Sunday, March 2, 2008
News
Halo Lego Game? Think Not!
1:00PM Kotaku US Edition | In what is looking like a trend today (if two posts can be considered a trend), there’s another LEGO bit of news today, this time involving Halo. However since this is appearing in EGM’s April edition it’s likely their idea of an April Fool’s joke. It’s tough to say though as this issue is already on newsstands and we’ve just entered March. Also, I don’t find this to be especially outlandish, certainly not any more than the Batman game posted earlier today. Personally, I think a Halo LEGO game could be every bit as successful as the other games in the LEGO franchise. Feel free to tell me how utterly wrong I am. More »
World’s Largest Gathering of Game Characters
12:00PM Kotaku US Edition | I’m not entirely sure what I think of this but do find it telling with respect to the impact of Video Gaming on our society that Guinness (of the world’s longest fingernails fame) is attempting to record the World’s largest gathering of game characters. I was surprised to see that instead of the obvious location (Tokyo) that this will instead be attempted in London. If you want to be in on the fun (yes, “fun” is such a subjective term, isn’t it?) you better start planning your itinerary now as this will be attempted on Tuesday, March 18th. For further details check out Guinness’ Gamer’s Edition through the link below. Personally I think it would be a more interesting social experiment to have the World’s largest gathering of Birdo characters. And when I say interesting I obviously mean scary as hell. [Guinness World Records via Kombo] More »
Sega Dreamcast – NIB!
11:00AM Kotaku US Edition | Wow. You certainly don’t run across these every day. Goodwill Industries is auctioning off a NIB Sega Dreamcast. The system comes with the system CDs and an extra controller. No games are included but those aren’t too tough to find – even Amazon has a wide variety from third-parties. My Dreamcast is still running beautifully and Soul Calibur still looks great on it so I can attest to the longevity of the system. I am curious however to know the story behind how this wound up at Goodwill in the first place. I hope that some college student doesn’t go home at Spring Break to find that his collection of vintage gaming systems has been cleared out to make room for Christmas decorations by Mom. Gamertell [Thanks to Jenni for the tip] More »
Announcing the “Pax 10″
10:00AM Kotaku US Edition | Yesterday Penny Arcade announced The PAX 10, a showcase of independent games that will be displayed as part of the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) August 29-31, 2008 in cooperation with the DigiPen Institute of Technology. They are looking for ten independent developers that are interested in seeing their games viewed by attendees, media and publishers at the Expo. A panel of 50 industry experts, including Penny Arcade’s own Gabe and Tycho, will be selecting the ten submissions that they consider to be the best based on gameplay and “fun factor.” Of the ten, one will be chosen “Audience Choice Award” by attendees. Check out the details at the link below. Brown Paper Tickets More »
Piracy and Casual Games
9:30AM Maggie Greene | A couple of weeks ago, Reflexive’s director of marketing Russell Carrol issued a ’startling installment’ of his regular Gamasutra column. The issue? Piracy, DRM and casual games. His conclusion, based on data from Reflexive, was that ‘for every 1,000 pirated copies we eliminated, we created 1 additional sale.’ Well, some people had a hissy fit and he’s back with some more data and discussion of the issue of piracy: More »
Gamefly’s Fifth Annual Q Awards
9:00AM Kotaku US Edition | When I first read the words “Q Awards” I auto-magically thought of the late, great actor Desmond Llewelyn but was apparently way off track. These are Gamefly’s version of the Oscars sans the cheesy dance routines. Winners are determined by GameFly members, who according to the GameFly press release are the “… most discerning community of online video game renters.” Unfortunately I’m not terribly discerning as I can be easily distracted by bright colors and flashing lights. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare took the Q awards triumvirate, winning “Game of the Year,” “Xbox 360 Game of the Year,” and “PlayStation 3 Game of the Year.” Hit the jump to read about the other winners. More »
On the Future of Racing Games
8:30AM Maggie Greene | Oh, the racing game: whither your future? NextGen rounded up some heavyweights of the genre to talk about the past, the present, and the future of racing games. Nigel Kershaw, game director at Evolution Studios, Gareth Wilson and Gerard Talbot, lead designers on the Project Gotham series, Guy Wilday, studio director at Sega Racing Studio, and Gavin Raeburn, executive producer on Codemasters’ Dirt all sat down for a roundtable chat on the state of racing games. Operating on the premise that ‘while other genres have rapidly evolved … racers seem stuck in the same old routine of race upon tournament,’ they get down to business: Actually, I kind of fear for racing games in the future. Look at last year – there’s been so many quality games that aren’t racing games. Even me, as a racing game lover, there’s a lot of good games I’d buy ahead of pretty much any of them, even though there’s been quality there, too. I do worry that it might become an extremely niche area unless we work out a way of making it become more massmarket. It’s an interesting interview with several well-pedigreed people in the industry. Even if you’re not a racing game fan, it’s an enlightening look at one part of the industry that has traditionally been a staple, even if it’s lost a lot of its luster these days. Is Racing Gaming On Its Last Lap? [NextGen via RPS] More »
“Hot girls and plenty of brew”
8:00AM Kotaku US Edition | As long-time listener, first-time caller Jonathan McNamara writes of the happenings in Scottsdale, Arizona, “A club called Axis Radius held a Rock Band competition last night featuring ‘hot girls and plenty of brew’.” Hot girls and plenty of brew? You had me at hot girls. The Phoenix Times has a pretty detailed gallery up on their site, yes that picture comes from it. I do believe this calls for a look-see. Press X to Rock [Phoenix New Times] More »
