Why wait for a year ending in nine or zero or one to pick the best games of the past decade? Entertainment Weekly is picking the best games of the decade this year, 2012. It's not that they wager the world is ending and that we're wrapping up the final decade ever. It's that Spike TV's Video Game Awards show is running its 10th annual show this year and they want people to decide what was the best game to come out in the VGA era.
The public—that's you!—can now vote on the best of the bunch. (The public can also wonder why there's no Grand Theft Auto, Angry Birds, Halo or Wario Ware: Twisted. Anyone with me on that last one?)
Note: Kotaku is one of the outlets on the VGA advisory board, meaning we vote on nominees for awards given at the show (but not for this Game of the Decade thing). The VGAs will air on Spike on December 7 at 9pm ET/6pm CT. We'll be attending and covering both the awards and the numerous trailers/exclusives expected to be revealed that night.
New York City's Museum of Modern Art ranks as one of the most prestigious museums in the world. You can go there to see iconic creations like Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans and Pablo Picasso's The Bullfight, as well as taking in exhibition on thrilling and important art movements throughout history. And now you can play Pac-Man there, too.
MoMA announced today that they'll be adding Portal, The Sims and 12 other classic games to the institution's collection, with more to come. The following games will be installed in the museum's Philip Johnson Galleries next March:
• Pac-Man
• Tetris
• Another World
• Myst
• SimCity 2000
• vib-ribbon
• The Sims
• Katamari Damacy
• EVE Online
• Dwarf Fortress
• Portal
• flOw
• Passage
• Canabalt
This initiative differs a bit from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibit, which is now traveling around the country. That show focused on the visual aesthetics of video games as a medium. MoMA sounds like they want to go a bit deeper. Here's Senior Curator Paola Antonelli:
Are video games art? They sure are, but they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe. The games are selected as outstanding examples of interaction design-a field that MoMA has already explored and collected extensively, and one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity. Our criteria, therefore, emphasize not only the visual quality and aesthetic experience of each game, but also the many other aspects-from the elegance of the code to the design of the player's behavior-that pertain to interaction design.
Other games that MoMA is looking to install as part of their collection include Minecraft, Chrono Trigger,NetHack, Grim Fandango, M.U.L.E. and many more. Plans are for some of the games to be playable depending on length while others like EVE Online will feature player-sourced guided tours.
Only in the mobile gaming sector could a developer not only come up with an idea as convoluted as combining betting on and racing horses with Scrabble, but turn that idea into what could be the next smash-hit social word game.
Mention Mobile's Word Derby turns tile-based word-assembly into a horse race. Up to four players take turns creating words from a similar set of tiles. The number of points scored in a round is added to each players' total, with scores represented by horses on a racetrack. The first player to reach 200 points crosses the finish line and wins the game.
It's more fun playing against strangers than friends, thanks to a gambling system that allows players to play for tickets. Tickets are in-game currency that can be used to purchase power-ups and more powerful jockeys. Mention wisely omitted this feature from friend-to-friend play, because friends are cheating jerks ruin the party for everybody else.
I laughed when I read the setup for Word Derby. It sounded ridiculous. The best ideas often do.
I generally have a save game going in the original Deus Ex at all times, picking it up a couple of times a month to peck away at the story and relive old times. I hadn't yet downloaded the "New Vision" mod that was partially released last August, mostly because I figured if I was going to do a visual upgrade, I'd wait for the whole thing to be complete.
I somehow missed that last week, they finished it (Thanks, RPS!), and you can now download the entire texture upgrade for the game.
And hey, if you're replaying, you can revisit the game with the letters Leigh Alexander and I wrote last year where I made her play the game for the first time and talk to me about it.
Like a lot of people on YouTube, Nick Reineke makes videos about games. And like a lot of people on YouTube, he wants to make money off those videos. But he can't. Last month, YouTube banned him from AdSense, the advertising service that most YouTubers use to make money.
It's not clear exactly why he was banned—YouTube hasn't explained—but Reineke thinks he knows what the problem was: an excited fan. A fan who clicked on one of Reineke's ads too many times.
A fan who might have inadvertently ruined Reineke's YouTube career.
Kotaku was first contacted by Reineke, who runs a channel dedicated to showing off indie games, a few weeks ago. He told us that he had received an e-mail from YouTube saying he was banned from AdSense for "invalid activity." And he said he knew why.
