Luke Plunkett

Metal Gear Creator Dreaming Of A Console-Free Future

A console-less future. It’s a topic that rears its head from time to time, and what do you know, today it rears its head again, courtesy of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. “In the near future, we’ll have games that don’t depend on any platform,” he said at yesterday’s Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker press…

Lara Croft: Snow Day

Alan Wake’s Release Date…Pushed Up!

Microsoft slipped us word this morning that Alan Wake’s European release date has been changed. Thing is, it’s been changed for the better The game was originally due for release towards the end of the week of May 20, but for some reason, it’s now been pushed up to Friday, May 14. A whole week…

Nothing Says “!” Like A Luxurious Metal Gear PSP Carry Case

If there’s one thing Japanese PSPs have over Western PSPs (aside from people playing Monster Hunter), it’s Porter’s range of nice, albeit expensive PSP carry cases. Here’s a new one, for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Due out at the end of the month, alongside the game itself, the Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker x…

Transformers Trailer: Be All You Can Be

While the upcoming Transformers: War for Cybertron lets you play as actual Transformers, its multiplayer mode also lets you create your own Autobot or Decepticon and, as my people would say, get amongst it. Sadly, the customisation options seem to extend to “pick a team” then “pick a hue” (hopefully there’s more to come later),…

Prepare For A Return To The Afterlife

We’re running a religion theme week here on Kotaku. And it would wrong – no, it would be a sin – if we went those seven days without once mentioning Afterlife, a 1996 strategy game by Lucasarts. Never heard of it? That’s OK. You could have gone through 1996 without hearing about it, let alone…

EA Forms Real-World Racing Team

Continuing the series’ move away from Fast & the Furious and towards the kind of corporate street racing seen in games like DiRT, EA today revealed the formation of Team Need For Speed, a real, proper racing team. Made up of drivers like Mad Mike Whiddett, Patrick Söderlund and Matt Powers, they’ll be racing in…

These Wii Games Aren’t Widescreen, They’re Widescreen And Then Some

The Nintendo Wii supports standard widescreen resolutions. 16:9, just like most movies and TV shows. But a Wii emulator on a PC can get really wide. These screenshots, taken using the Dolphin emulator, are 1920 pixels wide and nowhere near that many high, giving us an amazing panoramic view of some Wii games. While the…

Transformers On Wii Warrants A Name Change, Apparently

Systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360 will be getting a good-looking Transformers game soon called “War For Cybertron”. That same game is headed for the Wii, but when it hits Nintendo’s console, the name won’t be so combative. No, when the game’s released on Wii, it’ll be called “Transformers: Cybertron Adventures”. It’s the same…

Crysis 2 Trailer: Big Apple, Nice Buns

There was a big Crysis 2 event in New York’s Times Square earlier today, the pinnacle of which was this debut of a new trailer for the game. Reader Justin took this footage from the public airing of the clip, and while it’s shaky, you can still make out what’s going on. If you’re wondering…

Halo Reach’s Gun Porn (And Vehicle Porn, Too)

Halo creators Bungie love guns. Love big, bulky space vehicles,too. Love ’em so much they’ve released a ton of renders showing how both will appear in the upcoming Halo: Reach. Alongside those mechanical moneyshots we’ve also included some older shots of the game’s cast of Spartans, Covenant and cannon fodder Marines. Halo Reach’s beta kicks…

Rumor: Grand Theft Auto Developers Pressure Magazine, Writer Sacked

A report on news.com.au says that a former editor for Zoo Weekly, an Australian “lads mag”, has been sacked after making public an email from Rockstar, developers of the Grand Theft Auto series, demanding more “favourable coverage” from the writer. Toby McCasker, who used to be deputy entertainment editor for the magazine, says that Rockstar…

Halo: Reach Weapon & Vehicle Renders

Final Fantasy, Now Available In…Latin

You know, I was playing Final Fantasy the other day, and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if I could play this not in English, but in Latin? What. I’m a sucker for the classics. Hacker Abw, who you may remember from his work doing the exact same thing for Zelda, has also released…

A Complete Pictorial History Of The Nintendo DS

With the recent reveal (of sorts) of the Nintendo 3DS, the writing is finally on the wall for the company’s venerable line of DS handhelds. With most eyes on the future, then, we thought now would be a good time to look to the past Saving the teary-eyed farewells for a later date – one…

Playing Retro PC Games Just Got Easier

If you want to play old PC games on your new PC, the go-to option is a thing called DOSBox. It gets the job done, but it can be a little fiddly. D-Fend Reloaded, on the other hand, is a breeze. It’s the latest release of a popular front-end for DOSBox, taking the trusty old…

Xbox 360 Consoles Now Have USB Memory Support

The calendar says April 6, and that means, as promised, your Xbox 360 consoles now have a little upgrade waiting for you: the ability to save data to removable USB memory drives. While Microsoft’s own first-party USB sticks, due next month, are pricey, it’s important to remember that you don’t need to use them. You…

An RPG, Only This Time, Without The Fluff

Role-playing games, Japanese ones especially, can be such long-winded things. They’re far more digestible when you cut out all the fluff and break them down into five-second minigames. Just think! No more exploring, no more chit-chat about how evil the new evil oppressors are, no flashbacks to your childhood, where you were raised as an…

Games, And Their Impact On The Environment

A great report over on GamePro today takes a look at the environmental impact of the video game industry. Those yearning for a brighter future (and can take solace in incremental improvements), you’ll like what you see. From better power management features in consoles and handhelds to a reduction in the carbon footprint of the…

Tiger Woods, Lapsed SOCOM Fan

Your perceptions of Tiger Woods may have changed of late, considering he’s been accused of banging every cocktail waitress in the continental United States, but there was once a time he was a mere golfer, playing SOCOM on his PS2. In an article for the New York Times, Seth Schiesel recounts the first time he…