Kotaku: Secrets

Naruto: Ultima Ninja Storm Website Is Tricky

Mike Fahey — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:00:00 MDT

The official website for Namco Bandai's Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm for the PlayStation 3 is now live! Inside you'll find a spot to sign up for a newsletter, the trailer we posted yesterday, and the screenshots we posted the day before, along with a few choice new additions. Ah, but wait! You cannot simply enter the website...that is not the way of the ninja. You must first discover the correct combination on the puzzle wheel before you can get to the goodies inside. If only there were some sort of giant hint, staring you right in the face. Until that appears, you'll just have to blindly fumble for the solution.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Website [Namco Bandai - Thanks LDjosh!]

Folklore Devs Working On Secret Movie Game

Mike Fahey — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:20:13 MDT

Movie video game producers Brash Entertainment (Jumper: Griffin's Story, Alvin and the Chipmunks) has signed a deal with Japanese developer Game Republic (Genji series, Folklore) to work together on a game based on a "popular Hollywood film". While we've no idea what movie the game is to be based on, famed Game Republic CEO Yoshiki Okamoto hints at a fantasy theme.

"In collaborating with Brash, we were introduced to a very compelling fictional world and given the freedom to expand it through the game. We are working directly with the creative talent from the film, and feel that the close collaboration will result in an amazing game play experience that immerses the player in an incredible fantasy world."

Incredible fantasy world with a 2010 release? Warner Bros. 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans would certainly fit the bill, with the original film allowing it the "popular Hollywood" film label, and Brash does have an agreement with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Just my speculation mind you. We'll just have to wait and see!

Brash Entertainment Partners with Game Republic, Inc.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 12 /PRNewswire/ — Today Brash Entertainment announced a game development deal with Game Republic, Inc., the Japan-based studio led by famed game producer Yoshiki Okamoto. Under the terms of the worldwide agreement, the partners will collaborate on an unannounced game based on a popular Hollywood film. The game will release in 2010.

Game Republic, Inc. was founded in 2003 under the leadership of industry visionary, Yoshiki Okamoto. A 20-year veteran of the game industry, Game Republic, Inc. CEO Okamoto has had a dramatic impact on the styles of gameplay prevalent in modern titles and is credited with pioneering new genres including "one-on-one fighting" with Street Fighter II and "survival horror" with Resident Evil. In addition, his teams have delivered such popular franchises as Lost Planet, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, Darkstalkers and many more.

"As a gamer, I am extremely excited to work with Okamoto-san, who has produced some of my favorite games," said Brash co-founder and CEO Mitch Davis. "The Brash business gives us the luxury to match the best Hollywood IP with the skills of the most talented independent game developers; our partnership with a strong studio such as Game Republic, Inc. is an excellent example of that."

"One of my goals with games is to do something revolutionary with something that has been never been seen before. The opportunity to re-imagine a fictional world provided by a compelling Hollywood IP using the interactive medium of games is very exciting to me," said Okamoto. "In collaborating with Brash, we were introduced to a very compelling fictional world and given the freedom to expand it through the game. We are working directly with the creative talent from the film, and feel that the close collaboration will result in an amazing game play experience that immerses the player in an incredible fantasy world."

Amazon Deals On Wii Games Friday

Mike Fahey — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:20:06 MST

Amazon wants to make shopping for Wii games fun! This Friday, starting at 12:01 AM Pacific time, Amazon will be putting up an unspecified Wii game as their Gold Box Deal of the Day, which will be available all day as long as supplies last. Then at 6 AM and every four hours after that until 10 PM, Amazon will be putting up Lighting Deals - games that are only available at the discounted price for those four hours. Sound like fun? Oh come on, you know you want to check Amazon.com every four hours to see what game they're going to discount. Just wish they wouldn't keep us in suspense. I don't want to wait until 6 PM Friday afternoon to discover that the last bargain Wii game of the day is Ninjabread Man.

5 Wii Game Deals On Friday [Amazon.com - Thanks BtownDesignGuy!]

Mario Galaxy Says, "UR Mr. Gay"

Mike Fahey — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:30:40 MDT

Okay, okay, I will post it already. For the past three or four days we've been getting tips about the Super Mario Galaxy logo's secret message, and for some odd reason I resisted posting it. Good taste maybe? I don't know, but there you have it folks. The letters in the Super Mario Galaxy logo with stars underneath them spell out "UR MR GAY." Is it a vast conspiracy, or just a coincidence? The world will never know, mainly because no one would admit to doing that on purpose. Perhaps one day the artist responsible will get fired in a rude way and brag, but until then, UR MR GAY. I'm sorry, but Nintendo says so.

Super Mario Galaxy - U R MR GAY [Megaton News - Thanks Everyone]

The Easter Egg Archives

Mike Fahey — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:25:34 MDT

Easter is a time when people come together to celebrate Jesus sticking his head out of his cave and seeing his shadow, heralding six more weeks of winter. While I probably could have paid more attention in church as a boy, I fondly remember the yearly Easter egg hunt, a tradition that some gamers practice all year long.

I speak, of course, of video game Easter eggs...tricks you can perform in a computer or console title that reveal little hidden bits place there by developers to reward the incredibly lucky or incessantly curious. It all started back in the Atari 2600 game Adventure, when a programmer left a secret message in a hidden room.

Nowadays Easter eggs are much more common, and you can get a good idea of how much so by visiting the The Easter Egg Archive, which catalogs not only gaming eggs but also movie, DVD, TV, music, book and art eggs as well.

Kotaku Fun Tip: Did you know that in the PS1 game Beast Wars: Transmetals if you pressed a certain button sequence the game actually became playable? Not true!

Plenty of real Easter eggs await you at the Easter Egg Archive. Enjoy the holiday! Michael Fahey

The Easter Egg Archive [via GamePolitcs]

IGN Yanks Wii Details From Documentation

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:09:25 MDT

The fun-loving pranksters at IGN's Wii channel have manged to wrangle some cool new functionality and features from developer documentation, answering some long standing questions about the Wii-mote and opening new cans of technology worms in turn. Worm one:

The Wii-mote features 6KB of "non-volatile" memory, whose exact purpose remains a mystery. It's possible that this memory could enable players to store custom settings for the controller. Official documentation does not specify one way or the other.

It is a mystery! I doubt we'll see much in the way of cool added functionality based on this, but you never know with Nintendo. They sly! Next worm:

The Wii-mote is able to act as something of an eye, measuring coordinates between 0-1023 on the X axis and 0-767 on the Y axis, which means that it is more or less seeing a megapixel image. Whether or not this data can be interrupted into visual information remains unknown.

There's plenty more tech speculation at the full article including insights on the LED messaging system, battery life, interference with light sources and much more. Michael McWhertor

Wii Controllers: Unlocking the Secrets [IGN]

The Wii Flap

Brian Crecente — Thu, 18 May 2006 10:02:11 MDT

We know the name, we know about the controller speaker, about the motion detection, about the pointer control, but apparently that's not enough. Now fans have latched onto a little flap on the petite Wii and have become convinced that it hides the secret to eternal life, or perhaps a 3D hologram projector. Another, just as credible idea, is that the flap covers up a slot where you can plug in DS games. What about, I don't know, a place to stick memory cards. Nintendo fans sure do love their conspiracies. —Brian Crecente