Z-R0E: I'm sure your friend will quit within a week of getting it, everyone does except the hardcore.
M00NBEAST: Damn it! A friend of mine got SC2 Beta, and I'm still left hanging. >_<
Z-R0E: I think it's fixed now, I'll be watching it.
Z-R0E: I take that back, news fetcher will be down a short bit. I need to rework a lot of it.
Z-R0E: io9 & Kotaku news fetcher fixed. Expect a flood of back-posts from them in 14 minutes.
jheinn: HAI ZEE
jenocide: These are generic Lisa Frank unicorns. They don't have names. Her normal unicorn is named Markie. Sh...
Keii: "My last name is Akbar which then turned into = Kadabra = Now my nick is = Alakazam, beat that Z." ...
Crave: Holy shit, 3 years ago seems like 10 (in reference to my own post).
Jake: That's a nice picture you got there, fag.
Latest Forum Posts
M00NBEAST: Wow, my brother and I were just talking about this game the other day. We used to play it a LOT.
Z-R0E: I totally forgot to mention this until now, nearly 12 hours until the actual event.For some time now...
Ricky: i never was big on sports games but hell yeah nba jam was so simple and fun
Keii: I loved NBA Jam back in the day.
Keii: Even more stupid politicians that need to be shot.How the fuck are you supposed to "enforce" a "volu...
Site Updates Gaming - StarCraft Replays Updated March 03 '10 at 03:15 AM Automatic Notice: New replay(s) added
Gaming - Upload Replay Updated March 01 '10 at 08:03 AM Added new title & description fields
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By Luke Plunkett from Kotaku:
In the upcoming Iron Man movie sequel, Tony Stark won't be going it alone. He's got James Rhodes, aka War Machine, to help him out. And you know what that means: yes, Don Cheadle action figures.

This 1/6 scale figure is by Hot Toys, the same people who brought you the amazing Iron Man Mk III figure we showed you the other week.

No idea on price (think expensive), but it'll be out towards the middle of the year, is perhaps even more detailed than Iron Man thanks to his shoulder-mounted weapons, and that Don Cheadle face is really freaking me out.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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Penny Arcade A Final Fantasy XIII Primer
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 11:15 PM
Kotaku Direct Sequel For Final Fantasy XIII?
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 11:15 PM
By Brian Ashcraft from Kotaku:

For the uninitiated, Final Fantasy XIII might seem like the sequel to Final Fantasy XII. It's not. Each game is its own title, so if there was a FFXIII sequel, it would be FFXIII-2.

When asked about the chances of a direct FFXIII sequel, the game's producer Yoshinori Kitase replied, "In the past three years we worked both on the world and on the various systems. Creating these systems isn't very glamorous and can frankly be a bit boring." Okay, go on.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By TM2 D-bot from TFW2005:
First shown by Hasbro at this years Toy Fair, board member S250 already has some Power Core Combiner figures in hand, and has taken some shots to share with us. Part of the upcoming Commander Class of figures, Smolder and Searchlight are scout sized robots with additional heads to be used as Power Core Combiner torsos. Minicon partner Chopster can be used as body armor, an axe in robot mode, or a cannon in vehicle mode for Smolder. Searchlight's minicon Backwind, can also do the same but switching the axe for a winch mode.

...Article continued at TFW2005

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By Luke Plunkett from Kotaku:

RPAD spent the entire Game Developers Conference trying to dig up information on Nintendo's successor to the wildly-successful DS handheld. His findings? Of interest.

According to several third-party developers writer Raymond Padilla spoke with, the next Nintendo handheld sounds a lot like the current Nintendo handheld, only with better screens and better performance. Just like we asked for.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By timothy from Slashdot's unorthodox-move deptartment:
laron writes "In Israel, a new law is in the making: Holders of donor cards and their families would get preference if they should need an organ for themselves. Apparently this initiative faces resistance from Orthodox rabbis, who hold that organ donation is against religious law. Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplant unit at Israel's Sheba Medical Center, and one of the draftees of this new law, hopes that a broader pool of organs will ultimately benefit everyone, but acknowledges that one of his primary motivations is 'to prevent free riders.' (Apparently receiving an organ is OK under religious law.)"

