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What is This, Mirror’s Edge or Real Life?
Paying homage to a favourite game of his, artist Dave Payne has created this stunning recreation of the white-washed city featured in 2008’s Mirror’s Edge It’s not a photo, nor is it a screenshot of the game at full settings; it’s a 3D image, created in 3DS Max, Maxwell Render and Photoshop. As proof of…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
Wear GlaDOS In Your Hair
Reader G.W. Smith points us towards this adorable little Portal headpiece, which can help the ladies (or long-haired gentlemen!) look like the villainous GlaDOS is sticking out of their scalp. The ornament was made by Luke Walker. What I like about it is how weird it is. It’s not just turning an existing thing like…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
This Angry Birds Horror Movie is Awesome
Continuing its series of short horror movies based on video games entirely lacking in horror, G4 has run The Birds of Anger, an Angry Birds flick that has more in common with Alfred Hitchcock than green pigs. While The Hunt was interesting in its treatment of the source material, this one is just great fun…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
How Nintendo Is Being Kicked When It’s Down
In Japanese, it’s called “endaka” (円高), or “high-valued yen”. And it’s wreaking havoc on so much of the country. If you are living in Japan, getting paid in yen and then converting that into another currency, or if you are importing goods from outside the country, the strong yen is gravy. If you, like me…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 27, 2011 -
Just Cause 3 Coming Next Year
According to a report in Xbox World magazine, Just Cause developers Avalanche will next year release a third game in the hit swarthy harpoon simulator series. I know. You’re probably as shocked as I am. A popular video game franchise getting a sequel! Unheard of. Just Cause is just the kind of series that needs…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
First Image of Phoenix Wright, the Handsome Japanese Movie Star
Japan is making an Ace Attorney movie. Takashi Miike is directing, and actor Hiroki Narimiya is starring as Phoenix Wright. This is what he looks like as Phoenix Wright. The movie was filmed near Kyoto and is slated for an early 2012 release in Japan. This isn’t the first adaptation of Phoenix Wright. The all-female…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 27, 2011 -
Nintendo Stops Printing Money
Yesterday, Japan’s Nikkei estimated that over the past six months Nintendo has lost ¥100 billion. Today, Nintendo revealed its official figures, and…they’re not quite that bad. The company instead has posted a loss of ¥70 billion. Here’s to silver linings!
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
Sony Buys Sony Ericsson (Which is Important for the PlayStation)
For a while now, Sony and Ericsson have teamed up to run a mobile phone company. That company released the Xperia Play, a device we used to call the PlayStation phone. Today, Ericsson is selling up its side of the business to Sony. This means the company, once a joint venture, will become a 100%…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
Dudes, Your Girly Desktops and Walls Are Driving the Ladies Away
You might think those posters of big-eyed little anime girls are cute as a button. But according to FujiTV, nearly 80 percent of Japanese women polled give a big no thanks to dudes who cover their room with stuff like that. On the FujiTV segment, women were interviewed about whether it was okay for men…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 27, 2011 -
This Guy Has a Rare Arcade Cabinet. Is It Real?
Sometimes I get stupid email from readers. Sometimes I get nice email. And sometimes, I get email from people with questions. Reader Joel sent me one of those: A question. This is a Puckman cabinet. Before Pac-Man was called Pac-Man, it was Puckman. “Paku paku” (パクパク) is the sound in Japanese for people opening and…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 27, 2011 -
No, You Can’t Play Mario Kart On Facebook, Despite Scammers’ Claims
There’s currently a rather clever scam fishing its way through Facebook at the moment, looking to cash in on one of the most popular video game series of all time: the humble Mario Kart You know you can’t play Nintendo games on Facebook. I know you can’t play Nintendo games on Facebook. But millions of…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
Can You Handle Zangief’s Tiny Red Shorts?
Say hello to Mike Fass. You might be familiar with this guy if you watched Street Fighter: The Later Years or if you attended the Mr. Stonewall Bear Competition earlier this year. The Mr. Stonewall Bear Competition was to pick the top “bear”—or manly, hairy gay dude. Fass has worked as a rock drummer, an…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 27, 2011 -
Why Not Play Dark Souls In a Coffin
You end up spending a lot of your time in Dark Souls dying. Being stabbed, burned, crushed, bludgeoned, whatever. So this custom rig for the game, built out of a coffin, seems wonderfully apt. The coffin was built for a competition run by publishers Namco Bandai in Australia, and features a big LCD TV, surround…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
Hey Blizzard, It’s not a Good Idea to put Anti-Gay Slurs in a Blizzcon Video
Blizzard’s annual Blizzcon is, for the most part, a friendly get-together for like-minded fans, a place where people can hang out and revel in the fact they all love the same games. It’s a shame, then, that this year’s show was closed out by a video featuring little else but slurs and a guy saying…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 27, 2011 -
Reminder: Free Pinball FX 2 Table Available Now
If you have Pinball FX 2, a new table is available today through next Wednesday for free. If you don’t have Pinball FX 2, the base application is free and, again, so is the table that is free through next Wednesday. Paranormal is its name. A holiday treat from Zen Studios, Paranormalinvolves “solving” a series…
By Owen Good Published October 26, 2011 -
For the Second Time, Tiger Woods will Share the Cover of His Own Game
Golfers Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy prevailed in a three-week vote-off to determine the co-stars of the cover of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, which will be the second game in the series’ 15-year run to feature a second golfer in addition to Woods. McIlroy, who charged upon the international golf scene with a dominant…
By Owen Good Published October 26, 2011 -
Dark Towers and Screaming Headless Torsos
Happy Wednesday, and welcome to another evening open thread. I hope your week is going swimmingly, and that you’re kicking back and getting ready to ride the post-humpday slide into the weekend. I finally finished A Dance With Dragons recently, and now I get to share the pain of all George RR Martin fans and…
By Kirk Hamilton Published October 26, 2011 -
At Age 29, a Game Developer Must Battle Back from a Stroke
When he got the vision floater in his right eye that morning at work, Mikey Neumann figured in the next 30 minutes he’d be asking someone to drive him home so he could fight off a migraine. But the walloping headache never came. By 6 p.m., he was still in the Gearbox Software office, playing…
By Owen Good Published October 26, 2011 -
This Video Might Convince Your Doubtful Friends That Games Can Be Art
For a relaxing time, sit back and watch this terrific PBS short documentary on the artistic merits of video games. The video runs only about 7 minutes, and features NYU’s Eric Zimmerman, game designer and researcher Jesper Juul, Kotaku contributor and secret nerdcore superstar Leigh Alexander, and Babycastles curator and designer Syed Salahuddin. “Even though…
By Kirk Hamilton Published October 26, 2011 -
If This is the Only NBA on Your TV All Year, NBA 2K12 Supplies the Proper Camera Angle
Baseball parks’ larger, varying dimensions and nonstandard playing areas make for unique camera angles, familiar for fans who watch the local broadcasts but markedly different to others. MLB 2K11 (and MLB The Show 11) sought to replicate this in this year’s game. But just because the court dimensions are uniform and the NBA’s arenas range…
By Owen Good Published October 26, 2011