Again with the verbs!

From a Kotaku article about the possibility of Infinity Ward bailing out on Modern Warfare 3:

This might because, if true, the future of the series has not yet been ironed out.

It seems someone forgot the verb again! Or it could be a failed attempt to write in slang, using "because" for the verb "be" with a common spoken contraction of "because." ("This might be, 'cause, if true...")

Source: http://kotaku.com/5443502/but-is-infinity-ward-doing-modern-warfare-3

They're really just making excuses, and bad ones, at that!

In a follow-up to a post I wrote a while back, D3 Publisher has "explained" the typo in their name. Apparently it was supposed to be some kind of play on words, but even that explanation doesn't make sense.

The Kotaku response to this statement pretty much sums it up:
"Purlisher" is a pun on "Publisher" — not a very good one, and one that would have also been viewed as a misspelling. It has nothing to do with puppy dogs.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5440276/d3-publisher-spelling-mistake-explained

[I]t looks fairly straight-forward: finger moves cursor, and the buttons down the button handle interaction and inventory.

I'm assuming here that "handle" is being used as a verb, since iPhones don't have anything I would consider to be a "button handle," though if it did, that would bring other grammatical problems in this sentence. My question here, though: What's this about "buttons down the button?"

Source: http://kotaku.com/5320873/monkey-island-now-on-your-iphone

The download only game, developed by DICE, launched on July 8 for $15 and included a map and mode that had to be unlocked through the communal effort of everyone playing the game.

Compound adjectives like "download-only" should be hyphenated.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5321078/battlefield-1943-breaks-digital-records

A New York state Chuck E. Cheese's is on the verge of losing it's game room license because town officials think the video games at the location are too violent.

This one comes in on the other end of the its/it's spectrum from the article I posted earlier today.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5321208/violent-video-games-threaten-ny-chuck-e-cheeses

Super Mario Brothers has been a success and the industry, which in 2009, can have more than a million consoles sell in the U.S. in a slow month.

Kotaku's Stephen Totilo used this sentence to set the scene for a retrospective look at news from 1987. It's simply an incomplete thought. "And the industry what?"

Source: http://kotaku.com/5316224/old-news-87-zelda-is-going-to-be-bigger-than-mario

Oh, Kotaku...

Are there more villains lurking within the walls of Arkham Asylum that we've been told about?

This of course tells up absolutely nothing[.]

Source: http://kotaku.com/5315412/imdb-lists-more-characters-for-arkham-asylum

How cliche can you get?

Here's another its/it's debacle:

While the source material and it's use in a game still doesn't sit well with me, the setting is rich, deep and, if you trust this video, being fully explored.

Also, the compound subject here is plural (source material and its use), requiring a plural verb.

Later, the article finishes with this sentence;

Now about those Doggy-Style enemy creatures.

While it is apparent that the author is trying to mimic speech patterns, this is not punctuated correctly. The correct punctuation for such a thought trailing off is the ellipsis.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5311428/dantes-inferno-lust-level-could-have-been-packed-with-sex

Who's giving orders around here?

Kotaku's Mike Fahey wrote an article about the upcoming NERF sequel for Wii. His article finishes with the following quote:

Looks for NERF 2 to hit store shelves this fall.

As a language teacher, I understand some of the difficulties students have with using command forms. In English, it's relatively simple. Omit the subject, but the verb still has to match the omitted subject. The only subject to take an -s ending in English is the 3rd person singular (he/she), which also is one of the only subjects that cannot be used with command forms!

Source: http://kotaku.com/5310004/ea-re+nerfs-the-wii

What time is it? Time to check your tenses!

This story got reported on a few websites. Apparently a college professor researched online communities by playing an aggressive character in City of Heroes. Kotaku reported it thusly:

Sticking strictly within the game's rules, Myers nevertheless quickly set about making himself unpopular by...doing what the game advertising itself as allowing people to do: create a superhero and battle other superheroes.

I don't think the game ever "advertising" itself, but "advertised."

Source: http://kotaku.com/5308780/college-professor-trolls-for-science-finds-people-hate-him

Who's this Jacksonis guy?

Michael Jacksonis dead.

This is the introduction to a Kotaku post about Battlefield Heroes using Michael Jackson's image following his passing. Not only did they omit the space after his name, there are actually two links in that sentence. Go ahead. Look for them. You'll notice that the first link ends and the second begins where the space should be. This is a rather forgivable mistake, as the space likely got lost in a jumble of HTML, but this is what proofreading is for! Just give it a once-over before you post!

