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The Penny Arcade Expo’s Real Arcade
On the third floor of the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, visitors to the Penny Arcade Expo East get to visit an actual arcade, filled with free-to-play arcade cabinets and pinball machines, just like mother used to make. Okay, technically my mother didn’t make arcade machines, but back when I was a kid she’d send…
By Mike Fahey - Uncategorized
Tetris: The Anti-Nightmare Fuel
Playing Tetris shortly after traumatic experiences helps accident victims and war casualties ward off traumatic flashbacks, British researchers have found. Sounds silly, but given how much of your brain Tetris can end up controlling – to the point of seeing it when you close your eyes – it’s not that farfetched to me. A team…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Let’s Shank Again, Like I Did Last Summer
When last I left Shank, it was PAX West 2009. Six months later I got my hands on a whole new, platform-heavy level and word from Klei Entertainment’s Jamie Cheng on quality versus quantity. If you read my Shank preview from PAX 2009, you’ll know that I was incredibly impressed by Klei’s Spaghetti Western take…
By Mike Fahey - Uncategorized
Can Video Games Be Campy?
In a culture so infused with irony, the appreciation of campy works – outrageous movies, terrible art, worse music – is absolutely mainstream. Does it apply to games? Can games strive to be campy? Or are they already so? Michael Clarkson, writing on his blog Discount Thoughts, considers games like House of the Dead: Overkill,…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: X-Ray Edition
Our week began with a nightmarish image, even in x-ray – a giant butcher knife plunged through some unlucky wallhacker’s cranium. Sensitive bastards people that we are, this is great fodder for the latest Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. Don’t worry, we’re not going to show you the super-gruesome real life image. But as we have dozens…
By Owen Good - Culture
Sunday Comics
Penny Arcade published March 24 PvPonline published March 22 ActionTrip published March 22 Digital Unrest published March 22 EXTRALIFE published March 23 GU Comics published March 24 Dotgif published March 22 Ctrl+Alt+Del published March 22 Dueling Analogs published March 22 Nerf NOW published March 23 Rooster Teeth published March 23 Monday Night Crew published March…
By Owen Good -
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Kotaku Off-Topic: Yeah, I Dig ‘Em
A few months back I left my car in neutral and it rolled out of the garage, down the hill and destroyed a bush. I worried that the landlady would notice the missing shrubbery. Then the plumbers showed up yesterday. They’re replacing some damaged sewer pipe, which requires them to excavate all the way down…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
PAX East Cosplay Gallery: Day Two
We promised you more cosplay for the second day of PAX East, and we have delivered! Check out today’s gallery for more Pokémon, Mario, Final Fantasy XIII, Fallout, The World Ends With You, and this uncanny Jerry Holkins cosplay. Today’s cosplay gallery spits on yesterday’s cosplay gallery, trampling it into the ground like a baby…
By Mike Fahey - Uncategorized
Dead Space 2: More Fun With Severed Limbs
Dead Space’s strategic dismemberment system was a lot of fun, but ultimately a waste of perfectly good limbs. Executive producer Steve Papoutsis tells Kotaku one way the sequel will keep the fun going even after someone loses an arm. I caught up with Mr. Papoutsis in the lobby of the Sheraton, which connects to the…
By Mike Fahey -
UncategorizedNetflix Disc Comparison Says PS3 is Slower than the Wii
So maybe I was a little hard on the loading times for streaming Netflix movies on the Wii yesterday. It could be worse; it could be the same service on a PS3. Not only did this comparison show the PS3 taking 2:53, start to finish, to load up a preview clip (compared with the Wii’s…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Snubbed Cover Candidate Says “No One Else” Deserves Madden Box But Him
Madden NFL 11 has put its cover athlete up for a vote. The Tennessee Titans’ Chris Johnson, who is not a candidate, says there shouldn’t even be a vote. “No one else deserve to be there but me,” he said. Now, that’s the kind of product spokesman I’d want! Gee, wonder why EA Sports didn’t…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Left 4 Dead 2 DLC Won’t Release This Month, Will Cost 560 MS Points
A video broadcast to U.K. Xbox Live subscribers confirms suspicions that Left 4 Dead 2’s “The Passing” DLC won’t be available by March 31, with the date moved to a more vague “Spring.” But it will cost 560 Microsoft points. The U.K.’s Xbox Live team says Valve officially confirmed the pushback and the price to…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Puzzle Quest 2 Preview: The Same, Only Different
I got to spend a half hour this morning with Puzzle Quest 2, the sequel to a game I found so addicting that I’d rather play it than write up this preview. Is my life over come late spring? In short, yes. While dramatic changes have been made to the navigation system, experience points, money,…
By Mike Fahey - Uncategorized
Dead Space 2 First Look: Isaac on a Train
About 30 seconds of gameplay from the upcoming Dead Space 2 was just shown at PAX East during a panel discussion of the game. In it, Isaac flies through a few runaway train cars and zaps a necromorph. If you want to see it, skip ahead to 23:50 of the video below. It’s a somewhat…
By Owen Good -
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Vegas Kicked My Ass, but I Returned the Favor — With a Video Game
Two weeks ago I simulated the NCAA Tournament on my Xbox 360 and vowed to bet its first round predictions “like a message from the future.” My friends called that the stupidest thing they’d ever heard. They were right. But I did it anyway, hitting Las Vegas for a bachelor party with a sheaf of…
By Owen Good -