-
CultureTotal RecallGood Lord, World of Warcraft Is Old
In an industry where games barely even a month old are slashed in price then swiftly forgotten, World of Warcraft is an exceptional, well, exception. The game, which turned seven yesterday, was first announced back in 2001. For it to be still played today isn’t just mind-exploding, it’s a testament to how addictive and successful…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 24, 2011 -
Someone Who Just Inherited an Heirloom Laptop
In the olden days, when your desktop PC got too old, it was either upgraded or cannibalised. They never really hung around. But in this era of laptop domination, when a computer outlives its usefulness, you can just palm it off! Your little brother, your college-bound sister, your grandparents who just want to talk to…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
You Can’t Play Skyrim’s Lutes, But You Can Play a Skyrim…Electric Guitar
It’s the game’s one true oversight: the fact you can’t pick up a lute in Skyrim and jam out a ditty to ladies in towers and monsters slain. Ah well. This’ll have to make do. Etsy craftsman TTguitars is offering Skyrim-themed mandolins (pictured), electric guitars and electric bass—the appeal coming in the base hand-carved to…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
Culture
Art From the Command & Conquer Game That Never Was
Totilo’s story yesterday on what might be a Command & Conquer action game got me thinking about Tiberium, the promising yet ultimately ill-fated shooter EA once had planned for the strategy universe. While the game was cancelled because it was shaping up to be a bit rubbish, that certainly had little to do with Tiberium’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
Microsoft Responds to XBOX CYBER FRAUD Story
Sure, it’s natural to raise an eyebrow or two when a publication like The Sun warns of XBOX CYBER FRAUD, but in this case, the tabloid was spot-on, even if the language could have been a little less inflammatory. Responding to the story, Microsoft has confirmed that “a number of Xbox LIVE members appear to…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
Happy 25th Birthday Zelda, Here’s An Awesome Soundtrack
The talented community at OverClocked ReMix wanted to do something special for Zelda‘s 25th birthday, so they got together and released this amazing “Indie Game Composer Tribute”. This means that the people behind the music are people you may have heard from before. Like Laura Shigihara, of Plants vs Zombies fame. And C418, the composer…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
1.6 Million WoW Players to Switch to Old Republic?
A recent survey has found an estimated 50% of World of Warcraft’s playerbase has grown tired of the game. It also reckons between 900,000 and 1.6 million WoW subscribers will jump ship to Old Republic once it launches. [Develop]
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
This Game Engine Wants to Build Entire Planets
The kids at Outerra aren’t out to do much. Only create a game engine that can create entire planets for you to mess around in. An indie project, the goal is to build a “3D planetary engine for seamless planet rendering from space down to the surface”. Which means build a whole planet, letting you…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
EB Games/GameStop Gets Rid of Used Games Section [Update]
An employee of Canada’s EB Games (read: GameStop) has let us know that, in one of the company’s shittier moves in recent years, the distinction between “new” and “used” games (at least in Canada) is apparently going to be all but removed. Instead, according to internal documentation forwarded to Kotaku, all games will be lumped…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
GameStop Employees Suing Over Unpaid Conditions
Multinational retailer GameStop is facing a lawsuit from its own employees over security checks the company performs on them whenever they go for a break or clock off for the day. It’s policy to make sure nobody has stolen anything when coming and going from a store, yet while this may seem intrusive and untrusting,…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
Get a 3DS for $99, PS3 Bundle For $200
Ahead of Black Friday madness in the US, here’s two deals in particular to keep an eye out for. One is Walmart’s (UPDATE: and other retailers as well) $200 PS3 bundle, which includes a 160GB console and copies of both LittleBigPlanet 2 and Ratchet & Clank All 4 One. As the box art says, that’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
Minecraft Looks Good, But Let’s Make it Look Better
After years of being available as both alpha and beta, Minecraft is finally available as a finished (though never truly finished) product. Yet for all the fanfare, I haven’t played the game in over a year. Talking to lots of other people, I hear the same thing. They dabbled in it in 2009 or 2010,…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
Don’t Be the Hero of Time. Be the Hero of the Kitchen.
You Americans will soon be cooking up Thanksgiving feasts. I’m thinking of the Australian Christmas BBQ. Either way, we could all look the part in these Zelda aprons, hand-made by Janeille Pita. There are two available, both based on the Wind Waker designs of Link and Zelda. Actually, now I look at them closer they…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011 -
Report: Skyrim Contains the Entire Elder Scrolls Landmass, Including Morrowind and Cyrodiil?
Holy shit. An intrepid Elder Scrolls player, curious as to why the game stopped him at the border between Skyrim and Morrowind (the playable landmass of the third game in the series), engaged noclip mode and decided to look beyond. What he claims he found was…the entire continent of Tamriel. The whole damn thing. He…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011 -
Culture
The Colourful, Robotic Art of Killzone 3
It’s funny, considering Killzone 2 was so bleak, Killzone 3 remains one of, if not the best-looking game on the PS3, an explosion of vibrant colours and, amazingly given the franchise, style. Part of that is thanks to the guys at art studio Karakter, who we’ve featured here before, but it’s also down to the…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011 -
Dark Souls, You’re Looking Awfully Cute Today
Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. Two of the nastiest, most unforgiving game of this console generation. So why the hell are they looking so adorable? It’s the Paul Robertson treatment, the pixel artist turning what were once menacing foes into cuddly friends. You can read our Dark Souls review here. Note it’s not as cute…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011 -
Minecraft’s Statistics Will Crush Your Mind
At Minecon, Minecraft’s big convention held over the weekend, a panel revealed some terrifying statistics on not just how popular the once-indie darling is, but how often people screw around with it. The development team at Mojang used a talk to reveal the statistics from Minecraft.net, the game’s launchpad of sorts, and those stats are…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011 -
The Best Star Wars Toy Ever? That’s…Possible
Hey, Stars Wars fans with too much money. Get a load of this. It’s a Hot Toys Luke Skywalker figure. Of the badass, handless, Bespin variety. Just in time for the Christmas wish list of your dreams Really, I don’t know where to start with this. It’s a Hot Toys figure, so you know there’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011 -
Yakuza 5 Sounds Massive
The next Yakuza game may be the first to spur a complete overhaul of the series, upcoming Ryu Ga Gotoku 5 to offer five playable locations, seamless transitions between battle and chit-chat and an overall game of “massive volume”. [Andriasang]
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011 -
Fans Helping Fix Uncharted 3’s Terrible Aim
I think Crecente was a little kind with his Uncharted 3 review. For me, the changes made to the gunplay (namely in the speed and accuracy with which you aim your weapons) nearly killed the game for me, and for an adventure where you spend so much time playing with guns, that’s a big problem.…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011
Luke Plunkett
Luke Plunkett's posts