Kotaku: website

Nexon America Throws A BlockParty

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:40:00 MDT

Over the next several months, Nexon America is transforming into BlockParty.com, a social networking website where fans can keep track of their games and stalk their friends to their heart's content.

The games will stay the same, but the way you experience them and share them with friends while not playing will change drastically once Nexon completes the rollout for BlockParty. In the works for several years, BlockParty will wrap Nexon's stable of free-to-play online games in a robust social networking website.

Players will be able to view a play feed of in-game accomplishments, share their thoughts and moods with friends, manage contacts, show off their avatars, and establish an online identity that is closely linked to the games they play.

"BlockParty will be one part games, one part portal with a twist of social networking. Nexon America's goal for BlockParty is to create the biggest online party with great games and awesome gamers," said Min Kim, Nexon America's vice president of marketing. "BlockParty will allow Nexon to better serve our players by extending the community experience to a central web-based communication hub. BlockParty will also make it easier for players to access Nexon's growing list of games, and at the same time, allow them to share their online gaming adventures with their friends."

Nexon is currently testing and tweaking BlockParty and will continue to do so through the remainder of the year. Those interested in a preview can visit www.Nexon.net and click on the little BlockParty critters at the top of the page.

The King Of Fighters XII Website Is Go

Mike Fahey — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:20:00 MDT

SNK Playmore and Ignition Entertainment have crafted one hell of an official website for The King of Fighters XII, complete with a comprehensive timeline of the series and a fan art contest worth $1,000.

The King of Fighters series has always had its own distinct style, and the official website for the latest entry in the series is simply oozing said style from every pixel. Each section could be a page from an art book. They've got biographies of each combatant, the aforementioned history of the series, news, trailers, screens and of course, the fan art contest.

The contest runs through July 31st, with the winning fan art entries eligible to win limited-edition KOF figurines, copies of the game, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, or the grand prize of $1,000 in cash. Simply head over to the website and click on the Fan Art link to get started. Oh, and they prohibit nudity, so you should probably keep all of those Mai pics to yourself for now.

Blood Bowl Gets A Website, Beta Signups Begin

Mike Fahey — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:40:00 MDT

Cyanide Studios' video game version of the classic tabletop fantasy football game Blood Bowl has a brand new website chock full of game information, along with a sign-up page for the multiplayer PC beta test.

Of course when I say fantasy football, I am talking real fantasy football based in the Warhammer universe, with dwarves, orcs, lizardmen, and elves all fighting for control of the football battlefield. The official website for the game has just launched, filed with information on the playable races, videos, and screenshots like the one above, showing off the amazing amount of detail going into the game's arenas.

With the launch of the website comes the launch of multiplayer beta sign-ups. The beta is kicking off soon, giving players a chance to take control of human and orc teams, giving the code a good thrashing before it's finalized. Simply follow the link below and successfully navigate the shiny new web page to sign up.

Blood Bowl [Official Website]

Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers Website Craves Your Clicks

Mike Fahey — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:20:00 MDT

Square Enix has launched a teaser website for the long-awaited Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers, with page visits determining when new videos of the game are released.

In case the trailer included in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time weren't enough, this new teaser site should provide more than enough proof that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers for the Wii is still a going concern. The top right corner of the website currently features the aforementioned trailer, along with the wallpaper seen above, in sizes up to 1920 x 1200. There are also two grayed-out items, "It's Gonna Be A Long Night" and "Public Spectacle", with the words "More Visits, More Movies" flashing over them. You know what this means. We're going to have to visit the hell out of the page. Here's a link to kick things off.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers [Official Website]

Introducing LittleBigWorkshop

Mike Fahey — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:40:00 MST

The LittleBigPlanet blog has undergone a transformation while we were all busy deciding the leader of our country, giving way to LittleBigWorkshop, a place to find inspiration, share building tips, and create wallpaper to somehow aid others in building their own LittleBigPlanet levels. The Inspiration section of the site contains images meant to spur the imagination (LOLcats), and the Workshop section is where people can share fan-made tutorial videos, such as this helpful video that shows that cats and dogs can indeed live together. I don't know about you guys, but I am inspired.

