Kotaku: Love

For the Love of Moogles

Mike Fahey — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST

Today's episode of Speak Up on Kotaku tackles a very topical and sensitive subject: How much everyone loves Final Fantasy's fluffy white friends, the Moogles. Commenter Paradox Me kicks off the lovefest with a short and simple comment. Kupo! More »

More Triangles in Games! Love-Triangles, That Is

Kirk Hamilton — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST

I was disappointed with Uncharted 3 for a number of reasons. Certainly one of those reasons was that the game had bizarre difficulty spikes and could be kind of a dick sometimes. But another, possibly bigger reason was that while Uncharted 3 generally mirrored the pacing and story-arc of Uncharted 2, it lacked one of my favorite things about its predecessor: Chemistry. Specifically, the romantic chemistry born of the love-triangle between Nathan Drake, Chloe, and Elena. More love-triangles in games, please! More »

Nerds and Male Privilege Part 2: Deconstructing the Arguments

Harris O'Malley — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST

A few months ago, I wrote an article on nerds and male privilege. Maybe you read it. More »

You'd Think the World Would Have Had Enough of Silly Video Game Love Stories

Mike Fahey — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:20:00 EST

In today's romantic episode of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Aikage isn't feeling the love and wants you all to share yours instead. We're guessing they mean love with another person, but who can be sure? More »

Three Out of Four Online Marriages End in Divorce, Says Korean MMO

Owen Good — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:30:00 EDT

MapleStory, the South Korean sidescrolling MMO (above), allows players to get hitched if they so choose. Sadly, many of the unions are not parted by death but divorce—20,344 out of 26,982, to be precise. More »

Who Was Your First Video Game Crush?

Mike Fahey — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:00:00 EDT

In today's tell-all edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Mad-Hob reveals his first video game crush — Katt from Breath of Fire II — and asks us to reveal ours. Mine was a random woman from Artworx's 1992 classic, Strip Poker. What's yours? More »

Lookin' for Love? Notch's Wedding Means You Can Give a Free Minecraft to Your Soulmate

Owen Good — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:30:00 EDT

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Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson is getting married tomorrow (which may be today come to think of it. Anyway ...) and in celebration of such, he's giving out a free copy of the game to all who buy it. More »

7 Bad Dating Tips I Learned from My Xbox 360

Sam Winstrom — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Lonely? Unlucky in love? I used to be like you until I learned the secrets of love from my Xbox 360. More »

Mass Effect Fans Worry That Expanded Gay Options Will Create Inconsistencies, Alter Canon

Drew Cohen — Mon, 16 May 2011 17:00:00 EDT

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Mass Effect developer Casey Hudson's announcement less than a day ago that same-sex romances would be given fuller and more explicit articulation in Mass Effect 3 has unsurprisingly ignited a spark among many followers of the franchise. More »

When Your Favorite Game Is Proposing Marriage, The Answer Is 'Yes'

Owen Good — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EDT

She said yes. You're dying to know, and Kotaku can confirm that for you now. Even though her marriage proposal came from a smart-aleck robot and contained references to herpes and, well, the big A, last night Tora told Ben yes, she will marry him, More »

Romancing the Gnomes Leads To Happily Ever After In Warcraft

Owen Good — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:00:00 EDT

Cutting-edge trendspotter The New York Times today tackled the phenomenon of MMO-facilitated romance, noting that the subscriber base for World of Warcraft is six times that of Match.com. More »

A Marriage Built On Love, Respect, And The Need To Catch Them All

Mike Fahey — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:20:00 EDT

In today's love-fueled Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter Maureliuswolf explains just how amazing his Pokémon-loving wife as they ramp up to their second anniversary. More »

Gaming's Greats (And Kotaku) Pay Tribute To Japan

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:00:00 EDT

Broadcasting over the weekend, Gamers Heart Japan is a one hour program, designed to celebrate the country that's given us so many great games as well as help with the relief efforts. More »

