Kotaku: Poll

Win Free Copy of Ninja Gaiden 2

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:00:00 MDT

Trivia time! And not just any old trivia, Ninja Gaiden 2 trivia! And for the 20th person who answers the poll and sends the correct answer to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom with the subject heading "Ninja Gaiden II" and a picture of your most recent meal will get a free copy of Ninja Gaiden II. Just like that!

What's Worse: RRoD or GTA IV Lockup?

ogood — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:00:00 MDT

Clearly, Sony has been looking to bootstrap the PS3 to Grand Theft Auto IV's launch, even if this is the first time that title hasn't released exclusively on its platform first. A news release sent Thursday by Sony's agency pointed out that GTA IV's launch provided "a vigorous lift in PS3 console sales" (according to an exec with Sony channel partner Gamestop, in the kind of comment that was clearly written and approved by no one actually connected to it).

In the same release, an analyst points out that the three previous titles, launching exclusively on Playstation first, has helped build up an installation base of loyal GTA Playstation gamers. That brings up a nagging question: If Sony and Playstation can claim (and I certainly think they can) such a strong connection to the GTA franchise, how does the inexplicable lock-up problem, which seems to disproportionately affect the PS3, affect consumers considering a purchase of that console?

Is it — I'll go ahead and put it out there — at all equivalent to Xbox's Red Ring of Death PR nightmare?

Granted, GTA IV is just one title, whereas the 360's horrid, rushed-to-market design flaw can eliminate all gaming on that platform for a month or more. But if Sony is finally turning the corner in console sales thanks to Grand Theft Auto IV then how badly is it damaged by word that this mega-title, aligned to its brand for a decade, has an inexplicable defect?

Existing Xbox owners tolerate the RRoD risk probably for the same reason that existing PS3 owners will tolerate GTA lockup risk. Very few are going to rush out and buy another console because of either. But for those who have neither a PS3 nor a 360, and may be considering between the two for themselves or as a gift, you better believe both Microsoft and Sony obsess over anything on that battleground, no matter how small.

So I'll put the question to you. Is the GTA lockup problem as bad for Sony as the RRoD is for Microsoft?

Show Of Hands: Wii Online

Mark Wilson — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:40:00 MDT

Along with many of you, I've been playing quite a bit of Super Smash Bros. Brawl since it's been released. All in all, I'm impressed by the update more than I thought I would be. And the stiff platforming elements sorta grew on me.

But wow. Online play. That's not working too well, is it? Last night, I finally decided to give online a spin. I gave up after trying to join several games and waiting 5 to 10 minutes a pop for other players that never showed. Later, attacking with more resolve, I finally I got into one match—felt like a lottery winner—only to find that lag makes the hyperactive game completely unplayable. So I just wanted to run a quick poll to catch reader impressions of Wii's online services and see if I'm the only one having issues:

Topping Death Match Final: Fondant Versus Ganache

Mike Fahey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:00:00 MDT

It's time for the final round of our cake coating death match! Only two confectionery contenders remain standing from our initial field of thirty cake toppings: fan-favorite fondant, which gives a cake that smooth, professional look, and the surprise challenger, ganache. Who'd have thought that plucky ganache, the chocolate cream creation from the mid 1800's would have toppled the more versatile butter cream? Well topple it did, and now it all comes down to this...the icing on the cake, as it were. Make your vote be heard, faithful Kaketaku readers!

Which Controller Do You Brawl With?

Mike Fahey — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:00:52 MDT

The first thing that struck me as I started digging into Super Smash Bros. Brawl for my review, was the fact that this wasn't a game designed with the standard Wiimote controls in mind. The only time the motion sensing comes into play is when you shake the controller to activate your Smash Attack, and even then it's easier done with the control stick and a button. Me? I tried all the configurations, and finally settled with my trusty old GameCube controller. What's your weapon of choice?

