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Week in Games: Wars and Retribution
Two AAA drops this week, and both are on portables – Resistance: Retribution and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, deploy for PSP and DS, respectively, on St. Patrick’s Day. Redy 2 Rumble Revolution is on the Wii and, if futbol is your thing, then Pro Evolution 2009 (Wii and PS3) might be worth a look.…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Peter Moore: Boxing is “the Past”
Electronic Arts has long been rumored to have eyes for a mixed martial arts title. IGN got to the EA Sports chief at a launch event and asked, obliquely, if that was so. Phrasing the question as “which sport he’d like to see EA Sports tackle next,” Moore said that, while they’re “incredibly excited” about…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
DS Can Help Brit Kids Pass Driving Test
When I took my written driving exam in California, I had a pretty simple rule – of all the choices described, the ones that an asshole driver would do were incorrect. Apparently it is a lot harder in the U.K., where some 40 percent of first time takers of the Driving Theory Test (“theory”?) fail…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
A Video Compendium of Sheva in Tribal Costume
Click to viewWell, this didn’t take long. Resident Evil 5 dropped, what, on Friday? And already someone’s culled together two solid minutes of Sheva cavorting in her tribal costume. Warning – spoilers begin at 0:52. If there’s a defensible purpose for this post, it’s that it shows some gameplay footage that’s pretty rare at the…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Spy Plate Will Sap Dinner
Or make a casserole look like a pork chop. Reddit user tortus says he painted this after his girlfriend drug him to a pottery-painting class when he wanted to be playing Team Fortress 2. For those who want to say so, yes it is a slow news day. Feel free to point that out in…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Patent Troll Lawsuit Begins on Tuesday
Way back in 2007 an “investment firm” that so happened to hold some patents filed a suit claiming Microsoft and Nintendo infringed them. The suit wends its way to the courtroom on St. Patrick’s Day. Fenner Investments Ltd. says controllers for the Gamecube, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360 infringe the “low-voltage joystick port interface” patent…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
German Chancellor Eyes Video Games in Wake of Shooting
More details of the shooting linked to video games over in Germany: The shooter was playing Far Cry 2, and Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering what could be done to limit access to violent games. Merkel did not give specifics in this Reuters story (via International Herald Tribune) so perhaps it’s just a politic response…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Kojima on MGS Touch: “Simple, Yet Solidly Playable”
Hideo Kojima gave an interview to Famitsu iPhone magazine, and gave up a lot of detail on the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid Touch. Your next Metal Gear is a 20 stage game but, ruh roh, you don’t get them all at once. “Of these, 12 stages will be available initially,” according to Anoop Gantayat at…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Halo Kitty Action Figure Can Be Yours for $50
Hey, you got your Hello Kitty in my Master Chief! You got your Master Chief in my Hello Kitty! Two great tastes that … eh … perhaps not. Yessir, that’s a custom pink Master Chief with Hello Kitty tattooed/embossed on his ass, kneepads, “HK47” rifle and shield. In other words, it looks like the kind…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Jay-Z’s Getting Into Games?
A brief aside in an upscale mag’s profile of hip-hop performer, impresario (and Beyoncé spouse) Jay-Z mentions he might be turning his attention to a video game project. “He is relaxing after a typically jam-packed day that included a photo shoot, an interview, and a meeting about his potential involvement in a forthcoming video game,”…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Your Sunday Morning Facepalm
Over on CNET, a writer dares ask the question, “How far should violent video game ads be kept from schools?” Oh, God … This goes back to the row over the mean-ol scary Killzone 2 ads in Toronto (and has its roots in the mean-ol scary Fallout 3 ads in Washington and Grand Theft Auto…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Gamer Deaths Make Clan Notification Difficult, Awkward
An AP story about online death-notification services ledes with a Warcraft gamer, who died mid-quest and left his bereaved daughter to find his friends and explain why he was suddenly gone. The story is largely how death notification has changed to accommodate one’s virtual friends and acquaintances. There are a number of services out there…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Wrist Computer Very Useful in Your Real Life Wastelands
Your real-life Pip Boys now come in two flavors – visually accurate, with few functions; or fully-featured with a different design. You can actually purchase this sucker, which weighs in at more than a pound and measures 4.5 by 3.5 by 3 inches (a whopper, in other words). But the Zypad WR1100 does include a…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Boston Mayor Now Hearts Gaming Biz Dollars
Boston Mayor Tom Menino has transmogrified from a do-it-for-the-children pol backing unconstitutional laws against video games to a guy touting that industry’s heft in his city and its backyard. Menino, a democrat, announced on Friday two initiatives to back the industry locally and encourage its growth there. First is PoweringUpBoston.com, an industry networking site, and…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Wii’s Dead Space Will Last as Long as Original
Tidbits from a chat with Dead Space: Extraction‘s production team dropped a few tidbits, which add up to promises that the title will be a full game on its own, not a warmed-over port. According to Skewed & Reviewed: • Dead Space Extraction will take “about as long as it took players to play through…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
The Old Republic: Your “Personal Star Wars Saga”
Bioware and LucasArts have put out another video documentary on Star Wars: The Old Republic, teasing the storyline and characters of the MMO, set in a "relatively unexplored timeframe of the Star Wars canon." The writers and the producers discuss the TOR universe, which they hope will create a “personal Star Wars saga,” for everyone…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Saturday Timewaster: And We Really Mean It
Some wit cooked up a HD-version of Tetris – I can’t even begin to count the grid here – which makes dying or clearing lines an agonizingly long process. Everyone who’s played this and blogged about it so far instead have created abstract art or raced each other to a fastest death time, some taking…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Writing Contest Offers Trip to Blizzard HQ
Fanfic writing just got a little less thankless and potentially more rewarding with a creative writing contest just announced by Blizzard. Winners get a sword, lunch, and a peek at Blizz HQ. Fans of Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo are invited to write 3,000 to 10,000 words, set in either of the three franchises. The grand…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Improv Act Seeks “Wiimbledon” Champ
“Wiimbledon Champion” looks great on a resume, especially if whomever’s reading it thinks it’s just a typo. An improv troupe is putting the title up for grabs in a tournament next month in Seattle. Organizers for Wiimbledon, to be held April 11, are looking to fill a field of 32 doubles teams playing Wii tennis.…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Weekend Coupons: Free and Reduced Price Lunch
A $20 gift card can be yours with Resident Evil 5; free shipping can be found for Halo Wars 2, and Gamestop is offering three-for-the-price-of-two on used titles. Here’s this weekend’s bargain-huntin’ highlights: • Toys R Us is offering a $20 gift card with a purchase of Resident Evil 5, so you can pick it…
By Owen Good