-
By Scott Jones | November 20, 2009
Picked up my mail the other day and discovered that I had received the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter Edition.
It's basically a cardboard box that's designed to resemble and old, dusty, leather-bound tome. Inside was a copy of the game, plus that weird dagger thing that Nathan Drake carries around over the course of the game. Also: There were a couple of pages of art work from the game.
I've received hundreds of junky things like this over the years. I figured it was yet another overproduced PR stunt designed to make me curious about a particular game.
Teti has gotten in the habit of re-purposing this stuff via Swag Tester, which is a terrific idea. If I was in New York this week, it might have occurred to me to donate the fake book to Swag Tester. But I am on the West Coast, and I had to carry the giant book home from the office, so by the ...
» Read More
-
By David Thomas | November 20, 2009
Life on the battlefield we call Internet Game Journalism is a cold, harsh existence. But for one night I was able to crawl out of the trenches and shake hands with the enemy to help the kids.In an annual traditional, Kotaku’s Brian Crecente threw a big game nerd party that has come to be known as: The Kotaku Child's PlayFundraiser. Or as we like to call it in Denver: The One Cool Videogame Thing That Happens Here, Rather Than In Some Snooty Place Like San Francisco or Brooklyn.The even went down in a perfectly dingy, grungy and epic Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom. This building used to be one of the crown jewels in Denver’s dance hall history. And now it’s a place plastered with concert posters and black paint apparently trying to hold back the grime. Oh, and it has the most excellent ...
» Read More
-
By Scott Jones | November 18, 2009
I sort of lost my mind yesterday and wound up spending $100 on the Collector's Edition of Assassin's Creed II.
I was in the game store, one thing led to another, and suddenly the cashier was asking me if I needed a bag for this surprisingly large, ornate tin.
"I do," I said. "I don't want anyone on the street seeing me with this thing. Ha, ha!"
"You know," he said quietly, "I'm a sucker for these things too. I don't know why. If there's a Collector's Edition, I have to have it."
Me and my newly acquired Collector's Edition made the walk home in the drizzly Vancouver rain together.
I opened the large, decorative tin and took out my detailed figurine Ezio. I set it on my desk. I looked at it for awhile. What have I done? I wondered.
I don't mind the figurine so much. I'm not sure yet whether I want it in my apartment. I'll ...
» Read More
-
By John Teti | November 17, 2009
You have the unseasonable warmth in New York to thank for the availability of today's Swag Tester prize. We all thought that the Scribblenauts "rooster cap" would make for cozy winter headwear, but since the cold is taking its sweet time arriving here, we decided we ought to pass it along to someone in chillier climes. Plus, the last time I wore it out of the office, I was laughed at and pelted with eggs and sweetbreads. In any case, time to part with this thing.
Honest to goodness, I just realized while typing this that it's also sort of a chicken-related item, which is great because I'm sure you haven't had enough of the chicken stuff on this site. I'm sure that a bucket of KFC grilled chicken isn't the last thing you see when your close your eyes to go to sleep ...
» Read More
-
By Scott Jones | November 17, 2009
You still have plenty of time to create several poignant drafts of your Christmas list and plan your New Year's Eve DJ Hero-centric blowout.
But the year in gaming, as we know it, is over.
It is.
With the last of the year's AAA behemoths in stores today--Assassin's Creed II, Left 4 Dead 2, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, among others--that pretty much puts a bow on 2009. Aside from a few last-minute stragglers like The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and EA's The Saboteur, this year in gaming is, as the French say, fin.
Seems a bit premature, no? I mean, weren't we just kind of getting warmed up here? Might December be in danger of becoming the new June in this industry?
2008's December releases included Ubisoft's reboot of The Prince of Persia, Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, Banjo Kazooie, Sonic Unleashed, Rise of the Argonauts, and the Wii version of Rock Band 2.
OK, ...
» Read More
-
By Scott Jones | November 13, 2009
If it sounds like I've forgotten all about my quest to make good on my promise to complete Final Fantasy XII, GUESS AGAIN, HATERZ.
I actually miss my old friends, Vaan and Penelo and I even miss Kytes a little (but only a little).
My intention was to haul my slimline PS2 back to Vancouver with me, but in my haste, as I did yet another photo-finish airport run (why do I continue to insist on doing this to myself? WHY?), I left the PS2 and my Memory Cards sitting in my office in NYC. Of course, genius that I am, I managed to packed the cords for the PS2, but the PS2 itself got left behind. Tech Tip: PS2 cords are useless without a PS2.
A neighbor has retrieved the Memory Cards for me; I had to explain to her what a "PS2" looked like, in addition to what a "memory card" is. She has put the cards in the mail and addressed them to me. Even as I type this, my saved games--which are, if you think about it, actual memories of actual ...
» Read More
-
By James Fudge | November 13, 2009
I was intent on ignoring the No Russian mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 but there have been so many blog posts (this one, this one and this one) our review and this feature article that I figured - what the hell - I'll throw my .02 in there just for fun.
Ironically I speak ...
» Read More
-
By Scott Jones | November 12, 2009
I was never a fan of the original Assassin's Creed. I stuck with it for awhile. But eventually the game just felt too hinky and too ambitious for its own good. I was lost all the time. I had no sense of direction, or that I was getting anywhere. I shelved it and moved on with my life.
The original sold enough copies to merit a sequel, much to my chagrin. When Ubisoft announced that the sequel was imminent, it was like being told that you have to re-marry your ex.
My response: "I tried to love you once. Now you want me to try to love you again?"
Give me a break.
Last week I loaded up Assassin's II with the lowest of expectations. I didn't know what the hell was going on for the first 40 minutes or so. Kristen Bell is back, playing a character who looks and sounds like Kristen Bell, only now with a weird mouth. And Nolan North--NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!--voices the guy who has to go into the Animus. Or whatever it is called. ...
» Read More
-
By Evan Narcisse | November 12, 2009
Let others have their Madden, NBA or Bigs franchises. Tekken games are my sport.
Ever since Tekken 3 in college, I’ve spent hours in the various games’ Practice Modes, working out my own ways to link moves together. That hasn’t changed much over the years. It’s happened that Lei Wu-Long’s become my main guy. My Tiger Woods, my Michael Jordan, if you will.
[more]
I’ve also picked up some decent skills with Paul Phoenix and Xiaoyu, too. However, one thing I hate about Tekken 6’s Practice mode is having to manually select each move your CPU opponent throws at you. In older versions, you could set their behavior to attack and they’d constantly come at you. It was the best option for training but isn’t apparently available here. Now, you’ve got to click every move you want to defend against. When a character like Armor King has 105 moves, it gets very tedious. On the plus side, I’ve ...
» Read More
-
By Chris Buecheler | November 11, 2009
Hello there. You might know me as "Chris Buecheler" - Game Trust author. Or you might know me as "CaptainHomeless" - guy who comments on a lot of articles. More likely, you just don't know me. Regardless, I'm here to tell you about a fun new feature on the site: User Ratings.
At Crispy, we have a pretty small development team. I handle the front-end stuff (design, html, css, etc). CG-Gabe is our lead engineer, and we have another engineer, stanblak also working on things. That's it! Yet somehow, we continue to keep the site humming along, and occasionally we even find time to debut great new features. ...
» Read More