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By Luke Plunkett from Kotaku:

Capping off a fairly terrible fortnight of news surrounding Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward comes word this morning that Modern Warfare 2's map pack is one of the most over-priced pieces of downloadable content we've ever seen.

Popping onto Xbox Live spokesman Larry Hryb's podcast to promote Modern Warfare 2's upcoming "Stimulus Package" map pack (which is launching first on Microsoft's console), Infinity Ward's Robert bowling revealed that the five maps - two of which are old maps being re-released for this game - will cost 1200 Microsoft Points.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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XKCD Porn For Women
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 08:00 PM
XKCD:

Yes, there are a lot of longing looks across the bridge of Galactica first, but that's beside the point!

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Slashdot Mario Reduced To 8x8 With Open Source and Arduino
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 07:00 PM
By timothy from Slashdot's demand-2-by-2 deptartment:
adeelarshad82 writes "The open-source Arduino electronics platform has received a ton of attention from the hardware enthusiast community. And one more follower is joining the fray--Mario himself. The mustachioed plumber of console video game fame has been converted into an eight-by-eight LED matrix by Carnegie Mellon University student Chloe Fan. However, the game isn't quite the Mario you know from your legacy Nintendo Entertainment System. For starters, it's just lights. While one often sees the game's LED-backed grid used in devices like the open-source Monome, where it can function as a push-button toggle for music beats and effects, Fan's version of Mario uses the grid as a display only. Mario--or rather, a one-light representation of the game's hero--is controlled NES-style through the use of two buttons. One button makes Mario move forward; the other makes him leap into the air."

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Slashdot Good Language Choice For School Programming Test?
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 05:30 PM
By timothy from Slashdot's 'strailian's-too-difficult deptartment:
An anonymous reader writes "The Australian Informatics Olympiad programming test is being run in a couple of months. I'm an experienced programmer and I'm thinking of volunteering to tutor interested kids at my children's school to get them ready. There will be children of all levels in the group, from those that can't write 'hello world' in any language, to somewhat experienced programmers. For those starting from scratch, I'm wondering what language to teach them to code in. Accepted languages are C, C++, Pascal, Java, PHP, Python and Visual Basic. I'm leaning towards Python, because it is a powerful language with a simple syntax. However, the test has a run-time CPU seconds limit, so using an interpreted language like Python could put the students at a disadvantage compared to using C. Is it better to teach them something in 2 months that they're likely to be able to code in but possibly run foul of the CPU time limit, or struggle to teach them to code in a more complicated syntax like C/C++ which would however give them the best chance of having a fast solution?"

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By Meredith Woerner from io9:

We've seen the graphically hilarious and violently entertaining Kick-Ass. Read our first impressions and learn why any film that makes fun of The Dark Knight, Spider-Man and the Spirit is ok in our books. Plus, Nic Cage's final superhero debut.

The Good




Enough Genre References To Last A Lifetime

...Article continued at io9

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Slashdot SETI Is 50 Years Old; No Sign of ET
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 04:30 PM
By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

That Game Company's Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, saw their team's game Flower nominated for several Game Developer's Choice Awards, winning for Best Downloadable. We talked about their future, Pokemon, and, since they made motion-games for the PS3, PlayStation Move.

This is one of a series of Kotaku video interviews with many of the award-winners and special honorees from the Game Developers Choice Awards. Check out the rest of our GDC Backstage clips, featuring the creators of some of the world's best video games.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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io9 Music and Swords from io9's Timebender Party
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 04:15 PM
By Annalee Newitz from io9:

It's last night's South by Southwest party - now with the amazing live-action video technology you've been hearing so much about. See a clip of MC Frontalot (filmed singing "Goth Girls" by avinyl) live at our party, plus more swordfighting!

Here is some great swordfighting from the High Fantasy Society, one of whom got challenged to a duel by another person at the party.


