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CultureTotal RecallWhat Makes the Mother Series so Great?
They may not be chart-toppers – indeed, the third game has never even been officially released in the West – but the Mother/Earthbound series of role-playing games are some of the most revered and cherished of all Nintendo games (at least among certain cliques). There’s a very good reason why this is. And it has…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 1, 2011 -
Meet The Most Beautiful PS3 Of Them All
Level-5 and Studio Ghibli’s Ni no Kuni may well be one of the prettiest games on the PS3 when it’s released, so it’s only fitting that its special edition console is just as easy on the eyes. This limited edition machine, which will be out on November 17 in Japan, will include a 160GB HDD…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Tearing a 3D Handheld Apart is Prettier Than You’d Think
A fan of the game as a kid, Chris Stokes thought it’d be fun to dismantle an old Sky Attack (a primitive 3D shooter) handheld from Tomytronic and make a music video out of it. Works for me! The music was made by a group called Creeping Jaw Society, who used only sounds (albeit including…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
More Obscure Japanese Games Come to Steam
Complementing the work of indie localisers Carpe Fulgur, who have brought some random Japanese games to Steam, developers Rockin’ Android will now be doing likewise with the Gundemonium series of shooters. Already available on the PSN, the Gundemonium games are indie shoot-em-ups from Japan that are so sweet your teeth will hurt. Provided you can…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Toppled Libyan Palace Reveals…Prince of Persia Art?
Watching a supposed mobile camera capture from the ruins of the ousted Gaddafi regime in Libya, Dutch site InsideGamer spotted something strange. Seems Colonel Gaddafi’s fifth son, Moatassem-Billah Gaddafi, might be the world’s biggest Prince of Persia fan. Skip to around 1:35 in the video above and you’ll see Mutassim – the country’s national security…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Culture
Gameloft Games Look Better at the Concept Art Stage [Update]
Mobile publisher Gameloft gets a lot of bad press for the way its games borrow visual and design cues from popular console titles. Its popular NOVA series, for example, is really HALO in all but name. Or so it is by the time it hits your phone’s screen. At the concept art stage, things are…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Why Can’t You Shoot Women or Children In Battlefield 3?
Battlefield games take place in urban environments, and even in the most war-torn regions on earth, those places are still usually full of people. Ever wonder why none of them are around while you’re capturing command points? It’s not a technological limitation. It’s a design decision based, and I think this is the right call,…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Finally, a Star Wars Game Where Everybody Dies
In the Star Wars universe, nobody ever really wins anything. When good “wins” evil remains, and when evil remains, good goes into hiding to repeat the cycle. That won’t be the case when MMO Star Wars Galaxies ends, though. When it ends, it’ll end. With the game being shut down on December 15, the developers…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Take-Two Accused of Treating Some Testers Like Crap
A former tester at Visual Concepts, the developers behind 2K’s NBA and MLB games, is trying to take the pair’s parent company Take-Two Interactive to court, accusing them of a number of workplace violations. The suit is being put together by former “temporary employee” Aaron Martinez and his legal team, alleging that Quality Assurance (QA,…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Metal Slug Gets Real (Really Real!)
Reader Andrew McMurry sends us this short little video he made, in which he jumps head-first into a Metal Slug level and proceeds to shoot, slash and explode his way through legions of bad guys. All in the name of your entertainment. While these “real man shoots like he’s in a video game” clips are…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
There Is, No Shit, an Uncharted 3 Reality TV Show
There’s a reality TV special to be broadcast on Spike later this year that’ll be all about Uncharted 3. Think Survivor, only it’s a single episode. Or, more aptly, The Tester with half-tucks. It’s called Uncharted 3: Race to the Ring To be filmed over the course of a week in October in Los Angeles,…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Sega Forms New Studio Just to Make Gangster Games
Sega’s Toshihiro “Brown Man” Nagoshi, the creator of the Monkey Ball series, has revealed today that he’s formed a new studio at Sega which will deal exclusively with games for the Ryu ga Gotoku (Yakuza) series. That studio’s name is Ryu ga Gotoku Studio (catchy!), and is currently working on two new titles. The first…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
This New Hawken Trailer is All About Giant Mechs Exploding
Two trailers for Hawken in one week? It’s like Christmas. In August. While the last one was all moody and only featured a little gameplay, this is mostly in-cockpit shots of rockets firing and guns chattering and big mechs crumpling and exploding all over some of the most beautiful maps we’ve ever seen in a…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Jeremy Clarkson Talks About…a Halo Warthog
If you’ve ever wanted to hear the Top Gear star drawl “light plasma cannons”, you should watch this clip of Jeremy Clarkson giving the rundown on the Warthog that’ll feature in Halo 4 It comes across as a bizarre piece of marketing, until you remember the Warthog will be in the upcoming Forza 4 (albeit…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallRemembering The House That Civilization Built
I don’t tend to truly miss many video game studios. Businesses come and go, their developers move on, make new stuff, the world keeps spinning. But on a weekly basis I find myself missing Microprose, who gave us Civilization. And X-Com. And Master of Orion. And Railroad Tycoon. And Master of Magic. And Falcon 4.0.…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
John Carpenter’s Super They Live Bros.
Graphic designer Fro sent us two pieces of art he’s drawn up. One is an awesome, custom poster for John Carpenter’s classic They Live, the movie with probably the best punch-up the silver screen has ever seen. But I like his companion piece better. These Glasses Get You High But You Come Down Hard [Fro]…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2011 -
Culture
Where Can You Find Nazis, EVE Online and the Beautiful Adrift all In the one Spot?
Why, right here of course, in the latest instalment of Fine Art, Kotaku’s daily look at the concept art of video games. Today we’re admiring the work of French artist Michel Koch, currently an art director at Dontnod Entertainment, developers of the wonderful-looking Adrift, and a man who has previously worked on titles like RUSE…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2011 -
Batman: Arkham City is Using Games For Windows Live (Boo!)
Modern Warfare 3 is using Steamworks. That’s good news, because Steam is reliable, and Steam is popular. Batman: Arkham City is instead using Microsoft’s Games For Windows Live platform. Which is neither of those things. Making this bad (if not unexpected) news. You’ll of course be able to buy the game anywhere you like. Even…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2011 -
Resident Evil Turns 15, Here’s a Fancy T-Shirt & Book
This year is the 15th anniversary of the Resident Evil series. Yes, it’s been 15 years since the first game was released on the PS1. So Capcom is celebrating with a very fancy t-shirt. The publisher has teamed up with Japanese t-shirt connoisseurs Beams to offer a limited edition Biohazard (as the series is known…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2011 -
Fallout: The Board Game Lets you Play Monopoly After the Apocalypse
This custom version of Monopoly, crafted by PinkAxolotl, really has to be seen to be believed. It’s not like it’s just a regular board with a few Fallout references made here and there. It’s as Fallout-themed as it could possibly hope for. And how Fallout is that? Let’s see. Every square has been renamed, of…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2011
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