"I've come to find out that a fan of mine took it upon himself to "help" my page by clicking
my ad 20 or so times," he said in an e-mail. "I'd never condone this and never would have wanted anyone to do this as I am aware it is a flagrant violation of the AdSense Terms of Service. Unfortunately for me, my YouTube channel is tied to my AdSense account and because of this issue I am now blacklisted from becoming a YouTube partner and monetizing my videos in the future."
The fan has admitted to clicking the ad, posting on Reineke's forums to apologize. "I thought, 'Hey, maybe I could give it a few clicks to see if Nick gets any money from it. Couldn't hurt to try, right?'" he wrote. "This was obviously [an] incredibly dumb decision and ended up getting Nick's AdSense blocked completely."
Reineke has reached out to other YouTube networks to try to strike a deal, but they won't partner with someone who can't support AdSense. He can't make a new account without making up a false identity. And when he appealed to YouTube, they denied his request.
Here's the letter they sent him:
Hello,
Thanks for the additional information provided in your appeal, we appreciate your continued interest in the AdSense program. After thoroughly reviewing your account data and taking your feedback into consideration, our specialists have confirmed that we're unable to reinstate your AdSense account.
If you'd like more details on our invalid activity policies or review process, please visit http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153. As a reminder, further participation in the AdSense program by publishers whose accounts have been disabled is not permitted.
Thanks for your understanding,
The Google AdSense Team
After an e-mail like that, Reineke says there isn't much else he can do.
"It is not possible to directly contact Google," he said. "No one will speak with you, and there are no other avenues unless you are friends with someone who works there. Once your appeal is rejected, they will not reply to your emails or speak with you further on the issue (they actually tell you that in the rejection letter). It is essentially a LIFETIME ban for your account. Seems fair, right?"
I reached out to YouTube for clarity, but they wouldn't comment on Reineke's specific situation. A YouTube representative sent me this statement:
If we determine that an AdSense account may pose a risk to our advertisers or the experience of individual users, we may disable that account to protect the health of the network. If a publisher feels that the decision to suspend their AdSense account was made in error, and if they can maintain in good faith that the invalid activity was not due to the actions or negligence of themselves or those for whom they are responsible, they can appeal the disabling of their account. Accounts will be reinstated on a case by case basis.
While it's certainly possible that Reineke was banned for another reason, he told me he has no idea what that might be, and YouTube isn't helping.
"The notification that they had disabled my AdSense account due to 'invalid activity' was sent just a few days after the person had told me they did the spam clicking on my ad," he said. "Since it was the only ad I had up, and it was the only thing tied to my AdSense account... it's really the only thing that could have caused this. I've also considered the possibility of a rogue spammer on my site or something random like that, but I've never seen any evidence of strange behavior on the site before my account had already been disabled.
One of Nick Reineke's most recent videos, from his channel Indie Impressions.
"My YouTube and website editing and usage (with respect to my account standing) has been very much a repeated pattern of posting new content the same way day after day for months, so I can say in good conscience, other than the fan clicking the ad, there wasn't a deviation of any kind or anything I've done that would be misconstrued as malicious by Google."
So Reineke is frustrated. He's feeling helpless. And he doesn't know what to do next.
"My question is: what is there to stop someone who didn't like me from spamming any ad they know to be powered by AdSense to get it all taken down?" Reineke said. "There are no repercussions for the person doing the clicking, only the people who stand to lose everything. Seeing as how I did not condone this action by the individual who thought they were helping me, it's not really much different.
"So is there really justice here? Someone who has devoted thousands of hours to their site and channel is now barred from potentially ever making money from their work on this service because an over-zealous fan decided on their own to spam click my ad?"
Update: Shortly after the publication of this article, I got an e-mail from Reineke saying that his account had been restored. He wasn't contacted by YouTube or informed in any way; he just suddenly saw that AdSense was back.
"I uploaded a video last night and I didn't have the row of $s next to my videos," he said. "This morning, as I noticed [this article] show up in my RSS feed, it was back."
The week of Thanksgiving marks one of the most important retail milestones for sellers of things. We've got a ballpark figure for how many people brought the new Wii U. (Around 400,000.) And Microsoft bragged about all the Xbox 360 units they shifted into people homes, too. (750,000 for those guys.) So, what about Sony? They're right in the middle.
The consumer electronics giant divulged that they sold more than half a million units of their home console, owed largely to the attractively priced bundles on offer.
As for the Vita, the gaming handheld sold 160,000 units. That's a lot less than the 275,000 DS units Nintendo said that consumers bought last week. When another company's least-shiny, most outdated portable outdoes your shiny new one, you might have a problem on your hands, Sony.