Vote For Capcom Costumes in We Love Golf

fdemarco — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:00:00 MST

The upcoming golf game We Love Golf will be featuring alternate Capcom costumes for each of its ten characters. The European and US versions of the game will be getting two new characters and Capcom is asking for your help in deciding what classic costumes will be available for them. For the male character you can choose between Frank West (Dead Rising), Balrog (Street Fighter), Guy (Final Fight), Ken (Street Fighter), Dhalsim (Street Fighter), and Captain Commando (Bionic Commando). The ladies also have a nice list to choose from including Cammy (Street Fighter), Morrigan (Darkstalkers), Rouge (Power Stone), Roll Caskett (Mega Man Legends), and Ashley Graham (Resident Evil). You can vote for yourself in the sidebar of Capcom's Official blog. What will be your picks for classic Capcom golf fashion? Personally, I'm voting for the Frank West boxer briefs ensemble.

The SNES Was The Best Console EVAR

Mark Wilson — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:40:58 MST

CNET just published a story by Don Reisinger claiming that the Super Nintendo was the greatest console of all time. He argues that the console was the ultimate successor, "a follow-up that was worthy of the 'Super' moniker and gave developers the license they needed to create the legendary titles that we still play today." Personally, I'd agree with his casually argued logic—there's a reason I'm anxious to port Super Mario World to every device on the planet but bored by the thought of playing PSOne games on the PSP. Of course, this is all just one man's opinion and many of you won't agree. So go ahead and vote below before elaborating in the comments.

The SNES is the greatest console of all time [cnet]

Could You Handle Shaky, Cloverfield-Style Gaming?

Mark Wilson — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:40:28 MST

Seeing Cloverfield last weekend really piqued my interest. I was more impressed by the film than I'd expected to be, finding the documentary-style handheld shooting to be far more intrinsic to the narrative experience than some mere Blair Witch clone. And it got me thinking, while games like Gears of War have already experimented with shakier camera systems, could we stand a full handheld onslaught throughout 10-12 hours of gaming?
Btw, I keep jabbing after the jump...

Maybe the Blair Witch games missed out. Because the mechanic could be interesting—a fixed (be it wobbly) camera system following a first or third person game could be a fun, novel way to limit a player's perception (because, face it, even when we're forced into a perspective we're generally still actually seeing more than most real-life scenarios). Of course this "fun factor" point is arguable, but let's move forward for the sake of the topic.

Could you stand the experience? Does watching a film like Cloverfield or Blair Witch make you seasick? And do you think that being in a virtual video game would exacerbate the effect, or minimize such issues? Because I have a nagging suspicion that those reports of people puking in theaters are written by an older generation of reporters who haven't been accustomed to games like UT3, or even shows you see on MTV.

And if you answer those questions, then sure, you can feel free to rip the mechanic to shreds.

The Live Outage Poll

Brian Crecente — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:00:31 MST

Conflicting reports of Xbox Live outages continue to roll in to Kotaku Tower and now that Larry Hryb has been officially and legally muzzled there's no way to tell what's going on or how the fix is coming. Which is odd, you'd think they could at least update their subscribers about the issues without legal ramifications. Then again, I'm no lawyer. In lieu of official comment, the next best thing is to go to the users of Live to see if they too are still experiencing issues.

Hit the jump to vote on our very unofficial poll.

Do You Believe That MGS4 Will Be On Xbox 360

Mark Wilson — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:20:28 MST

Rumors that Metal Gear Solid 4 will make its way to the Xbox 360 have been repeatedly denied by a variety of sources whenever they surface. But, with all the back and forth between speculation and PR rumor control, you have to wonder—has the damage already been done? Does the public really believe that MGS4 will forever be PS3 exclusive? Or will a collective inkling of doubt keep those PS3s from flying off shelves when the game hits?

Reader's Choice GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:49:24 MST

You had yesterday to vote on your favorite games by platform, now's your chance to vote on which favored platform game should get the overall Reader's Choice Game of the Year. Hit the jump to vote in the poll. On Monday I'll publish the results for all of the polls.