...Article continued at io9

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By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

Two of Naughty Dog's top people collected five Game Developers Choice Awards lat week for Uncharted 2. Short on material for my backstage interviews, I asked them which awards they deserved most and least. They answered and offered Pokemon tips.

This is one of a series of Kotaku video interviews with many of the award-winners and special honorees from the Game Developers Choice Awards. Check out the rest of our GDC Backstage clips, featuring the creators of some of the world's best video games.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By timothy from Slashdot's packets-resent-blockage deptartment:
Acidspew writes "The Australian Government's plan to filter the Internet has caused furore and has been with vehement objection. Many people have put their opinions forward regarding this matter but this time around, M86 Security — the vendor that provided many ISPs equipment during the initial filter trials — has finally weighed in on the discussion. Six of the nine ISP participants in the URL-based Internet filter trial last year used M86's R3000 filtering kit. According to ARN: 'Internet filtering won't prevent people deliberately looking for inappropriate material from accessing blocked content, according to security vendor, M86 Security.' The company continues by saying its filter gear was designed to be implemented into schools and enterprise businesses, not for an entire country. The article also touches on M86's views on censorship."

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io9 Psychopaths Won't Stop Until They Get Enough
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 03:15 PM
By Cyriaque Lamar from io9:

A Vanderbilt University study has new findings on how psychopaths weigh risk and reward. The study suggests that psychopaths may possess amped-up dopamine reward system that compel them to pursue their goals, regardless of the cost.

Study co-author David Zald notes that previous studies of psychopathy focus on the personality traits of psychopaths rather than the way psychopaths assess incentives:
Quote:
There has been a long tradition of research on psychopathy that has focused on the lack of sensitivity to punishment and a lack of fear, but those traits are not particularly good predictors of violence or criminal behavior [...] Our data is suggesting that something might be happening on the other side of things. These individuals appear to have such a strong draw to reward — to the carrot — that it overwhelms the sense of risk or concern about the stick.

...Article continued at io9

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Kotaku Brilliant Five-Word Reviews of 94 Video Games
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 03:00 PM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:

Haiku is so overdone, and would be verbose compared to these spot-on assessments of nearly 100 video games, done in just five words by Games Radar. Some rate a spoiler alert.

"Max Payne: Dead family means bullet time." "Bomberman: Trapped in a corner. F**k." "Assassin's Creed: Eavesdropping on conversations gets boring." And, right after that, "Grand Theft Auto IV: Quit calling me about TEETEES!" "Ghosts ‘n Goblins: Quit gettin' naked around zombies!"

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

Doom co-creator John Carmack earned a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Game Developer's Choice Awards, but he's not done. Oddly, he wasn't sent an early iPad despite being a big iPhone games booster. We discussed that, plus, naturally, Pokemon.

Note that the iPad is set for release early next month. Carmack's id Software has been one the best-regarded major game development studios working on games for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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Kotaku Week in Games: A Wrathful God
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 02:30 PM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:

Tuesday is named for Tiw, the Norse god of war. Fittingly it's also the day Sony's God of War III releases.

Other highlights: Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver are out today for the DS, the Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening DLC is available Tuesday for all three platforms, and Perfect Dark comes to Xbox Live Marketplace on Wednesday.

This week's count: eight for DS, seven for Wii, six for PC, four for PS3 and 360,

...Article continued at Kotaku

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io9 The Perfect Playlist For Your Pi Day Party
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 02:30 PM
By Cyriaque Lamar from io9:

Today (3/14) is Pi Day, a hallowed celebration in which radius and circumference lovers everywhere convene to eat circular pastries and challenge each other to decimal-reciting contests. Score your festivities with the awesomely underrated soundtrack to Darren Aronofsky's Pi.

The 1998 soundtrack not only launched Clint Mansell's composing career; it also acts as a veritable who's who for electronic music at the end of the 20th century. It's kind of incredible how this indie movie with a budget of less than $1 million managed to attract such heavyweight talent as Aphex Twin, Massive Attack, Orbital, and Autechre. In the spirit of Pi Day, we've posted a retrospective of the soundtrack below. On second thought, you better not spin this at your Pi Day Party. It'll just fill your guests with profound psychological dread and perhaps inspire some impromptu self-trepanations.

