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The Terrorist Zombie Is Not The Ultimate Enemy Of Our Times
Who do we the people of the 21st century fear? In real life, it’s the terrorists. In movies and TV, it’s zombies. The combination of the two should be the perfect bad guy of our modern era. It’s not. The iPad/iPhone game Terrorist Zombies has a catchy title and a promising concept, but this is…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 14, 2011 -
This Dog Is One Fierce Son Of An Xbox
This is Kapone, a dog that is doing very well learning to protect its owners. Kapone’s father is Xbox, a prize-winning German Shepherd a dog whose owner boasts is a North American champ. Let’s back up a second. In Canada, a group called Dei Precision German Shepherds is proudly raising the now five-year-old German Shepherd…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 14, 2011 -
Jared Lee Loughner’s Troubled Past, A Darkening Path Toward Tragedy
The man accused of murdering six people in Arizona during an attempted assassination attempt of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords descended in recent years from the apparent normal awkwardness many teenage boys suffer to something more inexplicable and bizarre. Jared Lee Loughner played long sessions of video games Starcraft and Earth Empires in his youth. He worked…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 14, 2011 -
A New And Maybe Better Way To Stop People From Being Jerks Online
The people running the video game League of Legends knew they had a problem. They had the same problem that makes much of the Internet unpleasant. Too many people were being jerks online. They’re hatching a novel solution: citizen justice. Starting some time in the next few months, the creators of League of Legends, a…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
Face Real, Historic American Segregation, Recreated In A Virtual World
We’ve seen the Burning Man Festival, the World Trade Center, and a lot of weird sex stuff recreated in the virtual world Second Life. A recreation of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott? That’s new. Students at Indiana University have turned part of the Second Life world into a bunch of staged re-creations of the civil…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
Watch The History Of Gaming Pass Before Your Eyes
What’s striking about this quick visual chronicle of the history of video games isn’t just how games have become more advanced but how much better our TVs have become. It’s also striking that the personal computer wasn’t part of the history of gaming, as recreated by the Munich-based quartet of game design students responsible for…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
A Vivid Look At The Streets of Baghdad
One of YouTube’s most popular gamers, Wings of Redemption, interrupts his flow of clips about Modern Warfare, Medal of Honor and other war games to share a video from his brother, an American soldier in Iraq. The scene is unusual. This is not the Iraq we see in video games, one made drab and full…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
Woman Credits Wii Fit For Parkinson’s Diagnosis
A British mother of two says she began to figure out she was suffering from Parkinson’s disease only after stepping on a Wii Balance Board. About one year ago, Julie Wilks noticed that her balance was heavily shifted to one side, an unevennes the Balance Board portrayed on her TV via her Wii. That began…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
China Is Both Too Scary and Not Scary Enough To Be Video Game Villains
The North Korean bad guys in the upcoming video game Homefront were originally going to be Chinese, but the people making the game changed their mind for two reasons. First, Danny Bilson, one of the executives of the game’s publisher told Kotaku in an interview, “They’re just not that scary.” Homefront needed a scary enemy,…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
You Still Have Time To Help Shape The He-Man Game, Got Any Ideas?
Just one week ago we were pretty sure that a He-Man video game was in the works. It turns out that it’s more of just a hope and a dream right now. So now’s your chance to be influential. Danny Bilson, avowed Kotaku reader and head of “core” games at game publisher THQ told us…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 12, 2011 -
What Guillermo Del Toro Told A Roomful Of Game Developers
Movie director Guillermo del Toro goes to a meeting with the game developers who are working on a new game trilogy with him. He delivers an ultimatum. Danny Bilson, one of the higher-ups from the game’s publisher at THQ recalled this ultimatum while talking to Kotaku today: “He said, ‘At the next meeting I want…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 12, 2011 -
One Day You Might Think ‘Saints Row’ Without Thinking ‘Grand Theft Auto’
Saints Row is the video game series many of us think of, with good reason, as the premiere Grand Theft Auto imitator. In theory, we won’t think of the next Saints Row that way. “All I can tell you is that [pause] it’s all good,” Danny Bilson the head of “core” games at Saints Row…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 12, 2011 -
Praise Jesus, In Front Of A Super Mario Backdrop
Why is Bishop Paul Ojeda preaching in front of a giant Wii Remote and some of those tall mushrooms from Super Mario Brothers? It was part of the Austin Power House Church’s Wii Love Jesus event which involved a guy running around dressed as Mario, kids doing trust falls and lots of fake Wii Remotes.…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 12, 2011 -
The Next Devil May Cry Is On The iPhone
Wait longer for the reinvention of the Devil May Cry series in the form of the game DMC. But wait only until the end of the month to see 2008’s Devil May Cry 4 turned into an iPhone game. Website Slide To Play says the game, Devil May Cry 4 Refrain, will have 10 levels,…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2011 -
The Year I Gained The Courage To Ignore Video Game Music
I used to think badly of some of the people I saw on the New York City subway. They were misusing video games. They didn’t know what I was sure I knew: the proper way to enjoy video games. These folks would would sit on the bench in the C train, playing a video game…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2011
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