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Product or Media? The Intersection of Games and Design
A director of design and an avowed “hardcore ludologist” ponders why the well constructed games he nominates do so poorly in design competitions, engaging a debate over whether games are a media or designed objects. But they’re both, he says. Matt Jones of the London-based design consultancy BERG, has unsuccessfuly nominated console games like Left…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: iSlate Edition
So, thanks for your patience while we worked out the kinks in our first ‘Shop Contest. The bonus, you get your next assignment a week earlier than planned. What games can an iSlate handle? Let your imagination be the guide. As we all know, Apple will unveil its tablet PC later this week, and we’ve…
By Owen Good -
‘Wii Dad’ Columnist Pens Response to Kotaku Commenters
“It’s clear most of these commenters can’t seem to conceive of a world where everyone doesn’t play video games all day long,” writes Chris O’Brien, whose column about returning a Christmas-gift Wii summoned a tempest of gamer fury . To recap: O’Brien, a columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, thought he was penning “a…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Week One Results
Well. I badly underestimated the participation and interest in a Kotaku photoshopping contest, and as such, we need to make a few changes to accommodate everyone in the future. But first, a roundup of submissions from our Heavy Rain debut. We opened this feature with a challenge to punch up Quantic Dream’s rather bland North…
By Owen Good -
How Would Commander Shepard Himself Play an RPG?
Evil, the first time through, says Mark Meer, the voice of (the male) Commander Shepard in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. But then he gets his act together. “I generally play evil on my first go-through, then switch to good for the second so I can feel like I’m redeeming myself and making amends…
By Owen Good -
Well, He Does Look Like He Could Work There
Once again, The Onion cuts to the chase: Lane Kiffin, the new football coach at Southern California is rumored* to have been wooed away from the job by the chance of a lifetime: Working at a GameStop. (* – By “rumored” we mean “this is pure bullshit, but funny.”) Kiffin is 34 and looks about…
By Owen Good -
MLB 2K10 Preview: Battling Back to Even the Count
2K Sports‘ baseball franchise, maybe more than any other sports title, will have this year’s title judged against and compared to last year’s offering, and not for its good qualities. It’s hard to tell whether last year’s MLB 2K9 – one of the worst-reviewed (and deservedly so) games ever for this class of sports simulation…
By Owen Good -
Are You Ready for Some Combaaaaat?
Uber Entertainment probably can’t put it that way – ESPN has a legal division after all – but I can. Uber’s sent along three exclusive screens of the classes in its upcoming class-based shooter Monday Night Combat, for Xbox Live Arcade. The game looks like a blend of American Gladiators, Battlebots, Monday Night Football, Team…
By Owen Good -
The Problem(s) with Olympic Video Games
Maybe you noticed Vancouver 2010, the official title for the Winter Olympics, released last week. But more than VIII Olympiads since the Activision Decathlon and the Epyx Summer Games, the Olympics still have no real toehold in the sports genre. There are any number of reasons why, but the fact remains: It is the biggest…
By Owen Good -
Get Your Emblem in Halo: Reach
Much like it did for Halo 3, Bungie is running a contest to get a fan-designed unit emblem in the game. The contest opened yesterday and will run through Feb. 5. Bungie’s rules are pretty straightforward: They want a two-color emblem that’s still identifiable if the secondary color is toggled off. It’s got to be…
By Owen Good -
iPhone Jailbreak Pioneer Says He’s Hacked the PS3
Me no speakum hackese, but it sounds like the guy who gave us the iPhone jailbreak claims to have finally hacked the PlayStation 3. Without specifying how (and explaining it to me would be like reading Siddhartha to a dog, in Klingon), George Hotz says he pulled it off after five weeks of work with…
By Owen Good -
Weekend Coupons: The Hold Steady
Not too many jaw-dropping deals, as we seem to have cleared not only the Christmas sales period, but also the post-Christmas clearance window. But with the first big wave of new releases coming up, some new values can be found. Hardware • Amazon’s Xbox Elite 120GB plus $50 Gift Card deal for $293.99 ends today.…
By Owen Good -
BioWare: Hollywood Very Interested in Mass Effect Film
BioWare’s Casey Hudson, the project director for Mass Effect 2, acknowledged a “tremendous amount of interest” from Hollywood in a Mass Effect film but vows such a movie, if done, will be done right or not at all. “Obviously we have a tremendous amount of interest from people in Hollywood to make a major motion…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Originals: Getting Your GOTY
This week we hashed out our arguments for 2009’s Game of the Year and arrived at a semi-consensus on yours. A slew of other awards conferred by Kotaku staff also officially closed out the previous year in video games. The week that was in originals: Kotaku Talk Radio Game of the Year Game of the…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Off-Topic: The Rip Cord
Immediately after I file this I’ll be engaged in an epic beer pong duel, but we hit the ball with paddles, like a man. Not like all you “Beirut” playing weenises who have to throw it in the cup. We also play with a rule modification that I hope catches on. We call it “The…
By Owen Good -
Red Dead Redemption: a Western, Under Cover
Firing from cover was a staple of Red Dead Revolver, so we can expect to see plenty more of it, and of situations requiring it, in the sequel Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar’s released four new screens showcasing the feature. Exclusive New Red Dead Redemption Screens: Taking Cover [Rockstar]
By Owen Good