[Update: As noted in the comments below, the DS also outsold Nintendo's newer 3DS too.]
Looks like the info from that German dashboard image was right, as Microsoft has announced that the first of three planned Halo 4 map packs will be hitting on December 10th.
Along with the new multiplayer environments, online players will be getting a new match type in Halo 4, too. Descriptions follow:
• Wreckage: Wreckage is the manifestation of the chaos of war. A medium-sized, asymmetrical map great for accommodating a wide range of objective-based game modes including King of the Hill and Capture the Flag, it is a ravaged environment of crashed debris, where the surrounding destruction creates complex paths perfect for throwing off your opponents, or testing the limits of your Warthog. This devastated landscape provides plenty of cover, and tons of nooks and crannies are at your disposal while fighting for your turn to become King. Wreckage supports up to 16 players in Infinity Slayer and up to 12 players in a variety of other modes, including Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and Oddball.
• Harvest: Harvest is a canon concept brought to life—the doomed agricultural planet where humans first made contact with the Covenant. A small to mid-size map, Harvest is ideal for Capture the Flag. Here, you'll need to get creative to effectively use light vehicles which are limited to the exterior pathways and can't get into the bases, making this map perfect for infantry firefights and face-to-face skirmishes. Snipers will also feel right at home; long sightlines are broken up by great cover and hiding spots. Harvest allows up to 12 players to face off in Capture the Flag, Infinity Slayer, King of the Hill, SWAT and Slayer Pro.
• Shatter: Shatter is themed around natural crystalline surfaces and the huge UNSC factories mining them. This large, symmetrical map is a playground for the Warthog and Mantis—its open pathways make it easy to get around, whether on foot or in vehicles. Shatter is a great fit for Dominion and the new game type Extraction. For some close-quarters face-time, escape the open landscape and duck into a mining facility, or slip through a doorway and hunt unsuspecting Spartans. This map has variety for different types of players. Shatter enables multiplayer mayhem for up to 16 players in Infinity Slayer and up to 12 players in other modes, such as Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, Dominion and Extraction.
• "Extraction": Extraction is a 5 vs. 5 objective-based game type where opposing Spartan teams are tasked with extracting assets from various sites around the map. Once a team has found a site and is in position, they must plant their beacon and protect it from the opposing team while the extraction process occurs. If the defending team remains in control of the beacon, they receive one point, however if the opposing team overtakes the site before extraction is complete, the point goes to them. Once a site has been extracted, a new site becomes available. The first team to extract five points wins.
The press release also notes that only Crimson Map Pack owners will be able to have 6-on-6 matches.
We've seen plenty of timelines that put video game release dates in order. And recently, we've begun making timelines that put video game news in chronological order. But what about the timelines inside the games? The years over which the game's story takes place? Has anyone ever chronicled those?
Now, someone has. Alex Jaffe, specifically, who has assembled more than 1,200 games into an impressive master video game timeline that tells us, once and for all, when our favorite games took place relative to one another.
It starts waaaaay back with TMNT: Turtles In Time, which jumped the farthest back in time to 2,500,000,000 B.C. (and also gets pretty far up to the year 2100AD). Then, it travels through scads of time-travel games—Chrono Trigger doesn't even go second-farthest back—through modern times (with a lengthy digression in the early 1940s for all those WWII games) all the way up to… can you guess? The Warhammer 40,000 games, of course.
It's a Herculean undertaking that, according to Jaffe, has taken more than two years to get to this point. In fact, the timeline itself loads inconsistently—you might have to wait a bit. Apparently a timeline of this size has tested the strength of the space/timeline continuum. The data below the timeline, however, is always there, and is fun to look through even if the timeline won't load. Jaffe says he's open to feedback, corrections and additions, and that if you see anything he's missing, to please email him.
Update: Awesomely (not really), traffic has brought the timeline down for the time being. Fortunately, you can read the whole thing in PDF form here. I'll update once the timeline is back up and running.
If you ask many former Cafe World players, they'll likely tell you that the constant stream of new catering orders was one of the reasons they stopped playing Zynga's first cooking game. If that's the case, those same players are likely to be very disappointed with the new launch of a catering system in ChefVille, as it's similar to that system in Cafe World. ChefVille's catering system is a series of chapters revolving around a Catering Truck.
