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Gamestop Not Accepting Xboxes Feb. 9
We got tipped by an anonymous Gamestop employee that the chain won’t accept original Xbox games, consoles and accessories as of Feb. 9. Looks like this is officially it for the console. Says our tipster: “The Marketing kit for this coming Sunday has a sign that says Gamestop will no longer be accepting Xbox games,…
By Owen Good -
The Hunt Begins
To: Luke From: Owen Re: Rain Delay Well the search for full-time work will be officially under way this week, now that we’re past the holidays and into the first quarter of the new year. Pretty much everyone I asked said no one would be looking to make moves until after January. So that justified…
By Owen Good -
Week in Games: Gone to the Dogs
The first multiplatform drop of 2009 goes out Tuesday, but man, I’d walk around it like it was a swamp. Hotel for Dogs, based on a movie of the same name, smells a smidge shovel-y. Also this week, PC gamers get Saint’s Row 2. The rest of the haul? Not our kind, dear. All told,…
By Owen Good -
Modder Building a Better D-Pad
The limitations of the 360’s D-pad are well known (and well trolled). This modder’s building a D-pad with eight individual switches so that when he hits a diagonal, dammit, he hits a diagonal. John, the modder, wrote us directly about this. While he acknowledges that sanding down the casing that surrounds the circular pad may…
By Owen Good -
Theremin Hero Nails “Still Alive”
This gentleman goes after Portal’s “Still Alive” in Rock Band 2 using a rather novel approach: a theremin. How’d he do? Much better than you might expect. “Theremin Hero” doesn’t look like a mod per se, he just outputs the instrument to a set of headphones and rests the RB2 mike in the cups. So…
By Owen Good -
Mixing Music in a Video Game for the Blind
Video, of course, takes its root from the Latin word for “see.” So a “video game” for those who have lost their sight might look like a paradox, but it doesn’t sound like one. Gambit Game Lab, a collaboration of developers at MIT and Singapore, have developed AudiOdyssey as a proof-of-concept that games can be…
By Owen Good -
Gamer Kid Gets Hedgehog Legalized in Kansas
Judson King 11, looooooves him some Sonic. He asked his mom for a real hedgehog. Unfortunately, Mom said, they were banzored under city code. So he worked for three years to get it changed. It’s a heartwarming tale of a child’s love and determination, and learning about things like government and how to lobby it…
By Owen Good -
Make a Laser Out of Sort-of-Essential 360 Parts
Want to build a super cool James Bond laser that burns shit, but don’t have a blue diode? Well, they cost about $50 here – nah, screw it, let’s trash this $200 Xbox 360 instead. Click to view Seriously, after watching this, I can’t figure out why exactly the 360’s blue diode, and not any…
By Owen Good -
Some Things You Can’t Unsee (or Unhear)
The other day I was playing Left 4 Dead and I said to myself, “Self, I really wish this game had more obese zombie asscrack.” Lo and behold, FPSBanana heard my silent plea. One of its users, DarkSider1972, uploaded this thong skin, which puts the boomer in a “Sexy Beast” thong. He attaches this droll…
By Owen Good -
Illinois Legislates Out of Existence Something That Doesn’t Exist
Alcopops are a huge concern for fear-addled parents, because they’re sweet, alcoholic, and a gateway drug to total douche behavior. So Illinois is taking a courageous stand by banning alcopop ads from video games. That’s right, Illinois, home of Senate seat firesales and previously abortive (and unconstitutional) efforts to regulate game content, made sure that…
By Owen Good -
A Look at the Cancelled, Never-Announced “Stormbirds”
Before THQ shuttered Juice Games, the studio was working on a H.A.W.X.-esque game called Stormbirds. A Juice artist put out and then pulled back some pics and a video, but cat’s outta the bag now. The team working on this were “made redundant” (i.e., fired) on Dec. 1 because THQ made the decision Stormbirds was…
By Owen Good -
Steve Wiebe Explains His Stampede Score
If you saw this week’s King of Stampede, you might have wondered “Why the hell was Steve Wiebe getting a certified score on that game?” In this outtake, I asked, and he answered. Steve also explains how he ended up with a cameo in “Four Christmases” (as “Jim”, the husband-who-never-talks, playing Donkey Kong on the…
By Owen Good -
Kotaku Originals: Holiday Clearance
We rounded up the year in Kotaku Kontent, did some podcast postapalooza, and unveiled our nominees for the Goaties this week. Oh, and managed to get in posts about farting and pee-pee. Here is your week in original coverage, with another reminder that the weekend-mans gets a New Year’s holiday too, so we’re running a…
By Owen Good -
A Field Guide To Second Life Animal Hybrids
As some of you were confused about the difference between what Second Life denizens call furries and what they call nekos, or hybrids, I thought I would take a moment to clear things up. Since the dawn of time, man has had close bonds with the animal kingdom. Many Native American tribes revered animal spirits…
By Mike Fahey -
People Magazine Plugs Atari, Snubs Nintendo in “Celebrate the ‘80s!”
The latest special issue of People celebrates the Atari 2600 as the console that “ruled the interactive gaming world” in the 1980s – no mention of the original Nintendo, Sega Master System or even Coleco Vision. I’m not sure why People Magazine is even celebrating the 80s in the first weeks of 2009, but if…
By AJ Glasser