The Wii U is on life support. Can it be revived?

Let’s face facts here: The Wii U’s life so far has been an unmitigated disaster. Nintendo has struggled to sell the thing to consumers, third-party developers are hesitant to commit, and to top it all off, they seem to have had a time time convincing the public that their new system is even a system at all. More

‘Gridlee’ appears to be just another retro-style arcade game with tacked-on touch controls. But look closer, and you’ll find an entire arcade emulator.

Photo from idownloadblog.com.

Apple doesn’t typically allow emulators on their closed iOS platform, with very few exceptions. Apple typically falls back on the defense that they’re protecting users from potentially malicious code that can be run through an emulated system, which is technically true, although some have debated this logic. The more likely rationale is that Apple doesn’t want to have to deal with DMCA enforcement problems and cease-and-desist orders from game companies when users start loading illegally downloaded ROM images of their games onto iDevices through their marketplace.

In order to get around Apple’s App Store regulations and play emulated games on their iDevices, users typically jailbreak them and load third-party apps. Back in 2011 a port of popular emulator MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) had been released under the moniker ‘iMAME’, which was quickly removed by Apple. But now a new app has surfaced on the App Store, going by the name ‘Gridlee‘.

At first glance, the Gridlee app appears to be just another retro-style arcade game with tacked-on touch controls. But dig a bit deeper, and you’ll find an entire arcade emulator hidden in the app’s source files. Just plug in your iDevice, and use iExplorer to navigate to Gridlee’s ROMs folder, and upload as many ROM files as your device can handle. Not all games are supported, however, so quality may be hit or miss. Gridlee’s emulator even supports iCade’s physical controls.

At least one App Store customer has caught on based on their review, and I’m sure more will follow suit, which means Apple will likely catch on and pull the plug on Gridlee for good relatively soon. Until then, you can grab a fistful of ROMs and head on down to the App Store for some old-school arcade action.

Who wouldn’t want to spend the first few years of their life in this room? Hell, I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of my life there.

[Kotaku] The Legend of Zelda Nursery Welcomes a Brand New Hero

Cole Bradburn is expecting a son. And when his new, little hero arrives, he’ll have a Legend of Zelda nursery waiting for him.
Make that, a hand-painted Zelda nursery.

This dude combined a graphic novel, a rap album, and a video game. It’s like Lupe Fiasco meets Scott Pilgrim. Only less Canadian. What makes it even cooler is that the overarching story is semi-autobiographical- so it’s got that personal touch that’s always a hallmark of special projects in games, comics, and music.

The Video Game That’s Also a Rap Album That’s Also a Comic Book

Raheem Jarbo, aka Mega Ran, aka Random, is one of the more noted video game musicians out there. For his latest album, though, he went a little further than just rapping about video games.
With financ…

I don’t know how Kotaku’s Bashcraft digs up great stories like this, but damned if he hasn’t done it again.

Naruto Inspires Polish Lady To Kick Shogi Ass

Shogi. It’s typically called “Japanese chess”. And like chess, it’s a board game of strategy—and smarts. To get good, you must spend years playing and studying.