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Classic Metal Gear is Mostly a Punchline in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
“This is not a stealth game,” Platinum Games’ Atsushi Inaba said of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. That’s certainly true. Rising is the latest in the traditionally stealth-heavy action game series, and from what I saw and played of the game, it’s almost unrecognizable as a Metal Gear game. Moreover, the references that do exist to…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 11, 2012 -
The Many Throat-Stabbings of E3 2012
E3 2012 wasn’t just a banner year for bows and helicopters, it was also quite the year for throat-trauma. From Splinter Cell to Resident Evil to Far Cry 3, game after game featured resplendent, flinch-inducing throat violence. Chris pulled together some gifs for you, in case you’re you’re into this sort of thing, or in…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 9, 2012 -
Batter Up! Watch This Kids-Vs-Zombies Game In Action
Hopefully you’ve already heard about Zombie Playground, the art-turned-kickstarter-turned-game featuring yet another fresh take on the zombie apocalypse that actually feels fresh. Massive Black’s game will pit grade-school kids against the shambling dead. This gameplay is… well, it’s rough, but it’s also pre-alpha, and mostly intended to give a sense of the basic game. Unclear…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 8, 2012 -
Why The Walking Dead Game Isn’t in Black and White
Telltale’s Walking Dead video game has been great so far; better and truer to the source material than the less-than-great TV show. But when I first started it up, I couldn’t help but wonder why it was in color. The game is cell-shaded and looks for all the world like a moving comic book, but…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 8, 2012 -
The Roots Offer a New Take on the Unofficial Theme Song of E3 2012
My, what a week it’s been. Almost every member of team Kotaku convened in Los Angeles to bust our legs running around getting all the best video game news we could grab, and we are all bushed. If there was one trend I noticed at E3 2012 (beyond the guns and bows and helicopters and…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 8, 2012 -
Watch StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm‘s Upgraded Protoss and Zerg Units Duke It Out
Today, Blizzard detailed the many new units that will show up in Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Rather than just describing a bunch of abilities and units, they decided to also show them in action in this Protoss vs. Zerg match. Over the course of the 24-minute match, you can see many (maybe all?)…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 8, 2012 -
Ubisoft Promises 2013 Watch Dogs Release, Remains Cagey About Platform
We’re still guessing about whether Ubisoft’s highly impressive Watch Dogs is in fact one of a few of E3’s stealth-reveals of the next generation of gaming. What we saw sure seemed too intricate and advanced to run on current gaming consoles. But Ubisoft has remained cagey about when and on what platforms the game will…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 8, 2012 -
A Fresh Look at The New Multiplayer Units in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
This video demonstrates all the latest updates that have been made made to StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm units since they were unveiled at BlizzCon last year. Some very cool stuff in here. The Protoss units on display are the Mothership Core, the Oracle, and the Tempest. Terran gets the Battle Hellion, Warhound, and…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 8, 2012 -
These Guys Took Their Missed E3 Booth Babe Connections to Craigslist
If you’ve attended E3, chances are you’ve probably had some interaction with booth babes. There’s simply no avoiding them, even if they are one of the tackier aspects of gaming’s biggest convention. But not everyone feels uncomfortable around booth babes. Some guys love ’em, and some guys even fall for them. A quick perusal of…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 8, 2012 -
Beyond: Two Souls is Basically Heavy Rain Meets Ghost Trick
After seeing a lengthy demo of a level from David Cage’s new game Beyond: Two Souls, that headline is more or less the best way I can describe it: The somber, occasionally stilted tone and QTE-style controls of Heavy Rain coupled with the non-corporeal hijinks of Ghost Trick. Starring Ellen Page. All things considered, that’s…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 7, 2012 -
Skyrim‘s Massive Dawnguard Sounds Like a Proper Old-School RPG Expansion
Yesterday at E3, I spent some time playing Skyrim‘s first big downloadable add-on, Dawnguard. Between my time with the game and my subsequent conversation with game director Todd Howard, I came away with the firm notion that Dawnguard is less a mere additional faction questline and more a full, proper expansion. Ready for some delicious…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 7, 2012 -
The Wii U’s ZombiU Could be Stealing the Scene On Other Platforms
Ubisoft’s new zombie game ZombiU really impressed me when I played it at E3. As it turns out, despite its reliance on the Wii U’s second handheld screen, the game might not be exclusive to Nintendo’s upcoming console after all. Speaking with IGN, Ubisoft’s Tony Key said that the game might at some point come…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 7, 2012 -
Assassin’s Creed III Brings a Crafty, Fresh Take on King-Of-The-Hill
At E3, I had a chance to play a couple rounds of multiplayer in Assassin’s Creed III. The general setup is about the same as in the last couple Assassin’s Creed games—the core of the game is to remain incognito while hunting your opponents down. There are many copies of your character model, so it’s…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 7, 2012 -
You Can Turn Into a Cloud of Bats in Skyrim‘s Dawnguard Expansion. Bats.
Bees? No, not bees! Bats! I’ve just had a chance to play some of Skyrim‘s first upcoming downloadable expansion, Dawnguard, which will be out exclusively on the Xbox 360 on June 26th. In my demo, my character had already chosen to become a Vampire Lord (as opposed to the vampire-fighting Dawnguard), so I had a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 6, 2012 -
Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime Joins The Ranks of the Undead
At yesterday’s Nintendo press conference, president of Nintendo America Reggie Fils-Aime revealed himself to be a rotting, stinking monstrosity. And then, he used the Wii’s augmented reality to make himself look like a zombie! [Rimshot] Above, you can see Reggie demonstrating the Wii U’s AR abilities tied to the Ubisoft Wii U exclusive ZombiU. (Which,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 6, 2012 -
Who Is Our Mystery Microsoft Interviewee? [UPDATE]
Among the batch of interviews we have lined up for E3 with top game developers and captains of industry, we have a mystery interview today with someone important in the world of Xbox. Who could this mystery man or woman be? Microsoft won’t tell us, so we will leave it to you readers to speculate:…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 6, 2012 -
The New Gears of War Campaign Gets Harder As You Get Better
Last night, I had a chance to play OverRun mode, the great-looking new versus multiplayer in Gears of War: Judgment. Today, I sat down with Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski and People Can Fly’s Adrian Chmielarz to hear the first details about its single-player campaign. There are a number of substantial-sounding tweaks to gameplay, all of which…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 6, 2012 -
ZombiU Sprinkles Dead Island With A Liberal Dose of Dark Souls. In Other Words, It’s Rad
Well, color me surprised. When Ubisoft debuted ZombiU as a Wii U-exclusive (Update: maybe not exclusive forever) zombie game at their press conference yesterday, I wasn’t sold. The trailer was exceptionally slick, of course, but who can even tell when it comes to zombie games anymore, you know? As it turns out, ZombiU doesn’t just…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 5, 2012 -
Assasin’s Creed on Vita Manages To Make Combat Easier, Yet Harder. It’s Complicated.
I’ve just had a chance to see a hands-off demo of Assassin’s Creed: Liberation, the new Assassin’s Creed game exclusive to Sony’s handheld Vita. I’ve complained in the past that Assassin’s Creed combat is way too easy, and yet this newest iteration in the franchise manages to make combat even easier Though well, it also…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 5, 2012 -
The Rubbery, Goofy Gorn Will Be the Star Trek Game’s Main Bad Guys
In an interesting choice for the upcoming co-op Kirk/Spock Star Trek game, the goofy Gorn will take the role of the primary villains. Probably best known for the legendarily bad fight scene between my namesake and a Gorn, hopefully the ones in the game will be more fearsome. The press materials from Namco Bandai are…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 5, 2012
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