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Firm: Sony Brand Less Valuable than Microsoft, Cigarettes, Beer, Toothpaste
Millward Brown Optimor, a “global brand strategy” analyst firm, just stepped into a heaping pile of fanboy doodoo with its latest rankings of the 100 most valuable brands in the world, pegging Sony at 94th. Nintendo is 32nd, Microsoft fourth. That’s behind Marlboro (at No. 7) Budweiser (No. 38) and Colgate (No. 47). Considering that…
By Owen Good Published April 28, 2010 -
Moooooving
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Kobe Is Beautiful We’ve had folks coming and going all week at the house. Checking out how we can make the place look nicer insider, doing appraisals, painting the house, staining the deck, laying down a new backyard. AND we’re still fostering the incredible adorable 1-year-old Neapolitan Mastiff. Of course…
By Brian Crecente Published April 28, 2010 -
Buy Singularity, Get Prototype For Free
Raven Software’s oft-delayed sci-fi shooter Singularity will get a little help from last year’s open-world action adventure Prototype. Activision is giving away the latter if you purchase a copy of the Xbox 360 version of Singularity. Whether that’s a good sign for Singularity’s chances for success is up to you, but for anyone planning on…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 28, 2010 -
Final Roster Unveiled for UFC Undisputed 2010
With one day until the early demo release for UFC Undisputed 2010, and about a month until the title hits the shelves, the game’s full lineup has been revealed, adding more than 30 fighters since last year’s edition. Here’s the lineup, as reported earlier today by GameSpot. It’s broken out by the fighters’ eligible weight…
By Owen Good Published April 28, 2010 -
Space Invaders Rendered In Fine French Silver
Taito and silverware maker Christofle have buddied up to offer the Space Invaders fan a chance to express their love of the 1978 shoot ’em up in style. Meet the multi-use silver Space Invader “fashion accessory,” coming soon. According to Square Enix—which owns Tatio—the fine silver invader is “suitable for use by both men and…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 28, 2010 -
Halo: Reach’s Extended ‘Birth of a Spartan’ Is Here
Did you find the first Halo: Reach live action spot a little shorter than expected? Would you prefer two extra minutes worth of the making of a Spartan III soldier? Well, here you go. The extended version of the Noam Murro-directed short film promoting the Halo: Reach beta doesn’t add much in the way of…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 28, 2010 -
The Xbox 360 Memory Card Battles Continues
Former Xbox 360 third-party memory card manufacturer Datel is free to pursue its antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, as a federal judge dismisses the console maker’s attempts to have the case thrown out. Datel, the UK manufacturer of various video game accessories, filed the suit last November, after a crackdown by Microsoft rendered the third-party memory…
By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010 -
This Week In Comics
Bagge and Clowes. Each have released new books this month. Do you realize how big a deal that is? When I was first discovering, at some early part of the 1990s, that there were comic books worth reading that didn’t contain super-heroes, I started noticing the names Peter Bagge and Dan Clowes. They were the…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 28, 2010 -
Speak-Up On Kotaku: Drunk Mudkips, Stupid Parents, Beetle Adventures, And Yoshi’s Sad Little Game
This week in Speak-Up on Kotaku, Erwin, Culebra, Ursus-Veritas, and The Drunken Moogle talk that kiddie Yoshi’s Story game, how cool Beetle Adventure Racing was, parents who think the worst, and delicious Mudkips. Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page. About Speak-Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot…
By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010 -
Miyamoto On Wii Star Controller Prototype: “No one liked that one.”
Why no disc-shaped star controller for the Wii? A new book, Nintendo Magic, explains that Nintendo bigwig Shigeru Miyamoto believed the 2004 prototype would be bad for Marios and Zeldas. Mystery Of The Nintendo Star Controller Solved [Press The Buttons]
By Stephen Totilo Published April 28, 2010 -
First Look At Next Call of Duty Happens This Friday
There’s a brand new Call of Duty game coming this year. This Friday, you’ll get your first peek at the follow-up to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, courtesy of GameTrailers TV. While Activision may be embroiled in drama related to its most recent Call of Duty, that won’t stop the company from churning out…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 28, 2010 -
No New Titles For Game Room Until Further Notice
According to a Tweet from Microsoft’s European Xbox Live editor, the next round of content for Microsoft’s virtual arcade Game Room has been delayed “until further notice.” We’ve been waiting for new titles to arrive in the Xbox Game Room since it launched last month, disappointed when we heard that the promised weekly updates wouldn’t…
By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010 -
Apple Searching For The Best Apps of 2010
Apple plans to hand out awards for the best five iPad and iPhone apps at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The awards will judge entries, be they games, productivity or art, in four areas: technology adoption, design and user experience, innovation and performance. All iPhone Developer Program members are eligible to submit nominations,…
By Brian Crecente Published April 28, 2010 -
See Guild Wars 2’s Elementalist In Action
ArenaNet reveals the first class for Guild Wars 2, the magic-hurling Elementalist, complete with new screens and extremely impressive video of the class in action. The Elementalist harnesses the forces of nature to do her bidding. By attuning herself to one of the four elements – fire, water, air, and earth – the Elementalist changes…
By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010 -
Nice Guys, Stressed Ladies And The Curious Ways They Play Video Games
A galpal and I are discussing video games over cocktails at a bar. Well, kind of. She’s trying to tell me why she plays FarmVille, and in the course of the discussion I find out her life is a mess. This new acquaintance of mine and I have recently bonded over our fondness for farming…
Leigh Alexander Published April 28, 2010 -
Is There A Future In Bendable Gaming?
Motion-sensing, camera control, thought control; it’s all been done before, or has it? A team from Queen’s University in Ontario has created a new way to play games using a bendable projection screen and a shoulder-mounted projector. Is the future of gaming just around the bend? Zi Ye and Hammad Khalid of the Human Media…
By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010 -
The Crackdown 2 Team is in the House, What Do You Want to Know?
With Crackdown 2 just months away, now might be a good time to get up to speed on everything about the upcoming open-world, building-leaping, mass destruction game. Good thing the team behind the title is on our podcast right now to take your calls. We do have a last minute scheduling switcharoo. Now appearing for…
By Brian Crecente Published April 28, 2010 -
Black Wii Bundle Shows Up In GameStop Marketing
GameStop stores’ monthly poster shipment includes this lovely advertisement for the rumored black Nintendo Wii, bundled with Wii Sports, Wii MotionPlus, and Wii Sports Resort. An anonymous GameStop employee sent us an image of the new poster, which arrived in a monthly shipment with instructions to hold until May 4, five days before earlier rumors…
By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010 -
Play Super Mario Bros. As Mega Man, Link, Samus, And More!
What if you could play the original Super Mario Bros. with other classic video game characters, controlling just as they did in their own titles? Well now you can, with Simon Belmont, Link, Samus, Mega Man, and Bill from Contra. Super Mario Crossover is a flash recreation of the original Super Mario Bros. with a…
By Mike Fahey Published April 28, 2010