Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks We’ve received a handful of messages from upset gamers today who had their personal e-mails exposed to the hundreds, possibly thousands, of recipients of a customer service update from Activision on Guitar Hero III issues. In just one of the e-mails that was forwarded to us, an impressive 860 recipient e-mail addresses were listed in the mail’s ‘To’ field, ensuring that all who received updates on their replacement discs for the Wii version of Guitar Hero III had access to the e-mail addresses of the rest.
That’s potentially bad news for consumers, who may have had their personal e-mail information sent to others, opening them up to heavy spamming. It may also be bad news for Activision, as the e-mail blasts may violate the company’s online Privacy Policy. That policy states that Activision has “taken steps to assure that all information collected will remain secure and in its original form” and that “Access to all personal information is strictly controlled.”
If you’re one of the many that have a complaint about Activision’s handling of your information, they instruct you to contact the company’s Business and Legal Affairs/Privacy Policy department at (310) 255-2000.
Apparently, the Ukrainian version of Hot Fuzz was a dreary action movie that took place on a freighter, not a tiny English town, and, instead of co-star Nick Frost, a German shepherd performed buddy duties. Whatever actual game is powering Hot Fuzz: The Game, we’re glad not to have played it. I’d sure like to see that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Retextured, though.
Thanks, Radio Guy!
Like what you see? Here’s how to make your own Chain Chomp knit cap, as designed by knitter Allison MacAlister. Step 1, learn to knit. Step 2, go to the Knitting Ninja’s web site and download the hat pattern. Step 3, ????. Step 4, you have a fantastic wearable homage to Super Mario Bros. 3—and or Super Mario 64, if you’re so inclined—that will do its best to keep your noggin warm while giving the appearance of a black ball devouring your brain.
Chain Chomp Hat [Knitting Ninja - thanks, Motha!]
One batch of numbers we didn’t touch on from yesterday’s NPD sales data figures were the 2007 year-to-date and lifetime-to-date console sales in the US. The figures reveal some enlightening, and for some, distressing, details about the current winners and losers in the US console war. For example, the Nintendo DS, which walked away with the #1 spot in ’07, sold a total of 8.5 million units in the US last year, over twice that of the PSP and essentially doubling it’s lifetime install base.
The rest of the annual sales are below.
The South American nation famous for its ability to create great soccer players, attractive swimsuit models and land that used to be rainforests has brought the banhammer down upon two of the world’s most popular online games. Both Counter-Strike and EverQuest, each now nine-years old, were said to promote “the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security” by the judge enacting the ban.
According to the AFP report on the matter, the prohibition on selling CS and EQ was actually passed in October of 2007, but was only recently enforced by PROCON, the national consumer protection agency. Good work, Brazil. Glad all of your problems are sorted out now that the video game police are tackling the tough issues!
Members of the Kotaku Brazilian Connection wrote in to let us know about the ban. Their letters are after the jump and provide some insight into the local video game market.
A trio of supposed screen shots from an unreleased Castlevania game for the Nintendo DS have made their way online, ones that could possibly reveal Koji Igarashi and team’s follow up to Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Are they real? They certainly look real enough, with a timestamp that would indicate a December 25, 2007 build of the game, one that would appear to feature a female protagonist and yet another “Metroid-vania” style adventure. Igarashi has gone on record as saying that Konami is working on a third Castlevania title for the DS, but we can’t say for sure whether this is it.
Hit the jump for the full sized pic and more info.
If you’re not the sporting type, perhaps you’ll want to spend your Super Bowl Sunday (and the weekend before) enjoying Activision’s “Rock Your Party” festivities, which is essentially an excuse to play Guitar Hero III on Xbox Live. No money and big prizes are at stake, with some lucky winner grabbing the grand prize, an LG 50″ 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV, an Xbox 360 Elite and a BoomChair – Wi-FX Wireless Gaming Chair. You might also win a Guitar Hero guitar controller faceplate signed by Slash. Imagine how exciting that would be—or how much you might profit when flipping it on eBay!
You can even test your skills against Neversoft developers, who will be shackled to their Xbox 360s on a Sunday from 12-4 PST. Poor saps. The details are in the release after the jump but for anyone interested, keep in mind its for US and Canada based gamers only. Sorry, Mexico!
Now that the ugliness of Super Smash Bros. Brawl‘s official delay is behind us, we can move on to the good stuff. Sure, we may be waiting another month for our Kirby versus Snake battles, but that only means more Smash Bros. Dojo updates and an extended lifeline for the Dojo Dump. Yay! This week, the Dojo focused on the newly revealed Olimar and Pikmin brawler, while eking out the minimal amount of updates.
For more info on all things Pikmin, stickers and Sheik, make the jump for the Dojo Dump.
newVideoPlayer("portal_gawker.flv", 475, 376,"");Life as a Portal Turret, it turns out, is a lot like life as an Internet fanboy.
Portal a Day in the Life of a Turret [The Leet World]
