Michael McWhertor

StarCraft II Beta Gets Map Editor This Week, Mac Version Next Week

Blizzard is still hip-deep in the StarCraft II multiplayer beta, but fans of the sci-fi real-time strategy game should expect a pair of important updates over the next couple weeks, including the release of the game’s Galaxy Editor. StarCraft II lead Chris Sigaty says that the developer is planning to release the game’s map and…

Report: Nintendo’s New 3D Portable Hits This October

Nintendo’s venture into 3D gaming, courtesy of the recently revealed Nintendo 3DS, will hit as early as this October, according to a new report citing a “very senior publishing source.” CVG says it has on good authority from multiple “industry sources” that the Nintendo 3DS, which won’t require 3D glasses to display potentially dazzling three-dimensional…

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New Left 4 Dead 2 Achievements Tease New Additions

Valve’s seems quite serious about releasing Left 4 Dead 2’s first expansion, The Passing, this week… or, according to today’s update, “soon.” So it’s probably high time we find out what those new game modes are. While Valve still isn’t telling, officially, it’s hinting at new changes to the game in a new update at…

Kotaku Off Topic: Left In A Bar

Welcome to Kotaku Off Topic, in which nothing that was found in a bar by a drunken employee of a multi-billion dollar technology company must necessarily be discussed. The discussion is officially open. The key takeaway from today’s Gizmodo scoop—or whatever you want to call it—is that I have a new excuse to go to…

Tony Hawk’s Tony Hawk: Shred Outed By Tony Hawk

Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk may have just officially sent the Activision PR team into a 720-degree tizzy, tweeting about Tony Hawk: Shred, quite possibly the more shred-tastic follow-up to the skateboard-as-controller experiment Tony Hawk: Ride. Mr. Hawk cryptically named something that we’re just wildly assuming is his next project by way of the Twitter, saying…

StarCraft II Hit With Adults Only Rating in Korea

The game of StarCraft is kind of a big deal in Korea, the country in which Blizzard opted to announce the highly anticipated StarCraft II in May of 2007. Shame, then, that the PC game has been rated adults only. That rating issued by Korea’s Games Rating Board could mean that Blizzard sells only millions…

Kotaku Off Topic: Sproutrage

Ahhh…. Friday. Let’s get this weekend started right with some soothing, satisfying off topic conversation. What do we talk about on Fridays? You guessed it. Brussels sprouts. I mean food. It’s Food Friday, after all—which also includes Booze Friday conversation—so if you want to wax about the culinary, do so here. I’m about to head…

Nintendo DSi XL Off To A [Adjective] Start In U.S.

In March, the Nintendo DS had a hell of a month, selling more than 700,000 units to portable gamers in the U.S. That was the same month the pumped up Nintendo DSi XL launched. How’d it do? According to NPD figures cited by Gamasutra, the XL version of Nintendo’s DSi system moved 141,000. Which is…

Review Round Up: That Guy Is Poison

I believe it was the poet Bell Biv DeVoe who said “Never trust a big butt and a smile.” But one thing you can trust? Kotaku reviews. So let’s review what video games, movies and hardware we reviewed this week. Splinter Cell Conviction Review: The Best Lurks In Shadows In which Stephen Totilo uses the…

Left 4 Dead 2’s The Passing Is Coming Next Week

The first downloadable episode for Valve’s southern fried zombie shooter Left 4 Dead 2 didn’t make its originally scheduled “late March” release. Thankfully, it looks like “The Passing” campaign will make a late April release. Valve updated the official Left 4 Dead 2 blog today with good news—The Passing, a new campaign set between the…

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Game Gets More Horrible

Did you happen to catch musically gifted chiptune artist Doctor Octoroc’s 8-bit reinterpretation of Joss Whedon’s musical internet phenomenon Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog? Did you love it? Good news, the Horrible retro saga continues! Act 2, logically the follow up to Act I of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Game is now yours for the enjoying. It…

Is Harmony of Despair A New Castlevania Adventure?

While developer Mercury Steam and Hideo Kojima whip up an all-new Castlevania console adventure in Lords of Shadow, what is the core Castlevania team up to? Maybe Castlevania: Harmony of Despair? A new trademark filing for Harmony of Despair was spotted by Siliconera at the European trademark commission, submitted by Konami Digital Entertainment for the…

Everyone’s A Winner In Japan’s Weekly Hardware Battle!

We’re not taking sides in this week’s round up of video game hardware sales in Japan. Look, it’s not a contest, Sony and Nintendo. You’re both doing just fine Microsoft? Well, they’re doing just about as well as ever in Japan, with the Xbox 360 continuing to sell somewhere between the Nintendo DS Lite and…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

What to play this weekend? Mass Effect 2? Yakuza 3? After Burner Climax? Final Fight: Double Impact? So many video games, only two days with which to perfectly waste playing them. Having completed one of my games very early this morning—as Kratos, I exacted my revenge upon Zeus at about 1:30 a.m. today—it’s time to…

World Of Warcraft Pet Sales Made Millions For Blizzard Today

No sooner did Blizzard offer up two new virtual beasts for World of Warcraft players to buy—one mount, one pet—than did the fanbase queue up in the tens of thousands to buy them, netting Blizzard millions. Blizzard put the Celestial Steed mount and Lil’ XT pet up for sale today, priced at $25 USD/20€ and…

Kotaku Off Topic: The Uncanny Tax Men

Oh no! It’s tax day! I hope all U.S.-based Kotaku Off Topic socialites have already filed or the tax man will get you while you sleep. Let’s not talk about taxes, though, let’s talk about everything else. Anyone going to see Kick Ass this weekend? I think our own Mike Fahey is going to a…

Star Wars Cantina Micro-review: Serve Greedo First

Not since Bea Arthur’s spin as Ackmena the bartender in the Star Wars Holiday Special have we been as thrilled to revisit a classic Tatooine bar as we have in Star Wars Cantina for the iPhone. Star Wars Cantina puts you in the shoes and Dewback-sized beehive hairdo of Nia Adea, a drink-slinger at the…

See How Project Natal Will See You

Look through the cute/creepy eyes of Project Natal and see how the Xbox 360 camera attachment will see you when launched later this year. This shaky cam-captured demonstration, via Next Gen News, is from Microsoft’s Think Next event that convened yesterday in Tel Aviv, Israel—home to Project Natal tech provider PrimeSense. In it, we witness…

PlayStation Store Update: Cody & Guy & Haggar & Sam & Max

Where will the North American PlayStation Store update take PS3 owners this week? To one of three locales, Metro City, Port Carverton and New York City. Do you know the games I’m talking about? If not you might want to check out the list of new downloadable additions awaiting PlayStation 3 and PSP owners. On…