...Article continued at io9

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By Annalee Newitz from io9:

It was like the dreams of a million geeks compressed into a highly-explosive substance and launched at high speed into the heart of Austin. It was io9's Timebender party at South by Southwest. Here is photographic evidence.

The evening began with lines snaking down Trinity St. outside the Pure Volume House, which was hosting the Timebender party last night. Before you could enter the doors, you had to run a gauntlet formed by members of the local 501st Star Garrison, who showed up in some fantastic gear: We had a storm trooper, a Ventress, a Clone, and a Boba Fett. Syfy Channel's Craig Engler was so impressed he tweeted about it.

...Article continued at io9

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By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

Batman: Arkham Asylum art director David Hego did better than I could, talking in a language other than his native one, about Batman winning Best Game Design at the Game Developer's Choice Awards. Plus, he tolerated my Pokemon tips request.

This is one of a series of Kotaku video interviews with many of the award-winners and special honorees from the Game Developers Choice Awards. Check out the rest of our GDC Backstage clips, featuring the creators of some of the world's best video games.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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io9 Sorry, Fritz Leiber — The Wanderer Is Terrible
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 02:30 PM
By Josh Wimmer from io9:

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel SO BORED AND ANGRY. If Fritz Leiber's 1965 Hugo winner proves anything, it's that the award isn't a stamp of guaranteed quality.

I'm not quite sure where to start with this one, because after I finally finished The Wanderer, late last night, I dug around online for a couple of seconds and found two other reviews of it — this mostly positive one by Marc Goldstein, and one by Sam Jordison headlined "Why on earth did Fritz Leiber win the Hugo?" that more or less mirrored my own feelings — which, combined, summed up most of the obvious points I could make about the book. Note that there are spoilers in both reviews, and that there will be here, too. (Usually I try to avoid them, but doing so here will not make this book any better, I promise.)

...Article continued at io9

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Kotaku Kotaku's Top Five List of Top 10 Lists
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 02:30 PM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:

Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What's better? A list of those. Here's a roundup of the rundowns out there.





•Ten Moments Where You Have Felt Like Shouting "MORTAL KOMBAT!" [Gaming Bolt] Though "not based on any kind of ranking," I think we can all agree that No. 1 is when Johnny Cage punched Goro in the dick.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By Cyriaque Lamar from io9:

Last week, Julie Knight of Coxley, England came home to a gruesome sight. More than 100 dead and injured starlings had fallen out of the sky and onto her property. Was it an invisible UFO or a Flashforward-like event?

According to Mrs. Knight,
Quote:
The sky was raining starlings. One of my neighbours saw them. They seemed to just fall out of the sky. About 70 were dead straight away.

The only way to describe what they looked like is that they seemed to have had a fright and were petrified.

...Article continued at io9

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Slashdot Microsoft Employees Love Their iPhones
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 02:15 PM
By timothy from Slashdot's can-I-expense-this? deptartment:
portscan writes "There is an entertaining and telling article in the Wall Street Journal about iPhone use by Microsoft employees. Apparently, despite it being frowned upon by senior management, iPhone use is rampant among the Redmond rank and file. The head of Microsoft's mobile division tried to explain it away as employees wanting 'to better understand the competition,' although few believe this. Nowhere does the article mention attempts by the company to understand why the iPhone is more attractive to much of Microsoft's tech-savvy workforce than the company's own products."

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Slashdot Obama Backs MPAA, RIAA, and ACTA
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 01:30 PM
By timothy from Slashdot's four-letter-acronyms deptartment:
boarder8925 writes "In a move sure to surprise no one, Obama has come out on the side of the MPAA/RIAA and has backed the ACTA: 'We're going to aggressively protect our intellectual property,' Obama said in his speech, 'Our single greatest asset is the innovation and the ingenuity and creativity of the American people [...] It is essential to our prosperity and it will only become more so in this century. But it's only a competitive advantage if our companies know that someone else can't just steal that idea and duplicate it with cheaper inputs and labor.'"

