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I think I know part of the reason Chrono Cross is less acknowledged than its predecessor, Chrono Trigger. It's because it's a sequel in spirit only, keeping some conceptual commonalities and a sparse few plot ones. More »
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Nathan Drake has recently purchased a new MacBook, after talking to several of his friends about it for several weeks. He has done more discussing the MacBook than he has actually using it, and secretly he enjoys causing the icons to sort of ‘pop' along the bar at the bottom of the screen more than he enjoys operating the various applications that have come with his new Apple experience. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5883106&view=rss&microfeed=true Kotaku columnist Leigh Alexander has put together a funny collection of "Stuff Gamers Say" over at the mumbling/entertaining/frustrating online magazine Thought Catalog. Top points for "Time to Crate" reference. More »
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2011 was yet another good year for video games, but on its face it was a little predictable. More »
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I am pretty much the biggest Metal Gear Solid fan there is, and I really, really hope that Metal Gear Solid 5 doesn't happen. More »
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Sexism in games remains an unsolved problem, it's clear. Some of you will be nodding along, and some of you will hear the s-word and roll your eyes and go, "oh, this again?" You guys can piss off-–go click on some new screenshots or a trailer consisting of a release date slowly fading into view. You're hopeless. More »
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For a relaxing time, sit back and watch this terrific PBS short documentary on the artistic merits of video games. The video runs only about 7 minutes, and features NYU's Eric Zimmerman, game designer and researcher Jesper Juul, Kotaku contributor and secret nerdcore superstar Leigh Alexander, and Babycastles curator and designer Syed Salahuddin. More »
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The past year has been one of the strangest ever in the life of game designer, lecturer and author Ian Bogost. It started with the launch of the most successful game he's ever developed, and ended with him bringing it to a strange, cathartic end. More »
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You've heard Catherine's premise already: Commitment-phobic, indecisive Vincent must choose between marriage to longtime girlfriend, Katherine, and the allure of a sexy affair with a younger girl, Catherine. You already know is it's bizarre and surreal, and that the narrative's interspersed with tough puzzles. You've heard it's supposed to be an "adult" game, a story about relationships. But what we haven't discussed much of yet is how well that story works – and how well it achieves its promise of a mature narrative. More »
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Recently, I curated an exhibit at Brooklyn's Babycastles arcade, currently housed in a Williamsburg show space where indie games are on display in hand-made cabinets, alongside a lineup of bands. More »
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Join Kotaku contributing columnist and owner of some of the largest earrings in the industry Leigh Alexander tomorrow evening at Babycastles' new arcade exhibition space in Williamsburg for the debut of Bad Bitches, a new exhibition of games featuring themes of alternative sexuality. How can that not be a good time? More »
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I suck at being the bad guy in video games. I always get all invested, and then I'm hardly ever able to commit to being evil. But for some reason, Infamous 2 has become that game that's made it so much fun for me to be bad–-and I have those annoying guys that drum on pails to thank. More »
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You know when you're going to finish a video game. It pushes its ethereal fist into your chest and seizes hold of your heart in a way you can almost feel-like being grabbed by the throat, a tightness in your chest that sets every nerve humming to the tune of the experience. That feeling gives you patience when you've been defeated a thousand times, or when you don't know what to do next. It makes you forgiving, when the game has flaws and bugs, and it makes you committed should the pacing fall apart, leaving no choice but to plod devotedly onward just to see what happens. More »
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Earlier this month Kotaku posted a pair of images of the lovely Faith from Mirror's Edge. One was the official rendering by Swedish dev DICE of the parkour-inspired, Asiatic heroine - and the other was a reinterpretation edited by an Asian fan, imagining what Faith would look like if she had been designed according to what he says are Asian standards of beauty. The post spurred more than 500 comments and touches on something quite a bit deeper than the obvious - and less-tangible - question of "Asian tastes versus European tastes." The question that many of us really seemed to be ruminating on is a simpler one more germane to the world of video games: Do we want our characters to look real? More »
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Variety's Ben Fritz posted an interesting response to Leigh Alexander's rant on game criticism (inspired by reviews on Silent Hill: Homecoming) in which she said we should probably do a little less nitpicking and a little more championing, and that we've created a review culture where critics and fans alike are just looking for things to dislike — at least when it comes to details. Fritz maintains that critics are too positive overall, getting sold on games before they're out (Leigh's written about the 'four-month bell curve' that goes from hype to disinterest in titles like Bioshock) and discusses the lack of dissenting opinions on the current gaming achievement of the year. On the other hand, where's the championing of certain games or designers for their creative vision — are we just a bunch of sheep?: More »
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The New York Times tackles MGS 4 in brief — discussing both the story ('What does it mean?') and people's reactions to the game, including a couple of choice quotes from our very own Leigh Alexander. Several other game writers weigh in on MGS 4's story and execution: More »
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