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Microsoft Overpaid Some Layoff Severances, Asks for It Back
“An inadvertent administrative error” meant that some of the 1,400 Microsoft laid off recently received overpayments in their severance packages. The company’s asked for the money back, making this a hat trick of HR Kops komedy. “We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you,” says the letter, which…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
More Madworld Gameplay Mayhem
The sick minds of Madworld released three more gameplay trailers this weekend. Commodes, jet engines and bus stop signs are some of the improvised weaponry in the first, covering the game’s subway levels. They are not holding back with the language, too. Unlike the last trailer I posted, it comes in much more clearly, and…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
A Conversation With the Portal Gun Maker
Everyone remembers the ultrafantabulous do-want Portal Gun prop we showed you back in January. This weekend its creator, Harrison Krix, revealed future summa-cum-badass prop projects he’s working on. Among them: • Life-sized Big Daddy from BioShock. “I realize this has been done before, but I think I can bring it to life in a more…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Mystery Rocker is in Fact King Diamond
Probably not much of a surprise, but inspection of the Guitar Hero: Metallica trophies list reveals one for “Rock Out as King Diamond,” meaning he’s a playable character in the game. Gene Simmons is thrilled. Lars Umlaut is readying his own C&D letter. Guitar Hero: Metallica is out March 29 in the U.S., May 5…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Sunday Timewaster: Shopping Cart Hero
Unlockables give this jump-physics Flash game some pretty strong replay value. I spent at least 30 minutes tricking out my cart and practicing midair handstands. The object, bobsled your shopping cart down a hill and then up a ramp, collecting dollars for the distance, height and difficulty of your jump. Use them to buy upgrades…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Parent Asks Son to Play COD According to Geneva Conventions
Although it’s some versions are rated T, Call of Duty had some troubling aspects for a father of a 13-year-old who wanted to play it. So they came to an agreement. On Boing Boing, a writer named Hugh Spencer mentions his son Evan’s enthusiasm for Call of Duty, but also that his kid knows there…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Create Your Own Achievements in L4D
Achievement whores rejoice! Some francophone Left 4 Dead enthusiasts have created an achievement generator. This one offers three different achievement statuses, all the L4D achievement icons, or the capability to upload your own. The generator produces two codes, one a standard URL, the other an embed code for all your too-cool-for-school forum posts. So, get…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Nintendo Explains What the “i” in “DSi” Means
There is no “i” in team. There is one in your new Nintendo handheld. (There’s two in “Wii”, but I digress.) GoNintendo asked Ninty straight up what’s with the I, and got an answer. Nintendo insists it’s not-follow-the-leader of Apple branding “i” on any must-haveable small gadget that exudes 2.0 coolness. Rather: • The “i”…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Win Your GameStop Manager this Jersey
Anonymous tipster sends this – the incentive prize 100 GameStop managers can win, based on breaking launch night sales quotas for Resident Evil 5. Those who don’t make quota have to wear Sheva’s cheerleader skirt. OK, kidding. But maybe if you band together with your pals and buy up RE5 at launch, you can win…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
100 (Bullet)proof Whiskey
Thinking about the impending launch of the undoubtedly hilarious 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand takes me back to 2006, when I threw a party to play Bulletproof and invent an equally laughable mixed drink. This was in my corporate days (I forget exactly the name of my company, I think it rhymed with ……
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Get Clean With Donkey Kong Junior
Having seen this, I wonder why I haven’t seen it more. Colombian artists Andres Barragan and Miss Vynilos tiled up a shower to match scenes from Donkey Kong Jr. While this would be an awesome bath to have, I can easily imagine going to work with the damn Donkey Kong Jr. chiptone stuck in my…
By Owen Good -
UncategorizedThe Whitest COD Players U Know
Sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U’Know take a look at Call of Duty and nail the most irritating part about multiplayer FPS gaming, the dipshit who won’t pay attention or cut his mike. This clip is from their latest season; you can catch them on the Independent Film Channel on Tuesdays at 10. Whitest…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Scientists Analyzing Entire Server Logs from Everquest 2
Nearly 60 terabytes of info gathered from more than 400,000 Everquest 2 players has been made available to scientists studying a variety of topics, from social interactions to machine learning. A meeting last week of the American Association for the Advancement of Science said that Sony, when approached about access to the game’s data, simply…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
NFS:World Online Launches Asian Site
You can get your first look – and, if you read Mandarin, the first words about – Need for Speed: World Online, EA’s racing MMO launching soon in Asia. Of course, we see this after Maggie (sniff … sniff) is gone – she could read this stuff cold and tell us what is up. I…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Chinatown Wars Ad Gives Brief Glimpse of Gameplay
It’s a free ad for GameStop, but since we haven’t seen any Chinatown Wars gameplay, it qualifies as interesting. So does the pre-order lure: Start the game with $10K and the best weapons. This ad had been running in Late Night With Conan O’Brien – which just aired its last episode last night. Wonder where…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Saturday Timewaster: Don’t Shit Your Pants
Here’s a text-based real-time “survival horror” game with surprisingly strong replay value, for such a passive act. Its title is its goal: Don’t Shit Your Pants. You’ll figure out how not to defecate in your britches easily enough, but once you get a peek at the 10 achievements for the game, you’ll start experimenting with…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Microsoft Bankrolling “Games for Learning” Project
Microsoft has put $1.5 million into a “Games for Learning Institute,” to study links between video games and learning, and how to enhance them. The research wants to analyze the reactions and processes of avid gamers to see whether games develop learning skills that transfer to the classroom. Already the project has lined up middle…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Weekend Coupons: Halo 3 Legendary for $40?!
That coupon gets you another 25 percent in Gamestop store credit for trading in DS games. Elsewhere, you can get a Halo helmet for $40, and a free game for a Steam preorder of H.A.W.X. Also at GameStop, any trade-ins will get you another 20 percent in store credit toward your purchase of Resident Evil…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Violent Gamers Immune to Pain — of Others
More scholarship suggests playing violent video games makes one – get ready to have the song stuck in your head, too – “comfortably numb” to others in pain and less likely to help them. Two perfessers cooked up a study in which 320 college students were given violent and nonviolent video games to play. After…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Gossip Rag Says Obama is BrickBreaker Fiend
President Obama famously battled it out with his staff over keeping his Blackberry. Now we know why – he gets his BrickBreaker on every night. The Star – as in the reliable publication you often see at the checkout between this month’s BIG SEX NEWS reported by Cosmo and Glamour – reports that the Gamer-in-Chief…
By Owen Good