• Reviews

  Blur Review: Rainbow Road Kill

  Bizarre Creations combines the street racing thrills of its Project Gotham Racing series with the neon glow of its Geometry Wars games, throws in a little WipEout and Mario Kart and winds up with Blur. The realism of real world cars and tracks blends with the explosive audacity of Mario Kart-esque power ups—almost every power…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 4, 2010
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  A College Prank That Strikes Back

  Carleton College’s Goodsell Observatory gets pranked. As seen on The Star Wars Blog via Albotas

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 4, 2010
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  Rock Band Creators Working On A…Dancing Game?

  Harmonix, the studio behind both the original Guitar Hero and Rock Band, could be working on something a little different at the moment: a dance game, built around Microsoft’s Project Natal. So says Game Informer, who report that a recent run of dance song licenses awarded to Harmonix only add further weight to the rumour.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2010
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  FTC Proposes 5% Tax On “Consumer Electronics”

  As part of a draft plan to “save journalism” (as in, “save newspapers”), the Federal Trade Commission is making a number of proposals to Washington. Among them is a 5% tax on consumer electronics. Hey, game consoles are consumer electronics! It’s already been dubbed the “iPad Tax” by some hipsters, but really, that’s a little…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2010
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  Play Dragon Quest IX The Proper Way, On A Slime

  Hori’s very necessary Dragon Quest Slime Speaker Stand heads stateside, just after the North American release date of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. Support your Nintendo DS with a slime for just $49.99—whatta bargain! [Amazon via GoNintendo]

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  Kotaku Off Topic: Thank You For Being A Friend

  What happened in the world today? The real world, I mean, things that didn’t have to do with video games, Radiohead or my copy of Adobe Illustrator. We should catch up in this Kotaku Off Topic. Sadly, I’ll have to keep it on topic to explain why you’re steering the ship tonight. I’m putting the…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  NBA Elite 11 to Include Standard Controls Alongside New Analog Set

  EA Sports put out three more screens of the newly renamed NBA Elite 11, and series producer David Littman – you might recognize that name from NHL 10 – gave an interview explaining how the new controls will work. Littman told GameSpot that NBA Elite will include a standard button control set for those comfortable…

  By Owen Good Published June 3, 2010
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  PlayStation 3 HDMI Bundle Goes Wide On Father’s Day

  Sony’s new PS3 bundle, packing in a copy of LittleBigPlanet’s “Game of the Year” edition and an honest to goodness HDMI cable, will be available at retailers far and wide starting this weekend. Electronics retailer Fry’s already has the 250 GB PlayStation 3 bundle with premium cables packed in, just the way Dad likes ’em,…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  Monday Night Combat Says Screw Everything, We’re Doing Five Six Blades

  If you’re going to do up a class-based team shooter like a televised sporting event, you gotta bring the shaving products advertisements. Monday Night Combat finally found just such a sponsor. Now on to natural male enhancement and mutual funds! Unfortunately, still no word on when Uber Entertainment’s title, for Xbox Live Arcade, will be…

  By Owen Good Published June 3, 2010
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  Ninety Nine Nights II Falls In June, Looks Like This

  Konami has set June 29 as the official date for Ninety Nine Nights II’s release on the Xbox 360 in North America, a big, bright hack-and-slash sequel from developers Feelplus and Q Entertainment. Any takers?

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  Donkey Kong Mod Gets a Cartoon Makeover

  In the early arcade days, games often looked nothing like their cabinet art. A modder’s taken care of that for Donkey Kong, producing a cartoon-based PC remake you can pick up for free. Mick Farrow is the guy behind the remake, which looks to be based off another port of the game. It includes new…

  By Owen Good Published June 3, 2010
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  Skip Alpha Protocol’s Foreplay, Go Right To The Sex

  Don’t feel like playing through Sega’s new espionage role-playing game, Alpha Protocol, to get to The Good Stuff? You might be better off that way, getting your Alpha Protocol satisfaction by enjoying its naughtier bits through YouTube. Not only does this interactive cut scene from Alpha Protocol give you a taste of the kind of…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  Radiohead Has Good Taste In Video Games

  Radiohead guitarists—they’re just like us! They enjoy a good game of Ico, Cave Story and sometimes “marvel” at Red Dead Redemption. If you’ve ever wondered about the game playing habits of Radiohead, get ready to satisfy your curiosity. Jonny Greenwood, the other guy from Radiohead that you know who isn’t Thom Yorke, trots out his…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  A Bear Lends a Hand to Tiger

  Tiger Woods remains a toxic title sponsor thanks to bad play and lingering punch lines from a scandal-plagued winter, but he’s still got a game coming out next week. How to market it? I got it, bring in Mike Ditka! This year’s version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 will feature a Ryder Cup tournament…

  By Owen Good Published June 3, 2010
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  PRe3

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Do You Live In Dallas? You Busy This Week? Man, I’m worn out, exhausted and E3 hasn’t even started. We’re more than a week away. This is crazy! What you missed: Company of Heroes Online in Glorious Motion One Year Later, Did These PS3 and PSP Promises Come True? Egyptian…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 3, 2010
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  Contra Returns Without The Contra Name

  Konami is giving its side-scrolling shoot ’em up classic Contra a makeover and it’s doing so with Guilty Gear and BlazBlue makers Arc System Works, resulting in the downloadable game Hard Corps: Uprising. It doesn’t bear the Contra name, but the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade game is apparently “spiritual sequel” to Contra: Hard…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  EA Sports Picks Spain to Win World Cup

  Spain emerged as champion from EA Sports’ simulation of the World Cup final in 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, with England losing on penalty kicks in a semifinal with Brazil and the Americans falling in the round of 16. The game has the Spaniards besting Brazil 3-1 in the title match to claim the…

  By Owen Good Published June 3, 2010
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  Video Virgins: Before And After Video Games

  From the 1981 masterpiece Defending the Galaxy: The Complete Handbook of VideoGaming, as detailed at the Cavalcade of Awesome

  By Mike Fahey Published June 3, 2010
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  Every Day The Same Dream, An Unexpected Video Game Movie

  Previously featured Flash game-like thing Every Day The Same Dream, a delightfully depressing drudgery simulator, spawns a fan-made film with a slightly different perspective. If you haven’t already played Molleindustria’s game, do so, then bum yourself out further by watching. Every Day The Same Dream [Vimeo via BoingBoing]

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 3, 2010
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  Six Men Lock Themselves In A Box For Science

  Three Russians, a Frenchman, an Italian-Columbian, and a Chinese walk into a fake spaceship, and don’t walk out again for 520 days. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Starting today, a crew of six pseudo spacemen will be spending a year-and-a-half inside the Mars 500, a mock spacecraft, in order to help the Moscow-based…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 3, 2010