-
The Call of Duty Tactics Game That Never Happened
Infinity Ward may have created Call of Duty but publisher Activision has always wanted to take the hit war-game series into different directions. Most of those efforts stalled—like the third-person variant that dev studio Sledgehammer was working on—and the public never gets to see what might have been But what you’re seeing above is animation…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012 -
Trials Evolution Leaderboards Crash Under the Weight of 100,000 Rabid Fans
Microsoft, publisher Ubisoft and developer RedLynx all thought they were ready for the release of Trials Evolution on Xbox Live yesterday. Turns out they weren’t. Players logging onto Xbox Live on Wednesday were met with long load times, missing ghost replays and an inability to connect. Just how many people were crashing their way on…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012 -
ReviewsTrials Evolution: The Kotaku review
My time with Trials Evolution got me thinking a lot about human perfectibility. It’s essentially the principle that no matter how good a person is at something, given enough will and effort, there’s still ostensibly room for them to get even better. That idea seems to be one that developer RedLynx banks on. “Yeah, you…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012 -
People Like You—Yes, You—Gave $9 Million to Kickstarter Video Game Campaigns Last Month
After the monstrous success of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter campaign, it’s impossible to escape talk of video game development powered by the internet’s largest crowdfunding destination. Part of all the buzz comes from the perception that there’s a lot of money out there that people want to contribute to help produce entertainment that they’d…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012 -
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Welcome to Kotaku’s official forum, known affectionately as Talk Amongst Yourselves. This is the place where we gather on a daily basis to discuss all things video game and existential. Want to talk about new games, old games, games that aren’t even out yet? Knock yourselves out! It’s about time that sad, ol’ greyhound in…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012 -
Norway Killer’s Court Testimony Reveals How He Used Call of Duty to Train
It’s already a matter of record that Anders Behring Breivik wrote about using Call of Duty to hone his marksmanship before he shot 69 people to death last year. But yesterday he testified in a Norwegian court about the roles that the first-person-shooter series and World of Warcraft played in his life leading up to…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012 -
Namco Says You Won’t Pay to Unlock Characters in Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Capcom’s caught a lot of heat for the on-disc locked content that shipped with Street Fighter x Tekken. Fans have loudly complained that they’ll be paying for characters that on a game disc they’ve already paid for once. But Namco—the sometime rival and sometime partner of Capcom—won’t be following in those stumbling footsteps. In a…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
Is This an Official Poster for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2?
It’s looking more and more like this year’s Call of Duty is going to be a sequel to 2010’s Black Ops. A retail source forwarded the following image from a poster received today. It’s been widely speculated that this year’s Call of Duty game will be a sequel to Black Ops, which was developed by…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
Speculation: Marvel to Buy THQ and Make Video Games In-House
THQ’s in dire straits, financially. Marvel—now a wholly-owned division of Disney—has lots and lots of money. Maybe, if the former buys the latter, they hold hands and make beautiful games together? That’s what comics culture website Bleeding Cool seems to think. Editor Rich Johnston pieces together comments and business dealings from Marvel, Disney and THQ…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
Spin Up Will Make You Joyously, Frantically Dizzy
Spin Up mixes a lot of different influences into a fresh-feeling whole. It’s got a bit of Donkey Kong‘s ladder-climbing DNA spliced with the infinite running of Canabalt, only the perpetual movement’s vertical in this game. This may sound like a weird recipe but Spin Up hinges on a key difference that makes the game…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
These Wonderful Drawings Of New Video Game Ideas Barely Make Sense
Some video games operate around incredibly innovative ideas and it’s natural that the people behind them would want to patent them. And while those awesome ideas gets explained in page after page of text, sometimes it’s just better to draw how a mechanic is going to work. However, some of the people submitting patent applications…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Welcome to Kotaku’s official forum, known affectionately as Talk Amongst Yourselves. This is the place where we gather on a daily basis to discuss all things video game and existential. Want to talk about new games, old games, games that aren’t even out yet? Knock yourselves out! Today’s tasty TAYpic is the work of angryrider…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
Death Comes a Little Later as Darksiders II Release Slips From June to August
THQ has announced a new release window for their fantasy action sequel on the newly-launched official site for Darksiders II. Previously announced for a June 26th launch, the game is now due out sometime in August, with exact dates varying by region.
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
Sly Cooper 4 Won’t Be Having Any Wardrobe Malfunctions with These Clever Costume Changes
You know, I never realized how much I missed Sly Cooper until I recently laid hands on an in-development build of the master thief’s upcoming game. There’s a particular charm in how the larcenous raccoon created by Sucker Punch manages to combine stealth, humor and platforming into an attractive whole. I mean, I hate raccoons…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 18, 2012 -
Zynga’s Two-Billion-Dollar Bid Wasn’t Enough to Buy Angry Birds
The company behind Farmville has money. Lots of it. And, for more than a year, they’ve been buying up smaller development houses left and right. But, Rovio—the development house that created mobile megahit Angry Birds—turned down Zynga when they came calling with mountains of cash. An article on the Bloomberg business news site reveals that…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
Max Payne Comics Coming from Rockstar and Marvel
Just in time for his return to consoles, Max Payne’s also going to be making a debut into the comics world. Announced today, a new series coming from the House of Ideas will delve into Max’s early years—during the era of the first two MP games—with art from Fernando Blanco. The scripts will be written…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
Quick Recommendations for This Week in Comics
Time’s tighter this week but we all still need comics. Here’s a handful that you should check out this week. Chime in with what you’ll be getting in the comments below. Reset #1 Indie comics legend Peter Bagge takes on interactive media culture. Bagge’s not a gamer or a tech enthusiast as far as I…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
Fantasy Author China Miéville Discusses Random Superpowers, DC Comics’ Dial H for Hero and Video-Game God Mode
China Mieville’s been trying to break into comics a long time. The native Londoner has busied himself with becoming an award-winning fantasy and science-fiction author in the meantime, turning out acclaimed work like Perdido Street Station and the upcoming Railsea A few years ago, it looked like Mieville’s big break was all set to happen,…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
Cliff Bleszinski Reveals His Love for The Boys and the Comic That’s Influencing Epic’s Next Big Game
Cliff Bleszinski didn’t grow up reading comic books. He was all about video games and movies as a kid. But that all changed when he started reading Preacher, the blasphemously brilliant series written by Garth Ennis, and drawn by Steve Dillon. The series published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint opened Bleszinski up a whole new…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012 -
By Odin’s Beard! Panel Discussion Starts Now!
Are we still pretending that comics and video games don’t have anything to do with each other? Not anymore, we’re not. Welcome to Panel Discussion, where the focus will be on comic books and sequential art, whether they connect directly to video games or not. Confused? Read this.
By Evan Narcisse Published April 17, 2012
Evan Narcisse
Evan Narcisse's posts