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Magazine Covers That Don’t Exist, But Should
Visitors to The -Minus World haven’t seen any updates since being told “BRB” on April 11. Well, there’s one change – B Miggs and Agent B went to GameSpy, where they cooked up this feature. The premise – “Seven Game Magazine Covers We Wish Existed.” I guess that would mean anything on the cover of…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
DSiCade Takes Browser Games on the Go
If you’ve run through your DSiWare points budget and you’re still looking for something to do, point your browser over to DSiCade, a site for fan-made browser games. It’s only at a beta-stage so far, so you can choose among a Simon-style memory game (pictured) a Missile Command-type game (which I couldn’t get to work)…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Call of Juarez: There Will Be Blood
When the Union army burns your plantation and kills grammaw in her bed, some might consider that cause for revenge. But first the Confederates McCall head to Mexico to find the loot that’ll bankroll their blood debt. Along the way, they kill a U.S. marshal (demonstrating a showdown engine for the game?) and run into…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Euro Xboxers, Xtival is Back
Not sure what “free Gold membership for the weekend” means other than “free multiplayer” – and maybe taking advantage of the deal of the week. But all European gamers get it May 1-4. The annual event promises to offer gallons (sigh … Imperial gallons) of fun with all of your favourite Xbox multiplayer titles. In…
By Owen Good -
UncategorizedKid Wanted DS, Got a Rock
This sounds like something my Dad would do, just to watch me lose my shit. However, it’s real. A 16-year-old unboxed his birthday present DS to find nothing but rocks and Chinese newspaper. Because she’s a cool mom, Jody Wykle, of Lake Wales, Fla., gave her son Guitar Hero: On Tour even though he didn’t…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Vesperia Bonus is Soundtrack: Volume 2
If you bought Tales of Vesperia‘s special edition and saved your secret code for eight whole freaking months, now you may finally have your “special bonus.” It is slightly above “underwhelming,” but not exactly “whelming.” Namco’s put up the redemption site where you can claim the prize. It appears to be volume 2 of the…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
The Rules for 360 Achievements (Partially) Explained
Microsoft’s only on-the-record guidance on how Achievements are approved came more than two years ago, and the maximums it set then have been easily surpassed. Xbox360Achievements.org says it’s learned of new policies on Gamerscore ceilings. X360A’s Alan Pettit noted that the new batch of Fallout 3 achievements broke, once again, the stated maximum of 1250…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Ubisoft Trademarks New Driver Game
What do you with a derivative IP in a saturated genre that has continually disappointed since its first sequel more than six years ago? Why trademark a fourth sequel, of course! Sorry, but this franchise hasn’t done anything particularly well since 1999, which was the original Driver: You are the Wheelman on PlayStation. That was…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Director: “Microsoft/Xbox is the Most Dreadful, Non-Talent Friendly Company”
James Gunn, one of the directors signed on to last year’s “Horror Does Comedy” original content series on XBox Live, says Microsoft rejected his first film and “cut the living shit” out of the second. To be fair, Gunn calls “Humanzee” the “most balls-out, fucked-up thing I’ve ever shot.” But he says the XBL folks…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Warcraft on an iPhone, but is It Coming to Yours?
Yesterday, word spread that Warcraft was OTW for the iPhone, thanks to the app that ran Second Life on an iPhone last year. Skeptical, I held off, but I can’t explain why, exactly. I watched this yesterday morning, looking for any tipoff this was a quicktime movie with cleverly timed gestures – it’s four minutes…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Tetris Lessons Available, 2 Hours for $40
Shawn Elliott (2K Boston) tweeted this this past week. Some wit up in Vancouver is offering Tetris lessons “at affordable rates,” one of those things the un- or underemployed will now rush out to imitate. According to the Craigslist poster (and if it gets flagged and removed, you may read it here and here) the…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Get Drunk on Boomer Bile
Sidling up to the bar at a trendy club and explaining how one makes “Boomer Bile” would identify you first as “disgusting” and then, after further explanation, “disgusting and a huge nerd.” But it’s one of seven extremely complex (and dramatically backlit) cocktails that Official Xbox Magazine commissioned “a leading cocktail bar” to develop. The…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Hotfix Patches Up GTA IV Stuttering Problem
A mini-foofaraw sprouted this week over the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV, when a Windows Live update either introduced or worsened a stuttering issue in some players’ computers. That’s been fixed in lightning-fast time, according to Microsoft. “Thanks for your patience, a new update is avaible that addresses the stuttering issue with GTA…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Feast Your Eyes on Muramasa: The Demon Blade
GameTrailers assembled a comprehensive look at Muramasa: The Demon Blade, the latest iteration in the cult-hit series that’s due out for Wii in late July. You can get a long look at the art direction and gameplay, and both qualities seem very deep, 2D platformer or not. As the video indicates, its predecessor Odin Sphere…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
ESA’s Lobbyist-Womans is Gone
A little over two months after being named the “senior v.p. for government affairs” (read: top lobbyist) for the Entertainment Software Alliance Association (this is not Star Wars), Jennifer A. Manner is now gone. Her experience, touted by ESA chief Michael Gallagher when she was hired, turned out to be lacking according to some reports.…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
King Denies Little Boy’s Wish to Be Named ‘Sonic X’
This reads like a fairy tale, but it’s all true. A 6-year-old Norwegian boy wanted to change his name to “Sonic X,” and in his land, such things must be approved by the king. Wise King Harald of Norway politely declined the request of young Christer on the grounds that, being only six, he was…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Create-a-School Returns to NCAA Football
NCAA Football enthusiasts are already rejoicing– promotional materials tout a “teambuilder” feature in NCAA 10 that signals the return of “Create-a-School,” which has yet to appear on any next-gen versions. Tuesday, the back side of a GameStop placeholder for the game made its way to the forum NCAA Strategies. One of the details listed is…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Apple Approves, Quickly Removes “Baby Shaker” App
This is probably not how Apple planned to celebrate the week it hit a billion downloads from the iTunes App store. It’s apologized for admitting the unabashedly tasteless “Baby Shaker” for distribution, and removed it. Baby Shaker makes revolutionary use of the iPhone and iPod Touch’s accelerometer to simulate killing a crying infant. When the…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Weekend Coupons: Cou-pwnage
We’re back again with another round-up of price-cuts and sales events for the frugal amongst you. As stated earlier, this is the week The Orange Box can be had for the stupid-low price of $9.99. The guiding principle here at Weekend Coupons is we tell you about deals on stuff you might actually want to…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Microsoft Refunds Braid Overbill, Plus a Little Extra
If you bought Braid back in February when it was XBLM’s first “Deal of the Week,” check your points balance. Microsoft mistakenly overbilled for it, but they’ll be refunding the difference plus 100 points. We’ve gotten word through a few readers about the mistake, which Microsoft attributed to a “technical glitch.” The virtual money should…
By Owen Good