Reader's Choice XBLA GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:45:09 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the XBLA's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice PSN GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:45:07 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the PSN's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice Xbox 360 GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 13:45:05 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the Xbox 360's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice Wii GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:45:33 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the Wii's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice PSP GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:45:31 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the PSP's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice PS3 GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:45:41 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the PS3's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice PS2 GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:45:39 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the PS2's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice PC GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:07:34 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the PC's Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Reader's Choice DS GOTY

Brian Crecente — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:19:34 MST

Yesterday we published our goaties for each platform and the overall game of the year. Today's your chance to vote for the best game in each platform. Hit the jump to vote for the DS' Game of the Year. We'll be publishing polls for the rest of the categories throughout the day. On Monday we'll tabulate the totals and use that to put up a poll for the Reader's Choice Overall Game of the Year.

Conservatives Avoid Gaming, But Everyone Loves Mario

Mark Wilson — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:20:51 MST

A new Zogby poll surveying the political/entertainment preferences of about 4,000 adult Americans has called it.

Conservatives:

...don't play a lot of video games, but when they do, Madden NFL and Mario are their favorites.

Liberals:

...play video games a lot more than other people - Mario and The Sims are favorites.

So what about the moderates?

Moderates:

Their favorite video games are Mario, Donkey Kong and Madden NFL.

Hmmm...methinks that the adult population pretty much all has the same (semi-uninformed and general) taste in games. I'd love to run our own poll, but I'd hate to see a fistfight break out in the comments. And by "hate" I mean take bets and instigate with open trash talk.

Zogby/Lear Center Poll [via gamepolitics] [image]

Tetris "L-Block" Trounces The Competition

fdemarco — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:00:00 MDT

I usually don't pay too close attention to online polls, but when Kotakuite hero.of.time sent in this one I had to give a chuckle. Gamefaqs is currently running the sixth in a series of Character Battle polls wherein readers vote between four characters on who would win in a fight. After narrowing it down from a list that included the likes of Samus, Mega Man, Ryu, Sephiroth and other top contenders, only four characters will remain in the final battle. The final semi-final battle is on now and in a battle between a Tetris L-block, Solid Snake, Master Chief and Dante, the L-block is slamming the competition with a whopping 32,953 votes followed by Solid Snake with 24,497 votes. The two top characters in this battle will go on to the finals and currently Link and Cloud are in the winner's circle awaiting their two remaining competitors. Will the L-block reign supreme? Cast your vote and decide. Is it ridiculous? Of course, but it's Saturday and news is slow. So, sue me.

Character Battle VI [GameFaqs]

Miyamoto, Top Male of 2007 According To Men

Mark Wilson — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:00:35 MDT

In case you didn't believe that Miyamoto was a top man, readers of AskMen.com have validated the rumor. According to a major reader poll, Miyamoto ranks number 19 out of a total of 49 top men. Apparently his work on the innovative new wireless Wavebird controller tipped the scales in his direction.

While 19th out of 50 out of billions isn't bad, his 81.75 rating may draw some harsh criticism from a strong fanbase. I mean, c'mon. Look at that smile, those teeth. Look at that camel hair sport coat. Our man Shigeru is at least a 92.493. He was robbed.

Top 49 men [via gonintendo]

Have TGS Attendees Purchased The New PSP?

Mark Wilson — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:00:23 MDT

Since the PSP Slim hit Japan a few days ago (September 20th), we thought we'd poll the hardcore gamers sweating their way through TGS as to whether or not they'd made the plunge. And while our poll is hardly scientific (Ash had to write the question on a piece of paper for us), our conclusion is that Japanese women love Luke's powerful beard.

Alright, Whose Grandparents Game?

Brian Ashcraft — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:00:44 MDT

Hey! Today is National Grandparents Day. So, hopefully you called your parents' parents or wrote them an email or sent them a card or screamed loudly in their general direction. Because remember, if they didn't have sex and make your mom-and-dad, you wouldn't be here. And if you weren't here, you couldn't play video games. Think about it!

With the Wii and the DS, the buzz words have been "expanding the audience" — AKA, getting old folks to play Wii Sports and Brain Age. And some elders, like Old Grandma Hardcore, are really, really into games. What about yours? Got any gaming grannies or gramps? Are you one yourself! Hit the comments and tell all.

