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Games Pirate Loses House, Car and $350K in Piracy Sentencing
A software pirate whose employer discovered his $700,000 counterfeit-games operation will spend the next 2 1/2 years in federal prison. Qiang “Michael” Bi, 36, of Powell, Ohio, was sentenced today on charges of copyright infringement, mail fraud and identity theft for more than four years worth of selling pirated games at $10 a pop, reports…
By Owen Good -
Korean College Student Dies After 12-Hour Gaming Session
There seem to be few gaming stories out of Korea lately that don’t involve some sort of fatality. In this case, a 19-year-old college student died after a 12-hour-session with an FPS at an Internet parlor. The victim, identified only as “Moon,” started gaming at 2 a.m., took a break at 10:30 a.m. to get…
By Owen Good -
The Tester 2’s Grand Prize Winner Embraces Obscurity
Most reality show contestants are vying for a chance at fame and fortune. As the winner of the second season of Sony’s The Tester, Matthew “Gaymer” Brown sees his new game testing job as a chance to escape the spotlight. The Tester is a reality show produced by Sony for the PlayStation Network in which…
By Mike Fahey -
Two Million Xbox 360 Gamers Have Played Castle Crashers
Independent developer The Behemoth got a rather lovely present on Christmas Day, when the Xbox Live Arcade version of Castle Crashers surpassed two million players. How will they celebrate? With an Xbox made of gold. Castle Crashers was a big hit when it was released in August of 2008, and sales haven’t slowed down much…
By Mike Fahey -
Kinect Gives Life To This Humanoid Robot
Using Microsoft’s Kinect to control a modified Roomba is impressive. Using it to get a kit-built humanoid robot to mimic your actions is pretty damn amazing. Once again hobbyists beat Microsoft at their own gaming peripheral, utilizing Kinect’s impressive technology in ways that go so far beyond gaming. Here we see software engineer Taylor Veltrop…
By Mike Fahey -
Angry Psychology Professor Explains Angry Birds’ Success
Why is Angry Birds such an addictive game? According to University of San Francisco psychology professor Mel Joseph Ciena, it’s a combination of repetition and a “false impression you’re competitive and achieving something.” Oh come on, we’re saving eggs! Joe Eskenazi of SF Weekly queried two experts for their opinion on why Rovio’s physics-based bird-flinging…
By Mike Fahey -
This Is Your Brain On Video Games
What happens to our attention when we play video games? The New York Times’ technology reporter Matt Richtel played a video game while stuffed inside a $3 million M.R.I. scanning tube to find out. Richtel has spent the better part of the past year exploring questions about the role attention plays in our daily lives,…
By Mike Fahey -
PETA Praises Adult Swim Flash Games For Being Animal Friendly
While Adult Swim’s flash games aren’t known for classy content, two have been singled out by animal rights group PETA for being especially animal friendly. Humans killing polar bears is bad, but polar bears killing humans wins awards. Polar Bear Payback is an action game in which the player takes on the role of a…
By Mike Fahey -
Entertainment And Fun Aren’t The Same Thing
He may switch a few words around, but what commenter DunnCarnage is basically saying in today’s Speak-Up on Kotaku is that a game doesn’t have to be fun to be entertaining, and vice-versa. Something that has been bugging me recently about games is the concept that they don’t necessarily have to be “fun” to be…
By Mike Fahey -
Police Say Man Stole Game Boy From Teen That Died On Christmas [Update]
Seventeen-year-old Bradley David-McCombs Jr. died in a tragic car accident on Christmas Day. On Monday night his family held a viewing at the Rairigh Funeral Home in Montgomery Township, Pennsylvania. That night, someone decided to steal his Game Boy. McCombs, pictured here, died after his sport utility vehicle flipped on Route 553 in Cherryhill Township…
By Mike Fahey -
Virtual Assets Are Not Community Property
A marriage based on a shared love of online gaming is just as valid as a normal one, but as one Chinese woman found out, virtual assets accrued during marital bliss aren’t divvied up in the divorce. According to a story in the Beijing Morning Post, a judge has denied a woman’s claim that half…
By Mike Fahey
