Kotaku: Omg

Games Animator Blames Ridiculous NHL Promotion for Vaporized Profits

Owen Good — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST

A company that supplies 3D mapping technology for games like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed saw a £3 million drop in its profits this year, and blamed the fact it spent way too much time animating a bunch of dumbass superheroes Stan Lee thought up for the National Hockey League. More »

BlizzCon 2011 Tickets Will Briefly Be On Sale Next Month

Mike Fahey — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:20:00 EDT

Blizzard has cordoned off two fleeting moments in time next month in which fans can attempt to spend $175 per ticket to attend the annual celebration of all things Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo-related in Anaheim, California. More »

Mean Girls Game Capitalizes on Film's Popularity, Lohan's Career

Owen Good — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:20:00 EDT

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Six years, three arrests and three rehab stints after Lindsay Lohan starred in Mean Girls, its video game adaptation is being released. Without LiLo on the box. This, folks, is what the suits call "leveraging a hot property." More »

Terrifying Clown Army Invades New York Best Buy

Mike Fahey — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:20:00 EST

If you thought the line for Modern Warfare 2 was scary, check out the crowd waiting outside of a New York City Best Buy for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus game. More »

Kotaku Tokyo Get Together Dated For Shipment!

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:15:06 EDT

We've got a date and a time! Heck, we've even got a mystery location (above). The Kotaku Tokyo get together kicks off Tuesday, September 18th at 8:00pm. It runs until they kick us out and turn off the booze. We'll have hand stamps at the door! Those who are definitely coming, shoot us an email to give us a heads up. Those who aren't, don't. The location is in town, and we'll reveal that soon-ish, along with directions. Can't wait! More »

Folklore Impressions

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 17:00:46 EDT

I've ruminated on it. Given it a couple of hours to sink in. I reserve the right to rescind my statement at any point between now and its American release. But I think Folklore might be the most beautiful game I've ever seen. More »

Ubisoft Working on Beowulf

Brian Crecente — Tue, 22 May 2007 20:24:44 EDT

Ubisoft quietly announced that they have penned a deal with Paramount to work on a game based on the upcoming Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf movie expected to hit this holiday. More »

Talks To Maids! Play PS3! Otaku Heaven!!

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:21:26 EST

What's better than buying a PLAYSTATION 3? Paying to rent a PS3 and Japanese maid, that's what! Akihabara's maid cafe LittlePSX has apparently secured a handful of consoles for customers to enjoy. PS3-ing and then taking a Polaroid with a maid costs 400 yen (US $3.40). Eating a plate of curry rice while (yes, WHILE) playing the PS3 is 800 yen ($6.79). And just you and the machine is 200 yen ($1.70). Play is for one hour, and games include Resistance, Ridge Racer 7 and Gundam. Customers can bring their own as well! More »

The Crazy Japanese PSP Omelet Auction

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 12:22:11 EDT

An enterprising individual has figured out what to do with his damaged PSP. Make an omelet with it and put it up on Yahoo Auctions. The seller points out that the omelette was made with seaweed, and there is a "faint sweetness" to the dish because a dash of sugar was used. The seller adds: More »

The Horror, Wii Nunchaku Cut Up and Dissected

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:22:56 EDT

You get your hands on a Wii nunchaku and what do you do? Well, if you don't have a Wii, you take it apart and snap photos. Grisly, but oh-so fascinating pic after the jump. Brian Ashcraft More »

Sega Makes Hard Top-Heavy Toys Soft

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:22:18 EDT

Collectors of large breasted figurines have always had one gripe: The jubblies feel like hard plastic. Ever in tune with the dorky pervs, the good people at Sega have released Neon Genesis Evangelion Moter Riders Figure prize toys with, get this, squishy chests. I'm not totally up-to-date with the giant boob toys, but you'd think this would have been introduced long, long ago. Brian Ashcraft More »

Michael Dell's Burning Into Austin Games Conference

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 07:20:35 EDT

Our capitalistic little brother site The Consumerist kicked us out of bed, sending word of a panel at the upcoming Austin Games Conference with Michael Dell. The young CEO's company has been feeling the heat of late as Dell laptops continue to explode and burst into flames. Regardless, Mike will be in Austin, bravely facing the masses. And what's his talk called? Yep, "Fireside Chat." Brian Ashcraft More »

Forget Kid and Hubby, Here's The Cosplaying Wife

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 07:22:03 EDT

Ever wonder what kind of lives Japanese cosplayers lead? Meet "Isamu Itsuki" (not her real name). By day, she's a mother and housewife, and by day (these game/manga conventions don't happen at night), she's a hardcore cosplayer. For the past ten years, Isamu has been playing dress-up and making her own costumes. She's currently has seventy different outfits! What's the fun? She says that if you are wearing a character's costume, then it's easy for folks that like the character to strike up a conversation. Ridiculous clothes just breed small talk. Brian Ashcraft More »

