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Following the Game Industry via Twitter
If you’re on Twitter and have nothing useful to say or, worse, have no friends, here’s a listing of dozens of accounts used by the game industry — some official, others personal accounts. The list runs the gamut of industry presences, from large publishers and well-known studios to indie firms and community managers. The maintainer…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Miyamoto-Autographed Pure White DS for $5.50
Well, that’s its price on eBay as of now. Better believe the reserve’s nowhere near met for this sucker. The seller got Nintendo’s cult figure to sign it at E3 2005. You might remember the Shigeru Miyamoto-scrawled GameBoy Advance that went for more than two grand back in 2007. With nine days left on the…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Eidos CFO Says Lara Croft Overhaul in the Works
Sacking 30 from the studio responsible for a disappointing Tomb Raider: Underworld apparently is not enough; Eidos’ Robert Brent says a complete remake of the Lara Croft character is necessary. In The Times of London, Brent is quoted as modeling the Croft overhaul after the one the cinematic Batman went through – from yet another…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Ratings: ESRB on Punch-Out, BBFC on Chinatown Wars
The British Board of Film Classification have given Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, an 18-rating. No surprise there, but the classification also mentions that there’s 168 minutes of cutscenes in the game. More than two hours of cinematics gives Chinatown Wars some heft and strengthens the perception this is going to be a very serious…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
A Teacher’s Take on Nintendo’s “Kind Code”
This week Nintendo’s in-game hint system patent came to light, and gamers and developers alike had their reactions. Here’s one from a teacher, who examines what “Kind Code” offers as a teaching tool. “Kind Code,” to bring everyone else up to speed, would ride shotgun in a game experience and, when activated, would animate the…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
IRS Official Recommends Policy on Virtual World Transactions
The IRS’ taxpayer advocate has suggested the agency take a proactive posture toward real money transactions (RMT) in virtual worlds. “Proactive posture,” in IRS speak, means “tax it.” In her annual report, Nina Olson, whose job is to recommend to the IRS “how to improve the average consumer’s tax-paying process,” noted that more than $1…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Second-Life Hooker Bares All
“We have street prostitution here in Italy, and I have always wanted to be one of them,” says “Palela Anderson,” who is a high priced escort in Second Life. “As a teenager I would watch these sexy women walking the streets, waiting for the cars to stop, teasing the guys, and then hopping in and…
By Owen Good -
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Baltimore Pol Indicted Over PS2 Controller
In part. One of 12 counts against Charm City’s Mayor accuses her of soliciting donations of gift cards for the needy over the holidays, then using them to buy a PSP and a PS2 controller. Sheila Dixon’s facing a 12-count indictment handed down by a Baltimore grand jury, alleging perjury, official misconduct, fraud and theft,…
By Owen Good -
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A Case for Indie Development on Mac and Linux
MacOS and Linux’s install base is dwarfed by Windows, so in terms of which platform to develop for, that ends the argument right there. Right? Wrong, says Wolfire Games‘ Jeff Rosen. His case is largely for the indie community, and anyone seeking growth — so it’s not a challenge to the top publishers to take…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Here’s a Baseball Bat. Oh, by the Way, You Won
We’ve gotten more than one note that Grand Theft Auto IV bats are arriving as prizes for a contest no one was ever told they’d won. At least, that’s what we think this is. Maybe it’s a message? Way back in the 1980s I saw this episode of Philip Marlowe: Private Eye on HBO and…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Amazon’s Dealing Games All Day Monday
Frugal gamers, keep an eye on Amazon Monday. The mega-retailer is offering a day full of Gold Box video game deals – probably to clear holiday stock, but there might be something you want. Cheap. You know the Gold Box drill – it begins at 6 a.m. PST (9 a.m. Eastern) with one deal that’ll…
By Owen Good -
UncategorizedStop Motion Street Fighter
What do you get with one borked SNES and two bored geeks? Stop-motion Street Fighter action figure battles. Fight! Jacob Karsemeyer of Pushing Play sent this along. He and classmate Sam Klass filmed it in a college multimedia course. “Turns out stop motion is one of the most painstakingly laborious mediums to work with,” he…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Donkey Kong Wins Quilting Bee
I’d like to think of a sewing circle of eight platinum-haired, bifocaled grannies, each working on a corner of this awesome quilt and gossiping about getting to the Donkey Kong kill screen without the hammer. In fact, it’s a commercially-available quilt done by Carolina Patchworks, yours for a mere $450. It’s roughly 5 feet square,…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Fable II Bug Fix Patch Finally Live
Lionhead’s announced that a patch finally fixing a slew of bugs – including the infamous unresponsive abbott in Monk’s Quest – has gone live today. And good news! No one will assassinate your child anymore! Here’s the full list of what’s fixed: • The Ritual/Monk’s Quest – Fixed the issue with the Abbott becoming unresponsive…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
[Updated] Bob’s Protest — and Bob’s Game — is Over
Bob Pelloni’s 100-day protest over Nintendo’s refusal to give sell him its SDK is ending short of its goal. Update: Bob’s site now says: “SORRY, EVERYONE! IM ALIVE!!! ITS JUST A JOKE!!! SORRY EVERYONE!!” While the “joke” might mean he has no intention of harming himself, Bob’s still extraordinarily discouraged at how this all turned…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Ben Heck’s New Mod: The “Atari 3600” Stick
Everyone’s first big complaint with this — a 360 controller stuffed into a 2600’s casing — is the lack of a second analog joystick. So it’s not your new Halo stick. But Braid? Sure. Heck also admits he cheated a little on this, gutting a Guitar Hero III guitar for the stick’s circuitry. Other fun…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
MLG Gets More Moolah
Major League Gaming got another $7.5 million from one of its venture capital firms, which called the pro video gaming league “a cultural phenomenon.” I don’t know MLG’s financials but, usually, you don’t get another round of funding because you’re insanely profitable. At least it’s from one of MLG’s original partners, Oak Investment Partners, which…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Kotaku Originals: Frankly Mint
Every time I see the Goatie coin I imagine Montel Williams on my TV at 2 a.m. hawking a set of collector’s edition 50 State quarters with Fahey and Crecente painted on them. Kotaku’s annual awards were one highlight in a week that also featured McWhertor operating el lobo solo at CES. Nintendo came up…
By Owen Good