-
Can We Interrupt This Video Game for a Studio Update?
One of the few broadcast features in Madden NFL 12 that I didn’t punch away with a quick button press was the official league bumper video at the end. You know, when the smooth narrator puffs up and says “This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL,” and lays down the law of the league’s expressed…
By Owen Good -
Sure Looks Like Steam Wallet Cards Are Coming to GameStop This Week [Update]
The pictures looked good, but we couldn’t get confirmation back when Luke broke the news a week ago that GameStop would begin selling Steam cash vouchers. Well, a second tipster’s sent us another couple of pictures of the cards and their display, basically confirming that the games retailer will start selling them. Though the picture…
By Owen Good -
Star Trek Online Developer Admits the Game’s PvP Sucks
While being forthright with his community about the woeful state of Star Trek Online‘s player-vs-player combat, a developer at Cryptic Studios also admitted to something of a self-fulfilling prophecy: PvP in the game is so bad, no one’s participating in it. Participation is so low, the studio has seriously considered removing PvP altogether. “Something has…
By Owen Good -
You Can’t Judge Dragon’s Dogma by It’s Launch Trailer. But It Is Nice to Look At
We’ve been circumspect about Dragon’s Dogma, coming May 22 from Capcom. Totilo and Chris Person, the site’s video editor, have grown attached to it despite also calling it “one very messy, clumsy game, full of bad dialogue, cumbersome menus and annoying supporting characters.” But there are legitimately good qualities, they insist; this simply isn’t so-bad-it’s-good…
By Owen Good -
Skyrim YouTube Parody has Big Plans—Like Bringing Gregethor Back from the Dead
When last seen, he looked like he was done for. Gregethor, the scene-stealing bearded shopkeeper from the enormously successful parody Skyrim 2012, was getting blasted in the stomach by his own Staff of Lightning. It appeared to be a fatal blow. I was so distraught I re-rolled a Breton in Gregethor’s honor. Well, the Grosjean…
By Owen Good -
Zynga’s Next Big Game Sounds Like … a Farmville Sequel
Zynga’s next big Facebook game is an improved version of FarmVille currently beta testing under the name Big Harvest, reports TechCrunch. Their source says the game is being tested out in the Phillippines. Zynga replied to TechCrunch’s inquiry with a standard no comment that neither confirmed nor denied the project. The game, according to screenshots…
By Owen Good -
Are You ‘Shop Enough
Most everyone has taken a swing at Time magazine’s blatantly desperate attempt to stay relevant for one more week. But there is a breed of satirist, known and feared for a cutting, cruel wit, that has yet to have its say: the video gamer. So here we go. If it’s good enough for Time’s cover,…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Pan1da7’s adaptation of Bakery Ninja Kinect serves us breakfast in bed this Mother’s Day. I hope everyone here has called his or hers to wish her a happy day or, better yet, said so in person. Good morning and welcome to Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves. Want a piece of the TAYpic action atop this six-day-a-week…
By Owen Good -
Suspects of the Old Republic: The Winners
The moving-violation misdaventures of a California man actually named Obiwan Kenobi formed the inspiration for our latest Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the 20 finalists inside, plus overall winner musica! Plenty of movie poster themes here. Toolsoldier (17) had the best of all of…
By Owen Good -
Is This Year the Last Hurrah for the Games Expo as We Know It?
I had lunch with a friend and colleague on Thursday, a guy who has been to every E3—and before that he was going to the Consumer Electronics Show when it was the gaming industry’s big expo. Absent some miracle hardware reveal, he thinks we could see the quietest and most depressing E3 ever this year.…
By Owen Good -
Games Industry Analyst Michael Pachter Estimates Gamers Outnumber Complainers 100 to 1 [Corrected]
I like Michael Pachter. I really do. I get Castleville requests from him all the time. Seriously, though, I do go to Pachter for comment occasionally in my sports columns, mostly because the deals cut in that genre are complex and often rely on a publisher partnering up with older businesses, and he understands those…
By Owen Good -
Pro Wrestling Talent Search Series Relocates to Games Design School
Here is an oddball news item, but it’s legit. WWE NXT, a kind of talent-search/reality show featuring wrestlers looking to become the circuit’s next new star, will now be taped at Full Sail University of Winter Park, Fla. Full Sail is recognizable to many video gamers as one of the main universities teaching game design…
By Owen Good