The Broken 360 Poll

Brian Crecente — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:00:48 MDT

Just how many Xbox 360's have died on you. I've had nine give up on ghost on me, good thing they were all loaners from Microsoft. Hit the jump to vote, try not to cheat. :)

E3 Deathwatch Day 2

Noah Robischon — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:26:19 MDT

Can you hear the nails being hammered into E3's coffin? Or will it rise zombie-like from the grave? Frank West told me that help arrives on day 3 - which means there is still time to cast your vote in our E3 deathwatch poll:

E3: Dead Forever or Risen From the Ashes?

Noah Robischon — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:31:06 MDT

Zelda. The Ocarina of Time. Best. Game. Ever.

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:20:39 MDT

The Nintendo 64 may not have had a great number of memorable releases, but it was fortunate enough to be home to the best game of all time, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. That accolade was presented by UK video game magazine Edge who have released their latest list of "The Best 100 Video Games", a 260-page publication due to hit newsstands across the pond tomorrow. The top ten, dominated by Nintendo-developed titles, follows.

1. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (N64)
2. Resident Evil 4 (Multi)
3. Super Mario 64 (N64)
4. Half-Life 2 (PC, Xbox)
5. Super Mario World (SNES)
6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
7. Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, PC)
8. Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
9. Tetris (Multi)
10. Super Metroid (SNES)

According to the editors of Edge, the listing was determined by factoring in thousand of votes from its readers, feedback from "creatives working in the videogame industry" and "countless rounds of deliberation among the Edge editorial staff."

Having played all but one of these games to completion, it looks to be a fairly solid but totally safe list of fan favorites. They wouldn't have necessarily been my top ten, but at the very least, they're all damn good games. Except for Super Mario 64. Sweet Jesus, did that game eat a bag of dicks.

Heavenly, Uncharted, Warhawk Most Anticipated

Brian Crecente — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:00:02 MDT

Heavenly Sword, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Warhawk are the most anticipated upcoming first-party games for the PS3, according to the 10,000 or so people who voted over on the official Playstation Blog. Marketeer Patrick Seybold says he'll be trying to get developers on the three games to hop onto the site to talk about the games in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the blog has kicked off a new poll, this one asking readers what feature they'd most like to see added to the site:

Receive email updates for new posts
Additional post tagging and sharing options
Links to the most popular blog posts
Downloadable high-res screen shots
A Flickr photo stream of PlayStation picts
Desktop widget with this blog's headlines

While I love those ideas, what I'd love to see is a mystery livecam. Those things are great in development studios.
A New Poll, We Need Your Help [Playstation.Blog]

Vote for the First Game Club Game

Brian Crecente — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:00:15 MDT

If nothing else, the whole Game Club concept is certainly attracting a lot of attention... and votes. On Monday I posted up a poll to decide which game should be the first we dissect. The poll, which is still running, currently shows Beyond Good & Evil as the strong leader with Cave Story in second.

I'll make sure to wrap it up this week and announce which game we're going to do, but if you haven't voted yet go do so now. What's kinda cool is that developers for both Deadly Rooms Of Death: The City Beneath and Mr. Robot emailed Kotaku to thank us for including them in the poll and to say that if selected they'd help out however they could.

Keep in mind, everyone, that just because a game isn't the first one doesn't mean it won't make the club. Brian Crecente

The First Game of Game Club

Brian Crecente — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:00:54 MDT

I know that E3 is right around the corner, but I think if I keep putting off this first ever Game Club it may never come to fruition. So lets get this thing going.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you probably want to read this first. I still haven't come up with all of the details, but I have decided that what we will most likely do is include a limited number of people in the discussions in our Campfire room (a sort of big, secure chat room) and that we will then post the outcome of the chat in Kotaku for the rest of the readers to continue the discussion in. More details on how we will decide who gets in the door once we get going.

I suspect once we work the kinks out we will be choosing the game to feature in the Game Club, but for this first one ever I decided to would be nice to run a short poll to see which game you want featured. Hit the jump to vote and make sure you check out the three PC titles on the list, whether we pick them or not, they're all worth a play. Brian Crecente

Does Sound Matter In Games?

Brian Crecente — Tue, 29 May 2007 09:00:40 MDT

Game Developer Magazine's audio columnist is hoping to get some input on an upcoming column he's writing about the importance of music and sound to gameplay.

