Kotaku: ninjas

Hasselhoff Uses Stardom To Score A Wii — How The Mighty Have Fallen

AJ Glasser — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:40:00 MDT

Look, I get that the Wii is a scarce commodity — more so a year ago when actor David Hasselhoff was looking to buy one — but playing the Knight Rider card? Really?

In a partially-transcribed interview with MTV Multiplayer, the ex-Baywatch star details his *ahem* harrowing struggle to obtain the coveted console for his little daughter when faced with supposedly sold out Wii stock.

Hasselhoff recounts his playing of the celebrity card...

"This is David Hasselhoff, okay? I've got a daughter. I love my daughter, more than life itself. This is all she wants, okay? I don't know if you realize it but I'm going through a rough time right now. And so [laughs] this could really help me help my daughter."

And they said: "This is not David Hasselhoff."

I said, "Do you have one game, in the back, that you've held?"

They said, "We do."

[I said] "Hold that game. I will be over in 30 minutes." I jumped in my car and drove over.

The guy goes: "Are you kidding me? Are you freaking kidding me? Knight Rider! Dude!" And then, forget it, any game I wanted. I got the Wii game.

Yes, that's right — he called it "Wii game." But don't judge Hasselhoff too harshly; his was a simpler generation of babes in bathing suits. And his next film, The Legend of the Dancing Ninja, presumably has ninjas in it. That's cool right?

*reads plot synopsis on IMDB*

On second thought, judge away. Don't even wait for Stephen Totilo to finish posting the interview.

How David Hasselhoff Found His Daughter A Wii [MTV Multiplayer]

Deadly Creatures, Locked In Mortal Combat

Mike Fahey — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:20:00 MST

It's a developer diary! It's a nature documentary! It's both! The developers of the upcoming Wii exclusive action adventure title Deadly Creatures talk up the combat abilities of the game's two unique protagonists.

From this installment of the Deadly Creatures development diaries, we learn that while the scorpion is a powerful brawler, the tarantula is a stealthy ninja, using jump strikes, stealth pounces, and web-jumping to make its way around the small-scale game world. This bothers me, mainly because it combines my great love of ninja with my great fear of spiders. This shall be the truest test of my ninja love. The kiss of the spider ninja.

More Castle Crashers Characters: Ninja and Skeleton

Owen Good — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:00:00 MDT

The Behemoth aren't fools, they understand that adding ninjas not only adds awesomeness, it compounds it. (Seriously, try it out. Take any noun, say "plus ninjas," and tell me if it's not awesome. Christmas. Oregon Trail. My cousins' confirmation. Told you.) So word's out via the official blog that you can count on Ninja as another character, and Skeleton as still another.
Ninja carries a sai and a coffee mug, described in a pureley def4. That has to be an inside office joke. The mug is purely defensive. There's also a haze/halo around Ninja in the screens provided by The Behemoth, so does that include invisibility, camouflage or teleporting, or is that just a motion effect? Dunno.

Second character just announced: Skelly, whose weapons seem to include a sword and a bow-and-bone arrow. Plus from gameplay screens, he's either blocking or projecting some kind of energy attack.

Full screens after the jump.

Castle Crashers: Ninja and Skelly [Castle Crashers Development Blog of Love, via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Sega Bound By Ancient Ninja Codes

Leigh Alexander — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:20:00 MDT

The fabled ninja code of silence are the ties that apparently bind Sega employees' lips shut, it seems. MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo got snaps of the Sega office decor, which features ninjas urging employees to protect their company's trade secrets.

But isn't the use of ninjas to keep employees silent a trade secret? If Totilo disappears without a trace on his way home one night, now we'll know what happened.

