The Happy Distraction Of A Good Video Game

VIRTUAL COMFORT | FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN: Two boys find a welcome video game distraction this past weekend in a gymnasium being used as a shelter for some of the victims of the nation’s earthquake disaster. (Photo by the AP)

The Creator Of The Video Game Cartridge Has Died

https://lastchance.cc/the-creator-of-the-video-game-cartridge-has-died-5790999%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Jerry Lawson, the engineer that lead the Fairchild Channel F development team, has died, reports Vintage Computing and Gaming. The Fairchild Channel F became the first cartridge-based video game console when it was released in 1976 and Lawson was instrumental in its design. More »

Quite Cute Pinball, a Facebook Ad Masquerading as a Totally Decent Free Pinball Game

https://lastchance.cc/quite-cute-pinball-a-facebook-ad-masquerading-as-a-tot-5790975%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

While it might be tempting to poke fun at M.A.C. for making a saccharine “Quite Cute Pinball” game to market their cosmetics to women on Facebook, truth is that it’s a totally decent little timewaster. More »

The CEO of Ubisoft is Tired of Our Current Consoles

https://lastchance.cc/the-ceo-of-ubisoft-is-tired-of-our-current-consoles-5790894%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

In an interview with MCVUK, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot lamented the lack of new development platforms, going so far as to blame the lack of new home consoles for the entire industry’s fiscal shortcomings. More »

Are You Ready for Ads in Your Achievements?

https://lastchance.cc/are-you-ready-for-ads-in-your-achievements-5790891%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

“Real rewards for virtual achievements.” That’s the pitch behind “Kiip,” a new Silicon Valley startup that intends to become the company that connects gamers with advertisers in a sort of Groupon for games. More »

PlayStation Hacker Geohot Settles with Sony Computer Entertainment America

https://lastchance.cc/playstation-hacker-geohot-settles-with-sony-computer-en-5790814%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Hacker George “Geohot” Hotz, the man who Sony accused of cracking the PlayStation 3 security, has settled with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). More »

World’s Most Annoying Kinect Mod?

https://lastchance.cc/worlds-most-annoying-kinect-mod-5790786%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

A very annoying alarm is ringing. It won’t stop. Not unless you stand in the box, in front of the Microsoft Kinect, and raise your arms. This was a student project for the Performance and Technology Lab at UCLA and possibly the world’s most annoying mod of the Xbox 360’s Kinect sensor. More »

Odd mix of gaming news today, from the possible end of this Geohot stuff to a farewell to a video game pioneer. I spent a good chunk of the day working on the many stories I’ll finally be able to start rolling out at 11am ET tomorrow, most of them about new Capcom games that I saw last week in Miami. I’m not just doing impressions pieces about this stuff. I got some… unusual… material to mix in there, too. Close observers may even get a rare sighting of a real shark on Kotaku some time this week. You’ll see. –Stephen Totilo

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