At least they've got the Blueprint Room, where you can spend all day at work planning and plotting out your newest creations, printing them out to use as reference later. The dogs and cats can't take that away from us.

LittleBigWorkshop [Official Site]

Update: The dog and cats video has been neutered. It went something like this.

Rock Band Web Site Enters Coccoon, Emerges As Tattoo Flash

Mike Fahey — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:30:00 MDT

Welcome to the new RockBand.com, or more specifically and accurately, welcome to the Kotaku post featuring a screenshot and talking about the new RockBand.com, while entered into a hibernation state earlier this morning only to emerge as Beta RockBand.com! The new site features all of the old site's features plus a host of new items, including a new blog, a photo creator that lets you pose your band members offline for exciting action scenes, and the merch shop, that allows you to create custom merchandise from your band, including Bandmates - 6 inch tall 3D statures of your characters in the game!

So much goodness here, but yet...something is missing.

Beta RockBand.com [Official Site]

Explore Dead Space Narrative With No Known Survivors

Mike Fahey — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:40:00 MDT

EA continues to display an amazing amount of dedication to the story aspects of their upcoming sci-fi horror shooter Dead Space with the launch of No Known Survivors, a website that will feature two tragic stories from the Dead Space universe, told through the use of 3D animations, voice talent, original video and interactive elements. The website launches with nine body parts floating through space, each of which will morph into the shape of a mutated necromorph body part before becoming clickable, with one a new chunk of content activated every Monday, starting this week.

The first of the two stories, "Misplaced Affection", is the story of an organ replacement tech who falls for a female officer. The second, "13", features the story of a sleeper agent faced with tough decisions. It's all terrible atmospheric, doing an excellent job of heightening my excitement for the game. Head over to NoKnownSurvivors.com right now to check it out.

The Whispered World Launches Relaxing Website

Mike Fahey — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:00:00 MDT

Daedalic Entertainment's upcoming fantasy adventure game The Whispered World has just launched the official website for the title, due out for the PC in Q4 2008, and I've never been more relaxed in my life. The site features wallpapers, screenshots, concept art, a story synopsis, and some confusing forums that seem to be completely in German until you click on them. All of this, along with the most relaxing background music that's ever graced a flash website. Seriously, I've had this opened in the background all morning and couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was having such a pleasant Friday morning. Hit up the link below to check out the site, and be sure to check out the press section for a tiny preview of the article I wrote on the game back in February.

The Whispered World [Official Website]

Diablo III Webpage Filled With Trailers, Screens, Evil

Mike Fahey — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:00:00 MDT

Why content yourself with a blurry screen or a low-quality stream when you can get your Diablo III fix directly from the source? Blizzard has the official website for the game up and ready, already filled with pages of screenshots, a gameplay video, and the cinematic trailer, as well as concept art and one hell of an attractive aesthetic. Some of the links may not work, but we have to learn to crawl before we learn to slay hordes of bloodthirsty demons.

Diablo III Official Website [Blizzard]

LucasArts Breaks Ground On New Fracture Website

Mike Fahey — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:40:00 MDT

LucasArts and Day 1 Studios is getting ready to release their terraforming shooter Fracture this fall, and they're rolled out the newly updated website for the game to help get the hype train started right! Along with the standard videos, screenshots, and developer blogs, the site is launching a brand new community-oriented Wiki site that will allow fans to interact and access exclusive content meant just for those who care enough to hang about and their friends in the gaming press.

You can visit the newly updated site at http://www.fracturegame.com, and be sure to tune into GameTrailers TV tonight on Spike for the premier of the new Fracture trailer. Hype machine away!

LucasArts Launches Newly Updated Fracture™ Website; Prepares Fall Release

“Groundbreaking” Action Game Web Site Features Development Blog, Community Forums, Gameplay Videos, Screenshots and Much More

Fracture Exclusive Trailer Premiers on Gametrailers TV Friday, May 30th at 10:00pm PT/1:00am ET

LucasArts and development partner Day 1 Studios today announced the redesign and relaunch of the Fracture™ Web site. The newly enhanced site will allow fans of LucasArts’ newest franchise to explore, interact and immerse themselves in the world of Fracture like never before. Development blogs, podcasts, contests as well as a plethora of videos, screenshots, story details and other background information are now just a click away at http://www.fracturegame.com. Fracture is slated for release in October 2008.

