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Xbox Live Player Catches Suspected School Shooter [Updated]
Several Canadian news outlets report that a gamer in British Columbia thwarted a school shooting by alerting authorities after hearing a failing Texas high school student discuss his plans and targets over Xbox Live. Microsoft’s enforcement division also was involved. The Vancouver Sun says the unidentified gamer, of Port Alberni, B.C., was in an unspecified…
By Owen Good -
AIAS Awards to be Streamed Thursday; TV to Broadcast Highlights
Friendly programming note, The Independent Film Channel will stream, live and in its entirety, the 13th annual Interactive Achievement Awards on Thursday, over its website beginning at 10 p.m. U.S. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific. The show will be broadcast on IFC a week from Friday – Feb. 26 – in a condensed half-hour highlight special, also…
By Owen Good -
Week in Games: Catch a Predator
This week sees the return of Aliens vs. Predator 10 years later, back to the PC and also on Xbox 360 and PS3. Other headliners include another round of SOCOM on the PSP, plus Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. This week’s count: six for PC and DS, five for Wii and Xbox 360, two for PS3 and…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku’s Top Five List of Top 10 Lists
Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •Top 10 Movies That Would Make Horrible Games [Planet Xbox 360] Just because they said “Road House” and they are obviously wrong, I am going…
By Owen Good -
Fondle a Human Spine in Aliens vs. Predator Multiplayer
According to this latest trailer from Rebellion and Sega, you’ll also jam a wrench down an alien’s throat. Here’s two minutes-plus of PS3 multiplayer from a Predator’s often-cloaked point of view, and trust me, it is age-gated for a reason. Aliens vs. Predator is out on Tuesday.
By Owen Good -
Why the Game is the Thing, Even for Uncharted 2
Many have praised Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for its story and cinematics almost to the exclusion of its gameplay. But the latter is chiefly why it was one of 2009’s finest games, argues one writer. Brice Morrison, who writes The Game Prodigy, looks at Uncharted 2 and finds a triumph of action-oriented gameplay that gives…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Conversation Hearts Edition
Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers. We have a sweet ‘Shop Contest candidate for you – dear old NECCO Conversation Hearts, a staple of the holiday which I’m sure you’ll pervert with your own crude sayings. At least, that’s the intent. NECCO, the maker of these things, says it threw out all of the Sweethearts sayings…
By Owen Good -
Square Enix Probing Altered FFXIII Comparison Shots [Update]
Sonia Im, Square Enix’s North American spokeswoman has said the company is investigating a batch of suspicious screenshots purporting to compare Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3 and Xbox 360, yet are apparently the same image with different control overlays. Update: Square Enix has released this official statement on the matter: Unfortunately we did mistakenly…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Off-Topic: Tron Roller Derby
That’s what I call short-track speed skating, something we only pay attention to every four years. I also want to pronounce “Apolo Ohno” as “App-oh-low” for some reason. Second L please! And the Olympics are underway. This is one of the largest global television sports properties, which means we get two weeks of ads featuring…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Proto-Natal Edition Winners
Last week’s picture of a strangely sentient-looking Project Natal camera drove a flood of entries to our fourth ‘Shop Contest, with multiple mentions of Sauron, RRoD, Geordi LaForge, and at least one semi-NSFW entry. My favorite, if a bit small, is the fact Dr. Zaius saw the camera and somehow thought of Gov. Schwarzenegger yanking…
By Owen Good -
Last Minute Video Game Valentines for the Soon-to-Be Single
If you are just now making Valentine’s Day plans, son, you are hosed. But these cutie-pie cards from Valve and Capcom might – if minimally – defray the ass-beating you’ve got coming. Alexandra Neonakis has followed up last year’s splendid Left 4 Dead Valentine series with another five featuring the special infected of Left 4…
By Owen Good -
Five More Screens Show Off The Show
Five new MLB 10 The Show screens sent our way from Sony highlight some of the special animations for this year’s game, including a bang-bang play at second and an attempt to throw out a would-be base thief. That view of cover man Joe Mauer throwing down to second isn’t from Road to the Show…
By Owen Good -
Plenty of Contractions, and a Lower Birth Rate in Sports Gaming
Although hardly a shock, the demise of the NCAA Basketball series is still on some level surprising. It’s a publisher with an uncontested, major team sports title throwing in the towel, after all. NCAA Basketball was not a poor game, but nor was it exceptional, and as such it didn’t have either the sales figures…
By Owen Good -
Three Original Command & Conquer Games are Now Free
And the weekend parade of free stuff keeps marching on. PC gamers can now get all three original Command & Conquer games free through the official website. The freebies are a promotion for the release of Command & Conquer 4 next month. The free games include Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun with…
By Owen Good