Keeping The HD-DVD Dream Alive

Mike Fahey — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:00:00 EDT

The other day while watching my high-definition copy of Blade Runner on my Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, I received an Xbox Live message thanking me for keeping the dream alive. Oh come on, where else can you buy a copy of The Bourne Identity for $2.39? More »

One Man's Endless Love Affair With Pokémon

Mike Fahey — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:20:00 EST

Today on Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter Komrade Kayce isn't ashamed to explore his deep and lasting love for everyone's favorite pocket monsters. More »

A Heartfelt British Rap Tribute To A Video Game Western

Mike Fahey — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:00:00 EST

Independent British musical artist Akira the Don loved Red Dead Redemption so much he wrote a song about it. Wanna hear it? Here goes. More »

How Do You Break Out Of A Gaming Funk?

Mike Fahey — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:20:00 EST

Today in Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter Wocalax needs your help breaking out of a two month long gaming funk. How do you rekindle the love in your relationship with video games? More »

Stop This Senseless Video Game Console War

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:20:00 EST

Why do we scream at each other? That's what commenter Manly McBeeferton wants to know in today's Speak-Up on Kotaku, recalling a simpler time when we used to play video games instead of arguing about them. More »

Some StarCraft Player Has The Best Girlfriend Ever

Mike Fahey — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:20:00 EST

Adrienne Baginski's boyfriend loves StarCraft II. Adrienne Baginski loves him, so she made him the most adorable plush rendition of a Protoss Probe she possibly could for Christmas. Lucky bastard. More »

Dating Sim Will Prevent Your Friends From Stealing Your Virtual Love

Owen Good — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:30:00 EST

Project LovePlus, an upcoming Japanese dating simulation from Konami, will use the Nintendo 3DS' camera to recognize its main user's face and make sure the virtual girlfriend in the game doesn't stray to any of his backstabbin' friends. More »

True Love Is Found In Nintendo Classics

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:30:00 EST

Get ready for some feel-good times, as a man and his lady agree to be wed after a night spent dining, drinking wine then playing classic Nintendo RPG series Earthbound. More »

The Problem With Sex As A Video Game Goal

Joseph Ewens — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:00:00 EST

As you thumb through dialogue trees in Mass Effect, trying to find the best lines to seduce slinky space-warrior Ashley, you're engaging in what the developers hope is an advanced form of simulated human interaction. More »

Left 4 Dead Loves Dead Rising 2

Mike Fahey — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:40:00 EDT

Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 team gives Capcom a little love today with this image, hidden inside a blog post on the release of part three of The Sacrifice digi-comic. Then Chuck Greene shows up. More »

Looking For A Piece On Craigslist

Owen Good — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EDT

A loveless gamer on Craigslist defines compatibility in terms of Tetris. More »

A Nerdy Wedding Ring (Full Of Memories)

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:00:00 EDT

Ray Arifianto, who works on the Xbox Platform team at Microsoft, is getting married. He's got the nerdiest wedding ring to prove it. More »

"Love" Is The Game That Earns You Respect, Breaks The World Of Warcraft Rules

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:40:34 EDT

"My goal is not to make you more powerful than other people," Eskil Steenberg, the video game developer recently told Kotaku, as he explained which video game design rule he is breaking. "It is to let you be more respected." More »

LOVE Blooms In March

Mike Fahey — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:20:00 EST

One-man development army Eskil Steenberg announced a March 25 release date for Love, his procedural online adventure game and perhaps the most ambitious video game ever made by a single person. More »

When A Spartan Loves A Stormtrooper

Mike Fahey — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:20:00 EST

They say Stormtroopers can't hit the broad side of a barn, but there's one that can hit the hardest target of all - the cold heart of a Halo Spartan. More »

This was Love Week on Kotaku

Owen Good — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST

Today is Valentine's Day, and this past week Kotaku went wookin' pa nub in all the video game places. Below are special links to all our Love Week stories, covering love in all its forms, from lust to matrimony. More »