To complement the newly updated Fracture website, LucasArts will also offer gamers the opportunity to immerse themselves in a special community-oriented Wiki site. The site will give gamers the chance to interact with other fans of Fracture, watch exclusive videos, and gain access to in-depth information about the exciting features to be found in the game. Discuss Fracture and interact with other fans at http://community.fracturegame.com.

Fracture takes place in the year 2161. A series of ecological and seismological disasters have radically altered the planet’s landscape, and a classic ideological clash between the genetically altered Pacificans and the cybernetically enhanced Atlantic Alliance has brought the world to the brink of war. Players find themselves right in the middle of the genetic vs. cybernetic conflict as Jet Brody, a highly trained weapons expert fighting for the Alliance.

Fracture features truly next-generation gameplay with the use of “groundbreaking” terrain deformation engine technology. Players are able to literally reshape the battlefield as they see fit using advanced, futuristic weaponry that provides unprecedented power, freedom and control. Use Tectonic Grenades to jolt the ground skywards to access otherwise unreachable areas; take out hidden enemies with strategic use of the Torpedo Gun; or, blast out a crater to provide cover with the Entrencher during particularly intense encounters.

Fracture will be available October 2008 for Xbox 360™ and PLAYSTATION®3. More information about the game can be found at the official Fracture site, www.fracturegame.com.

Lego Indiana Jones Site Unearthed

Mike Fahey — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:20:00 MDT

LucasArts has gone all out for the official website of Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. The flash heavy site is chock full of news, game info, screenshots, concept art, and even a nifty trailer for your enjoyment. The site also contains a nifty little treasure hunt, where you can click on treasures hidden throughout the pages for points to use in the downloads section towards stickers, wallpapers, coloring pages, avatars, and eventually ringtones...though I must admit that I already have the theme saved to my phone. PC Gamers might also want to take note of the Games For Windows hosted demo for the game, due out May 13th. Follow the link below to check out the Indy gaming scene.

Lego Indiana Jones Website [LucasArts.com]

Ubi's Prince Of Persia Site Dripping With Goo

Mike Fahey — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:00:00 MDT

Well this is certainly a new look for Ubisoft's official Prince of Persia website. Clicking on the link below takes you to a flash animation of glowing blue glyphs (words?) that slowly get engulfed by a mass of oozing black goo. Could this have something to do with the recently trademarked Prince of Persia Prodigy, or is this something completely different? Will we finally see what happens when the Prince comes up again Spider-Man's archenemy, Venom? Probably not. Trying to believably mix established gaming icons with comic book heroes and villains is a silly idea. I suppose we'll just have to wait until either the big reveal, or they morph the slime into some sort of damned countdown clock.

Official Prince of Persia Website [Ubisoft - Thanks ES!]

Dawn Of War II Website Teases

Mike Fahey — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:00:00 MDT

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 is official, and now the official website is officially websiting! What I've done here is collect the official teaser trailer and the three screenshots from said site and placed them in a convenient Kotaku post, so there really is no real reason to click on the link below, unless you don't appreciate all of the hard work I've done replicating the essence of the Dawn of War 2 website for your viewing pleasure. Fine, click the link, you ingrates.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War 2 [Official Site - Thanks TnS!]

Interplay Readies Sexy New Website

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:00:12 MDT

Ahhh, now there is a sight for sore eyes. Up until recently, Interplay.com looked like this. Ugly, right? I wasn't kidding about he sight for sore eyes bit. Now they're getting ready to resurrect their website just as they have resurrected their intellectual property. All of the players are in place too, making my nostalgia gland pump out extra past-tosterone over images of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Earthworm Jim, Descent, Fallout, and the awesome MDK coil suit. Oh how I've missed you, Kurt Hectic. That's one damn fine lineup right there. Let's see what they do with it!

