Totilo, who was earlier a guest on MSNBC, joined Seth Porges of Popular Mechanics and the NPD's Ross Rubin on a panel examining the latest in gadgets and games with Fox's Clayton Morris. At the 24:00 mark, hear Totilo tease remarks from Reggie Fils-Aime regarding these Wii HD rumors (they're still shot down), from an interview the two had on Friday. You can expect more from that interview in the coming week.

Gadgets and Games [Fox News.com]

Spoilers ahoy, but still worth watching Totilo face off against two non-gamers and hold his own while raising some interesting points.

Oh, and he totally plugs the Kotaku Game Club so now you're ALL famous!

Totilo tells Crispy Gamer all about the move from simple Kotaku tag to his highly anticipated return as a Kotaku person. Don't think it's going to be all wine and roses for Mr. Totilo, as he'll be suffering the loss of his mainstream outlet privileges, entering the category of "enthusiast press." But he has his reasons.

"What Kotaku allows me to do is reach another audience," Totilo explains, "a massive and passionate crowd of hardcore gamers and developers who, I think, already do respect the kind of reporting I and some of the Kotaku guys do, and will be happy to get even more of it."

Totilo also shrugs off the assertion that he's just waiting for a game development job, that not even the death of Kotaku by space rock would sway him from gaming journalism.

"Just a week or so ago, I was reading some rude comments from a developer telling me that he was sure I was just biding my time until I could get a cushy development job. He guessed wrong," he says. "If a meteor hits Kotaku and I manage to survive, then I will get another gaming journalism job after that."

Sure, linking to Stephen's interview may be a little self-serving on our part, but we're glad the man has a chance to speak more openly about the job change. And I'm not just saying that because he'll outrank me and happens to name-check me in the interview.

God, I hope I don't get crushed by a meteor tonight.

Press Pass: Totilo Talks Transition From MTV to Kotaku [Crispy Gamer]

That's why I'm so pleased to announce that Totilo's departure from MTV doesn't mean he's landed himself a gig as a developer. Instead, beginning in May, Totilo will be joining Kotaku as the site's deputy managing editor.

Totilo has been covering video games full time since May of 2005, when MTV made him the first beat reporter for games at MTV News for their website and to work on on-air stories.

He's run the influential gaming blog MTV Multiplayer, which Kotaku and most other gaming sites have linked to a ton of times, for the past two years. He's also written about games for Slate, The New York Times, and even done a one-week stint as guest-editor here (Who could forget the Kotaku Aptitude Test?).

He tells me that his first games reporting anywhere dates back to the late 90s when he freelanced for IGN and snuck some gaming stories into Newsweek and other outlets. He has a master's in journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. And we can't let him ever forget that, yes, he co-created "Hogan Knows Best."

Not only does this latest addition give us heaps of Hogan cachet, it also gives us a writer in New York to help keep an eye on all things video game related in the Big Apple.

The two will be talking with Fallout 3's Toff Howard and BioShock's Ken Levine in what they're calling Vs. Mode Live. The one hour discussion and debate will center on the current generation of video games and what's to come.

You can also expect, according to Totilo, a "freewheeling exchange" which is much better than those other kinds.

We'll be on hand at Comic Con, though it's still unclear whether we made the list to get into this unprecedented event.

Announcement: Todd Howard, Ken Levine Will Be MTV’s Featured Guests At NY Comicon Panel

Stephen Totilo of MTV Multiplayer was at Orlando's Full Sail University on Saturday to attend the ceremony, which was held inside a recreation of the "Ivory Tower" map from the game. The bride entered to the tune of the Halo 3 menu music, with the Halo emblem on her wedding dress sleeves matching the one on her soon-to-be husband's tie.

Despite party favors shaped like plasma grenades, no one got stuck during the ceremony, though we're going to assume there were some melee achievements earned later that night.

‘Halo’ Wedding A Success — ‘Teammates For Life!’ [MTV Multiplayer]

Just before Christmas, Stephen Totilo of MTV Multiplayer ran an article pondering whether concepts and mechanics shared by Ubisoft's new Prince title and Sony's Shadow of the Colossus were homage or theft. PoP's Ben Mattes responded nearly immediately on his person blog, but by then we were all out caroling. His thoughts on the matter:

SoTC was a big inspiration for us, but mostly with the intention of making the boss battles epic and emotional - something they succeeded in masterfully and that we only touched the surface of (in terms of emotional connection on the part of the player). Many of the similarities you pointed out are coincidental, but I certainly don't mind the comparison. We've always been very open about the huge influences that Ico, SoTC and Okami had on us during our development.

