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Epic to Show New Unreal Engine at the Game Developers Conference
Epic Games will be demoing the Unreal Engine 4 at the Game Developers’ Conference next week. At DICE, Epic’s Tim Sweeney said that the engine would require a console much more powerful than the Xbox 360.
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 27, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
The First Mass Effect‘s User Interface Sure Was Terrible
I still think fondly back on when I played the first Mass Effect. It had so much going for it, and I was so excited about the game—I remember tearing through the campaign, loving the story, and tolerating the somewhat janky combat and technical issues. I also remember the interface. It was something that I…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 25, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallNo Rage Quite Like Asteroids ‘Roid Rage
We’re back with a second episode of Retro Rumble, where guys compete to get high scores in olllld (really old!) video games. This time around, they’re playing Asteroids, which is a good deal more colorless than you may have thought. I know I’d have ‘roid rage if someone kept calling me “son” while I was…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 24, 2012 -
Watch Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert Talk About Adventure Games for 35 Minutes
Surely you all know about Tim Schafer’s incredible Double Fine kickstarter adventure, which has now raised $2.1 million. Using the money, Schafer and fellow Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert will be making a new old-school-style adventure game. In the (awesome) video above, Schafer takes on the role of interviewer, talking with Gilbert about their shared…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 24, 2012 -
Don’t Forget About Me, Veronica
“…I could never.” Greetings Team Kotaku, and welcome to the Friday night open thread. I hope you had a fun and exciting week, and are looking forward to a restful weekend. It’s almost spring! Can you smell the springness in the air? Here, from around the internet, are some things that you might want to…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 24, 2012 -
Now These Are Some Seriously Cool Video Game Posters
This is a little bit niche, but if you’d like to have some truly cool, distinctive posters for your dorm room or apartment, you could do worse than Rachel E. Morris’ awesome series of prints created on commission for the NYU Game Center’s “Practice” lecture series. You can check out all of the various posters…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 24, 2012 -
Oklahoma Kills Violent Video Game Tax With a Sick Quicktime Event That Stabs a Shard of Glass Into Its Eye Socket and Suffocates it With a Grocery Bag
The tax on violent video games proposed by Oklahoma representative William Fourkiller has been rejected by the Oklahoma House Revenue and Tax Subcommittee. Fourkiller’s proposal had been modified to focus on creating a task force looking into video games’ relationship to obesity and aggression. It was voted down 5-6. In the minutes from the subcommittee…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 24, 2012 -
The New Way
Hello, Kotaku, and welcome to the Thursday evening open thread. Oh, I like Thursday evenings. I’m slaving away all day on Kotaku Melodic, and then I get to organize the open thread. Today, for some reason, I got started off on one of my favorite films of all time, Wet Hot American Summer. I hope…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
This Game Puts You Inside a Gigantic Synthesizer
It took me a long time to understand synthesizers. When I was a kid, I would often think of a synthesizer as being more or less the same thing as an electric piano—wasn’t a Rhodes or a Wurlitzer basically just a synthesizer? No, in fact—a synthesizer, like a Moog or a Yamaha CS-15, is much…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
The Many Melodies of the Nintendo 3DS
Welcome back to “Menu Music,” a regular Kotaku Melodic feature in which we’ll be listening to the best and worst menu music in video gaming. Last week, we listened to the mind-numbing music of the PlayStation Vita, so it seemed only fair that this week we should listen to the music of its competitor, the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
Music To Creep Through the Jungle To
Last week, I had some fun sharing a bunch of jokey dubstep videos inspired by the new trailer for Far Cry 3. In doing so, I remembered how much I loved the music from Far Cry 2, and so I’m sharing some of it here. This music, composed by Marc Canham, stands apart from the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
Video Games are the New Best Way to Make a Living Composing Music
You may have heard that it’s tough to make a living as a musician. You heard right! It’s a tough world out there, and very few people get paid a good living to make music. But while it may seem daunting from the outside, there is actually a greater demand for music than ever—there is…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (Until Now)
Like anyone with a brain and ears, I seriously love Frank Zappa. Certainly one of the most brilliant, idiosyncratic composers of the 21st century, Zappa’s amazing orchestral compositions, unhinged harmonic freakouts, and hilarious lyrics have long been a musical inspiration. As great as many of his more well-known albums are, the first album that truly…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
The Grindy Grooves of Danny Baranowsky
I’ve written in the past about how much I like Danny Baranowsky’s work, but tonight during Kotaku melodic, we’ll be running a more in-depth feature about him, so I thought it would be cool to share some of his non- Binding of Isaac work. You can download most all of this stuff at his Bandcamp…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
In The Hall of the Gaming King
I’ve been playing a bit of Escape Plan on the Vita; it’s a charming puzzle game that places you in a series of incredibly dangerous rooms and tasks you with helping the two hapless, goofy main characters survive. It’s got a neat, clean black & white art style, and a humorously mournful style. It’s also…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
ReviewsMutant Blobs Attack!: The Kotaku Review
I still remember when I saw The Blob. Not the original film, the 1988 remake. I was probably around ten years old, and we were having a Christmas party. The big kids had gone off into a separate room to watch horror movies. I came in right as what I call “The Yo-Yo Scene” was…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012 -
Will Smith in High-Tops Playing an NES
Hello, Kotaku, and welcome to the mid-week evening open thread! Hope your wednesdays went splendidly. It was a beautiful day in San Francisco. Here, from all around the web, are things for you to check out and maybe talk about. TV sports announcer falls off a stool – It’s hard to be cool. This kid…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 22, 2012
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