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Daigo Wins 2009 Evo Champs
And, we’re done! The dust has settled on the 2009 Evo (fighting game) Championships in Vegas, and a winner has emerged. That winner? None other than Street Fighting legend Daigo “The Beast” Umehara. A few readers were at the event, and pinged us to let us know that he defeated long-time adversary Justin Wong at…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Expecting 5 Million Copies of Dragon Quest IX Shipped
With 2.3 million copies sold in its first week, Dragon Quest IX is already a smash hit. Square Enix shipped 3 million copies at launch to ensure everyone who wanted the game could purchase it. But Square Enix isn’t stopping there. Square Enix president Yoichi Wada told the Japanese press, “We’re look at reaching over…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Comics Editor
To: Luke From: Owen Re: The Weekends are Made for Owen Today we put out our first installment of Sunday Comics, aggregating the best of gaming-themed comics from around the Web. This isn’t the first time I’ve put together a page of strips and panels. When I was 13, after much pestering, Dad made me…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 -
UncategorizedCapcom Still Teasing Mega Man 9’s “Final Secret”
At Evo 2009, Capcom community-mans Seth Killian gets cornered about the final undiscovered secret in Mega Man 9 but vows it does indeed exist, and that it is still out there. “People have found a ton of amazing stuff in the game that I didn’t think would have been dug up for a long time,”…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
You Really Should Get Over Gamer Girls
Despite women’s documented surge in gaming, “somehow, gamer girls retain their aura of mystery,” writes Dairuka Sutain. “Gamer girls are not special anymore. Take them off the pedestal.” Sutain believes two types of misogyny are at work in the Gamer Girl stereotype – the first is condescension, that if women aren’t less skilled at popular…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
We Didn’t Have Achievements Back in the Day
But if we did, posits Gamespy’s Brian Altano – in this nostalgic and disarmingly sweet take on growing up with games – they might have looked a little like these. The part about bringing games to school is especially true. I think the only time I’ve ever read a game’s instruction manual was in study…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 -
UncategorizedTen Years Ago: “Halo is the Name of This Game.”
In 1999, Bungie was probably the best-known studio developing specifically for Macintosh, having delivered titles like Marathon, Myth, and Pathways Into Darkness. At Macworld 1999, Steve Jobs introduced the studio’s next big Mac exclusive: Halo. Within a year, Bungie would be bought out by Microsoft and Halo would become a launch title that, more than…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
Week in Games: Trannnnnns-mute?
G-Force hits all platforms, but for those a certain age (mine), its the (sigh) movie tie-in, not the U.S. adaptation of good ol’ Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. For that you still need Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Other interesting releases include Watchmen, which is complete on PS3 and episodes 1 & 2 only on Xbox 360 (a…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
Forty Years Later: Putting Video Games on the Moon
Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the date humans first landed on the Moon. Earth’s satellite has been a setting for games, or levels in them, going back to Lunar Lander in the 1970s. The Toronto Star waxes nostalgic about moon games in a writeup that spans some of the major games set on the…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
Today’s Punishment: The Warriors, Set to ‘Beat It’
You’ve all been very naughty readers, so the late Michael Jackson is here to spank you. Here’s a Gametrailers user’s video setting the 2005 Rockstar brawler to 1983’s rock homage to West Side Story. This went up early in the morning and then someone at GT promoted it to the front page. How much of…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
Final Fantasy IV Gets OverClocked
OverClocked Remix, the cooperative dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of video game music, has just released an arrangement of 46 tracks of the Final Fantasy IV musical score. OC ReMix bills the album as a tribute to Nobuo Uematsu, the eminent composer of all the Final Fantasy scores. The three-hour, three-disc project are arranged…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Complete Set of Team Fortress 2 Achievement Icons
Would Team Fortress 2 icons add functionality to anything? No. Would a wallpaper of them be damned cool anyway? Yes. A user on the Steam forums has put them together for you to download. Qpingu of the TF2 community – “taking days of tedious work” – packed them up into a sheet you can download…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
Conan O’Brien Gets Topical with Video Game Sales, Bombs
Were it me, I might have made a crack about a pencil-cup peripheral. As it is, Wii isn’t the best motion control for job interviews. Natal would offer a more immersive groveling experience. Conan O’Brien Discusses Video Game sales, Offers up a Wii Joke [GoNintendo]
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
Study Touts Calorie-Burn Benefits of Exergaming
A study published online by the journal Pediatrics finds that exergaming -in this case DDR and Wii Sports‘ bowling and boxing – provide as much or more activity than a brisk or intense walking pace. What’s more, the study’s authors were surprised to find the Wii Sports games, which rely almost solely on upper-body motion,…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 -
Uncategorized33 Months Of Motion Control, The Wii’s Hidden Struggle
The Wii Revolution has succeeded. Everyone knows this. What was once doubted and mocked now dominates and broadly entertains. But a major Wii struggle, made relevant again by the pending release of Wii Sports Resort, has hidden in plain sight. This stumble in Nintendo’s stride has gained little attention as its competitors chase its dust.…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
New York Outlaws Video Games — for Drivers, Anyway
This week New York‘s state legislature dragged itself out of paralyzing gridlock to pass a law that bans playing video games while driving. Putting on makeup, shaving, beating your children, that still isn’t specifically proscribed. I suppose the Empire State is in cutting-edge democracy-lab mode for this one, having seen the devastation wrought by a…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Uncategorized
Evo 09 Finals are Today; See Them Here
Live Videos by UstreamEvolution Championship Series 2009, the World Series of fighting games, concludes today with the championship finals in eight games. Follow the action on this streaming broadcast. The schedule is on the jump. All times are U.S. Pacific Daylight, which means the broadcast has begun right now. Here’s your lineup, per the Evo…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009 - Culture
Sunday Comics
One of these days, we’re going to kick back and say things like “remember the Sunday funnies?” Well, beginning this weekend, Kotaku is doing its part to keep the tradition alive. Starting with this week’s offering, Sunday Comics will deliver to you the best of the week in gaming-themed web comics. You can even print…
By Owen Good Published July 19, 2009