So there you have it, folks. Purely coincidental. Of course no game producer in his right mind was going to come out and say yeah, we stole it, but we'll take Ben at his word. He seems like a nice enough bloke.

Ben also addresses Stephen's concerns about the game's ending in a nice, spoiler-free sort of way. For those of you that have finished the game already, Mattes said that the particular ending was forced on the player in order to maintain continuity between titles. He explains that players who chose one ending in The Warrior Within were disappointed when The Two Thrones came out, continuing the story from the other ending. This way everyone wins, even if we do feel as if we were pushed towards doing something we'd rather not have.

My suggestion to those disappointed by PoP's ending? Prince of Persia fan fiction. Oh yes, it's time. Make sure you use the term "Fertile Ground" in a highly suggestive fashion.

Stephen Totilo on POP ending [TooMuchImagination]

Totilo does make several valid points in his discussion of the two games' similarities. Both do primarily feature climbing and jumping with brief moments of violence. Both do use a guiding light sort of technique to help the player navigate the vast game world. Both feature a central temple as a main base. Both explore themes of death and resurrection. And both games end with the realization that you are the dream of a dying civilization's dream of your father.

Don't worry, I wouldn't spoil the games for you. That last one was me spoiling an entirely different game. The endings, however, do feature similar themes, which we won't go into for the sake of those who haven't played yet.

Stephen really doesn't leave room for the coincidence angle, which I think could still be valid. If not a coincidence, then more of a subconscious borrowing of ideas rather than a direct homage - the game developers would have mentioned something by now had they borrowed heavily from Colossus in order to honor it. In fact, Prince of Persia's producer Ben Mattes seems to think his team deserves accolades for their innovation – generally not the words of someone consciously borrowing from other games.

I'm perfectly willing to call the similarities happy little coincidences. I love both games, and quite honestly didn't even make the connection until Stephen pointed it out. When it comes right down to it, games borrow from other successful games all of the time - it's how we wound up with genres, after all. Until the Prince starts climbing up enormous walking stone creatures searching for their weak spots, I'm quite content to let things slide.

Is ‘Prince of Persia’ Ripping Off ‘Shadow of the Colossus’? [MTV Multiplayer]

As it turns out, no. Stephen does his very best to holds his own against the youthful Soulja, who at one point faces such intense pressure he has to remove his bling, but in the end everything is decided by a rather poorly played bout of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

Stephen did manage to win the first round, which consisted of Geometry Wars II - a game Soulja had never played - but lost the Gears 2 match so badly it was almost painful to watch.

Luckily for those outside of the United States, you don't have to watch, as the MTV video below is sadly region locked.

I Chainsaw Soulja Boy In Half, But He Triumphs In Gaming Battle [MTV Multiplayer]

Ah yes.

Haven't been playing portables much of late as I'm at home all the time, so if I can squeeze in a game, it'll be GTAIV, CoD4 or MGS4 (yes, I started it, and yes, it's quite good!) Hrm, Mrs. Bashcraft plays Mario Kart DS like every damn day, so.................. She still seems to be in the thick of it. (If the thick of it is the year 2005.)

It's your last day at Kotaku Tower! We had a delightful time and appreciate you filling in while Crecente rides around in a boat. I'm sure next week will seem way more relaxing as you helm one site and not two. Also, while I can't speak for everyone, I forgive you for Hogan Knows Best. Maybe.

Thank Luke for the Photoshop. It's brilliant.

What you missed last night
New Adventure Island Coming, Maybe Star Soldier As Well
Amazon's Gold Box Kick Off With Super Cheap SSBB
Blizzard Splashwatch Day Five - Death Knights, Protoss, And Purple Penguins
Arise, Sirs Dan And Sam Houser?
Soul Calibur IV Features Hot Tag-Team Action
Ubisoft + Prince Of Persia + DS Is What You'd Expect
Big Exclusive White Knight Chronicles Coming Financial Year 2008
Did A Boy Really Kill Himself After His Wii Was Taken Away?
MGS 4 Moved Eight Times More PS3s In Release Week
Wii Castlevania Revealed! It's A Fighting Game?

