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The Not-So-Legendary Legend of Korra
Greetings, Kotaku, and welcome to Friday night’s off-topic thread. You know what I want to talk about for the off-topic? I want to talk for just a second about The Legend of Korra I’m a serious fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I think it’s one of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen, and…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 29, 2012 -
Why Don’t Video Game Characters Get More Excited About The Amazing Stuff They Do?
I’ve seen it far too many times. A video game character leaps from the top of a staircase, flying through the air, guns blazing. One enemy drops to the ground, then two, then three! Behind him, a grenade explodes, laying waste to the spot where he was just standing. Bullets whizz through the air, metal-jacketed…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 29, 2012 -
If Only These ‘Rejected’ Mass Effect 3 Endings Had Made the Extended Cut
Whether you’re happy with the Mass Effect 3 extended cut or still pissed about it all, there’s no denying that the whole ending debacle has led to some pretty good humor. The Mass Effect 3 Rejects profile has been going strong since well before the Extended Cut, regaling the world with what might have been,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 29, 2012 -
This Amazing Gotye Parody Longs For ‘The Star Wars That I Used to Know’
I’ve heard Gotye and Kimbra sing “Somebody That I Used To Know” approximately 1 billion times. I am, I guess, like 50% sick of the song. (It’s a very good song.) But this? This is pure brilliance. Eddie King and Tyler Marshall from Teddie Films have made this spectacular parody of the song and its…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 29, 2012 -
I Need a Dinosaur. Are You a Dinosaur? Dinosaur Needed.
I’m not the only one who needs a dinosaur, either. This guy/gal needs one too, or at the very least, a person to dress up in a dinosaur costume. Dinosaur needed Person with dinosaur costume needed immediately for top secret project. I cannot go into the specifics until you are fully committed, but it involves…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 28, 2012 -
The World of Goo Soundtrack Had No Business Being So Crazy Good
Think about it: World of Goo. Simple game, simple premise. Move the goo, stack the goo, get to the ending point. There was some kind of narrative, but that didn’t matter so much, did it? The game is good. Really good, really fun. But my favorite thing about it, hands down, is Kyle Gabler’s flabbergasting…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 28, 2012 -
The Time Jeff Buckley Sang in Urdu and Stole Our Hearts
Hey, you know who was amazing? Jeff Buckley. Even the uninitiated think of him as “The guy who did that incredible, heartbreaking version of “Hallelujah” that I will literally never hear enough times.” I have Grace, I love Grace, and I’ve listened to it a hundred times. But it wasn’t until a few years ago…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 28, 2012 -
Watch Stephen Colbert Do His Goofiest Dance Yet
It’s very, very difficult not to dance to the “Lum King” music that plays at certain points in Rayman Origins. Those saxophones! That guiro! Stephen Colbert agrees, or at least… he likes to dance. So, okay, yes, this video mashup is totally silly, but also delightful. It makes me want to both play Rayman Origins…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 28, 2012 -
Welcome To Another Night of Smooth Kotaku Melodic Jamz
Why hello, Kotaku, and welcome to another hour of musical video game coverage. We’ve got some nice stuff for you tonight, so turn up them speakers and enjoy. As always, you can find our whole past archive at the Kotaku melodic main page.
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 28, 2012 -
This Game Will Take Cross-Platform To A Whole New Level
It was only recently that I learned how cool it can be to have a game work on multiple platforms. Playing Metal Gear HD Collection on both Vita and PS3 is remarkably cool, and points to a future where we can fit games more easily into our everyday lives. So I’m happy to hear that…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 28, 2012 -
Why Video Game Characters Say Such Ridiculous Things
If you’ve played a video game, you’ve probably heard a bark. And not just in Nintendogs—I’m talking about an “enemy bark,” which is the term for the adaptive lines of chatter that enemy characters utter throughout the game. “He’s over there!” “Did you hear something?” “I’m hit!” “I’m throwing in a grenade!” That very common…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 28, 2012 -
Private Eyes, And Regular Eyes, Are Watching You
Hi there Kotaku, and a happy Wednesday to you. It’s 10:30 PM, and that means it must be time for the open thread. We’re all so constantly connected to social media that it’s easy to forget just how many people can see everything we say. So thank goodness for WeKnowWhatYoureDoing.com, who have put together a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 27, 2012 -
Max Payne’s Day-To-Day Life Probably Shouldn’t Be This Funny
And yet it is. This video by Michael Shanks (the same man behind that great Box-Art Brawl video from last week) depicts the high’s and lows, mostly lows, of Mr. Max Payne’s day-to-day life. Yes, it’s a joke that’s been done before. Perhaps too many times. And yet the execution here is pretty damned funny.…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 27, 2012 -
Noisia Drops Some Serious Bombs On The DMC Soundtrack
What kinds of bombs? Dude, all kinds of bombs. F-bombs, beat-bombs, bass-bombs. All of the bombs. The drum and bass group Noisia (NOISIA? I kind of like this all-caps thing bands are doing) has been brought on along with Combichrist to make music for Ninja Theory’s upcoming DMCry, and, well… the music Noisia has made…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 27, 2012 -
This Is Either Leaked Half Life 2: Episode 3 Concept Art, or Just Cool Half-Life Art
The website ValveTime has posted a gallery of concept art that their source claims are leaked pieces of concept art for Valve’s much-anticipated (and super long-in-development) Half Life 2: Episode 3. (I should add that the art is from an anonymous visitor from an unnamed source. So, grains of salt in hand.) The art is…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 27, 2012 -
No Dude, Kingdom Hearts Isn’t Based on Heart of Darkness
Lately, it seems like lots of video games are based on Joseph Connrad’s novel Heart of Darkness. Games like Far Cry 2 and Spec Ops: The Line made the inspiration explicit, while many other recent games simply borrow Conrad’s basic gist. But despite the fact that both things have the word “Heart” in the title,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 27, 2012 -
A Gateway Drug To Bring You Back to Magic: The Gathering
I, like many a reformed* geek, have many fond memories of playing Magic: The Gathering in my youth. My time with the game took place entirely during middle school, when after school each day we would ride public transportation (this was a big deal!) and go sit with the high school kids in our town’s…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 27, 2012 -
Dawnguard Has Been Released, And So We Return To Skyrim
Today marked the release of the first piece of downloadable content for Bethesda’s world-crushing RPG Skyrim. It’s called Dawnguard, and as you may have heard… bats are involved. However, not all of us got to play the game today—specifically, those of us who play the game on PS3 or PC, since Dawnguard is exclusive to…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 26, 2012 -
SpyParty‘s Deadly Hide & Seek To Appear at Evo Fighting Game Championship
The Evo Champtionship Series is a hardcore, competitive gaming gathering dedicated to the purest fighting games. Street Fighter IV, King of Fighters XIII, Street Fighter X Tekken, Soul Calibur V. And now… SpyParty. Wait, what? Yep, Chris Hecker’s long-in-development one-on-one game of trickery, deceit and sniping will be making an appearance at EVO next week…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 26, 2012 -
First 3DS XL Hands-On Previews Report Improved 3D, Clear Graphics
Several French gaming sites have published the first hands-on impressions. Thanks to Google Translate and friendly NeoGAF Posters, it would appear that the French demonstrators are quite impressed with the new, bigger handheld. From a hands-on posted to the site Puissance Nintendo come the following impressions, along with the above video and image below (Google…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 26, 2012
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