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Nearly Twenty Chinese Bureaucrats Fired for Gaming at Work
Bureaucratic work is understandably boring but it has its perks: a steady income and a stable job. However, nineteen government employees in China’s far west province of Xinjiang have taken their jobs for granted, spending their office hours playing video games. The government employees were caught in late august after unannounced inspections by the local…
By Eric Jou Published October 15, 2012 -
Japan Isn’t Getting a PS Vita Price Cut Yet. It’s Getting Two New PS Vita Bundles.
This November, two new PS Vita bundles are hitting Japan. There’s a Bonus Pack which comes with a 3G/Wi-Fi PS Vita, 20 hours of pre-paid 3G data, a cradle, protective film, and a 32GB memory card, plus AR cards, etc. Then, there’s a Standard Pack, which comes with a 3G/Wi-Fi PS Vita, 20 hours of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 15, 2012 -
Hawken Beta Starts Real Soon
There have been some secret alpha tests going on for a while now, but a much wider pool of people will finally get their hands on mech shooter Hawken when it kicks off a closed beta on October 26. Invites will start going out this week, while the beta will run until October 29. More…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 15, 2012 -
It’s Not a Crime to Paint LEGO
I mean, it should be. The whole point of LEGO is that it allows people to create (or recreate) things within the bounds of a visual style that’s supposed to be basic. Yet here we have a Maschinen Krieger vehicle (explanation here), painted like it was some Warhammer 40K miniature, and…it’s not terrible. It’s actually…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 15, 2012 -
Game Developers Stuck in Jail Because Greece’s Legal System is on Strike
A month ago, a pair of developers working for ArmA developers Bohemia Interactive were arrested by Greek authorities, who claimed the holiday snaps they were taking of a military installation were acts of espionage. It seems a ridiculous story, and one that should have had a swift resolution, only…there’s nobody around to resolve it. Panagiotis…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 15, 2012 -
Xbox Music Sounds Amazing (If You Use Microsoft Devices)
First announced back at E3, Microsoft today revealed the first serious details about its Xbox Music service, which will use the cloud to stream a music catalogue across platforms like the Xbox 360, PC and Windows 8 tablets. It’ll have around 30 million songs when it opens. It goes live on the Xbox 360 tomorrow,…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 15, 2012 -
The World Ends With Awesome Cosplay
It’s always nice to see when a cosplayer wanders off the well-trodden path and dresses up as a character you don’t exactly see every day. Like this The World Ends With You outfit. Of all the Square Enix games people cosplay from, it’s criminally under-represented, so it’s nice to see it get its due here.…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 15, 2012 -
Syfy’s Defiance Looks Like Resistance With Elves
We may not have heard about Defiance the video game since E3, but Syfy is still forging ahead with the TV show based on the property, releasing this new commercial for the series during New York Comic Con this weekend. Long ago conceived as a series where an MMO and a TV show would co-exist,…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2012 -
See How Sleeping Dogs‘ Next DLC Lets You Beat Up the Undead with Magic Kung-Fu
Earlier today, Square Enix and United Front Games announced that they’ll be delivering a horror movie style add-on to the gritty open-world action of Sleeping Dogs. The publisher and developer showed off the trailer and some gameplay from Nightmare in North Point, and talked about the special weapons and abilities Wei Shen will get access…
By Evan Narcisse Published October 14, 2012 -
Thank You, Metro: Last Light, For Not Shipping With Multiplayer
It’s kind of faded into the background now that most people like to focus their anger on downloadable content, but for me, multiplayer has always been the biggest problem with modern, big-budget video games. It just doesn’t, for many games, need to be there. At all. Sure, your big sports games and shooters need it,…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2012 -
EA Accidentally Gives Away Thousands of Free Games
Over the weekend, some gamers received a special code from Electronic Arts as thanks for completing a survey. That code allowed them to download a free game from Origin, EA’s online store for PC games. Or, it would have if EA thought to secure the code properly. Instead, it was quickly discovered that the code…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2012 -
The 360’s $50 Price Drop Is For Two New Bundles—But It Isn’t Limited to GameStop
With big thanks to our partners at Dealzon, we know a little more about this $50 price drop on Xbox 360 configurations. The big detail is that the cut isn’t limited to just GameStop. “These are new bundles, supposedly released Oct. 9, and are now selling for $250 at Best Buy, Amazon, and Gamestop, instead…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2012 -
These Gamers Won $1 Million on Saturday
Those young men you see up there are five of the members of the Taipei Assassins, who on Saturday took out season 2 of the League of Legends World Championships at the Galen Centre in Los Angeles. They easily defeated South Korean team Azubu Frost – at the centre of a cheating controversy that rocked…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2012 -
Understanding Its Mobs’ Mentality Helps NCAA Football Stand Out in a Crowd
This year, NCAA Football included 24-track audio, pulled from an ESPN broadcast at one of the college football’s biggest stadiums, hosting one of its best rivalries. The “Go Blue” you hear at Michigan Stadium comes through loud and clear any time you play in Ann Arbor, as the Wolverines or a visitor, as it should.…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2012 -
ChrisWarcraft’s Weekly NFL Quest, Level Six: Dethrone the Dwarven Tree-Cutter of the Capitol City
Football is a role-playing game. That’s how Chris Kluwe, the Minnesota Vikings punter and noted World of Warcraft and RPG fan, is approaching it. Each week in the NFL, ChrisWarcraft characterizes his upcoming game in terms of an MMO quest. We’re going to chart his progress and see how fast he levels up. At four…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2012 -
Deus Ex, Just Cause and Hitman Highlight the $10 “Square Pack” Sale on Amazon
PC gaming value hunters, Amazon is now selling for just $9.99 the “Absolutely Great Square Pack”—Just Cause 1 and 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman: Blood Money, Quantum Conundrum, Supreme Commander 2, and The Last Remnant. The purchase gets you the downloadable version of all games. If each game were sold at itsl MSRP, the…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2012 -
The Amazing Spider-Man Arrives on Wii U Next Spring, with All DLC Included
At New York Comic-Con, Beenox—the studio behind The Amazing Spider-Man video game adaptation, said the title would be coming to the Wii U in spring 2013. In addition to new Wii U GamePad functions, the game will sell with all of the downloadable content that has been released so far for the PlayStation 3 and…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2012 -
Sleeping Dogs‘s New DLC Will Show You the Scary Side of Hong Kong on Oct. 30
Square Enix managed to find a surprising success in Sleeping Dogs, their crime drama that takes place in a engaging open-world Hong Kong. Since the game’s summer release, it’s gotten DLC offerings that give players new racing or cop missions as well as packs filled with new customization options but nothing in the form of…
By Evan Narcisse Published October 14, 2012 -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Comic-Con Cosplay Extravaganza
We’re giving you back the old ‘Shop Contest. We’ve been splitting the exploitables off from the forum in which new entries have been posted, but a lot of this feature’s popularity, over the past three years, has been in seeing both the new challenge subject and everyone’s responses all in one place. So we’re bringing…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2012 -
Flash Version of Mega Man Xover is a Withering Rebuke, From the Series’ Biggest Fans
The Rockman/Mega Man franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary in December, and I can’t imagine a cheerful observance is coming for the hardcore fans of one of video gaming’s cornerstone franchises. They’ve been upset ever since last year’s heavy-handed cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 for the 3DS, a game which had asked for community input…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2012