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Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
By giving you permission to talk here I maintain the illusion of control over you. Talk! I said talk amongst yourselves! About games! Please? Thanks to Prof.Gast for today’s WTAY image. Want to be featured atop Talk Amongst Yourselves? Kotaku? Submit your pic to #TAYpics. See this thread for directions on how to do a…
By Owen Good -
PlayStation Network Back Online in North America
Shortly past midnight, U.S. Pacific Time, Sony announced that PlayStation Network service had been restored in Canada, all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. PSN, down for 22 days following a massive cyberattack on April 19, continues to be restored in stages in Europe and in other regions. Upon logging back in, PSN account holders…
By Owen Good -
Sony Online Entertainment Also Begins Restoration of Services
Sony Online Entertainment, the publisher of PC MMO titles also shut down by April’s massive cyberattack on the PlayStation Network, has also begun the reactivation of its network services, according to a statement by SOE. Restoration will also proceed in phases, much like PlayStation Network. It will return “nearly all of SOE’s portfolio of online…
By Owen Good -
Marketing Survey Leaks Cover Art for ‘Hitman: Subtitle’
Evidently circulated before IO Interactive settled on Hitman: Absolution for the title of the latest sequel, a marketing survey asked respondents how they felt about three potential cover designs for the game. All featured the wonderfully ironic Hitman: Subtitle, the naming convention for the game since Hitman: Codename 47 in 2000.
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Freestyle Championship Winners
Some people misunderstood me last week. I didn’t say Michael Phelps was a jackass, only that he looked like one in a picture of him playing Kinect. Truth be told, everyone looks like a jackass in still photos of them playing Kinect. That’s why they’re so useful for the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest, which saw a…
By Owen Good -
Study of ‘Game Transfer Phenomena’ Examines Why Some Get Tetris-on-the-Brain
If you’ve ever closed your eyes and seen tetrominoes falling into place, or Angry Birds slamming into stone walls, you’re experiencing “game transfer phenomena,” and it involves more than mentally playing a game long after it’s finished. The first ever academic paper on this condition is due to be published in the International Journal of…
By Owen Good -
A Walk-On Who Made the Team Wants You to Know What It Really Means
Alex Howell was the only freshman in the tunnel that Saturday, his chinstrap so tight it fused his jaw shut, 89,000 people packed into to the last row at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium. Earlier in the week the graduate assistant tapped Howell on the shoulder and asked if he’d like to dress for the game against…
By Owen Good -
If You Like This Video, Give It a Thumbs Up, If Not, Give It a Favorite
Here’s “Generic Geoff,” taking us through a free-for-all victory (on combat training) in just under three minutes. If it sounds like you’ve heard all of this shit before, that’s the point. It’s a sendup of just about every YouTube walkthrough video ever made, especially for the shooters. User KieranMFilms made it. If you like the…
By Owen Good -
Report: Rented Amazon Server Used to Launch PSN Attack
Bloomberg news reports that the hackers who carried out the attack on PlayStation Network rented a server from Amazon.com to do so, signing up for the service using fake information. The account through Amazon’s EC2 service has since been shut down, Bloomberg reports, quoting unnamed sources. While the FBI continues to investigate the breach, resulting…
By Owen Good -
Here Are All of The Witcher 2‘s Launch Videos, and a Special Message
The long-awaited RPG The Witcher 2 drops on Tuesday, and developer CD Projekt has sown the Internet with all of its launch videos, four in all. All carry some kind of message from the studio at the end, such as that one above. They all refer to the free DLC plans revealed yesterday. But you…
By Owen Good -
Five the Hard Way
The Major League Baseball record for home runs in a game is four. Always has been, always will be, evidently. This mark has stood since 1894, tied 14 times since. Only once has a batter ever come to the plate with a chance at hitting five, Seattle’s Mike Cameron in 2002. Cameron, in fact, had…
By Owen Good -
Disney Studio Coughs Up $3 Million for Violating Kiddie Gamers’ Privacy
A $3 million settlement by Playdom, the Disney social games studio, sends a pretty clear message that the U.S. Child Online Privacy Protection Act isn’t messing around. Violate it, and it will be expensive. Titles Playdom acquired before Disney acquired it in 2010 were accused by the Federal Trade Commission of collecting kids ages and…
By Owen Good -
He Once Got Lost in His Own Museum
He’s got a two day head start on you, which is more than he needs. Brody’s got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan, he speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom, he’ll blend in, disappear, you’ll never see him again. With any luck, he’s got the grail already. The…
By Owen Good -
Brink Devs Push Lag Fix, Promise Free DLC
Brink closes its checkered launch week with news of free DLC and promises it’s fixing the crippling lag in its multiplayer. With an update now live, Brink developer Splash Damage is introducing a configuration change for Xbox 360 users (which will also be available for the PS3 when PlayStation Network comes back) that limits Campaign…
By Owen Good
