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The 480th Argument Against Locking Content in Video Games
Many years ago, someone decided that games would be more fun if you couldn’t play all of them right away. Want to race on all the tracks of a racing game? Beat the easy ones to unlock the cooler ones. Want to fight as every fighter in a fighting game? Play a while and unlock…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 14, 2013 -
Correction: Jack Thompson Wanted Best Buy to Not Sell M-Rated Games To Kids
We recently reported that violent video game critic Jack Thompson asked Best Buy in October to not sell M-rated games. He actually wants them to not sell them to kids, asserting that “Some of these ‘Mature’ games, in addition to containing adult levels of violence, also contain sexual, pornographic material, so much so in fact…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2013 -
Gaming Industry Had a ‘Productive and Candid’ Chat With Joe Biden
What did the Vice President of the United States and the leaders of the video game industry talk about today at the White House during today’s meeting by the VP’s Sandy Hook task force? Other than Blastman III? Considering that representatives from any of the game publishers who attended either don’t respond to requests for…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2013 -
These Are the Official Kotaku T-Shirts You’re Looking For
Our good friends at t-shirt company Meatbun are selling two official Kotaku shirts. The first, pictured above and dubbed “Kotaku-Tan II,” is the work of the amazing Dan Dussault. He was inspired by the just-a-wee-bit-more-amazing Frank Frazetta. Our warrior lady is surrounded by trolls from Dragon Quest, EverQuest, Skyrim and World of Warcraft. Yours for…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2013 -
6 GIFs from that Striking Cyberpunk 2077 Trailer
Here’s a not very complicated idea. A new trailer comes out. It’s cool. Someone makes some GIFs out of it. The newest member of our team, Gergő Vas, figured he’d start us off with yesterday’s trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, the new game from CD Projekt, makers of The Witcher Enjoy this look at our possible…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2013 -
Are You OK With Nintendo’s Fire Emblem DLC?
The gaming world is not yet in agreement about all of the right ways and all of the wrong ways for game companies to do downloadable content. Should a company charge several dollars for horse armor? Probably not. For costumes in a fighting game? Hmm. Should the DLC never be on the disc even if…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2013 -
This Friday, Joe Biden Will Talk School Shootings With The Video Game Industry
The head of the Entertainment Software Association, Michael Gallagher, will be meeting with vice president Joe Biden on Friday as part of the U.S. Vice President’s efforts to find sensible actions that could avert future tragedies like the Sandy Hook Shooting. The ESA confirmed the meeting but did not offer any further detail about their…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 10, 2013 -
iPhone Game “Pussy Flip” Is Being Renamed, So Stop Snickering
Some video game names just aren’t meant to be. Take Puck-Man, the original, susceptible-to-vandalism name for Pac-Man. Or take today’s example, the iPhone game soon-to-be-formerly-known-as Pussy Flip The Othello-style game will be updated later this month, its creators at U.K. development studio Kwalee, adding achievements, a new mode, a new board and a new name.…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 10, 2013 -
The Planned Firefly-Inspired MMO Is Real. It’s Some Fans’ Labor of Love.
There are few things harder to do in gaming than gather a bunch of like-minded friends from around the world and try to make a video game out something you love that happens to be owned by a big corporation that you’re not a part of. For a couple of years, Canadian indie game developer…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 9, 2013 -
Watch 15 Years Of Pokémon Graphics Evolve, Slowly But Surely
The Pokémon games gradually become more lovely to look at year by year and system by system, at about the rate that mighty rivers turn into Grand Canyons. But graphical improvements do occur! Here are the six main Pokémon games. See how they’ve evolved… (But, before you do, click and drag the slider on the…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 8, 2013 -
Tim Rogers Bio
tim rogers occasionally contributes articles to Kotaku, usually by accident and sometimes by request. He is not a “journalist”, and he is not a “writer”. He is just some jerk on the internet who works 80-hour weeks and occasionally tabs over to Google Docs, types a sentence or two, and then tabs away. Every once…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 8, 2013 -
The Coolest Thing About This Valve-Backed Gaming PC Is That You Can Probably Drive A Truck Over It
The Wii U can’t survive a microwave. The PlayStation Vita can survive a four-foot drop. And I guess, technically, the Xbox 360 can run Crysis But forget all those old stress tests. The new “development stage system optimized for computer gameplay on large high-definition television monitors”—which we just learned last night will be backed by…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 8, 2013 -
Do You Want To Own The Saints Row Series? Or Just Buy Red Faction? Bids For Parts of THQ Must Be In By January 22.
THQ, the troubled publisher of Saints Row, WWE games, Company of Heroes, Metro: Last Light, the new South Park role-playing game, Red Faction and more, may still be sold in its entirety to an investment group called Clearlake as part of a bankruptcy sale, according to a court ruling. But other interested parties may also…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 8, 2013 -
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is Kotaku‘s 2012 Game of the Year
The staff of Kotaku nominated nine games for 2012 Game of the Year. One game, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, blew the competition away. The PC and console turn-based strategy game from the masterminds behind Civilization was a dark horse in our staff voting. Last week, as we publicized our nominations, two other games—the dramatic five-part adventure…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 7, 2013 -
Microsoft Cracks Down On Unauthorized Halo-Branded Bullets
Any serious gamer who was watching the Discovery Channel’s “Dual Survival” show earlier this week may have recognized the logo that appeared on a box of bullets that were briefly featured in the episode. The box had the words “Halo-Point” on it, written in the font used for Halo, the phenomenally popular M-rated Xbox and…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 4, 2013 -
I Finished These 23 Video Games in 2012
For the seventh straight year, I’m publishing a list of all the games I started playing in the past year and all the ones I finished. My totals have dropped yet again. I started 139 games, finished 23 of them. When I started keeping track of this, back in 2006, the idea of finishing games…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 4, 2013 -
Why Super Hexagon Should Be Game of The Year
Earlier today, our own Luke Plunkett nominated Crusader Kings II for Kotaku 2012 game of the year, writing that it’s “the only game on this list that’s about sex and politics.” Sounds like a man who hasn’t played Super Hexagon, right? Or. Actually. No. Super Hexagon (iOS, Steam) isn’t about sex and politics. It’s not…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 4, 2013
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