The Captain Has Turned Off the FTW Sign

egauger — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:20:15 EDT

Please feel free to move about the cabin, and come up with new acronyms. Joystiq is live at the scene of the crime: More »

Here It Is, The Biggest Gosh-Darn Gundam

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 11:22:13 EDT

In our effort to record every abnormally large Gundam statue, we bring you this 7 meter high, 3 meter wide Gundam. For a size comparison, take a look at the humans in the lower right corner. This statue is quite famous here in Japan, and I've seen it on TV a couple times. It took some dude over ten months to build. There's a cockpit and hydraulic pistons, because the thing moves. That's right, it friggin' moves! Brian Ashcraft More »

Resistance, Big As Fook

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 03:22:05 EDT

American developer Insomniac revealed that its upcoming FPS Resistance: Fall of Man will clock in at a whopping 22 gigabytes. Note that the music and vocal tracks in the game take up a measly 1 gig of disc space, the level data, programming code and graphics hog the remaining 21. And what has Insomniac crammed into those 21 gigabytes? An array of cool weapons to shoot up crap. Brian Ashcraft More »

New, Horrible DS Lite Crack

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 14:22:27 EDT

We've seen the cracks. No sweat, they don't interfere with game play so suck it up, right? And if you're really worried, Nintendo has acknowledged the problem and offered free repairs. Granted, the crackage sucks, I never though it was a huge problem. Until now. More »

Nintendo 64 Kid: The Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 09:21:23 EDT

GameSetWatch/Game Developer Magazine/Insert Credit's Brandon Sheffield was minding his own business around the office when he got a phone call out of the blue. The lady on the other end asked Brandon if he knew the Nintendo 64 kid. He said he did. Turns out the lady was his aunt. Here's the bizarro conversation that followed: More »

KotakuStalku: Hulk Hogan in Pikachu Shocker

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:22:21 EDT

This must be one of the signs of the apocalypse. Wrestler Hulk Hogan hosted Pokemon Day in New York's Bryant Park. The event featured playable demos of upcoming Pokemon DS games and adults wearing funny costumes. What's next Hulk Machine, birthday parties? Brian Ashcraft More »

You Keep Using That Word

egauger — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:40:42 EDT

I do not think it means what you think it means. More »

Really HUGE Gundam Model Thingy

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 10:22:03 EDT

Forget video games and anime. If someone ever asks you if Gundam is popular in Japan, laugh in their face and show them this gianormous plastic model. Pricing at 350,000 yen (around US $3,200), the 1.5 meter tall and 35 kilogram (Yanks, get metric!) statue comes with a large black gun, a shield but no smiling lady. There are also 14 parts that move, sound effects and even an infrared remote! Bandai's press release calls this a "Hyper Hybrid Model" and notes that it is targeted towards 20-40 year-old males. Otaku in their 50's are evidently sensible enough not to make this sort of purchase. Brian Ashcraft More »

Duct Tape DS Wraps Itself in Fulgyness

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 10:22:50 EDT

Eliza put out a call, and reader Chris answered. Unfortunately. Here is the ugliest DS case mod on this planet Earth. This oddly duct-taped DS was created by altometer1337 (oh, boy), a member of the Pocket Heaven forums. As soon as he finished wrapping his portable in duct-tap and coloring in the DS symbol with ball-point pen, altometer1337 posted this on Pocket Heaven, where everyone with eyes declared this case mod as truly hideous. Note that altometer1337's post signature is: More »

KotakuStalku: Peter Moore Hates England

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:22:12 EDT

Even though England was knocked out by Portugal in the 2006 World Cup, Liverpool-born Peter Moore proudly draped a Portugal towel around his neck and wraped his 24-inch gun around a Portuguese fan. Drunk on cheap beer or just out of his mind? Until Queen Elizabeth makes a permanent appearance on Moore's bicep, he's getting only suspicious glances from me. Brian Ashcraft More »

Gamerscore King Speaks!

