There Are Secret Messages On Your BioShock 2 Posters [Hidden Messages]

A 2K forum poster holding a random blacklight session with his friends discovered scrawled secret messages on the three BioShock 2 posters that were packed in his special edition. Creepy! When I first unwrapped my special edition of BioShock 2, I didn’t give the posters a second thought, leaving them bundled up in the box, completely forgotten. 2K forum member JRoch put them on his walls instead, and while messing about with an old blacklight, discovered scrawled messages on the posters, just like the ones you find in the game itself. As proof, another 2K forum-goer posted these images, along with a video that can be found at PhotoBucket . I tore open my box, unfurled the posters excitedly, and realized I don’t own a blacklight. Why do I not own a blacklight? Very, very sneaky, 2K. I like it. I also like 2K Elizabeth’s response in the forum thread. “Well, would you look at that.” Special edition Propaganda posters [2K Forums - Thanks Cailin!]

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There Are Secret Messages On Your BioShock 2 Posters [Hidden Messages]

I Am In America [Note]

To: Crecente From: Ashcraft RE: What Elevators Teach Us And horribly jet lagged. Very very jet lagged. Long flight, cranky baby. But glad to be back in Texas! So far, we went to the supermarket and looked at all the different kinds of cereal. It’s nice to be in a place that considers cereal a meal — no, a food group. In Japan, it’s largely viewed as a snack. Cereal is great. You gotta love cereal. You gotta. What you missed last night Modern Warfare 2 On 360 Busted, Ammo In Plentiful Supply? [Update] Spoiling Modern Warfare 2 for Michelle Rodriguez The Biggest Selling Games on Amazon Japan In 2009 Team Fortress 2 Propaganda Invokes The Spirit Of ‘42 Dante’s Inferno Executive Producer Sees Problems With Possible Sequel

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I Am In America [Note]

2008 GOTY? [Note]

To: Ashcraft From: Totilo Re: The Tetsujin 28-go Statue Is GIGANTIC Sooo…. not feeling the backwards text thing, huh? Nice statue pic. I filled out my Spike VGA ballot today, declaring the Game of the Year (the year being that which started in December 2008 and ended in late November 2009). Here’s something fascinating about me that I don’t think you knew: While I may feel confident in declaring what the Game of the Year for 2009 was, I’m still not sure what my Game of the Year for 2008 is. It was going to be Fable II for the longest time. But then I finally understood the bold and great design of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (not kidding) and that game went into my top slot. However: I never did finish World of Goo, I’m embarrassed to say. When I went back to it a few months ago and played a little more, it was oh so good. In summation: GOTY 2009, I think I know, at least if we’re picking from the choices in the Spike nominees. GOTY 2008? Still not sure. Oh, can I get a verdict from your kids about the catbus? Creepy or cute? What you missed today (unless you were sleep-reading the site) No Loading Time Problems For DS Sequel Your Holiday Xbox 360 Propaganda Backbreaker Going For Broke Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned Micro-Review: Brains Optional Super Monkey Ball 2 iPhone Preview: Hollaback Monkeys Changing Video Game Cases Go For The Green

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2008 GOTY? [Note]

What To Play While Boycotting Modern Warfare 2 [Boycott Helper]

