Aussie Politician Wants Government To Buy Wii For Sick Man

A state minister from Victoria, Australia has been publicly rebuked after personally campaigning – in parliament – for one of his constituents to be given a Wii. Gordon Rich-Phillips, a member of the Liberal Party and Victoria’s Assistant Opposition Treasurer, got up in parliament and asked that Victoria’s WorkCover Authority (ie the worker’s comp guys)…

THQ Founder Passes Away

Jack Friedman, the founder of publisher THQ – the guys behind UFC, Dawn of War & Company Of Heroes – passed away yesterday at the age of 70. Friedman had been involved in the game business for decades, first by forming toy company (and later video game publisher) LJN in 1970, and then by founding…

Netflix Used By “Almost” One Million Wii Owners

Proving that owners of Nintendo’s current home console are perfectly happy with “Wii Definition” visuals, it’s been disclosed today that “almost” one million Wii users have “participated” in the Wii’s Netflix streaming service since its launch last month. That figure comes directly from Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime, and while “participated” is a vague,…

Would You Like To See All Of The Xbox 360 Games?

Released in Japan, that is. One Japanese man has amassed a collection of all the Xbox 360 games released in The Land of the Rising Sun. This individual claims he has run out of shelf space. And for good measure, he also has all the original Xbox games, too. If you are ever wondering what…

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IBM Builds Its Own SimCity Game

Computing giant IBM will later today unveil CityOne, which is basically SimCity, except IBM made it instead of EA, and the focus is on sustainable cities instead of rampaging UFOs and reticulated splines. I like where this is going. It’s a 21st century SimCity, substituting worries over train stations and airports with more modern concerns…

Capcom’s Founder Would Like You To Guzzle This

Osaka-based game developer Capcom is known for…developing games. The company’s boss now has a side business, though. Let’s drink to that. No, literally. Last weekend, Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto opened a new US$100 million winery in Napa, California that boasts two fermenting rooms and a cave to age barrels of wine. As Kotaku previously pointed…

Spider-Man, Jedi Thwart Real-Life Comic Book Villain [Update]

During the Free Comic Book Day festivities last week, one man in Adelaide, Australia attempted to make off with a pricey old X-Men book. Lucky Spider-Man was on the scene! Adelaide Comic Centre was the scene of this superhero showdown, when on the weekend owner Michael Baulderstone noticed a suspicious looking character at the back…

A Week In Comments

New Pokemons You Can Cuddle Comment by: Trygle12’s posts considered harmful! Nominated by: ElPenguinoMasFino Zorua used Snuggle! The foe is overcome by DAWWWW! Zorua used Double Team! It’s evasion sharply rose! The foe is overcome by DAWWWW! Zorua used “Hyper Voice”! The foe is rattled by 10 different action phrases!! The foe is overcome with…

The Art Of Valkyria Chronicles

Look what turned up at my house this morning: the large, beautiful art book for Sega’s PS3 strategy game Valkyria Chronicles. It’s a Japan-only book, and a little pricey, so for those fans of the game – and its memorable art style – who aren’t in possession of the thing, I figured I’d share some…

Iron Man 2 Review: Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?

Iron Man was cool. I like to think it was the world’s first rock n’ roll superhero movie, one so confident in its performances and style that it could afford a little swagger. Iron Man 2 does not swagger. No, from the outset, it’s an entirely different beast. There are flashes of bravado, but gone…

Konami Considering Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker For The PS3?

Hideo Kojima’s next major Metal Gear game is coming to the PSP this summer. According to one report, it sounds like Konami might interested in bringing that game to the PlayStation 3 as well. Gamepro writes of a recent Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker event at which Konami reps were gauging interest in a PlayStation…

Kotaku Off Topic: Rage

Who else has a case of the Mondays? Well get into this nerve-calming edition of Kotaku Off Topic and let’s work out our differences together with a little conversation. I’m going to keep it short and sweet. You do the driving, because I’ve got embargoed stories to write for the early morning and a trip…

Report Says Canadian Hockey League Confirmed for NHL 11

Last week EA Sports declined comment on a rumor that NHL 11 would include all top-flight juniors teams from the Canadian Hockey League. The Canadian Broadcasting Company is now reporting the inclusion as fact. Quoting a team official, the CBC says all teams from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League have been asked to supply…

Famicase

Picross 3D Review: Block The Monkey

The follow-up to the incredibly addictive puzzle game Picross DS, Picross 3D moves the picture finding gameplay into the next dimension, a game of block breaking and brain teasing that’s also one of the best Nintendo DS games of the year. Instead of presenting the player with a blank canvas and numbered clues with which…

Slaps to the Death — and Stop Looking at My Screen!

Honorable people agreeing to the terms of a duel to the death. As this spoof shows, and as any one who’s ever played Goldeneye knows, the negotiations take forever, and the outcome is well more ridiculous than suspenseful. The College Humor gang is back on the video game beat, taking a movie franchise made into…

Consider This Further Notice: Game Room Back On Schedule

After a brief delay (and scary sounding update) in the flow of updates to Microsoft’s Game Room virtual arcade for Xbox 360 and Games For Windows, things appear to be officially hunky-dory. Microsoft spokesman Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb brings good Game Room tidings over Twitter, writing “We’re happy to report the newest #XboxLIVE Game Room…

Map Kit Gives You a High-Level View of Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Much as I want to headline this as a “free map download,” that would be misleading. Because these aren’t playable maps, but they are high resolution overhead shots of the 10 used in Battlefield: Bad Company 2‘s multiplayer. The Battlefield guys made ’em available through the game’s download page, figuring some folks might appreciate the…

EA’s Secret ‘Project Red’ Already Rated

What is EA’s “Project Red,” the mysterious game that was just rated by Australia’s ratings board? It could be the game also known as “Project RedLime” the game also widely believed to be a new Syndicate. The new OFLC rating for the game known as “Project Red” doesn’t tell us much—as OFLC ratings are wont…