Michael McWhertor

How Sony Is Explaining the PlayStation Network Outage to Its Developers

Sony execs have already apologized to PlayStation customers by way of the company’s official blog and with extremely deep bows, but what’s the message to game developers affected by the PlayStation Network outage? Industry Gamers has the internal memo in which they “deeply regret that this incident has occurred,” but don’t offer many new details.

Meet Diablo III‘s New Enchantress, Scoundrel and Templar

Who are these three mysterious additions to Diablo III? They’re not new character classes in Blizzard’s upcoming action-role-playing game; they’re “Followers,” the co-op companions you’ll play alongside in the next Diablo game. The Enchantress, Scoundrel and Templar appear to be the Diablo III equivalent of the Mercenary, the hirelings introduced in Diablo II. From the…

Rumored Starhawk Screens Leak, Curiously Light On Stars

The follow-up to 2007 PlayStation 3 futuristic dogfighter/third-person shooter Warhawk hasn’t been a well kept secret. But it appears we may have gotten our first look at the spacey sequel, Starhawk, earlier than officially anticipated. A handful of small screens purportedly from Starhawk were published earlier today by GameSpot, according to a report from Gaming…

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Screens Are Pure Gold

Alright, alright, so there are some greens and reds intermingled with the rich, golden hues of Eidos Montreal’s new Deus Ex prequel, but this game’s so luscious and brassy it’s going to sound redundant when Square Enix announces it’s officially gone gold. Ahem. Our latest look at Deus Ex: Human Revolution is so clean we…

Home Sheep Home May Have Been Nominated for a BAFTA, But It’s Just Too Thin to Win

Home Sheep Home, you’re no Angry Birds—at least not when it comes to value. You may be a handsome, amusing diversion for the iPhone and iPod touch, but there’s just not enough of your sheepish, physics-based puzzle solving to go around. Home Sheep Home, based on Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep and an online Flash game…

Get In-N-Out Of There!

Greetings, Kotaku readers. Welcome to tonight’s open thread, which we’re doing animal style. Wait! Scratch that, I’m thinking of dinner from In-N-Out Burger. Speaking of the fine burger chain, In-N-Out came to Texas today and apparently beef loving locals completely lost their shit over the opening. In a world where we’re pretty used to having…

Who Cares About Angry Birds When You Can Play DOS Classics In Your Browser?

Harmless distractions like Angry Birds are perfectly acceptable browser game fodder, should you have nothing better to play, but a newly released port of emulator DOSbox for Google’s Chrome browser is the superior option—especially if you love LucasArts adventure games. NaClBox makes that possible. It’s a newly released port of DOSbox—the free emulator used by…

Japanese Video Game Sales Take A Much Needed Week Off

With Japan celebrating Golden Week, there wasn’t much activity in the country in terms of new releases. In fact, in the list of top twenty bestselling games in Japan, there was nothing new represented. But we soldier on! According to sales tracker Media Create, Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional topped the charts…

Hey! Listen! Hey! Hey!! Look Out Behind You, Link!!!

For once, Link might want to actually “listen” to the crazy fairies’ nonsense. Such an amazing illustration of the classic Nintendo video game by Kevin Keele. Related Rampage: God of War “Hey! Listen! Hey!” by Kevin Keele / Kanyn (deviantART) Need your daily fill of geek eye candy? If so, head over to Justin Page’s…

The Modern War Gear Solid Saga Continues with the Introduction of… Cardboard Gear!?!

The ultimate paramilitary crossover continues in the fifth(!) chapter of Modern War Gear Solid, which has already merged the worlds of Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Halo into one ridiculously amusing soup. In the latest (and final?) episode, things reach even more ludicrous heights as Ghost battles Kotickovitch, Snake evolves the…

The Dark Souls Collector’s Edition Might Be For You, Softer Players

Or maybe it’s for you, Demon’s Souls diehards or those ravenously anticipating the challenge of Dark Souls. What it is, assuredly, is a strong motivator for pre-ordering Dark Souls for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Namco Bandai announced today that Dark Souls would get a limited release collector’s edition bundled with stuff, including a…

The Harsher, Deadlier Dark Souls is also a More Beautiful Horror Adventure

There’s no mistaking it. Dark Souls is as much a Demon’s Souls sequel as we’re ever going to get, at least any time soon. It’s the more beautiful Demon’s Souls. It’s the game more willing to run wild with its unique brand of twisted dark medieval fantasy. It may have been touted as a more…

Dark Souls Screen shots

This is How The Cursed Crusade Does Its Co-op Combat, Splitscreen Style

Atlus is bringing The Cursed Crusade, a dark, combat-heavy medieval adventure, to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC this fall. And if you enjoy cooperative splitscreen combat, start paying attention to Kylotonn Entertainment’s violent way of doing things. The co-op offerings on hand include holds, finishing moves and player revives, done so with both…

What Are You Listening To?

Good evening, Kotaku readership. What say we wrap up Tuesday with some off-topic conversation, discussion that might be about the things we’re listening to, from music to podcasts to audiobooks to whatever is affecting your eardrums right now. I’ve been picking up a little music lately, grabbing the new Fleet Foxes album, listening to new…

L.A. Noire Has Its Own ‘Rockstar Pass,’ We’re Just Not Sure What That Is Yet

The next big Rockstar Games release may be hopping on the “online pass” bandwagon, with word of the “L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass” coming from Microsoft today. The 800 Microsoft Point purchase gets you… well, we’re not quite sure just yet. The latest Xbox LIVE Newsbeat e-mail newsletter pegs the release of the “L.A. Noire Rockstar…

Now You Can Make Your Own Custom Portal 2 Puzzles (I Said NOW!!)

Valve is opening up Portal 2 to the community today with the beta release of the game’s authoring tools—the same tools Valve uses—a chance for you to get cracking on new maps, puzzles and more. Specifically, the Portal 2 Authoring Tools lets players make single-player and co-op multiplayer maps, character skins and models, music and…

Tron: Legacy Finally Gets Its Pinball Port

To the dedicated pinball enthusiast, the existence of a Tron: Legacy pinball table won’t be a surprise. But Stern Pinball, the company still cranking out pins, made its latest pinball machine extra official today with word from Disney. Tron Legacy pinball, based on last year’s sequel to the 1982 video game-inspired original, is now available…

Portal‘s GLaDOS and Chell Laugh It Up In Real Life

The voice of evil supercomputer GLaDOS, Ellen McLain (left), and the face of test subject Chell, Alesia Glidewell, appear to get along just fine in real life—unlike their Portal counterparts—in this photograph taken during the making of Portal 2 Photograph via Ashley King / Joystiq

Duke Nukem Forever ‘First Access’ Demo Appears Imminent

Some gamers may get their hands on the long-awaited Duke Nukem Forever as early as next week, as reminders for the game’s “First Access” program have been going out to Duke fans today, pointing to a possible next week release for the game’s demo. Gamers who pre-ordered Duke Nukem Forever or purchased the Borderlands “Game…