Players will need to have at least 10 Mastery Stars to participate in Catering Challenges, and these events will be timed. Since the Catering Truck is on a very slow rollout, most ChefVille players currently don't have access to this feature, regardless of level or Mastery Star count. Still, we're here with a helpful FAQ from Zynga that will help you learn more about what to expect.
What is the minimum Mastery Star level for me to participate?
You'll need at least 10 Mastery Stars.
I have 10 Mastery Stars, but I don't see it yet. Why?
This is a brand new feature that is slowly rolling out to all of our players. Although our features are extensively tested before every release, there are some that cannot be reproduced in a testing environment. This gives us the chance to find and fix these bugs before releasing it to everyone so that we can provide the best experience. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
What's in the initial Catering release?
There will be 1 chapter that consists of 6 Catering Orders. You will need to successfully complete the previous Catering Order before unlocking the next. There will be more Catering Orders in future releases.
Will I get my Catering Truck back?
You sure will! You will be asked to place the Catering Truck into your restaurant.
What does the Catering Truck do?
You can access the Catering Order interface by clicking on the Catering Truck.
Are the Catering Orders timed?
Yes, each Catering Orders will be timed.
Can I start more than one Catering Order at a time?
No, you can only have 1 active Catering Order at any given moment.
Can I have an active Catering Order while helping my friend with their Catering Order?
You sure can! You can help up to 10 of your friend's Catering Order at any given moment.
Can I recruit my friends to help me with my Catering Orders?
You sure can! Hire your most active friends and go for the gold!
Why should my friends help me with my Catering Order?
Helpers will receive a mystery reward ranging from Coins, Energy, XP, Ingredients or Limited Edition Items!
Can I repeat a Catering Order if I don't get Gold?
Yes, you can repeat a Catering Order as many times as you like!
What are the prizes (for those who started the Catering Order)?
Gold:
Birthday Ball: A Limited Edition item**, 3 Instant Thyme* and 5 one-hour Thyme.
One for the Kiddies: A Limited Edition item**, 10 1-hour Thyme* and 5 one-hour Thyme.
Bello's Pre-Birthday: A Limited Edition item**, 3 Instant Thyme* and 5 one-hour Thyme.
Party Town: A Limited Edition item**, 10 1-hour Thyme* and 5 one-hour Thyme.
Madeline's Birthday Bash: A Limited Edition item**, 3 Instant Thyme* and 5 one-hour Thyme.
Pippa's Soiree: A Limited Edition item**, 15 1-hour Thyme* and 5 one-hour Thyme.
Bronze: 2 Onions, 2 Salami, 2 Long Grain Rice, 2 Parmesan Cheese, 1 Olive Oil, 50 Coins and 10 XP.
*You will only receive this reward the first time you receive Gold status on the Catering Order.
**The Limited Edition Item varies depending on the Catering Order. You will receive a different Limited Edition item reward for the first three times you repeat the Gold status on a Catering Order. You will see the item before and after the Catering Order has been completed. After you have repeated Gold status 3 times on a Catering Order, you will receive 5 one-hour Thyme instead of a Limited Edition item.
Will I get the same prize if I get another Gold on the same Catering Order?
No, you will receive a different reward for the first three times you repeat the Gold status on a Catering Order. You will see your prize in the Catering interface before you start the Catering Order.
And there you have it, a breakdown to the prizes available for Gold medal status on ChefVille's first six Catering Truck orders. You can be sure that we'll have complete details to all of these final Catering Orders as the feature becomes more widespread across the game, so stay tuned!
Ahh, Humble Bundle, the best site in the world for great packages of indie games and- wait, what's this? Saints Row? Darksiders? I see you, THQ! Just peeking in the bushes there, waiting to ensnare us with your new humble bundle. You're not an indie developer at all, THQ! What are you even doing.
At least it's a good deal. And I guess they're certainly humble.
Why wait for a year ending in nine or zero or one to pick the best games of the past decade? Entertainment Weekly is picking the best games of the decade this year, 2012. It's not that they wager the world is ending and that we're wrapping up the final decade ever. It's that Spike TV's Video Game Awards show is running its 10th annual show this year and they want people to decide what was the best game to come out in the VGA era.
![YouTuber: I Was Banned From Making Money Because Of An Over-Zealous Fan [UPDATE]](http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/186ti1ii436iejpg/medium.jpg "YouTuber: I Was Banned From Making Money Because Of An Over-Zealous Fan [UPDATE]")
The week of Thanksgiving marks one of the most important retail milestones for sellers of things. We've got a ballpark figure for how many people brought the new Wii U. (
If you ask many former 