Yes, we understand that you’ll be boycotting Modern Warfare 2 because you want dedicated servers or are offended by its viral advertising . What will you be playing instead? Here are several suggestions. With a goodly portion of the gaming community tied up playing Modern Warfare 2 over the next few months, those of you sticking to your boycotting guns will need another first-person shooter to scratch the itch that will surely rise. Your friends will be talking about it. We’ll be talking about it. It’ll be on the news, in the magazines, and on billboards. What you need is a game to fill in the blank in this sentence: “Oh yeah? Well I’m busy playing _____!” MODERN WARFARE With most first-person shooters scurrying into 2010 to avoid the Modern Warfare 2 hype machine, finding a present-day game to substitute for it can be tough, but they definitely exist. Wolfenstein: It’s not exactly Modern Combat, but it’s got a strong franchise history behind it, and magical Nazis to boot. You can kick it old-school while still technically kicking it new-school. A win-win. Jurassic: The Hunted: What could be more insulting to Infinity Ward than forgoing its ultimate combat experience for a $39.99 budget shooter that no one knows about? Besides, how bad could it be? You shoot dinosaurs. That never gets old. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising: It’s a buggy mess, but Codemasters can patch it, right? The latest operation Flashpoint game (more or less) features modern combat of a sort, an interesting real-world setting, and co-op multiplayer on top of the standard online kill fests we’ve come to expect. As an added bonus, Codemasters has experienced fan backlash for missing features, so they can play a sort of lesser of two evils role in your boycotting campaign. Killzone 2: It’s pushing the new category a bit, but Killzone 2 is the go-to PlayStation 3 exclusive shooter, so no PS3 owner could be blamed for spending their time shooting at the Helghast instead of taking out terrorists. BLASTS FROM THE PAST Substituting an older game for Modern Warfare 2 gives you the extra-added benefit of making you seem like you are just a really loyal customer who doesn’t want to abandon your beloved title, rather than just one dissenting voice amidst many. Here are some older titles that fit the bill nicely. Counter-Strike Source: Counter-Strike is the sort of game where you will never lack for players to shoot at or be shot by. Of course most of them have been playing far longer than you, and you will die horribly many, many times as a late comer, but at least you can be killed by a wide variety of people. Of all the reasons to not play Modern Warfare 2, “I’m into Counter-Strike” actually seems the most valid. Halo 3: It’s Halo 3. Of course this is an Xbox 360-exclusive, so PlayStation 3 and PC players can’t use this as an option, but it’s an excellent alternative for Microsoft fans. You prefer your shooters a little more futuristic. We get that completely. Carry on. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: This is almost cheating. Playing the original title instead of the new one will indeed send a clear message to the folks at Infinity Ward. Remember back when they gave you a game you didn’t feel like complaining about constantly? Those were the days. Turok: Remember how I said shooting dinosaurs never gets old? Case in point. Turok has futuristic weapons, dinosaurs, and it was created by Propaganda games, the development studio that counts the current head of the Halo franchise as one of its founding members. Did I mention it’s only $20? FUTURE TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION You don’t have to pick your replacement right away. Take the $60 you saved by not buying Modern Warfare 2 and apply towards one of these upcoming shooters instead, perhaps justifying publishers’ decisions to avoid the MW2 release window in the process. Left 4 Dead 2: Another game that sparked outrage from the player community when first announced, Left 4 Dead 2’s release is right around the corner, and seeing as you have a spare $60 floating around, you could do far worse than to invest in the game that made banding together to shoot at zombies cool. No, not Call of Duty: World at War. Battlefield: Bad Company 2: For those of you who prefer your battles be fought on a much larger field, there’s Bad Company 2, the sequel to EA DICE’s runaway hit. Perhaps the closest you can get to the Modern Warfare 2 combo of single-player story and multiplayer goodness. You’ll have to wait until March, but if you haven’t caved and bought MW2 by then, you’ll need it. Dark Void: Yes, it’s a third-person shooter, but Modern Warfare 2 has its third-person bits as well, so it all works out in the end. Capcom’s shooter is certainly more fantastic story-wise, but when you get right down to it, both are about rescuing enslaved humans from a manipulative alien race, except for Modern Warfare 2. Army of Two: The 40th Day: “We’d rather fist-bump than play a game that doesn’t allow for dedicated servers and only features 9-on-9 PC multiplayer!” So there you have it. 12 different games you can play instead of spending your hard-earned cash on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 . We’re not saying you should boycott it, but if you are, you might as well play something. Think you can come up with better suggestions? The comment section is yours.

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What To Play While Boycotting Modern Warfare 2 [Boycott Helper]

Halo Waypoint Will Be What You Make Of It [343 Industries]

Yesterday 343 Industries released Halo Waypoint , the Xbox 360 destination for all things Halo. Kotaku spoke to Halo franchise executive producer Josh Holmes about how fans will help determine the direction Waypoint takes. Josh Holmes has been in the industry for around 15 years. He was part of the EA Canada exodus that formed Propaganda Games in 2005, having previous worked on the first two Def Jam titles and the NBA Street series. At Propaganda he worked on the most recent Turok game. He came to Microsoft’s 343 Industries and now holds the position of executive producer of the Halo 3 franchise. My first question for Josh following yesterday’s release of the Xbox Live Halo hub was what’s next for the Waypoint team? His answer? Sleep. Waypoint has been a labor of love for the development team from the get go, to the point where they stayed up well into the early morning on Wednesday night, watching the players download and explore the fruits of their labor. “The team here has been really grinding to complete this and launch it. We’re all super excited to see it go live. None of us slept. We just stayed up and watched as people came in and tried it out.” And try it out they did. During the first few hours of availability, some users experienced problems downloading Waypoint due to the overwhelming response fans have to anything Halo related. “We’ve been blown away by the number of people we’ve seen coming in to check out Waypoint, and that number is bound to get larger.” So now the fans are watching Halo Waypoint. They’re keeping track of their progression; replaying Halo 3 and Halo Wars in order to complete innovative achievements that span all the Halo 3 360 titles; and learning about the Halo Universe through an stylized information database. And there’s a lot more on the way. Starting Saturday night, four episodes from the Halo Legends anime series will be made available for a 24-hour period every other weekend, alternating with making-of videos. There’ll be new fiction, interviews, and news. The aim is to have daily updates, with content that, if viewed on a regular basis, give players an idea of what’s going to happen next in the Halo Universe. While you can read all about the regularly scheduled content in Halo Waypoint in Stephen’s excellent article on the future of the service , it’s the amount of weight that player feedback will have on future content that’s the most interesting aspect of Waypoint. Josh first mentioned community feedback in response to my query about the possibility of eventually meeting friends and launching games from within Waypoint. “There’s a ton of great ideas that the team has had brainstorming about the types of things we’d like to do in the future, but we’re also going to be really taking the lead from a lot of feedback we get from the community.” The community focus came up time and time again throughout the interview, generally after I suggested potential upcoming content, such as excerpts from the upcoming Halo Evolutions anthology novel, or more avatar rewards. “Avatar awards are just one of the ways we can reward people for being a fan of the franchise and a good member of the Halo community.” The Career section of Waypoint is also ultimately in control of the fan base. “We may be looking at additional ways to compare data between friends in the future, and might be one of the things we evolve if we hear from fans that that will be something valuable to them.” You get the basic idea here. If there’s something you’d like to see or a new feature you’d like implemented on the Halo Waypoint service, make some noise. Talk about it in the Halo forums. Twitter about it. Facebook it. Josh Holmes and the 343 Industries Halo Waypoint team are paying attention.

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Halo Waypoint Will Be What You Make Of It [343 Industries]