Source: http://kotaku.com/5304402/battlefield-heroes-cashing-in-on-michael-jackson

Update: This has now been corrected.

Insane in the membrane!

I hope you don't think I'm picking on Kotaku today. These are all older articles that I have, until now, been unable to write about. I'm just trying to catch up, honest!

In this article, Brian Crecente wrote about the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game. A rather lengthy article, it contained quite a few errors. First, a simple typo:

Due out in August, the build I played was set to me in May to help me judge the game for an E3 Game Critics award.

Then, the dreaded run-on sentence, though in this case, only the period was omitted.

Every time you take out a bad guy a camp of bats appear and swirl around him for a second Initially it looks kind of neat, but the effect quickly loses its charm.

The English language is quite complex. Verb tenses tend to be among the most difficult part. Here, Crecente uses the simple past tense where a past participle is required:

These simple single-button attacks are all weaved together with a heavy reliance on timing and the ability to shift between targets by moving the thumbstick in different directions.

Again, dealing with verbs. In English, the use of the infinitive and the heper/modal verb 'like' requires the particle 'to.'

I'm not a huge fan of stealth, it's not my style and I don't like have it forced upon me.

And finally, we have one final small typo:

The game features voice work by Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, Tom Kane, and even Mark Hamil;l as The Joker.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5302101/batman-arkham-asylum-preview-a-thinkers-brawling-game

Another one from Kotaku:

While the prequel was heavy on the hand-held camera, REC 2 employs camera mounted on the soldiers' helmets. It's a bit like watching a first-person-shooter.

This almost sounds like Engrish. We need either an article (employs a camera) or a plural (employs cameras). Frankly, based on the plural, soldiers' helmets, I would expect the latter.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5280847/this-spanish-movie-looks-like-some-first+person+shooter

Working on some old stuff today....

In a Kotaku hands-on with God of War III, Michael McWhertor had this to say:

More satisfying it the battering ram attacks one can pull off, picking up an enemy and barreling through a crowd of rotting Centurions.

I can possibly forgive the 'it/is' confusion here, it happens to the best of us. What strikes me, though, is the fact that this is further complicated as an 'is/are' problem. The subject of the sentence is clearly the plural 'battering ram attacks,' which would require the plural verb.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5280444/god-of-war-iii-hands+on-half+goat-half+lion-half+snake

Sometimes, rather than some "simple" grammar mistake, blog posts are just wrong. Take, for example this Kotaku post about the upcoming Champions Online open beta:

The open beta will commence next Monday, August 17, and will run 24/7 until it closes.

The only problem with that statement is that next Monday isn't August 17th. By my watch, today is July 9th, so August 17th is more than a month away. Check your facts, people!

Source: http://kotaku.com/5310519/champions-online-open-beta-kicks-off-next-month

Update: The article has been corrected to remove the "next Monday" descriptor.

Another one from way back:

In a Resident Evil 5 related post, Kotaku reports that a cosplayer was arrested for his militant garb:

Great costume! So great that the local authorities were altered when the gun-brandishing masked-HUNK walked into a store.

But am I the only one who doesn't believe that the authorities were "altered?" Unless the costume really was the precursor to a zombie-virus outbreak, that is. It's much more likely that they were "alerted."

Source: http://kotaku.com/5279495/cops-called-over-resident-evil-cosplay

What does it all mean?

From a Kotaku post on Starcraft II:

A release date is a sign of we things come to all of us.

Huh?

Source: http://kotaku.com/5273724/starcraft-could-be-out-this-year-if

That depends on what the definition of 'is' is...

This article from Kotaku is the first I've read about the game Fairytale Fights. It looks interesting. Too bad they left out their verbs from this sentence:

Fairytale Fights a hack and slash platformer due out this coming holiday season on the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3.

Of course, the missing verb here is "is." I am, however impressed with Kotaku's coinage of the term "co-opportunties" (for "cooperative opportunities") in this article. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen it used anywhere else. Very creative.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5230809/everybody-was-fairytale-fighting

From Kotaku:

We've you can find a video of Batman taking on one such level here.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5224844/play-as-the-joker-in-arkham-asylum-ps3

Demigod

The real trick with spelling errors is that sometimes a simple typo or missing letter can completely change the word, or even the meaning of the sentence. Take, for example, the following statement from Kotaku's Demigod review, where players are confused with payers:

Depending on the options chosen before battle and the payers involved, games can be quick and dirty or long and drawn out.

The same post also contains the statement that the reviewer completed "several cutom online multiplayer battles." At least in this case, the typo didn't result in a different word.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5223353/demigod-review-aspiring-to-godhood