New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better 
Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review 
Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle Hal Halpin, head of the Entertainment Consumers Association, has issued a statement following the tragic events at Northern Illinois University, events which our dear old friend was so quick to seize upon and blame on videogames. The statement reads: We’d like to extend our condolences to the families, friends and classmates of those who were affected in the school shooting at Northern Illinois University. Separately, we are disgusted, but no longer shocked, to find that anti-game activists are again rushing to conclusions about what drove Stephen Kazmierczak, the clearly disturbed 27 year old who police say was responsible for this tragedy, to commit such an act.
Blaming video games for the behavior of the mentally-challenged is vile on many levels. And, as Generations X and Y mature, it is extremely likely that just about all of us have played at least one video game at some point in our lives. Drawing a parallel between games and violence without any substantive proof is sensationalism for its own sake. This is a sad event, made worse by the irresponsible actions of attention-seekers and the media that has given them a platform for their reckless venom. So sad that a statement like this has to even be issued, and that such calm, reasonable statements are ignored by types like Fox News in favour of the ravings of a spotlight-hungry, ambulance chasing loon.
Lara Croft is ten years old today (doesn’t that make you feel dirty?), and to celebrate, Eidos is letting you play Tomb Raider Anniversary for free.
Of course, nothing in life is truly free, is it? You can access the game through TrialPay, an alternative payment service, but only after you sign up to try or buy an offer from one of their blue-chip advertisers. To sign up for your free subscription to Tomb Raider Anniversary, go to the TrialPay sign-up page.
See? Lara’s a classy broad. She wouldn’t be givin’ it away for nothin’! Her momma raised her better than that!
The original Quake running on a Nintendo DS? About as exciting as Daikatana, now that someone’s hacked together a working version of Quake II for the dual screened handheld. id Software’s classic first person shooter is now (nearly) a fully functional port, with working sound, graphics and on-screen keyboard support for console fun. No wi-fi support yet, but we expect it within the next 20 minutes or so.
The catch? It doesn’t fit on a stock DS memory footprint, requiring a slot-2 flash card with at least 16 MB of RAM. A list of support cards is available at the offical Q2DS site. The hobby project is free to download, but we haven’t tried it out yet, so homebrew enthusiast beware.
Quake II DS [Drunken Coders via Waxy]
January may have gone to the Wii and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the hardware and software sides respectively, but both were bested by an accessory as the biggest selling item, according to the NPD Group. The Wii nunchuk controller claimed that prestigious honor, selling an impressive 375,000 units in the United States.
At only $US 19.99, it’s not surprising that Nintendo is pushing millions of these puppies out the door. All those people who snatched up Wii Play last year—4.12 million of them did—need to spend the earmarked Wii dollars on something. Wii Sports boxing is certainly no fun without it.
newVideoPlayer("RSV2_LE_Vid_gawker.flv", 463, 287,"");No, the video isn’t “limited edition,” but the game is. Coming March 18th, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Limited Edition will run you $US 69.99. This video is the salespitch that hopes to squeeze that extra $US 10 out of you with some Frag Doll teasing, a poker chip key chain, pro tips and a super over-orchestrated finish and . So go ahead and give it a watch pending that you are 18 or older, and see if the flashy marketing works on you.
By: Brian Crecente
The sunken city of Rapture, a world of art deco aesthetics, neon sales pitches and looming architecture, is home to more than just murderous splicers and lumbering Big Daddys, it’s also a surprising breeding ground for introspection.
BioShock may have been conceived as a study in nuance, a place for gamers to discover and explore at their own pace, but its dip into the ethical morass of Ayn Rand’s objectivist philosophies has brought her beliefs back into the mainstream spotlight and even piqued the interest of the Ayn Rand Institute’s president, Yaron Brook.
Brook, a former member of the Israeli Army military intelligence and award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University, first took notice of the game when he discovered his 18-year-old son playing it. It’s a fact that didn’t bother Brook despite his son’s objectivist beliefs and the game’s not so positive take on the philosophy.
“My son has to find his own way in life,” he said. “There are certain games I wouldn’t want him to play, like Grand Theft Auto, games that celebrate criminality. But a game that might lead him to think and have him challenge his ideas, I’m fine with.
“Luckily for me he doesn’t agree with the game, he still seems to believe in objectivism”
Objectivism as a central theme in BioShock was actually the result of a confluence of ideas and happenstance. The heart of the game started, as do most of Ken Levine’s games, as the answer to a problem.
Dead Head Fred has walked away with the first ever WGA (Wrter’s Guild of America) Videogame Writing Award. While skeptics like me worry that this award might just be a WGA manoeuvre to eventually get their hands in the small pockets of video game writers, it’s positive to see the WGA recognising some of the excellent, overlooked writing in video games.
I haven’t played Dead Head Fred since E3 ’06—when I enjoyed it quote a bit. So would anyone else like to share some of the game’s more quotable lines in the comments?
One game that I’ve been, well, I won’t say avoiding, but certainly not paying adequate attention to, is Rock Band. This weekend, we’re gettin’ the band back together, ratcheting up the difficulty and rockin’ out to some newly downloaded stuff. In anticipation of next week’s hands-on time with King of Fighters XII, I may bust out a little XI to refresh my memory. Other than that, I’ve got a wedding to attend (you won’t see many posts from me today) and some prepping to do for GDC (flying up on Sunday night). Busy busy!
What you lot got planned for the weekend gaming scene? New purchase boasting is also welcome in the comments. Have at it!
If the best things in life really are free, then it might be worth your while to check out Need for Speed ProStreet’s free collection of downloads at the PlayStation Store. The Energizer Lithium Extender Pack offers two new cars (the Plymouth Road Runner and the SEAT Leon Cupra) and two new tracks (Leipzig Test Track and Tokyo Expressway). The Extender Pack also give you access to purchase 14 other new cars, including two of my favorites, the Bugatti Veyron and the Aston Martin DBR9. I can’t help but succumb to daydreams of being an international spy when I hear the name “Aston Martin.”
If that’s not enough Need for Speed ProStreet for you, EA has also announced Energizer’s Community Race Weekend, starting February 22. PS3 and Xbox 360 racers can compete for prizes and bragging rights, once they’re registered at the official Race Day page.
We’ll be celebrating all GDC next week with a Street Fighter IV tournament—”if we have time,” Crecente hedges. I take that as Crecente being frightened by my patented Chun-Li just-keep-kicking maneuver that I’ve never, ever seen anyone else use. But it begs the question—who will advance the furthest in the tournament? Brian “I once worked at an arcade” Crecente, Michael “I was born in an arcade” McWhertor or Mark “goddamn I look good in that picture” Wilson? Vote, and then check in next week to find out the results…if they happen.