He's got a poll up right now to try and get a handle on what gamers think on the topic. Head over there if you have a second and fill it out. It's an interesting topic.

When I used to do my gaming upstairs, just a few dozen feet from our bedrooms, I would play games with the sound muted at night and I can tell you, it really takes away from the experience. I was surprised to find I did much worse in shooters while playing muted because I couldn't hear some of the audio cues built into a game to let you know people are trying to cap you or sneak up on you. Brian Crecente

Mister Poll: Video Game Sound

In Japan, What Controllers Are Popular?

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:00:44 MDT

A Japanese poll has popped up in which folks have been voting for their favorite game controller. Not that many people have voted, but it's an interesting list so far. As of writing, here are the most popular ones:

Sega Saturn Controller: 74 votes
Super Famicom Controller: 28
Mega-Drive Fighting Pad: 27
Nintendo 64 Controller: 19
NES FIGHTING COMMANDER: 14
PS2 Real Arcade Pro. Special Edition: 14
Dreamcast Controller: 13
PS2 Sega Saturn Controller: 13
XBOX Controller: 12
GameCube Controller: 12

So. What are your favs? Brian Ashcraft

Popular Controllers In Japan

Poll: So, You Gonna Buy That Black Box?

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:40:54 MDT

Good morning reader people! In case you missed the big news, Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 Elite. In short: The Xbox 360 Elite will come with a 120GB hard drive, an HDMI port, a HDMI cable, both component and composite cables, an audio adapter for use with HDMI and a black finish for the console, wireless controller and Xbox Live headset. The Elite model will hit in North America on April 29 for $479.99 along with a new stand-alone 120 GB hard drive that will sell for a whopping $179.99.

So, now that we know what it is, it's time to run a horribly unscientific poll. Brian Ashcraft

Gundam More Popular Than Star Wars?

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 05:00:54 MDT

Using Google Trends, blogger Danny Choo did comparisons of Gundam vs. Star Wars in Japanese and English. The results are surprising! As Danny points out, interest in Star Wars comes and goes, depending things like new video games or DVD collector's edition. But regardless of crappy PS3 games like Target in Sight, interest in Gundam is eternal.

Okay. Poll time. Haven't done one in a while, so here goes! Brian Ashcraft

Gundam Dukes It Out With Star Wars [Danny Choo]

Poll: Still Playing With Your Wii?

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:22:03 MST

So, the honeymoon's over and the novelty's worn off by now. A good chunk of us got our Wiis and have played Wii Sports, Twilight Princess or Wario Ware: Smooth Moves into the ground. As Greg Howson at Guardian's Gamesblog points out:

I appreciate there is always a post launch lull, but I'm struggling to get too excited about the Wii at the moment. The terrible Call of Duty 3 makes me fear for future Wii conversions of multi format games, while the Virtual Console downloads are technically flawed and far too familiar.

Do know what he means. I will occasionally play a pick-up round of Wii Tennis with Mrs. Bashcraft, but that's about it at the moment. (McWhertor, on the other hand, spent yesterday playing Wario Ware: Smooth Moves alone. Yes, ALONE.) So it's poll time! And for the really chatty-types, clack away in the comments section:

Playing With Your Wii? [Guardian, Image From Infendo]

The Great Xbox 360 Crap-Out Poll

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 10:22:30 MST

With my Xbox 360 on the fritz, other commenters wrote in and said they had similar problems. We're a year into the console's life, haven't done a poll in a while and I need some hardly hard numbers. Consider this a quick and unscientific head count. Brian Ashcraft

Where Wii Play

Brian Crecente — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 16:00:16 MST

Nintendo ran a little informal poll over on their MySpace page asking gamers where they would be most excited to play Wii?

The results:

Living room - 61%
Break room - 6%
Dorm room - 12%
At a party - 21%

What? No bathroom? Come on! Brian Crecente

Survey: Pick Sony's Next Blogger

Brian Crecente — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:32:23 MST

OK, you read our choices, now's your time to vote. After we have a clear winner we'll be hitting up Sony for an official response. Brian Crecente