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Diablo III Welcomes Players to Beta Hell This Summer
Fans around the world have been waiting for their chance to play Diablo III since the game was announced back in June of 2008. During today’s Activision financial results conference call, Blizzard boss Michael Morhaime pinpointed a three-month window for the Diablo III beta. “The game is looking great,” Morhaime said during the conference call,…
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
Call of Duty: Black Ops Gets More Play Than Facebook
Just imagine how connected we’d be if everyone spent as much time on Facebook as they did shooting each other. Impressive Call of Duty numbers courtesy of Activision Blizzard’s first quarter 2011 financial results.
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
Programming Note: National Geographic Tackles Video Game Addict Boot Camps Tonight
National Geographic’s Taboo series looks at gaming and internet addiction in South Korea in tonight’s episode, focusing on a “15-year-old South Korean boy in rehab because he’s hooked on video games.” The National Geographic Channel touches on the struggle of teenager Hung Gu, who attends the Internet Rescue School’s rehab program. NatGeo’s story on South…
By Michael McWhertor Published May 9, 2011 -
Low Resolution Pixels are the Height of Fashion
If I were a fashion critic present when designer Kunihiko Morinaga debuted his fall/winter 2011/2012 fashion line, I might have described the pieces as something my Nintendo Entertainment System had thrown up, and I would have meant it with love. Pixels were on parade when Morinaga showed off his 8-bit designs during Japan’s fashion week.…
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
Valve’s Secret to Making Better Video Games
Congratulations, good people of Valve Software. You make terrific video games. Tell us how it’s done! “I’m stammering because I’ve tried to explain to my wife how it works, and I haven’t been able to,” Erik Wolpaw, co-writer of Valve’s Portal 2 said last week, answering a question from a moderator about Valve’s game-making process.…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 9, 2011 -
Proof That Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be a Blockbuster Hit
Wondering if the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film has what it takes to be a blockbuster? Look no further than this On Stranger Tides trailer for LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. There are blocks busting everywhere.
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
This Guy Wants to Write a Minecraft Novel
Kyle Lambert knows how ridiculous it sounds when he says he wants to write a Minecraft novel. He knows it seems odd. He knows that people will wonder how such a novel could be about anything other than lots of block-stacking and digging. But he wants to write one. At first, he’d imagined something sort…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 9, 2011 -
Rocksmith‘s Preorder Bonus is a Guitar Center Coupon
Ubisoft’s real music gameRocksmith will require a real guitar to play this fall. GameStop doesn’t carry real guitars, so every Rocksmith preorder comes with a $25 voucher good towards the purchase of your dream axe at Guitar Center. Rock on.
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
This Life-Sized Portal Turret Replica Has Its Laser Eye on You
Complete with a red laser eye and motion-sensing sound bytes, video game replica prop master Ryan Palser’s latest creation is only one assload of bullets away from being a really bad idea. Palser has spent month’s putting together this replica of my favorite characters from the first Portal game, and all of his hard work…
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
Obsidian is Sorry that Fallout: New Vegas Was So Buggy
[NowGamer]
By Mike Epstein Published May 9, 2011 -
The Happy Cloud Speeds Up Video Game Downloads, But is Faster Better?
Within a minute of logging into my trial account at games-on-demand service The Happy Cloud I was playing the full PC version of LEGO Batman. “Instant gratification” is a phrase the company likes to toss about, and it certainly fits the bill. “Happy Cloud brings gamers instant gratification,” says Eric Gastfriend, Vice President and General…
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
PS3 Brink Release Won’t Be Affected by Hack
Brink will still hit the Playstation 3 as planned despite the ongoing Playstation Network outage, the developer tells Eurogamer. While the game mostly lives online, it does have the ability to be played with bots and in single-player mode. [Eurogamer]
By Brian Crecente Published May 9, 2011 -
The Extraordinary, Underground Museum of Soviet Arcade Games
Back in 2007 I read an article on BoingBoing about a small “museum” of Soviet-era video games that had been opened by a couple of students in the basement of a small technical university about 30 minutes outside the center of Moscow. The article was accompanied by awesome pictures of hulking consoles that looked like…
Connal Hughes, A Dangerous Business Published May 9, 2011 -
Do You Crave Sequels or Something Entirely New?
Commenter Monsieur Froid returns to Speak Up on Kotaku once more to ask readers whether they want daring new intellectual property or games that build upon the tried and true. Alrighty, Speak-Up, here’s a question to tickle your brains. Which do you prefer: continuations of your favourite series or new and original IPs? I’m looking…
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
BioWare’s First Third-Person Shooter Comes to WiiWare
While BioWare may be known for its epic role-playing games, back in 2000 the developer was responsible for crafting the sequel to one of the greatest third-person shooters of all time, MDK, and today that sequel comes to WiiWare. The original MDK, developed by Shiny Entertainment of Earthworm Jim fame, followed the adventures of Kurt…
By Mike Fahey Published May 9, 2011 -
What Game of Thrones‘ Intro Looks Like in StarCraft 2
David Zhou noticed the resemblance between the open titles of HBO’s Game of Thrones and the maps of an RTS. And what do you know? A StarCraft 2 movie (created by Zhou) set to the GoT intro music looks pretty great. StarCraft: A Game of Thrones [Wellplayed.org]
By Joel Johnson Published May 9, 2011 -
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Like most Final Fantasy games, Talk Amongst Yourselves is turn-based. Like most FFs, TAY is full of lots of text dialogue. Dare I say this, but like most Final Fantasy games, Talk Amongst Yourselves seldom has an awesome plot. So cast Blizzaga and comment here about video games. Thanks to reader Goldfuzzy for today’s image.…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 9, 2011 -
Is the bin Laden Kill Game Cathartic, Educational, or Just Ghoulish?
Osama bin Laden hunches quietly in the darkness of an Abbottabad basement, rifle clutched in his hands. He swivels smoothly left. Stops. Then swivels smoothly right. His face is frozen in a thousand mile stare, eyes unblinking. “We found him.” The game developer sounds relieved. The virtual bin Laden, created over a rush of all-nighters…
By Brian Crecente Published May 9, 2011