Interplay.com [Official Website - Thanks Patrick!]

Japanese Fragile Website Gets Update

fdemarco — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:00:00 MST

The last time we reported about Namco's mysterious Fragile, they had just released a teaser trailer and shortly before that, a single paged website. Since then, the site has been updated with a few more pages (all in Japanese) and more importantly, a recent gallery of some really nice looking screenshots. The dilapidated carnival shots remind me a bit of Silent Hill 3 with the creepy pig replacing the bloody pink bunny. It's still kind of hard to tell what this is going to be all about, but if the gameplay and story match up with the quality of the graphics, this promises to be a must have title for the Wii.

To access the screenshot gallery, after the intro plays (or you skip it) look at the top of the page and you'll see a menu of Japanese characters. The one with the red letters above it that says "new" will take you to the screenshot gallery.

Official Fragile Website [Namco]
[via GoNintendo]

Populous Coming to a Japanese DS Near You

fdemarco — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:00:00 MST

With all the focus on SimCity and SimCity2 on the DS, it seems one of my favorite city building games is getting overlooked. Populous, the finger pointing god game is finally making it's way onto Nintendo's popular handheld! EA Japan already has a website up for the game that looks to have been up for quite a few months. The site is minimal and all in Japanese, but it does have some small screen shots and such tucked in there for the adventurous clicker. The splash page announces that the game will be released in Japan on Feb. 21, 2008 and something tells me the US version will not be too far behind. At least I hope...

[Thanks, Witzbold]

The Legend of Zelda 2008 Website

fdemarco — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:00:00 MST

Now before you get all excited, let me tell you one thing. Don't get too excited. This "website" is really only a teaser page and in all likelihood, has nothing to do with Nintendo. A quick whois lookup reveals that the domain was registered through GoDaddy and seeing as Nintendo generally registers their domains through Network Solutions, the probability of this being an actual licensed project is slim to none. More probable is that this is some fan project that may or may not ever come to fruition. Anyone care to make further speculations?

The Legend of Zelda (2008) [zelda2008.com]
[Thanks, Karl]

Ben 10: Protector Of The Earth Website Opens

fdemarco — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:00:00 MDT

People seem to really love Ben 10. The Cartoon Network show crosses the lines between kids and adults and when I saw the game demoed at Comic-Con, both sets of ages were there, enjoying the game with equal abandon. I tried it out myself and even though I wasn't terribly familiar with the show, the game was pretty fun. With the game's launch not far off, D3 Publishers has premiered the game's website which is now open and ready for your rather stringent approval. I'm sure you'll have plenty to say about it.

Ben 10: Protector of the Earth Website

Microsoft Starts Online Site for US Xbox Repairs

fdemarco — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:00:00 MDT

In answer to the seemingly never ending tales of Xbox 360 failures (mind you, unlike Crecente I've had mine for almost a year with no problems) Microsoft is launching an online site where US owners can help speed up the process of getting their original Xbox or Xbox 360 repaired.

This new service lets you register your Xbox or Xbox 360 console, setup a repair, and track the status of the repair, all online. This new site lets you create In-Warranty or Out-of-warranty repairs, and even gives you a $5 discount for Out-of-Warranty repairs.

If you are in need of the site's services you can go directly to http://service.xbox.com. Sounds the only thing it doesn't do is actually package the thing up for you.

New Site Now Online for Xbox Repairs in US [Gamerscore Blog]

Chibi-Robo Site Up

Kim Phu — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:40:00 MDT

The first leg of the Japanese Chibi-Robo Park Patrol site is up, and as expected, it is full of adorable, saturated-colored screens and described with squiggly little lines most of us can't read. Also included in the site are some charming gameplay videos like the one pictured above. In particular, this video shows Chibi-Robo shaking his money maker after using his stereo icon. Apparently, it makes the psychotic flowers happy. It made sense to some one enough to make it a game. Just go with it and you'll have a lot of fun. Kim Phu

New Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol screens, footage [Go Nintendo]