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:21:27 EDT

Blog K1lla's Xbox Domain interviews gamer TheGrayWolf, who currently has the highest gamerscore of all American 360 owners and is ranked third worldwide. Simply put, you don't want to run into this guy on Live. Hailing from Tennessee, the 24 year-old small businessman currently has 42,000 gamerscore points. So what's this uberplayer like? According to TheGrayWolf, More »

The Mother Tattoo

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:22:42 EDT

An arm tattooed with characters from Mother (Earthbound)? Yep. The ink is still fresh as it was done a week ago. The tattoo artist said this was one of his more "unusual tattoos." This was found on *surprise* LiveJournal. Go figure. Brian Ashcraft More »

Sexy DS Lite Skin (Literally)

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:22:12 EDT

Protect your already hot Lite with this "Sexy Girl" skin. There are tons of these over at online retailer DecalGirl, but this particular one obviously stands out. According to the site: More »

DS Lite Silver? Think Not

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:22:03 EDT

Over in the UK, chain retailer Woolworths is currently advertising that the DS Lite comes in black and silver. Last we heard, the Europeans were getting black and white DS Lites. There's been no mention of a silver Lite available anywhere on Earth. Either Woolworths knows something we don't or maybe silver is British for white? Brian Ashcraft More »

OMG, The Super Mario World Room

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 03:22:23 EDT

Holy Mario! A Ninty fangirl painted the front room of her house to look like Super Mario World, complete with piping and 3D boxes. In doing so, she's won the hearts of every Nintendo fanboy. Me, I don't think the murals will jive with anything but mushroom-themed furniture, but that's not really the point. Pics of Mario, Yoshi and painted walls after the jump. Brian Ashcraft More »

Nutso Uwe Found Someone to Beat Up

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:22:34 EDT

Last week, Uwe Boll proved that he wasn't only a stinky filmmaker, but batshit insane by offering to physically beat-up his critics, film the bouts and put them in one of his cruddy "movies." More »

Capcom Customer Service ROCKS

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:24:43 EDT

Reader Matt rattled our rusty mailbox with the following email. Read on: More »

Fancy Feet Stomp Out In the Groove

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:40:12 EDT

You've seen what a 5 year-old can do on DDR, he's was a 14 year-old can do on In the Groove. It's like he's Riverdancing or something. And the kid isn't even happy with his score! Brian Ashcraft More »

The Greatest 5 Yr.-Old DDR Dancer Evar

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:21:37 EDT

Not only are this kid's moves better than mine, but his living room is bigger! Brian Ashcraft More »

Meet the GameJew

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 11:22:21 EDT

The brains behind "The Mario Opera" is at it again, reincarnated as the "GameJew." Brilliant parody or shameless self-promotion? Brian Ashcraft More »

OMG, PlayStation 3 Controller Spelling Mistake [Update: It's Real]

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:23:13 EDT

Kotakuite Oly hit Sony's super swish Ginza showroom, which was not only displaying the PlayStation 3 for all to see, but a glaring spelling error. Instead of "SELECT", the PS3 controller reads "SERECT". Even though Sony's been batting fly balls of late, we're not going to poke fun. That would be rude. Spelling in a foreign language is hard, especially when it's an unusual word like "select". More »

Tamagotchi: The Passenger Plane!

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 11:20:11 EDT

Further proof that Japanese airline JAL is run by 8 year-old children, the carrier will be rolling out three Tamagotchi jets for the month of August. With the Obon holidays, the month is prime vacation time, and the handheld pet sim is coming up on its tenth anniversary. Inside the plane, the headrest covers and paper cups depict the popular characters, and there's even an on-board Tamagotchi channel. Children get their requisite schwag as they damn well should. Brian Ashcraft More »

Rockstar Assembles GTA Team

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 06:22:49 EDT

According to movie database IMDB.com, more Grand Theft Auto IV details have emerged. And *surprise*, the story will be inked by Dan Houser (the game's scribe since GTA II) and James Worrall (scribe since GTA III), while Lazlow Jones will be lending his voice again to the project. Can you believe that? OMG! Whatever are the odds? More »

Uwe Boll Wants to Kick Your Ass (No, Really)

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 03:20:23 EDT

He's has had enough snark. German filmmaker Uwe Boll announced he is willing to take on the haters. In a boxing ring. With gloves. (Read: he's nuts.) More »

An Xbox That's Michael Jackson Fulgy

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 01:24:17 EDT

Like the King of Pop, this modder just could not leave well enough alone. Had to keep adding, changing, modifying. Couldn't stop, until the Xbox turned into that. Utterly hideous. Brian Ashcraft More »

The Verdict? Solitaire is Fun!

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:22:34 EDT

A Federal judge was caught sneaking a few rounds of computer solitaire during the trial of John "Junior" Gotti. Radio host Curtis Silwa blew the whistle after he noticed Judge Shira Scheindlin getting her game on during the trial. Silwa was on the witness stand, testifying against Gotti who plotted to kill the radio host in 1992. More »

Super Great Bollywood Wii Dancing

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:20:20 EDT

A Bollywood film subtitled in English by a wise-cracking Spanish-speakers. Love the song, the costume changes, bosom burying and the heart-warming message at the end. More »