Kirk Hamilton

Zombies, Women & Citizen Kane: Last of Us Makers Defend Their Game

The Last of Us is one of the most critically acclaimed big-budget games of the last year. All the same, it’s gotten its fair share of criticism. Is it too difficult? Too much like a movie? Are female characters relegated to the sidelines? And why the heck aren’t they just called zombies? I took these…

They Don’t Make Tutorial Levels Like No One Lives Forever Anymore

If you want to look at how much things have changed over the last decade and a half of gaming, look no further than the tutorial level. I love tutorial levels. Everything’s new and exciting, and there’s a new trick or move to learn around every corner. And there were no more glorious tutorials than…

Thesecond “Molyjam” will be going down this weekend at a ton of locations around the world. If you’re interested in joining up and making a weird, amazing game, head on over to their site and find a spot near you

Send Her A Video Game Thing, Or Anything, And She’ll Paint It For You

I do not know where Ali Spagnola gets her energy, but I’ll have what she’s having. We first met the musician/artist/writer/all-around-dynamo upon learning of her“power hour” drinking game/album, which came with 60 one-minute tunes, each of which must be accompanied by a shot of beer en route to drunktown. Amid the drinking and the concerts,…

The Walking Dead: 400 Days Is A Clever, Successful Experiment

Just like that, there was a new episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. And guess what? It’s good! More than that, it’s interesting. A collection of five interwoven short stories, The Walking Dead: 400 Days is just the sort of experiment that smaller downloadable episodes make possible. Telltale appears to be running with that, putting…

Here’s Destiny‘s Entire 12-Minute E3 Gameplay Demo

Who wants to watch twelve minutes of Bungie’s Destiny in action? Anyone? Would you like to watch that demo accompanied by some goofy and highly scripted player-banter? Even better! This demo made its debut at Sony’s E3 press conference in June, with Bungie developers playing the game on PlayStation 4s. Now Bungie has sent along…

Is Under The Dome Kinda Just Under The Dumb?

“Chester’s Mill is a place like any other… at least it used to be, until we were cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious dome.” Yes, that is the actual pre-credits exposition we got at the start of episode two of Under the Dome. A straightforward intro for a straightforward show,…

Do you want to dress your Animal Crossing: New Leaf character up like a child combatant from Battle Royale? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: Depthakote has posted several versions of the film’s bloody school uniforms, with QR codes for each one. Great, now I want to rewatch Battle Royale. (Via Tiny Cartridge)

It’s Probably Okay That GTA V Won’t Be This Photorealistic

Because otherwise it’d be a bit… goofy. We all are hoping that Grand Theft Auto V will get a graphical facelift from past games in the series. But I think that, after watching this silly (and quite well-done) video from Ty Green, we can all agree that it’s good that GTA V won’t be too…

Klei’s Next Game Is An XCOM-Like Turn-Based Spy Game? Yes, Please.

Klei Entertainment, makers of recent gems Don’t Starve and Mark of the Ninja, have announced their new game. It’s a procedurally generated, turn-based tactical espionage game called Incognita. What? Dude. Yes. There are scant few details available on the game’s site and only a single screenshot/bit of promo art: Speaking with RPS, Klei’s Jamie Cheng…

The San Francisco Fog Never Looked So Gorgeous

For going on a decade now, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the San Francisco fog. It’s our city’s defining characteristic; so beautiful from afar, so smothering and depressing up close. But there’s no denying that beauty, captured here in a gorgeous new video from photographer Simon Christen called “Adrift.” He describes his project thusly.…

Two great essays about Animal Crossing: New Leaf: In this smart analysis by Gamasutra‘s Christian Nutt, he looks at why this entry in particular has been such a sensation. Meanwhile, USGamer’s Jeremy Parish talks about how summer arrived today and caused him to finally fall for the game. I haven’t seen a game this broadly…

Hell Yes, It’s OC Remix’s Mondo Musical Tribute To Final Fantasy VI

Yesssss. The madmen and women at OC Remix have pulled together a massive group of musicians to pay tribute to one of the most beloved video game soundtracks of all time: Square Enix’s 1994 classic Final Fantasy VI The album, titled Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin, is out today. It’s the result of a…

How ‘GLaDOS’ is GLaDOS In Pacific Rim? Pretty GLaDOS.

Among the questions video-game fans may have about Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming robots vs. monsters blockbuster Pacific Rim—how are the robots? How are the monsters?—one question stands apart: Is GLaDOS really in it? There has been some confusion on this issue. The first big trailer for the movie featured voice-actor Ellen McLain reprising her famous…

Show Us The Games You’re Playing To Survive The Summer Doldrums

Every summer there’s a video game dead zone, a break between the games of spring and the deluge of the fall. Lately it’s seemed as though that dead zone is getting shorter and shorter. But it arrives each year nonetheless. As we ease our way into July, it’s clear that we’re about to enter 2013’s…

The Next Episode Of The Walking Dead Is Coming Out This Week

Wait, this week? Sweet! Telltale games has confirmed to us that 400 Days, the next episode in their lauded The Walking Dead series, will be launching this week. The game will come to PSN on July 2, PC/Mac on July 3, and Xbox live on July 5. It’ll then be out on PSN in Europe…

Just Like That, The Last of Us‘ Hidden Phone-Sex Numbers Are No More

Shortly after The Last of Us came out, we discovered something pretty funny. On a bulletin board in Pittsburgh hung a sign with two phone numbers for “Pest Control.” But if you called those numbers in the real world, you got phone-sex hotlines (Since I’ve seen enough people wondering about this in the comments on…

Total War: Rome II Is Gonna Wage War On Your Hard Drive

It’s likely that the amount of content will justify it (at least, that immense screenshot they shared helps give that impression), but man alive is Total War: Rome II going to take up a lot of hard drive space. 35 gigabytes, to be precise, according to the recommended specs released today by Creative Assembly. Time…

What’s Your Favorite Animal Crossing: New Leaf Song?

We’ve gone over how to compose a great town theme for Animal Crossing: New Leaf But one of the best things about the game is the actual soundtrack, reliably changing tunes every hour as you make your way through a 24-hour cycle. In AC:NL, some players will hear certain songs more than others, depending on…

The Just Cause 2 multiplayer mod is having another public test—more info on how to get in on the driving, skydiving and general mayhem here. (Via PC Gamer)