-
Kotaku Census 2010: The Personal Computer
It’s the backbone of the video game industry. Consoles come and consoles go, but the personal computer has always been there, and maybe, always will be. So let’s talk about it, eh? From upgrades to digital delivery, today we’re going to be asking you all about the PC. And not the dusty old Dell you…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2010 -
Reviews
Yakuza 3: The Kotaku Review
It’s funny, for all the Japanese games you and I have ever played—and they number in the hundreds, if not thousands—few of them are Japanese in the way that Yakuza 3 is. Think about it. How many Japanese games have you played where the recorded dialogue is still in its native tongue? Or that are…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
So, How Laggy Is PlayStation Move?
While at GDC, we noticed that the new PlayStation Move controller has a little lag. Want to see how much lag? The technical gurus at Digital Foundry took a 60 frames-per-second camera to GDC, went and used the Move for a bit, and took this footage. It doesn’t take the 20% speed to see that…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
PC Sales Charts, From The Land Of The Boxed Copies
While the NPD Group has ceased providing weekly sales charts for the boxed-copy PC market in the US, it still hands out its monthly – and often hilarious – lists. Let’s look at February’s. As you’d expect, they look a little different to those found on Steam or Direct2Drive. While those are often quite contemporary,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
When Gun Nuts Meet Video Games
Firearms enthusiasts. Hardcore video gamers. They sound like two completely different groups of people, but both have one thing in common: everyone else thinks they’re crazy. That’s one of the key take-aways from a great piece over on the Escapist, written by a man who is both a gamer and a gun lover, a games…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Finally, A Gaming Mouse For Left Handers
The world can be a tough place for left-handers. Which is why there are things you can buy to make things easier for everyday actions, like opening cans, playing golf, playing video games on your PC… …wait a minute. People play video games on their PC left-handed? Enough to warrant this, the Razer DeathAdder Left…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Final Fantasy Creator SHAVES HIS MOUSTACHE?
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is known for two things: Final Fantasy, and his moustache. So imagine the horror when he posted this on his Twitter account. Say it ain’t so, Gooch! Not the mo! Thankfully, it was all for laughs, Sakaguchi later revealing that he’d been messing around with Moustache Removing Software, otherwise known…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Rumor: New Xbox 360 Model Slims Down [Update]
These pictures apparently show the guts of a new model of the Xbox 360. The important bits? The fact that for the first time the console combines the CPU and the GPU in a single chip. Oh, and it’s small The pic above shows the board in question, with the chip part of a rumoured…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Jason! Jason! Jason! Jason! Jason! Jason! Jason!
For the most part, Heavy Rain is an entertaining exercise in story-telling. For the most part. The parts where you’re yelling at small children, not so much. Anyone who’s played the game, and got as far as the clown scene at the mall, will know how awful the part that happens next is. Really, Quantic…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Kotaku Census 2010: PIRATES!
Today’s census questions are all about pirates. Yaaarrrrrrrr! It’s a touchy subject in the video game business. Despite having been around since the dawn of time, when young men swapped 3.5 inch floppies on the school playground (ooo eerrr), piracy is increasingly being cited as a serious problem by video game publishers and retailers, who…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Mario’s Inferno Sticks It To EA’s Marketing Team
Few trailers in recent memory have polarised gamers as much as EA’s Dante’s Inferno clip for the Super Bowl. Would you have liked it more if, say, Dante was not Dante, but Mario? I like it more. Well, except for the Bill Withers. Even in this parody version, it still doesn’t sit right. If you…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Battlefield Drops SecuROM DRM
The Steam version of EA’s Battlefield Bad Company 2 is about to get a new patch, and amidst the little tweaks and fixes is some welcome news: the game’s SecuROM DRM software will also be uninstalled. SecuROM has been a pain in the ass of every PC gamer since it first turned up a few…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
The Great Battlefield Crossover Experiment
With public interest in free-to-play shooter Battlefield Heroes at critical levels following EA’s controversial changes to the game’s pay structure, the publisher is trying to light a fire under the game with a Battlefield Bad Company crossover. Starting March 16, there’ll be a month-long “tribute” event in the PC shooter, which will see new items,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010 -
Brits Build Real Life Modern Warfare 2 Level
The team from Britain’s FiveFWD gadget show were feeling crafty the other day, so went and built themselves a full-scale replica of “The Pit”, Modern Warfare 2’s training area. That in itself would normally be good enough, but for next week’s program, presenter Jason Bradbury will go one better and race a real special forces…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010 -
Rumor: Street Fighter IV Characters Get New Costumes
These apparently leaked shots of a Super Street Fighter IV theme for the 360 are a bit more interesting than they ought to be, showing off a new range of alternate costumes for the game’s fighters. If legit, they’re certainly interesting. M. Bison’s new mecha suit looks great, as does Jamaican fighter Dee Jay, who…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010 -
3D Gaming Goes From The PC To The TV
NVIDIA, a company known for its graphics cards for PCs, today revealed a push for the living room of the future, with the release of software that allows PC gamers to play in 3D on their television sets. The software is called NVIDIA 3DTV Play, and lets anyone with a 3D-capable laptop or desktop PC…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010 -
Relax, Warcraft III Just Got Patched
Warcraft III, a PC (and Mac!) game released almost eight years ago, just got a couple of new, official patches. Now that’s some post-release support. They’re obviously minor patches, but hey, support is support, no matter how minor or, in this case, how long it comes after the game’s release. There are two available, one…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010 -
Splinter Cell Conviction Demo Out This Week
It’s a bit hard to believe the long-delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction will actually be out soon. If you needed something tangible as proof, you could always try the Xbox Live demo of the game, due out this week. It’ll be released on March 18, which is this Thursday. Two levels from the game are playable,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010 -
Publisher: PSP Is A “Bollocking Useless Waste Of Space”
Gavin Cheshire, VP of Codemasters (DiRT, Operation Flashpoint), owns a PlayStation Portable. Which may explain why he’s slagged the handheld off in the latest issue of Edge Magazine. “Well, speaking as a person who bought a PSP, the problem was that I always thought – because it was a better screen than iPod’s – that…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 16, 2010
Luke Plunkett
Luke Plunkett's posts