It's Friday night and I'm spending it waiting to board a plane back to Denver from Los Angeles. It was a pretty exciting week spent looking at the offerings that will be shown at this year's E3 next month. It may not quite be the same caliber of games that were shown last year, because, well last year was insane. But we've got some very interesting triple-As headed our way.

Tomorrow morning I fly with the family to Miami and then Sunday we board a ship to cruise around the Caribbean for a week. I've sweet-talked MTV's Stephen Totilo to guest edit on the site during my one-week vacation. Despite his insane schedule, he was kind enough to agree to fill in for me as I sleep... lots. I left the key for Kotaku Tower under that flower box next to the shed in case he asks. Oh and I think the ban hammer maybe under my bed... or in the laundry basket. Feel free to swing it around a bit when I'm oot and aboot.

Have fun, talk to you in a week!

Ps. I'll say hi to the pirates for you.

What you missed:
Take-Two Settles FTC Compliance Issues In EA Bid
Clone Wars Games Slated For Holidays, Trailers Hitting Spike TV Friday
WoW Getting Level 30 Mounts
Sega Creates Robotic Girlfriend
Little Big Planet Rolls Out With PlayStation Experience Truck
MGS 4: The Big Boss Of Japanese Sales
EA: Best Of Luck To Former EALA Head Young In Amicable Parting

In the latest post, Seth Schiesel manages to neatly sum up my main criticism of this Gaming Club concept.

This has been great, but my, haven't we been serious! All of us have been so busy weighing industry trendlets and esoteric points of game design that I almost fear we have come to resemble the chin-stroking, self-styled sophisticates that made the arts writer such a lampoonable stereotype in the first place.

What Slate's Gaming Club lacks is a layman. I think it would be much more interesting if every fifth post was from a less-erudite fellow, who instead of responding with countless paragraphs of exhaustive analysis and intellectual musings simply responded with, "Um, what?"

The Gaming Club [Slate Magazine]

Stephen Totilo, stationed in thriving NYC, had no problem landing a nearby college Intern. Billie Edington did her first post today on the site, asking readers to help her design and implement a Master Chief costume this Halloween.

She did some preliminary searching and only came up with a $22k or so replica suit of armor. So what she needs howto for creating her own suit of MIJOLNIR armor that doesn't involve blacksmithing or fiberglass work. Any suggestions? I'd say that empty beer cases are your friend, they're amazingly pliable and fun to empty.

Help Wanted: A Halo Halloween Costume Conundrum [MTV's Multiplayer]

How To Pronounce... "Ubisoft" (The Official Explanation) [MTV Multiplayer]

It was held at the popular Sushi Roku restaurant, a fact lost on me until two days later when a famished Team Kotaku spent three hours waiting to actually eat food at the place on our own. (I actually left to go pass outsleep before it arrived.) Set on Ocean Boulevard overlooking the pacific, the restaurant was packed to the gills Tuesday night with Sony execs, pr folks, developers, journalists and just-dead fish.

Shortly into the party, I was chatting with some writer friends when Phil Harrison walked up to say hi. We talked about Microsoft's press conference for a few minutes before he cut to the chase.

"So, what are the odds on the hug?" he asked. I was a little flummoxed, there was no way he could be talking about Fahey's prediction that Peter Moore, Phil Harrison and Reggie Fils-Aime would participate in a group hug on stage. No way.

He was.

"Why, are you going to do it?" I asked.

"If I can bet $5 on it."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that Kotaku's fantasy pool was paid out solely in Kotaku Points.

A few minutes later I spotted Kaz Hirai over in the corner, behind, I swear, behind the sushi making counter. Was Kaz rolling sushi? Probably not.

The place was packed, people were sucking down beers and eating raw food when Jack Tretton took to the mic to announce that the first wave of party-goers would be ushered into the room to watch the latest Killzone 2 demo. With a black band, I was in the second batch. When I finally got in and watching the thing, MTV's Stephen Totilo and I stayed around to try and cajole the developers to let me have a go.