Sega Ninjas Remind Sega Employees To Keep Their Mouths Shut (pictures) [MTV Multiplayer]

Akella's City Of Abandoned Ships Pirated

Mike Fahey — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:20:39 MST

Russian developer Akella are the closest thing gaming has to pirate specialists. They've got titles like Pirates of the Caribbean (Xbox), Age of Pirates, and Sea Dogs under their belts already, and they've just announced a new game for 2008, City of Abandoned Ships. It's a pirate RPG that allows you to take the role of the pirates themselves or any of the usual suspects: England, France, Spain, or the Dutch. You'll get ship=to=ship combat, meet historical figures, and explore land-based locations throughout the Caribbean. They're so pirate they've even come up with a nifty anagram for their advancement system: P.I.R.A.T.E.S - Power, Impression, Reaction, Authority, Talent, Endurance and Success. They might be going a little overboard here, but years at sea will do that to you. City of Abandoned Ships is due in the first quarter of 2008, most likely for the PC.

Akella Announces City of Abandoned Ships
The makers of Sea Dogs, Pirates of the Caribbean, and other critically acclaimed naval titles are working on another swashbuckling RPG.

Moscow, Russia, 16 November 2007 - Akella, a leading developer, publisher and distributor of video games in Russia and CIS, has announced its forthcoming naval title, City of Abandoned Ships. Developed by Seaward.ru, City of Abandoned Ships will combine compelling gameplay and wonderful graphics thus bringing a new experience to all the fans of daring sword duels and ship-to-ship combats.

"Akella has a good track of records in developing a diverse lineup of maritime titles. City of Abandoned Ships is one more step to build upon our capacities in creating the paradise world of pirates as it was in the 17th century", said Dmitry Arkhipov, VP Development of Akella. "Our new RPG will deliver an exciting storyline and attract new fans to naval games genre".

About City of Abandoned Ships

Developer: Seaward.ru
Publisher: Akella
Genre: RPG
Release date: Q1 2008

Starting out your buccaneering career you can choose to go it alone and become the most feared pirate on the seven seas, terrorizing Spaniard and English gentleman alike. Or prove your loyalty and take the coin of one of four different navies: French, English, Spanish or Dutch.

Sailing the high seas as a swashbuckling dread pirate or as a dashing naval captain, you will explore strange new countries and alien civilization, raid and plunder fortified ports and cities, and search for ancient treasures. But beware, the dead do not sleep easy and in the dark South American jungles myth and reality intertwine.

Solve the ancient mysteries of a vanishing tribe, cross swords with the most notorious swashbucklers ever to sail the ocean blue and make sure that no foe ever sets foot on land again.

Key features:

* Explore the accurately-mapped paradise of the Caribbean. Sail your tall ship around the islands of Cuba and Jamaica to Belize and Bermuda.
* Vast array of land-based locations, from dense South American jungle to dark Caribbean cave complexes.
* Meet real-life historical characters, such as Jamaican governors Colonel Thomas Lynch and Thomas Modyford.
* Take your part in quests based around actual historical events.
* Experience mirrored missions for different states - defend a Spanish territory in one instance and orchestrate a ruthless attack in another.
* Unique P.I.R.A.T.E.S system of character progression: Power, Impression, Reaction, Authority, Talent, Endurance and Success.
* Face fierce ship-to-ship combat or stand toe-to-toe with the most feared swordsmen in the Caribbean.

Truly Great Ninja Poop

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:30:41 MDT

Southpeak Interactive describes Ninjatown as "a quirky but intensely addictive strategy title." It'll be on dispaly at the Leipzig Games Convention, and the game will be out first quarter 2008. I don't care if it's Wednesday, this clip is the cutest thing you will see all week. Mark my words.

Cute Ninjas Okay [Dtoid]

Too Many Ninjas!