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By Annalee Newitz from io9:

We'll be posting pictures soon from last night's io9 South by Southwest party, but for now feast your eyes on one of the evening's diversions - an amazing swordfight staged by the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts.

C'mon - it was an io9 party. Of course there were swordfights.

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Kotaku Lemmings in Real Life
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 12:15 PM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:

Lemmings marching across a rail underpass in Copenhagen, Denmark, as seen by reader Staffan O. Note the exit over the second light.

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By timothy from Slashdot's don't-you-want-to-cuddle? deptartment:
paulproteus writes "I'm a Debian developer and a part-time contributor to a few smaller projects. I do a lot of free software-y and open source-y things. Sometimes, though, I don't do them. I figure some other Slashdotters might have similar hang-ups — we contribute to a project, but there are parts that we really dread thinking about. So I wrote a post about having these hang-ups, and I made a place on the web to share how others can help your project. What are the parts that, in your projects, you would be relieved if someone else looked at for you?"

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By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

After Valve's Gabe Newell was honored as a Pioneer at the GDC Awards, I asked him to predict gaming's future and to offer more Portal 2 teases, a Half-Life 2: Episode 3 update and Pokemon tips. My success rate: 50%.

Notes: The "John" who Newell refers to is John Carmack. The Portal 2 thing he refers to is the blue-screen "crash" that occurred minutes earlier when he was accepting the Pioneer award.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

The creators of fan-favorite Penny Arcade (comic, expo, cultural force) earned the Ambassador Award at the 2010 Game Developer's Choice Awards. I asked these fine gentlemen for advice so that I too could win ... and I got Pokemon tips.

(Mild profanity in this one.)

This is one of a series of Kotaku video interviews with many of the award-winners and special honorees from the Game Developers Choice Awards. Check out the rest of our GDC Backstage clips, featuring the creators of some of the world's best video games.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By Cyriaque Lamar from io9:

It's Batman. With a lightsaber. Fighting a shark. Don't ask why this is happening. It just is. This tableau is pure id. I want this image to flash before my eyelids before I fall asleep each night. [via Nerdcore]

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Slashdot How To Make Your Own iPhone RFID Reader
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 11:15 AM
By timothy from Slashdot's make-bruce-sterling-proud deptartment:
andylim writes "It's been rumoured for some time now that Apple will include RFID technology in a future iPhone. An RFID-packing iPhone could interact with various objects including opening doors and it could even be used in shops to register items at the checkout. Beating Apple to the RFID punch, last year a company called Wireless Dynamics announced an iPhone RFID accessory called the iCarte but if you'd rather make your own reader then a research assistant at University College London has managed to build his own RFID iPhone accessory."

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By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

Beating Zelda and Grand Theft Auto, Jeremiah Slaczka's 5th Cell won top handheld and innovation honors at the Game Developer's Choice Awards for Scribblenauts. After winning, he explained why the sequel isn't "Scribblenauts 2" ... and I got Pokemon tips.

This is one of a series of Kotaku video interviews with many of the award-winners and special honorees from the Game Developers Choice Awards. Check out the rest of our GDC Backstage clips, featuring the creators of some of the world's best video games.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By Deefuzz from TFW2005:
IDW Publishing's Chris Ryall has revealed some art for the upcoming Drift miniseries that Amazon had revealed with a recent product listing.

Included in his update is the cover art for issue #1 and art from the first page of that issue. The mini series will be written by Shane McCarthy with art by Alex Milne and colors by Josh Perez, and will ship bi-weekly in August and September.

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io9 Which Expanded Universe Is Most Unnecessary?
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 10:15 AM
By Graeme McMillan from io9:

As everyone knows, you can't have a franchise without licensed spin-offs these days, even if no-one demanded them. But which Expanded Universe is a book/comic book/videogame too far? You decide!