We managed to convince some of the development team and even some of the PR folks, but were finally shot down just before the third, sliver-banded folks made their way in.

Later that night, or perhaps the next day, N'Gai Croal had a bit more success and got his hands on the game. Something he mocked me about later in the week. Croal is totally becoming my Red Baron.

It is, I would think, no big secret that MTV's Stephen Totilo and Newsweek's N'Gai Croal are two of my favorite gaming writers. (Clive Thompson would be the third, in my trinity of game writers)

So N'Gai's latest feature over on his Newsweek blog is for me, quite a thing to behold. In Vs. Mode Totilo and N'Gai take one another to task over their feelings on God of War 2.

I'll summarize, poorly, their takes on the game here, but you really, really owe it to yourself to go over there and read the whole thing because it's the sort of game critiquing that you will almost never find.

Totilo comes down on the side of liking God of War 2 but not really being blown away with it. It is a marvel of game creation, he argues, but it's also very much more of the same. And not just because it's a sequel that uses some of the same sorts of setting and themes, but because the game, like its predecessor, uses "level design to define a character's personality", the personalilty of Kratos. And the sequel relies heavily on this same sort of trick.

While he doesn't come out and say it, I think Totilo might also be trying to say that this not only fails to move the development of the game forward, but the development of the character of Kratos forward. He remains fairly unchanged from the first game. And I have to agree, that is a disappointment, though one I didn't totally grasp until just now.

N'Gai comes back swinging, pitting Totilo's encyclopedic knowledge of games against his skills at comparative media analysis and using it to try and pick apart his gaming sensei's arguments.

N'Gai argues that referencing your previous game, either in story or in design, is an acceptable form of homage often used by music producers and rappers. Intratextuality in games is a good thing, he says. He goes on to point out that David Jaffe freely borrowed from the cannon of video games to create his magnum opus, so why shouldn't Cory Barlog do the same.

He conclusion places me squarely on N'Gai's side of this argument. Sometimes a good game is just good, it doesn't have to shake the bounds of its genre or reinvent something. Or as N'Gai put it, misquoting screenwriter and journalist Cheo Hodari Coker talking about P. Diddy's music: God of War II may not be perfect... but it is unquestionably a game that will make you shake your ass.

Damn straight. Brian Crecente

Read this, or you can't call yourself a gamer [Newsweek]

We kind of knew 'Crackdown' would need as much help as it could get to get into players' hands. Like we've always said: It's a game player's game. It's not something that's going to sell in screenshot. So that was good.

So you're not feeling like the Zone of the Enders of the new gen, then? Good.

I can see where Jones is coming from. This game really must be seen in motion (and played beyond the first 15 minutes) to get an appreciation for what makes it unique. Sticking your first 60-foot leap while sniping some poor Los Muertos in the kneecaps is just so damn fun. Michael McWhertor

'Halo 3' Gives 'Crackdown' A Boost — And That's Just Fine With Its Creator [The New, Improved and Readable MTV.com]

MTV's Stephen Totilo admits he has a minor addiction to the Playstation Portable's Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. So much so, that he's been toting the game around, using its recruit feature to pluck soldiers from WiFi points around the country.

Here's his list:

MTV News office: Sgt. Snail
Times Square Recruitment Station: Armadillo, an arms dealer and gambler
Atlanta Airport: Deer, arms dealer and politician
Rural Georgia: Tasmanian Devil, a physician
Unknown location in New York: Bison, elite engineer
Lobby of Rockstar Games: Seagull, a spy and deliveryman

Check out Totilo's story for his full review of the game, and more PO musings. Brian Crecente

Multiplayer: The Life Of A Bad Guy [MTV]

Not so Stephen Totilo, who's player rater is a rare combination of clever concept and deft execution. He started with a simple question: Do gamers matter? And then quickly sets out to prove that they do.

His list of the ten most influential gamers includes the Penny Arcade duo, Easter Egg cracker Adam Clayton, arcade king Billy Mitchell and infamous in-game journalist Peter Ludlow.

It's rare that a list hits on all cylinders, but I think Totilo's manages to do just that. Check out his list and then report back on any that you think deserve to make the list and who you would have bumped to fit them in. Brian Crecente

Playa Rater: The 10 Most Influential Video Gamers Of All Time [MTV]