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Kiosk Chain Offering $2 Game Rentals
RedBox, the DVD rental kiosk company largely doing business in western U.S. supermarkets and McDonald’s locations, has begun offering $2-a-night game rentals at its locations, with Reno, Nevada as a test market. The kiosks will cover the major consoles (PS3, PS2, Wii and 360) and the $2 per night doesn’t blow the doors off Blockbuster’s…
By Owen Good -
EA Sports MMA Grabs Randy Couture
Randy Couture, one of the most popular mixed martial arts fighters ever, helping bring it into the sporting mainstream, will be the second fighter headlining EA Sports MMA, the series announced Friday. Couture (pictured with EA Sports boss Peter Moore above) joins Fedor Emelianenko, announced earlier as a headline athlete. Other named fighters include Gegard…
By Owen Good -
StarCraft II LAN Petition Hits 100K
The petition to get offline network play added back in to Starcraft II has hit 100,000 signatures. Doesn’t mean Blizzard will shift away from funneling everyone into Battle.Net. But six figures is a credible number. In late June, Blizzard defended the removal of LAN support – and thus the end of the LAN party for…
By Owen Good -
PS3 Slimpocalypse Advances into Sweden
The PS3 Slimpocalypse continues to play out like an establishing sequence from V: The Final Battle or something. “The world trembles at rumors retailers are told to clear off stock. Sightings are reported in the U.K., Germany, and now Sweden.” That Video Game Blog notes that the PS3 Slim has shown up on Swedish online…
By Owen Good -
Week in Games: It’s Wolf-en-STEEN
No it’s not, I just like quoting Gene Wilder. Wolfenstein goes to bat this week on PC, PS3 and 360, with the challenge that if it outsells Madden this month, any who buy it in August get their money back. Otherwise, Shadow Complex is the only title that grabs my attention. Much of the rest…
By Owen Good -
Free Madden if You’re a Chargers Fan, or Can Fake It
EA sent me two copies of Madden NFL 10 by mistake. So I’m giving the second away, but I want to be sure it goes to a San Diego Chargers fan. Or at least someone who knows NFL history. Update: The contest is now closed, and a winner has been chosen from the more than…
By Owen Good -
Artist Double-Times It for Modern Warfare 2 Cover
Modern Warfare 2 fans should dig this rather cool speed-painting of the game’s cover art that, coincidentally, finishes up right at the end of the music. (Because I’m a soundtrack whore, it’s "Now We Are Free" from Gladiator.) OK, no one said this was real time. Someone painting that fast should be a busker on…
By Owen Good -
Eidos Prez: Rocksteady is Not Doing Hitman 5
A British actor listing voice and mo-cap work for Hitman 5 through U.K. dev Rocksteady sent around the buzz that series developer IO Interactive might be off the case. Not so, says Eidos chief Ian Livingstone. Prey’s World Gaming Magazine spoke to Livingstone at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, and he shot down the rumor. This…
By Owen Good -
Sony Files Patent for PS3 Laughter Detection
Sony Computer Entertainment America filed a patent a couple months back, for a system using coffee mugs to play a video game. Now they’ve filed one to make your laughter into a controller. I direct you to figure 17: “Ha Ha Ha.” This is part of the metadata set going into the PS3, through a…
By Owen Good -
Vick’s Madden Ratings: Worse, but Still Dangerous
As we reported Friday, EA Sports will add Michael Vick to its Madden NFL 10 roster on Aug. 19, pending league approval. ESPN got a hold of Vick’s game attributes, and as expected, he’s off his Madden 08 form. ESPN, without citing its source, reports that Vick has dropped to a 73 rated quarterback overall,…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Approval Ratings: Wolfenstein
Let’s try something a little different. While unscientific, I’ve long toyed with the idea of a tracking poll of our readership’s posture over time on certain games. And while this method of feedback is open to spamming, fanboy manipulation and all sorts of other bad behavior, let’s put it out there and see what happens.…
By Owen Good -
Lionhead’s World History Update: Lincoln’s Face
Let’s recap the Lionhead homepage countdown. First, Ché Guevara next to a six; then Maximillian Robespierre, leader of the Reign of Terror, next to a five. Today, it’s Abraham Lincoln, brought to you by the number four. OK, this very definitely is about a Gamescom announcement, but the choice of historical figures is quite intriguing.…
By Owen Good -
This is the Final Version of BioShock 2’s Big Daddy
It’s nothing too surprising, but 2K Marin artist Colin Fix has posted on his personal blog the final concept art of BioShock 2’s Big Daddy. Since you’ll be playing as this guy, it looks like the design was shifted over to make him appear more human and certainly less imposing. The design conforms not only…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku’s Top 5 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. •Fifteen Classic Game Console Design Mistakes [Technologizer] Many of these fixate on poor controller design, even the good ole lovable Duke from the original Xbox.…
By Owen Good -
Chad Ocho Cinco Wishes to be Called “The Black Mexican” on Xbox Live
Twitter reveals the story of Chad Johnson Ocho Cinco’s afternoon today, in which the Bengals receiver boasts of his gamer cred, can’t configure his wireless, fulminates at the lack of avatars that look like him, and finally tweets his gamertag. At about 2 p.m. Ocho, apparently in the mood for some Madden, touts his gamer…
By Owen Good -
Capcom Toyed with Idea of Phoenix Wright vs. Tatsunoko
Ryota Niitsuma, producer for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, says the company did have plans to put the famed juris doctor in the lineup, but ran into problems because his OBJECTION! was just too powerful in English. Niitsuma told NGamer magazine that Capcom wanted Phoenix Wright, and Franziska von Karma (for her whip), in the game, but…
By Owen Good