The father of all Expanded Universes has to be Star Wars, of course; with television shows, books, videogames, toys, comic books and all manner of other material needing to be fed, the six movies have been spun out to literally thousands of years' worth of material to choose from, including multiple rises and falls of the Jedi. Close behind is Star Trek, which has makes up for staying close to television/movie canon with the sheer amount of novelizations and comic books to spin out from it. Everything else - Battlestar Galactica, which had spin-off books and comics, similar to Stargate, Jericho and Buffy, amongst many others - seems miniscule in comparison, with the potential exception of the Aliens and Predator cosmologies, because Aliens Vs. Predator started life as a comic spin-off before it turned into a movie franchise. But is that an exception, a valuable and worthwhile EU? Do Star Wars' Legacy, The Old Republic and suchlike have life beyond cash-ins? Do Lost's ARGs and webisodes give answers to the show's questions? Did anyone appreciate the Battlestar Galactica spin-offs? We want you to tell us which Expanded Universe feels like the biggest waste of effort from everyone involved.

...Article continued at io9

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Kotaku The Difference Between Scary and Horror
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 10:15 AM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:

I have a fear of horror films, and by extension horror games. I'm just too attenuated to suspense and having the hell scared out of me. But what I'm really experiencing, argues one writer, is just that: scary, not horror.

Craig Lager, at Gaming Daily, points out the real differences in the two themes in arguing that the horror games genre has to grow up. Calling such games as Doom 3 and F.E.A.R. "lazy in execution" and stocked with jump-out-at-you tropes, he compares them to scenes in other games that truly are horrific.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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Slashdot Classmates.com Settles Lawsuit Over Phony Friends
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 10:00 AM
By Soulskill from Slashdot's enjoy-your-three-bucks deptartment:
Hugh Pickens writes "Techflash reports that Classmates.com has agreed to pay up to $9.5 million to its users to settle a lawsuit that accused the social network of sending deceptive emails that made people believe their old friends from high school were reaching out to connect — only to discover, after paying for a membership, that their long-lost buddies were nowhere to be found. Lawyers for the plaintiffs asserted that Classmates had 'profited tremendously from their false or deceptive e-mail subject lines and related marketing tactics.' Under terms of the proposed settlement, Classmates.com members who upgraded to premium memberships after receiving one of the 'guestbook' emails will be able to choose either a $3 cash payout or a $2 credit toward the future purchase or renewal of a Classmates.com membership. Classmates.com is also among companies that have come under scrutiny for their use of 'post-transaction marketing' tactics — in which customers are given additional offers as part of the online payment process, sometimes in such a way that they aren't aware they're also signing up to pay more. A November 2009 US Senate Committee report said Classmates made more than $70 million through its relationship with post-transaction marketing firms. The Classmates Media unit posted $58.8 million in operating profit for 2009, up more than 24 percent from the previous year, making Classmates 'the most profitable social network in the world,' according to CEO Mark Goldston."

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By soundwaveCA from TFW2005:
TFW2005 sister site Cybertron.ca is reporting that Transformers Revenge of the Fallen voyager class wave 7 figures have been released in Canada. This wave contains voyager class Mindwipe and Defender Optimus Prime.

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By Stephen Totilo from Kotaku:

Zynga's Bill Mooney obtained the 2010 Game Developer's Choice Award for Farmville in the Best Social/Online Game category. To celebrate, he allowed Kotaku to brainstorm with him about world domination, Farmville: The Movie and ... I got Pokemon tips.

This is one of a series of Kotaku video interviews with many of the award-winners and special honorees from the Game Developers Choice Awards. Check out the rest of our GDC Backstage clips, featuring the creators of some of the world's best video games.

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By Graeme McMillan from io9:

Witness a model of new energy-producing skyscraper from Polish architects mode:lina that mixes wind, kinetic and water production for maximum efficiency, while looking curiously organic and mechanic at the same time. If this is the future, we like it. [Designboom]

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Kotaku Three Sony Devs Switch Over to Valve
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 09:15 AM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:

Three former top employees of the studio responsible for PlayStation3 exclusives Uncharted and Jak & Daxter have been hired away by Valve, perhaps indicating that publisher won't be developing "stepchild versions" for the PS3 anymore.