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:00:16 MDT

One thing I've learned: You can never have too many ninjas. Pirates, yes. Ninjas, no. Still, there is a flash game called Too Many Ninjas!. It's annoyingly bizarre little flasher with purple ninjas that is not nearly as great as its own title. Still, I was only able to kill 20 of those little buggers, when I realized there may be too many ninjas, but not enough fun.
Too Many [Foddy via Game|Life]

First HD South Park Episode Coming To XBLM

fdemarco — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 08:00:00 MST

Chris Kohler over at Game|Life is reporting that the first South Park episode ever to be presented in HD will be an Xbox Live exclusive. Starting Tuesday, March 6, the episode, Good Times With Weapons, will be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace free of charge for the first two weeks. Then, from March 20 to April 3, Best Buy will be giving away free copies of the episode on HD-DVD with the purchase of an Xbox 360 or it's HD-DVD player.

In case you're like me and episode titles mean nothing to you, Good Times With Weapons is one where the boys acquire ninja weapons from the county fair. The bulk of the remainder of the episode is presented in letterbox format and animated in a great spoof of anime style. If you haven't seen it, I would highly suggest checking it out as it is (in my opinion anyway) one of the ten best South Park episodes ever made. You get ninja weapons, dead on anime style animation, Butters as Professor Chaos and Cartman's genitals. Who could ask for anything more? Flynn De Marco

First HD Episode of South Park Exclusive to Xbox 360 [Game|Life]

Ninja Loves Pirate

egauger — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 17:20:49 MDT

As chairman of NiPL: Ninja-Pirate Love, I feel it is my solemn duty to point you at what appears to be a shiny little gem of an indie game. GayGamer reports:

Ninja Loves Pirate...impossible!! Apparently, there is a game that features Ninjas, Pirates, Zombies and Robots. Holy Shazbot, that sounds great! On top of that, you can play as a Ninja or Pirate, or both, whichever suits your fancy.

I poked around their site and I love, love, love the character art and environments, and the music is superfly. I haven't demo'd it yet because I'm behind on indie game reviews right now, but I will. Oh yes indeed, I will. Elizarrrr Gauger

Ninja Loves Pirate [Ninja Loves Pirate, via GayGamer]

Mortal Kombat Armageddon Character Selection Screen

egauger — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:40:00 MDT

Feast your eyes and nuts on this glistening new character selection screen from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. According to hot tipper David, it just got dropped onto the Midway forums by one of the mods.

New characters include Florian, third from the left on the third row; Crecente, second from the top on the second row; Bashcraft, first on the left on the second row, and don't look now but I think Scorpion might be gay and/or racist. Eliza Gauger

Massive Black Accuses Former Employees of Shenanigans

egauger — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:20:03 MDT

1up reports that art firm Massive Black is pursuing legal action against the head and a former employee of its Shanghai devision, James Xi Zhang and Jenny Chen, respectively.

A job at Massive Black is a student illustrator's wet dream; they handle art for high-profile games and movies, and their roster of character and environmental artists is second to none. I go to their forums and stare at the threads crammed with 16-year-old Corel Painter prodigies whenever I really want to feel like shit about my own drawing ability. The image at right is by Massive Black boss Jason Manley.

But enough about my trembling self-loathing, let's see what those crazy Massive Black peeps are up to:

Massive Black Inc. vs. James Xi Zhang is a civil complaint for injunction and damages. The complaint outlines 11 claims alleged against Zhang and his co-conspirator, Jenny Chen. The other named defendant in the case is "Studio Takeover" — a term the court instituted to indicate the studio Zhang and Chen planned to form from Massive Black Inc.'s clientele. The case also names Does 1-50, preparing for the inclusion of other conspirators, if the ongoing investigation yields more than just Zhang and Yiqiong behind the alleged plot. Among the claims: Fraud, Unlawful Access to Computer Network/Tresspass, Interference with Contract, Breach of Contract and Interference With Prospective Business Advantage.

To sum up, Zhang and Chen skimmed money via "expenses accounts", secretly accepted clients personally that had contacted the company itself, and hired their own artists to work on the sniped properties, using Massive Black's own studios and equipment. Now THAT is ninja'ing most foul. Eliza Gauger

Read the entire article here [1up]