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Nintendo is Ready to Re-Think Zelda
The man in charge of the Zelda series at Nintendo says he’s ready to make big changes in the series. He’s not guaranteeing them, but in an interview in the new issue of Game Informer magazine, Eiji Aonuma says the time for big changes may finally have come. “I started working on the series not…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 7, 2011 -
This Week’s Most Interesting Comics (Are Mostly Available Digitally or Involve Alan Moore)
There are new comics out today, in stores and online. Some of them are worth getting. Others aren’t. Here are my suggestions: Comics You Should Consider Buying (from comics shops) Chew #22 Sorry, but I still haven’t read past the first issue of Chew, but I know that readers of this column love it. There’s…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 7, 2011 -
The Quiet Tinkerer Who Makes Games Beautiful Finally Gets His Due
Like most of us, Tim Sweeney has owned several Ferraris. He’s also owned a few cell phones. The Ferraris are the receipt for a life spent making computers do amazing things. They’re cool. They tell their own story about a boy who grows up with a computer as his best friend, a teenager who finds…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 7, 2011 -
Dear Esther, You Look Gorgeous
You’re going to hear a lot about Dear Esther early next year. You may have heard about it already, if you’d caught wind of the original 2008 PC mod that presented a ghost story in lightly-interactive first-person. You’ll hear of it again in late January or early February, when the dramatically improved version is released…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 6, 2011 -
He’s Level 9 In Skyrim. He Hasn’t Killed Anything.
YouTube user WestSideLuigi is playing Skyrim as a pacifist. He’s at level eight and has zero kills. “This is what I do with wolves: calm them, turn them into peaceful little puppies.” He’s playing as Felix the Cat (or Felix the Peaceful Monk, it’s not clear). He refuses to go on any quests that require…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 6, 2011 -
Let’s Admire This Month’s Most Insane Video Game Trailer
As a method for telling me how the video game Time Ducks plays, the Time Ducks trailer is a failure. In all other ways, it is a success. Time Ducks is a real game (available on iTunes). I cannot yet tell you if it is as good as its trailer. UPDATE: Yes, yes, good friends,…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 6, 2011 -
The Resurgence of My Nintendo 3DS, According to the Only Stats that Matter
Nintendo would like you to think that the 3DS, once ballyhooed and then dismissed for a dud, is making a comeback. They’ll show you the numbers. Their numbers don’t matter. Mine do. And my 3DS numbers—the numbers that show how much time I used Nintendo’s newest handheld day-by-day, month-by-month, throughout 2011 since the system launched—tell…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 6, 2011 -
Modern Warfare‘s Most Magical Kills Involve Sliding Care Packages, Levitating Cinderblocks
YouTube user AmazingFilms247 keeps posting ridiculous Modern Warfare 3 (and Modern Warfare 2) multiplayer videos on YouTube. They show just how amazing Activision’s popular shooter is at breaking its own rules of physics. Care packages on ice! Levitating cinderblocks! And more… enjoy!
By Stephen Totilo Published December 5, 2011 -
Nintendo’s Latest Cheerfully Teaches You Insider Trading
In real life, insider trading is as much a crime as jumping on someone’s head and flattening them to death. But in the Super Mario-themed Wii virtual board game Fortune Street, insider trading is both a valid tactic and a recommended strategy. The key to making it sound like so much fun is the music.…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 5, 2011 -
Should You Buy Fortune Street? No.
If they’ve been making versions of the Nintendo Wii’s new board game for 20 years, if Nintendo themselves are publishing it—choosing to sell this to us this holiday season instead of other Japanese games still awaiting translation—then surely it must be good and worth buying? Stephen Totilo, who got really close to giving this eye-sore…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 5, 2011 -
Games for People Who Don’t Have the Internet. Not Even Dial-Up [UPDATE]
You may know a person who likes video games who doesn’t have Internet. Don’t pity them. Buy them a present. The very best gift for them might be the Internet itself, but aside from that, here’s what you can get them. Of course, if they don’t have Internet because they are in prison, disregard all…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 5, 2011 -
Minecraft‘s New Boss Puts Mod Improvements, In-Game Books at the Top of the To-Do List
Minecraft is done, but it’s not really done. The new man in charge of the computer game sensation tells Kotaku that development will continue on the game even though the game is now out. In fact, it sounds like development is ramping up. “The current Minecraft plan is to add more people to the team…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 5, 2011 -
Herman Cain Quotes Pokémon as he Suspends his Campaign
Republican Herman Cain quoted a Pokémon movie once more as he suspended his campaign for President of the United States today. “I believe these words came from the Pokémon movie,” Cain said during a speech in Atlanta. “Life can be a challenge. Life can seem impossible. It’s never easy when there’s so much on the…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 3, 2011 -
Nintendo Thinks Fans of Xenoblade Would also Like These Games
It took Nintendo of America more than a year to commit to releasing Xenoblade Chronicles, a year probably spent analyzing the reaction to the game’s June 2010 release in Japan, a year weighing the costs of releasing the role-playing game in America… and, of course, a year spent making sure the Wii library was properly…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 2, 2011 -
Half-Life 3 T-Shirt Confirmed, But That is All
It’s not a Photoshop and it’s not a lie. Seattle-based game developer Chandana “Eka” Ekanayake really did see a Valve Software employee wearing a Half-Life 3 t-shirt at a local developer event last night. Eka is sure that the man wearing the shirt works for Valve, the great video game company that famously doesn’t want…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 2, 2011 -
Nintendo Changes its Tune, For Once
I have asked Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime about a video game called Mother 3 so many times that, in recent years, he would bring it up before I did. He’d laugh about the question. If we were doing an interview and there were other people in the room, he’d jokingly predict to them…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 2, 2011 -
129,770,223 Virtual Pygmies Have Been Sacrificed in the Facebook Version of Pocket God
When a game does well, the people behind it make an infographic. That was probably decided at some International Council of Video Game Company Bragging earlier this year or maybe last year. We have no evidence that such a decision was really made other than a pile of infographics, the latest one promoting the feats…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 2, 2011 -
Notch is No Longer in Charge of Making Minecraft. Jeb Is.
Minecraft maker Notch has put long-time colleague Jens “Jeb” Bergensten in charge of further development on the recently-released game. “I feel very confident handing over the leadership of Minecraft to him,” Notch blogs, saying he’ll work on “some new project.”
By Stephen Totilo Published December 2, 2011 -
The Most Popular Game on iTunes Keeps Crashing on iPads, But a Fix is En Route
Infinity Blade II, a very good game that just launched on iTunes today, is getting rave reviews from people who can get the game to run and is being pilloried for a bug that keeps crashing the game on some iPads. A solution is coming. “We’ve discovered an issue with some users who are running…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 1, 2011 -
DmC Looks Different, But Appears to Play Just Like a Devil May Cry
The new Devil May Cry is being made halfway around the world from the studio that birthed all the others. You may have played one of the Japanese-developed DMCs. In this exclusive IGN video, watch how the new one, coming out next year from English Heavenly Sword development studio Ninja Theory plays. It sure looks…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 1, 2011
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