Naughty Dog has lost Vitaliy Genkin, Alex Vlachos, and Elan Ruskin to Valve. Valve's been critical of developing for the PS3 and open about their dissatisfaction with The Orange Box port, saying before they return to PS3 development, "we need to be able to support it in the right way." Three top guys from a Sony-owned studio would seem to provide that kind of support.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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By Soulskill from Slashdot's flailing-of-arms-and-marketing-departments deptartment:
An editorial at Eurogamer delves into what Sony and Microsoft hope to achieve with their upcoming console motion control systems, despite entering the market several years after Nintendo set the standard. "The cards Sony has placed on the table this week suggest one answer to that question. It sees PlayStation Move as being an upgrade path for Wii owners — an invitation to the tens of millions of consumers who have invested in Nintendo's platform to swim upstream to the more powerful, HD-enabled system. Yet even Sony's most optimistic view of the market will be tempered by a dose of realism here. ... What's more likely — and what Sony are probably quietly hoping to achieve a significant proportion of the Move's success through — is that the technology will expand the appeal of the PS3 in the family setting." The Digital Foundry blog has an in-depth look at the PlayStation Move from Sony's event at the Game Developers Conference, saying, "... if there was one positive you could take away from the event, it was that Move is clearly a far more precise implementation than the Wiimote. Some of the games felt clearly more 'tactile' than the Wii equivalents."

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Kotaku Microsoft Seeks to Patent the DLC Upsell
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 08:15 AM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:

A recent patent application describes a process in which an Xbox Live gamer, invited to a multiplayer session, but missing a critical piece to play (a map, a track, whatever), is offered and may buy it without dropping the invitation.

...Article continued at Kotaku

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io9 For Human Sperm, Sex Is A Running Man Death Match
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 08:15 AM
By Cyriaque Lamar from io9:
In tonight's National Geographic special Sizing Up Sperm, the act of conception is re-imagined as an insane, dystopian game show replete with booby traps, gangs of killer leukocytes, and 250 million pushy contestants.

As you can see from the below photos, the production team of Sizing Up Sperm has transformed spermatozoa into white-suited drones straight out of THX 1138. Also check out the creepy masked leukocytes, who seem straight of Zardoz. We presume this special has a happy ending and not millions of writhing white-suits choking to death on a giant prophylactic force field.

...Article continued at io9

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Slashdot Venezuela's Chavez To Limit Internet Freedom
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 07:45 AM
By Soulskill from Slashdot's learning-from-china's-fine-example deptartment:
terets1 writes "Reuters reports that Venezuela's leader, Hugo Chavez, issued a call on Saturday for 'internet controls' to prevent rumors and inaccurate reporting from spreading. He specifically cited a case in which a website incorrectly reported that a senior minister had been assassinated and kept the story up for two days. Many of Venezuela's opposition movements use social networking sites to communicate. It is not apparent at this time exactly what kind of controls Chavez has in mind or whether those controls will be similar to the controls in Iran that have been used to silence opposition movements. Chavez said, 'The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms.'"

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io9 "Unsafe" LHC To Be Shut Down For 12 Months
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 07:15 AM
By Graeme McMillan from io9:

It was only two weeks ago that we were getting excited about the Large Hadron Collider preparing to smash some serious atoms, but now it's been announced that it will be shut down for a year for safety issues. Why?

The problem, according to those in charge, is that the LHC is too powerful for its own good; if it were to run at full power, it's possible that it could tear itself apart. Director of accelerators and technology for the project, Steve Myers, is putting a positive face on the issue:

...Article continued at io9

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Kotaku Sunday Comics
Posted by News Fetcher on March 14 '10 at 07:15 AM
By Owen Good from Kotaku:



Penny Arcade

published March 10

PvPonline

published March 9

ActionTrip


...Article continued at Kotaku

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