Michael McWhertor

Smash Bros., Metroid, Scribblenauts Creators Making Free WarioWare Microgames

Nintendo’s upcoming WarioWare: D.I.Y., the game that lets players create their own playable microgames, is tapping a handful of all-star developers to create free downloadable content, including the makers of games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid and Scribblenauts. Followers of WarioWare: D.I.Y. may already be aware of Nintendo’s celebrity-made microgame giveaways. The Japanese version…

Six Days In Fallujah Dev Gives Birth To Breach

Developer Atomic Games, perhaps best known for its missing in action shooter Six Days In Fallujah but also responsible for the V for Victory series, has a new “multiplayer title for consoles and personal computers” that will “blow your mind.” Or so says official word from Atomic Games, revealing the title of its newest game…

Ultima Creator May Already Own Some Of The Moon

Richard Garriott, space tourist, rat tail enthusiast, and creator of Ultima and Tabula Rasa (RIP), may also be the first private citizen to have a legitimate claim to ownership of a good portion of the moon. How, exactly, did Garriott become a possible lunar land owner? Well, way back in 1993, the man known in…

Mr. DRILLER: Drill till you Drop Screen Shots

Week In Games: Just Caves

If you have any funds left over from the previous weeks’ blockbuster video game releases, perhaps you’ll be interested in what this week has to offer, namely another use for your Wii MotionPlus and Just Cause 2. For the more discriminating video game enthusiast, the long in the waiting release of Cave Story on WiiWare…

PlayStation Prez Promises Killzone 3, Eventually

Sure, a third entry in the Guerrilla Games’ Killzone series seems like an inevitability, an obvious sequel as assured as Gears of War 3 or Resistance 3. PlayStation president Jack Tretton promises it will happen, as close to confirmation as well get. When asked by GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley, Tretton wouldn’t confirm that Sony…

First Impressions Of The Kane & Lynch Movie Script

I’ve been slowly reading through a draft of the big screen adaptation of IO Interactive’s Kane & Lynch today, the movie set to star Bruce Willis as Kane, Jamie Foxx as Lynch. Screenwriter Kyle Ward has done some… interesting things. The version of the Kane & Lynch script we got our hands on dates back…

Kotaku Off Topic: Raw Thrills

It’s Friday night and we’re feeling a little “off topic” right now, so let’s take a sharp turn from our regularly scheduled video game conversation and discuss other nerdy delights: film, music, comics, science, food, whatever you choose. Me? I’m going to talk about food for a minute, which may be the new rule: Friday…

PSP Still Winning The War In Japan

The PlayStation Portable may not have had another stellar performance on par with its showing in Japan last week, but the PSP is still resting comfortably atop the country’s hardware chart. Sony’s portable managed to move another 39,125 units in Japan last week, according to sales tracker Media Create, outselling the Nintendo DS platform by…

Game Developers Conference 2010, As Told To Twitter

What was everybody (on Twitter) talking about during this year’s GDC? Game researcher Jesper Juul offers his annual look at the most tweeted highlights from the week of GDC, during which “pocket protector” was a surprisingly hot topic. Back from Game Developers Conference 2010 and trying to get my bearings like everybody else. On the…

Beyond Sonic The Hedgehog: These May Be The New Sega All-Stars

Sonic the Hedgehog may be Sega’s most recognizable cash cow—those Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games titles are huge—but the successes of Bayonetta, Total War and Football Manager may represent the new wave of Sega’s key franchises. Sega bigwig Mike Hayes tells CVG in an interview that has designs on “sequelizing” many of its…

Everybody Loves The Panda

From: McWhertor To: Ashcraft Re: Your Favorite Animal Is… Did you really go to the zoo? Or was that just Night Note code for “I’m going to sit on the couch watching French films and pounding sake”? If you did, here’s an uninteresting factoid: my most recent zoo excursion occurred in Japan at the Ueno…

Pikmin 3 “Well Underway” Says Miyamoto

Nintendo designer and Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto was in London today to pick up his BAFTA fellowship award, an honor he reciprocated by delivering his acceptance speech in pure English. What did Miyamoto have to say, specifically about Pikmin? According to the tweet-reporting of the Official Nintendo Magazine UK, Mr. Miyamoto offered the briefest…

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Keeps 2D Fighting Alive This Summer

North American fans of the two-dimensional fighting game will get their fisticuffs fix with the release of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this summer, the follow up to last year’s BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. While not a full-fledged sequel to Calamity Trigger, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift’s incremental updates—three new playable characters, Tsubaki, μ-12…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

What else? God of War III was released this week and, despite my initial apathy toward playing through another God of War game, I’m excited. That’s why I’ll be trading in a bunch of games this weekend. Oh, I’ve got a few spare copies of games that are unlikely to ever see the inside of…

StarCraft II Beta Invites Now Going Out To Your Closest Friends

Some of you already in the StarCraft II multiplayer beta are about to become more popular. According to some lucky beta testing tipsters, Blizzard is sending out e-mails with extra StarCraft II beta keys to share with a friend. The one-time use invite may be part of Blizzard’s efforts to further test the new Battle.net…

Kotaku Off Topic: If He Dies, He Dies

Hey, Kotaku. You want to take a break from talking to each other about video games and move the conversation in another direction? That’s what Kotaku Off Topic is for, you know. While you’re free to talk about anything, I have something of a challenge for you. If you don’t care for competition, consider it…

The Silver Age: Is Valve The New (Old) Marvel?

Jason McIntosh, producer of television show The Gameshelf and writer of the blog of the same name, explores the similarities between the video game and comic book markets of the past and present. Here, his second entry on the subject. I wish to make an extended footnote on last Monday’s post, regarding further similarities I…

PlayStation Store Update: Gaga Heroes

This week’s North American PlayStation Store update features the highest concentration of Lady Gaga to date, thanks to the addition of four new Rock Band tracks from the pop star. There are some new video games too! Like what? Like Patchwork Heroes for one thing, the visually creative PSP game that’s just ten U.S. bucks,…

Halo: Reach Matchmaking Needs Your Help To Be Better

Bungie is making some important and dramatic changes to multiplayer matchmaking in Halo: Reach, with a revamped set of online options that cater to the hardcore (see Arena mode) and new social settings that improve everyone else’s experience. Shacknews has a comprehensive look at Halo: Reach’s multiplayer side, which includes “Arena Playlists” targeted at the…