Love In Hell: Dante's Inferno's Take on Romance

Brian Crecente — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST

While religion and an allegorical journey through a medieval hell remain the central themes of the video game adaption of Dante's Inferno, an exploration of love and lust and what separates the two is nearly as important in the game. More »

Love - Exciting and New

Brian Crecente — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST

With Valentine's Day creeping up on us, ax in hand, we've decided to take a moment here on Kotaku to examine all things Love. More »

The Emotion, And Humor, Of Mass Effect 2's Romantic Interludes

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:30:00 EST

While chewing over people's various endings for Mass Effect 2 the other day, one thing that struck me was how many different romantic options you guys had been pursued. And it got me all curious. More »

Love For Everyone On January 7th

Mike Fahey — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST

Eskil Steenberg's procedurally-generated online adventure game is coming along quite nicely, and he's spreading the Love around later this week with the launch of the "feature complete" open beta. More »

Love Is An Open Alpha

Mike Fahey — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:20:00 EDT

A labor of love should be shared by all, so Eskil Steenberg has opened up the first alpha test for his procedurally-generated MMO Love to all comers, though be warned - the test is extremely limited. More »

The Best MMO Demonstration Video You'll See In A While

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:00:00 EDT

We've spoken lovingly about Love before. Love the idea, love the art style, love the concept of a procedurally-generated MMO. Continuing the theme, we also love this extended gameplay demonstration. More »

Love: The Debut Trailer

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:00:00 EDT

Hey. PC gamers. In case you've forgotten, you need to know that one of the most exciting PC games in development at the moment isn't coming from Valve. Or from id, or from Relic, or from Creative Assembly. It's coming from Eskil Steenberg. He's at work, single-handedly, on the MMO Love, which although difficult to describe, basically amounts to a co-operative MMO, built atop procedurally-generated worlds, that plays out like a summer cocktail made from Populous, Spore, shooters and everything in between. At the link below you'll find the game's debut trailer, and while you're watching it, remember: everything you see is the work of one man. More »

Behold The New Diablo III Logo T-Shirt

Mike Fahey — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:20:00 EDT

I just got out of a brief interview with Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson, where we discussed a few things about the role of gender in video games and the new rune system in Diablo III, but the whole time I was in there I couldn't take my eyes off of his t-shirt. I've seen it around the convention, but this was my first chance to see it up close. Behold, the new logo for Diablo III. I really dig the ponies. More »

What Is Love?

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:40:00 EDT

What is love? Is it an emotion? A chemical reaction? According to developer Eskil Steenburg, Love is a first person not so massively multi player online procedural adventure game, which is a real mouthful. At it's heart it is an online roleplaying game with low system requirements, randomly generated monsters, and a graphical style purposefully meant to look like concept art. Dig deeper and you'll find an entire world at your fingertips. While we;ve previously mentioned the game here and here, the folks at PC Gamer recently had a chance to demo the game and were blown away.

The technology behind Love means that the game is editable like nothing we've seen before. Eskil points his mouse at a wall and clicks - then stretches the terrain back and forth, terraforming at will. Then he fires a gun at the side of a wall and it's blown away - digging a cave into the side of a cliff. He then trots through this tunnel, dropping into pastures on the far side.

Love Footage

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:00:00 EDT

The clip is a little old, but also largely unseen, so up it goes. This is some early, early footage (complete with introductory commentary) of Love, Eskil Steenberg's one-man MMO project that we've ~~spoken~~ gushed over previously. Yes, the vid's quality is awful, but even still, once you get to the bits where the sun's out and you can see the whole world wavering like some gorgeous virtual landscape painting, you'll be glad you watched it. More »

Man Hacks Bejeweled, Wins Wife

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST

p3ng has a special lady in his life. So special that, in January, the time had come to propose. Guy didn't want to do the standard dropping-to-one-knee thing, though, so he got a little clever: he hacked up a DS copy of Bejeweled and turned it into a cute little digital wedding proposal. Who can say no to that kind of effort? Not her, that's for sure. More »