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Man Sets House On Fire Over Gundam
A 29-year-old factory worker has been arrested for burning down his house after an altercation with his mother over manga/anime/video game franchise Gundam. Living outside Kobe, Japan, Yoshifumi Takabe is accused of dousing his room in kerosene and lighting it ablaze with a lighter after his mother disposed of his “precious” Gundam plastic model figurines.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Games That Don’t Exist, But Should: Humping Robot
This is, officially, hump-a-Wii day. First up was the patented hobby-horse-humper to which we all just went o_O. Last night, Robot Chicken put out this – Humping Robot on the Wii. It doesn’t exist, but I’d rather play it. I just … lose it when the … oh I can’t spoil that. Seventeen seconds –…
By Owen Good Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
They Broke the Mold When They Made the Boomer
Valve forum user Phantasmapants says this is the beginnings of a 1/6th scale model of everyone’s fat friend in Left 4 Dead, the Boomer. Working on the assumption Boomer’s 6-foot-2, this casting is about a foot tall, and still has a ways to go before completion. Not that this stage of construction isn’t awesome, and…
By Owen Good Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nintendo’s Shameful, Inflatable Horse-Riding Wii Controller
Read that headline one more time. Then look at this picture. And prepare yourself for the eventuality that no, this is not a joke, meaning yes, Nintendo actually patented an inflatable horse-riding peripheral for the Wii. It’s a small, inflatable cushion with a dock for the Wii Remote. So that when you rock/bounce the horse,…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Before Pink Spidey, There Was Shinobi’s Green Spidey
This weekend’s post about the Wii Virtual Console version of Revenge of Shinobi swapping a bubblegum pink “Spider-Man” for the copyright offending blue and red version in the Genesis original reminded me of the changes made to the XBLA Shinobi. The arcade original version of Sega’s Shinobi once featured a not-so-subtle homage to old webhead,…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Guitar Hero Devs Interested in Natal, MotionPlus
Neversoft’s Brian Bright announced at a Guitar Hero 5 event that the game is franchise compatible, confirming speculation that Activision’s plan for world domination continues unhindered by lawsuit settlements. Franchise compatible means no new band sets to replace your old ones and you can keep the music you’ve downloaded for World Tour as well. But…
By AJ Glasser Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Midway UK Office Sold for 86 Pence
Midway dollar-menuaire Martin Spiess picked up the old Newcastle office for one (1) euro – equal to 86 pence U.K. – according to documents filed in the publisher’s long, slow goodbye. Spiess, Midway’s managing director for Europe, actually picked up both the France and the U.K. office for €1, making the actual retail price of…
By Owen Good Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
THQ Happy Not To Be In EA’s MMA Position, Thank You
Publisher THQ may have had a rough 2008, but its 2009 is shaping up nicely, thanks in part to UFC 2009 Undisputed. That’s likely one of the reasons THQ’s Paul Pucino seems so pleased with its mixed martial arts position. Pucino, speaking at today’s Pacific Crest Securities Technology Leadership Forum, shrugged off worries about MMA…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Three Capcom 360 Platinum Hits, One Box
What would you do if Capcom bundled together Lost Planet, Devil May Cry 4, and Dead Rising into one release at a lower price? Capcom is hoping you’d buy it. Coming September 8th, the Platinum Hits Triple Pack takes the three Platinum Hits titles and squishes them together into one piece of confused game box…
By Mike Fahey Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Dementium II Wins Most Frightening Box Art Of 2009
Renegade Kid‘s follow up to Dementium: The Ward is going to have a hard time getting people to pick up the box, especially the shoppers who browse the Nintendo DS section for Imagine Babyz and Pony Friends type fare. But the first-person survival horror adventure crowd is probably going to adore Dementium II‘s box art,…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Snakes? Frogs?
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Step Into My Parlor Tristan and I were walking the dogs early this morning when we got into the sort of hypothetical, nonsensical conversation that only a father and his young son can get into. Tristan pointed to the creek by the trail and noted that one of his forts…
By Brian Crecente Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Guitar Hero 5 Trailer Gives My Parents Four Good Reasons To Play
If Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower, The Rolling Stone’s Sympathy for the Devil, Santana’s No One to Depend On and Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire can’t convince my hippie parents to play Guitar Hero 5, nothing will. This trailer also shows off Face to Face’s Disconnect, but I’m pretty sure my parents won’t care…
By AJ Glasser Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Who’s Leaking PS3 Slim Info Now?
Allegedly, the French, as a purported screen shot from retailer Micromania’s product database shows the oft-rumored PlayStation 3 “Slim” redesign. If this listing is the real deal—it’s not reflected on Micromania’s web site—it would confirm a long-standing rumor. That shot, hosted by Total Manga and via NeoGAF’s marathon thread of PS3 Slim speculation, could be…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
ESRB Assures Us Puzzle League Express Coming To DSiWare
The existence of a whittled down version of Planet Puzzle League for Nintendo’s DSiWare download service shouldn’t come as a surprise—unless you forgot Nintendo already released that miniature version of the game in other territories, as I did. Thankfully, the ESRB is here to remind us that Nintendo of America will bring the game formerly…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
“Future Of Play” Revealed Soon, Maybe Tonight
Conflicting schedules indicate that Popular Science and The Science Channel will reveal the future of gaming tonight or a week from now. The future of human bodies takes the other slot. Here’s the description of the Future of Play, possibly premiering tonight: Mixed reality lets you reach into the computer game and control it with…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Namco Bandai Brings Games, “Major” Announcements To Gamescom
Publisher Namco Bandai has big things planned for next week’s Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany. It’s bringing eight games, from Tekken to Katamari to Dragon Ball, plus “major exclusive new announcements” to be unveiled at the show. Namco pledges to drop said “major exclusive new announcements” at its Gamescom press conference, currently penciled in for…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Yu-Gi-Oh Tagforce 4 Has More Cards Than Ever Before
Konami Digital Entertainment is packing more than 3.500 cards into Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s Tagforce 4, the next version of the popular card battling series for the PlayStation Portable. I’ve been following the cartoon series on and off for a few years now, but Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s is where I stopped. The latest series hasn’t so much jumped…
By Mike Fahey Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Who Tweeted This?
People always complain that there aren’t enough games on Kotaku. (Actually, they don’t, but just pretend that they do.) So here’s a Twitter-based, gaming-centric quiz for you starring, well, that’s the mystery! Each of the following video-game-related Tweets were added to the omnibus of important Internet conversation that is Twitter.com some time in the last…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
Hot Flashes: This Is The Only Level
May want to get familiar with this level, because in This Is The Only Level this is the only level you’ll ever play. But it’s one of the best you’ll play dozens of times. If that elephant looks familiar, that’s because This Is The Only Level‘s pachyderm protagonist is the same from the similarly excellent…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 10, 2009 - Uncategorized
The New World Of Warcraft Race Speculation Continues
Internet rumors regarding two new playable races in World of Warcraft’s unannounced new expansion continue to stir, as sources close to one website point further towards the addition of Worgen and Goblins. WoW.com reports that “multiple sources close to the situation” have laid out the two new playable races in World of Warcraft’s “Cataclysm” expansion…
By Mike Fahey Published August 10, 2009