In the world of flash games, derivatives vastly outnumber original concepts, so the charge someone copied a game is quite common. But the makers of a Pac-Man-style game in 2009 say they have an email proving that King, the outfit trademarking words like "candy" and "saga," ordered a developer to directly copy their work.
DsiderSeriously should come as a surprise to no one. But I guess we're around that time now that those promising projects have been funded long enough for everyone to see. It's all good news to me, just like with commercial game releases, as long as it actually comes out at all (RIP Rainfall).
While some high-profile success stories are giving people hope, let's not pretend that everything is OK with every game funded on Kickstarter. Because it's not.
DsiderThe absolute territory...er, territory. I've gotta say, 3 bucks is pretty cheap for a pair of socks that big. I can't even afford my damn toe socks unless they're on sale.
Next month, a store dedicated to thigh-high socks is opening in Tokyo's geek district, Akihabara. That's right, only thigh-high socks.
DsiderLook, I'm not stranger to embarrassing commitment to gaming, but come on guys. You clearly crossed the line a long time ago.
Aikatsu! is a popular collectible card arcade game in Japan. The cabinet is smaller, because it's aimed at children—little girls. And yet, there are a handful of grown men who play it.
I remember Y2K. You remember Y2K. Everyone remembers Y2K. But do you remember the time a California courtroom computer accidentally summoned 1,200 people to jury duty, causing a huge traffic jam? Or the time Google accidentally caused browsers to read their own site as malware?
DsiderWhat is this I don't even
Your typical ice cream in Japan is rather vanilla. Things usually don't get much crazier than green tea. But in some places, the ice cream gets downright strange. Viper ice cream, anyone?
DsiderI have no idea why this works so goddamn well. Excellent job here.
Artist Liza van Kempen did a great job showing us what the characters in a Japanese-themed The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker would look like, by changing the atmosphere and everyone's outfit, yet keeping the original art style of the game.
Lately, Candy Crush Saga-makers King.com have been busy blocking trademark applications and going after people with the words "Candy" and even "Saga" in their game names. While they're doing that—technically, they say, simply to protect their brand from copycats—the game-making denizens of the Internet have been having a little fun at King's expense by launching The CandyJam, a game jam aimed at making as many games with words like "Candy" and "Saga" in their titles as possible.
DsiderThe comments have it right though, should have gone the Space Jam route.
Marvel and DC superheroes in a modded NBA 2k14... just what basketball needed! A modder named MGX has done just that with the PC version of the game, adding 25 well-known heroes to the roster.
Have a clothespin and some matches lying around? Then you already have much of what you need to make a cool mini matchstick gun—a toy which packs a surprising amount of power considering how silly it sounds.
DsiderA man can dream, can't he? You can't take that away from us!
Bayonetta. Virtua Fighter 5. Vanquish. These are all Sega games that must receive PC ports, according to a petition born out of a Twitter campaign from last December.
DsiderPokemon Snap stole more hours of my life than I'd like to admit. And again, basically the only thing that ever forced me to go to a Blockbuster in my entire life.
Back in the days of the original Pokémon Snap, there were no filters to toy with. But if there was a modern Pokémon Snap game? Chances are, it would have a few Instagram-y options for all the Pokémon pictures we take, like in this video by The Warp Zone.
Dsider:(
Jimmy Fallon can't pass up a good zinger, and on last night's Late Night, he let into Nintendo for their recent money problems. Check it out in the video above.
DsiderUh, so I guess Internet happened.
It's the internet face-off of the century? Er, perhaps, the month. Or the week. Or the day. But hey, there's chicken and selfies.
These are not official playsets. They're pieces of art, made by a fan, and are painstakingly-accurate recreations of some of Star Wars' most iconic movie sets, giving his action figures a "realistic" place to stand.
The PlayStation 4 comes out in Japan in one month. The privileged who got to pick up theirs out west have been enjoying it for over two months now, but over in Japan gamers and developers alike are anxiously awaiting its release.
DsiderAt first I thought this was some kind of game based on that Yamada manga. Turns out it's just... I don't really know what this is, to tell the truth. Never heard of it until now, so I don't think that's a good sign.
Please stop releasing games on portable consoles that I end up being too embarrassed to take out of the house.
DsiderSheeeeeeeeit
Bethesda is going all-out for this one: they just revealed the voice cast for The Elder Scrolls Online, and it's packed with acting talent from the likes of John Cleese, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Alfred Molina, and more.
DsiderTLDR: Fuck this country's legal system.
"The law is a ass," Mr. Bumble said in Oliver Twist. And trademark law is a asshole, or at least it is to video gamers whenever it becomes a newsworthy topic. A match-three mobile puzzle game is telling a PC indie game it can't call itself by a word that dates to 1709. WTF? You've got questions, I'll try to answer them.
And you thought your computer cables were in knots? Ha! Check out this internet spiderweb in Wuhan, China.
DsiderDon't let those candyfuckers win.
The creators of the Banner Saga are fighting to keep the game's name. In a statement sent to Kotaku, Stoic Studios say:
DsiderHow am I going to have any time for nerding or typical tourism between this, the cat island and the rabbit island, because I'm actually getting more interested in these offshoot locations. That's of course still acting under the assumption that a trip to Japan would actually happen some time in the next two decades.
Or a Professor Layton game, or pretty much any idealized Japanese view of old Europe. And let me tell you, this place looks charming.
DsiderIt's all about the tweeeeest
A few game developers decided that for some reason, Unity, the 3D game engine, is the perfect medium for a text adventure. Amazingly, it turns out that they were right.
DsiderWell I can't really complain about this. There's nothing they can remove from it after the fact.
If you never had the misfortune to play it, know that the PC port of Resident Evil 4 was one of Capcom's (and Ubisoft's) darkest moments. So shoddy was the coding that it turned one of the greatest games of all time into a poorly-optimised, bug-riddled joke.
Hey that's cheating! 15 yards penalty for the triple frontflip. Glitches like this in Madden NFL 25 are inspiring. I'd totally play a football game where you can pull off ridiculous stunts like this.
One of the well-known techniques of Smash Bros, "edge-hogging," will be revamped for Super Smash Bros Wii U, as a recently released screenshot and comment from Masahiro Sakurai shows.
This weekend I was shopping for snacks. I picked up a bag of corn soup-flavored "Gourmet" Doritos. But that's only the tip of the iceberg.
DsiderNOPE NOPE NOPE
Some people hang clothes on their balcony. This resident, it seems, hangs meat. Lots of it.
DsiderThank god, something amusing this morning.
It's seems like Bill Gates is still in shape and his sense of humor is the same as 20 years ago. He was Jimmy Fallon's guest last night, promoting his website, GatesLetter.com with the help of this little clip.
DsiderNO, SERIOUSLY, STOP. YOU FUCKING IDIOTS.
The makers of Candy Crush Saga, who have filed for a trademark on video games with the name "candy," and are opposing the trademark application of The Banner Saga, (pictured) say they are "not trying to stop Banner Saga from using its name," but are compelled to defend their position under trademark law.