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What Kind of Person Plays a Sports Video Game? MIT Has the Answers.

More than a year ago, Abe Stein of the Game Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reached out to me about a survey he was conducting, an examination of sports video gamers. Stein, himself a committed sports gamer, wanted to know who made up this segment of gaming—long viewed as an outlier to the…

Ian Cummings, formerly of Madden NFL, now at social/mobile developer Row Sham Bow, is holding an AMA on Reddit. So, AHA.

Yes, BioShock Infinite‘s Cover is Terrible, and Yes, That Actually Matters

2K Games revealed the box art for BioShock Infinite this morning and the verdict on it was swift and disapproving. “You have a game involving floating islands, mechanical creatures of all shapes and sizes, the existance of realityshifting and timebending magic and sky-ziplines,” said Redditor Gregar in a thread almost unanimous in its disappointment. “And…

Ubisoft’s uPlay app is now available for the Wii U. Find it in the Nintendo eShop. The file is 43 MB.

City of Heroes Goes Out With a Roar and a Bang

Last night NCsoft shut down City of Heroes, a landmark game that eight years ago brought the thrills of super powers and comic-book crimefighting to an MMO roleplaying world. City of Heroes had an intensely dedicated community which fought to save the game when news of the closure was announced. When those efforts failed, they…

The Moneysaver: Fade From Black

The end of the major publishing calendar comes right after Black Friday, making this one of the quieter times for new releases. Retailers looking to cash in on the holiday sales season continue to offer discounts on some good titles released earlier in the year. Far Cry 3 is the big upcoming release, but savings…

Here’s the Box Art for BioShock Infinite

The front image for Irrational Games’ long-brewing historical FPS has descended from the heavens, featuring lead character Booker DeWitt looking a bit more grizzled than we’ve seen him before. PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are in evidence, with the latter touting the full original BioShock as part of the package. (No Wii U version,…

The Best of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, where I round up all of this week’s best content. Up top, the first and last issues ever of Nintendo Power, which, sadly, will not be publishing any more issues. At least they went out on a classy note. Moving on to our Best Of content this week, we…

All the Bullet Hell You Can Handle in One Box Set

Cave, famous for its maniac shooting games, is releasing an Xbox 360 box set for its shoot’em up fans. Called “Cave Shooting Collection”, the box set comes with ten classy Cave titles: Espgaluda 2: Black Label, DeathSmiles, DeathSmiles II X, Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu, Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu: Black Label, Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets, Akai Katana Shin,…

Remember the nude U.S. Naval officer who peed in a manga cafe? He got off without prosecution. At least he got off.

The New Iron Chef‘s Bad Ratings Blamed on Unappetizing Food

During its heyday, Iron Chef had celebrities like Mother creator Shigesato Itoi on to taste its delicious looking and interesting meals. The show was a smash hit. And now, it has returned to Japanese television after a 13-year hiatus. And nobody’s watching. According to J-Cast, online and in weekly magazines, people have been saying that…

This Mecha Sure Knows Its Audience (and Fan Service)

Virtual On mecha Fei-Yen is getting yet another plastic model. It’s called “TF-14 A/M+ Fei-Yen [Final 14 Special] Vivid Cinderella”. Try saying that twice fast. The kit comes with customizable pieces—weapons and boobs—for both version of Fei-Yen, whether that’s the TF-14+, which is named “Vivid Heart”, or the TF-14 M+ version, which is named “Cinderella…

Here Are All the Japanese Game Boy Advance Games. At Once.

If you’ve ever wondered what all 795 Japanese Game Boy Advance cartridges would look like lined up, wonder no more. And if you’ve ever wondered how much all those carts would cost, then do likewise! Someone has put a complete Japanese GBA game collection up on eBay for a cool US$5,800. Free shipping, though. There’s…

Teen Wanted To Be An Anime Character, So He Burned Trash

A 13 year-old in Fukuoka was recently picked up for a misdemeanor: he was burning garbage with a lighter at two trash collection spots, Yahoo! Japan reports. When asked why he was doing this, the kid replied that he wanted to see what how it was to handle fire “like an anime hero.” The article…

It’s Like Facebook or Twitter, But for Japanese Geeks

Meet Wonder! As social networking sites go, it’s pretty darn nerdy. Cosplay, figurines, mecha, anime drawings—you name it, Wonder! seems to have it. Just launched by Yahoo! Japan, the site does have a decidedly otaku (geek) focus and an unnecessary exclamation point. Wonder! is image heavy, which I personally prefer for social networking sites (and…

True to Its Word, Halo 4‘s Multiplayer Sends Out Its Specialization Codes

Anyone who played multiplayer in Halo 4 before Nov. 20 is now getting access to six class-based specializations previously available only to those who purchased the game’s Limited Edition. Emails with download codes went out Friday evening, according to tipsters. “Specialization Priority Alpha,” is the codename for the DLC package unlocking the modes. You earned…

The Hard-Luck Story Of A Cat Who Wanted To Be A DJ

In honor of Tina, who is on vacation today, I will post this video in the off-topic slot. What is it? Why, it is a “trailer” for a “movie” called 8 to Go, which is about a cat who wants to be a DJ. Because he wants to do a show with Deadmaus. Because he…

City of Heroes Says Goodbye Forever Tonight

More than eight years old, City of Heroes says goodbye tonight. In five hours—at 3 a.m. EST Saturday—NCsoft will pull the plug on both the superhero MMO and its developer, Paragon Studios If you still have an active account, there will be a final Unity Rally in one hour (11 p.m. U.S. EST) at Atlas…

Battlefront III was ’99 Percent’ Done When LucasArts Scrapped It

If you didn’t already hate LucasArts enough for needlessly canceling Star Wars: Battlefront III, wait until you hear this: They shitcanned it when the game was “99 percent finished,” said the co-founder of the defunct studio behind the game. All it needed was “bug fixing,” Steve Ellis told gamesTM magazine. That’s it. Ellis earlier complained…

Listen To A Rock Formation Tell Jokes In This Trailer For Double Fine’s New Game

While they might be getting the most attention for their as-yet-unnamed Kickstarter project, Double Fine actually has another adventure game on the docket, and one designed by Ron Gilbert no less. While our own Kirk Hamilton got a preview of The Cave with Mr. Gilbert himself, there’s been a dearth of game footage since it…