Brian Crecente

An Insider’s Guide to Portal 2

Today’s Game Informer cover unveiling is just the latest in a year and a half’s worth of Portal 2 news that has been steadily leaking about the Valve game since 2008. The cover hints at a chance to leave the labs, and GLaDOS, behind, but we’ve known plenty more than that for quite awhile. Be…

I Know What I’m Doing This Weekend

All the screenshots and box art in the world can’t match the sizzle of having the actual game resting in your hand. Look for our review on Monday at 10 a.m.

BioShock 2’s First Expansion Pack Hits March 11

The Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack, the first in a series of single and multiplayer downloadable content for Bioshock 2, hits Games for Windows Live, the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace March 11 for about $5. The Sincliar Solutions Tester Pack, which will include a rank increase to level 50, two new playable characters, 20…

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy Nixed on Xbox 360 Live

A change to the Xbox Live code of conduct this morning now allows gamers to express their sexual orientation in Xbox Live profiles or Gamertags. The new policy states: “You may use the following terms to express your relationship orientation in your profile or Gamertag: Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender, Straight. Other terms regarding relationship orientation…

Retail Deathmatch: DSi XL and Apple iPad Hit the U.S. Within Days of Each Other

Apple’s over-sized iPad will be hitting stores in the U.S. on Saturday, April 3 for WiFi models and later that month for WiFi plus 3G models. All models of the iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April. Pre-orders for U.S. orders of the…

EA Cuts Deal To Publish Shank, Deathspank

Electronic Arts today announced a deal with the developers of Shank and Deathspank to bring the downloadable games to multiple platforms. The publishing deals are part of agreements that Klei and Hothead Games recently signed with EA Partners. While no specific release dates have yet been announced, Shank will be coming to the PC, PS3…

Hump Day

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Man, Tim sure hates himself some Japan. Do you hate it there too? Or maybe Tim just needs a vacation? You know, he’s coming to GDC? What you missed: A Bit More On that Halo Reach Multiplayer Vid Test Drive Unlimited Returns EA Shows Off Mirror’s Edge, Skate-It, And World…

Mile Marker 8: Heroes of Newerth

Tired of stodgy corporate games made by The Man and his minions? We’re playing the 31 best indie games for a change of pace —- and so we can judge them. Today, Heroes of Newerth. In A Sentence Inspired by the incredibly popular Defense of the Ancients Warcraft III fan mod, Heroes of Newerth is…

Take-Two: More Borderlands DLC Coming

Touting the popularity of the three pieces of downloadable content released for Borderlands to date, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder said today that more are on the way. “Borderlands continues to build on its success in the market,” Feder said during the company’s quarterly financial earnings call. The Secret Armory of General Knoxx was the “highest…

Come Talk Bad Company 2 With the Game’s Producer Live

Join us live today on CBS Radio for our latest episode of Kotaku Talk Radio. We’ll be joined by Gordon Van Dyke, producer of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Call in now to talk to DICE’s Van Dyke about all things BC2. The show kicks off at 11 a.m. MT, 1 p.m. ET. Want to be…

The IGF Mobile Finalists Get Front Page iTuning

We’ve spent the past month or so talking about the Independent Games Festival finalists, but we haven’t really touched on the mobile category. Earlier this week iTunes dropped a banner on the front page of the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch download service to promote some of the IGF Mobile finalist and honorable mentions. Well…

A Bit More On that Halo Reach Multiplayer Vid

Last night we posted a version of the Halo: Reach multiplayer video that leaked out a tad early, but now that it’s official Bungie has a few more details about it. The trailer, they say, features a C Paul track originally orchestrated for the Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack. The studio brought in Ivan Ives…

MAN!

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: This Week Has Been Crazy, Huh? What is with this week? It’s been crazy! First the 24-hour Playstation outage and then this Call of Duty insanity! I know I shouldn’t be using exclamation points, but I think it’s stuck on! What you missed! Mile Marker 9: Joe Danger Scandal Hits…

Waltzing Through Bad Company 2

Nothing says classy like classical music, classical music and stuff blowing up. And that’s how I know Battlefield Bad Company 2 is classy, with a capital C. I actually caught this launch trailer on TV last night. I need to see how this turned out. Modern Warfare 2 didn’t quite scratch the single player shooter…

NPD: Online Gamers Spend on Average 8 Hours a Week Online Playing

The average number of hours spent per week on online gaming is up 10 percent, to 8 hours a week, according to the results of a study released by the NPD Group today. “While the percentage of the population that reports playing games has declined slightly, this study details other metrics which point to both…

Guess Which Three Games Help Keep Activision Afloat

Activision is a giant company with a small problem: Most of their revenue comes from three video games. Buried in Activision’s annual report for Fiscal Year 2009, the same one that had news of a major shake-up at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward, were some interesting numbers. “A significant portion of our…

The Splinter Cell Conviction 360 Bundle Unveiled

Ubisoft today unveiled a Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction Special Edition Xbox 360 bundle. The $400 bundle will come with a 250GB hard drive, two wireless controllers and a standard edition of the game. It won’t, however, include a spiffy design or paint job on the console itself or the controllers for that matter. Booooo!

Get Your Blur Beta Codes Here

Due out this spring for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, Blur is a like Project Gotham Racing meets Mario Kart… if they two had a baby in the 70s And we’re giving out spots for the March 8 beta for the flashy racer right here, right now. But first, a couple of very important…

Apple Accuses HTC of Stealing Their iPhone Interface, Sues

The iPhone is such a great interface for phone calls, mobile office work and gaming that Apple claims that competitor HTC stole it when they made their own smart phone. Apple today filed a lawsuit against HTC for infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The lawsuit…

Movie Reviewed

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Japanese Tax Time! At the request of our readers, I wrote up my thoughts on The Crazies today for a review. Did you see the original? Romero really knew how to make them didn’t he. It’s amazing how much film, literature, comics, toys and video games overlap these days. That’s…