PSP firmware, and thus software piracy, very easy. SCEA’s John Koller said the PSPgo’s battery was made internal-only for just that reason. “You won’t be able to rip your games and play them on the [PSPgo] system, the firmware precludes that,” Koller told…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Sonic Adventure DX Getting Another Remake?
Australia’s Classification Board has listed a new rating for Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut, suggesting that the GameCube game might be ported to current systems. The rating says “multiplatform,” which further vagues up whatever Sega’s plans are here. That Gaming Site, which saw the listing earlier today, figures it could be a new control scheme…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Terms That Are, and Are Not, in NHL 2K10
Talking to Randy Hahn for yesterday’s column about announcing NHL 2K10, I tested how deep his vocabulary runs in the game. I threw out a dozen hockey terms – some basic, others esoteric – and asked Hahn if he’d said them. The scorecard? Only three didn’t make it, and I half expected that two of…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Game Gun Guy Promises Retail Version — Console Compatible — by Christmas
Redneck Techie, the adorable nutjob who cobbled together motion controls, an LCD screen, and a rifle butt into the "Game Gun," has news for you. He says it’ll be retailing by Christmas, and it’ll be compatible with all consoles. Watch him show off the gun again – this looks like a different prototype, with a…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 -
UncategorizedArgentine TV Warns World of Monkey Island’s Grog Recipe
Skepticism takes a holiday in Argentina, where three TV personalities – one of them a doctor – break the news that kids are mixing an alcoholic drink recipe that includes kerosene and axle grease – aka Grog from Monkey Island. Long story short, network C5N got trolled. Someone sent them a tip that a Facebook…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Week in Games: Heroes, Guitar and Otherwise
Guitar Hero 5 hits this coming week. So does Champions Online, pressing ahead with the PC release and still no word on when/if ever it’ll hit Xbox 360. Other highlights include Section 8, and the PSP’s Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny. This week’s count: four for PS3, and 360, two for Wii, two for PC and PSP,…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
ESA Annual Report Highlights Success in State Legislatures
The Entertainment Software Association released its annual report last week, and it shows a very impressive winning streak against anti-games legislation at the state level in the U.S. In the ESA’s last fiscal year, state legislatures introduced 43 bills that would have regulated the content or access to video games. No bill regulating sales became…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
MC Hammer. Zombies. Achievement. That is All.
MC Hammer once had a house atop a hill off the 680 near Fremont, Calif., and every time I passed it I’d say to myself, “Self, some day I’ll write a Kotaku post about MC Hammer.” That day has come. MC Hammer, or at least his silhouette anyway, will make an appearance in the achievements…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Making of Guitar Hero 5’s Playboy Commercial
This 7-minute video shows you the technical detail and painstaking direction it took to film Guitar Hero 5’s Playboy ad. But you probably don’t give a crap for that. It has 22 takes with teh wimmen on screen. Enjoy. If you’re here strictly for girls in lingerie cavorting with plastic instruments, that’s at the four…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
LostWinds’ Wintry WiiWare Sequel Confirmed
The latest issue of Edge Magazine takes a long look at LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, which is the sequel to last year’s WiiWare hit LostWinds. No release date was announced. When it arrives, Winter of the Melodias will allow you, as the game’s protagonist Toku, to change the seasons from summer to winter and…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Brütal Legend Makes a Brütal Offer
Oh, Brütal Legend. We thought you were going to be different. You’re a rebel. You’re rokken. You’re not supposed to be … corporate. So why are you doing this cheesy pay-for-access-to-the-demo thing that other pinhead games started? Reader Crashbanito, and others signed up on the Brütal Legend email, got word this morning that pre-ordering the…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009 -
UncategorizedIs PS3 Slim Slower than PS3 Phat?
Yes and no, say some comparison videos that hit YouTube yesterday. In the startup (above) and DVD loading, you see the Slim marginally trails the Phat. But in starting and loading Batman: Arkham Asylum, it’s faster. DVD Comparison – PS3 Slim vs. Phat Batman: Arkham Asylum – Game Bootup and Level Load The Slim’s bootup…
By Owen Good Published August 30, 2009