Stephen Totilo

Talk Amongst Yourselves

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A Rare Argument For More Linear Video Game Stories

One brilliant thing about video games is that they can react to what players do and have multiple endings. Books can’t do that. Movies can’t, not even Clue. Many in gaming argue for branching storylines. Here’s an argument against: “What we found is that if you over-branch the storylines [is that] if there was one…

This Week In Comics

Two new gaming comics this week, one non-gaming comic for you to consider. The non-gaming comic is probably not a classic. It is not created by an all-star cast. No, it merely has an amazing title: Executive Assistant Iris. Army of Two #3 Written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Dexter Soy. Summary Via IDW…

The Most Impressive Fireworks On The Wii

The best thing one can write about a game like the upcoming Wii title Sin & Punishment 2 is that it is busy, maybe hyperactive. The June Wii game with the bizarre name is a sequel to the only game I’ve ever played that pits two heroes against a fleet of futuristic aircraft carriers —…

My Pokemon Battle Went Downhill From Here

That’s me vs. MTV Multiplayer’s Russ Frushtick, before our Poke-battle yesterday. Despite the wonderful Pokemon advice that the world’s best game designers gave me, my Level 15 Totodile could not beat his Level 17 Totodile. Gory details at MTV’s site

Mass Effect, Dragon Age Creators Consider The Post-Release “Romance Pack”

The doctors behind BioWare, the hallowed game studio behind Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, were telling Kotaku last week that their plans to add content to their recent games is flexible. More vehicle missions are possible. More sex? “People actually do ask: ‘Why don’t you do more relationships?'” Greg Zeschuk told Kotaku as…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

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The Grinder Screens

95% Of What You Knew About The Grinder Is Wrong [Updated With Exclusive Screenshots]

When a Wii-exclusive first-person shooter turns into an Xbox 360 game, it changes. What was first-person and four-player co-op was a top-down four-player shooter on the 360, when Kotaku played it at Game Developer’s Conference last week. The transformation, from “weird Western” FPS to “weird Western” Gauntlet-style game was motivated by development studio High Voltage…

Dante’s Inferno: Trials of St. Lucia Preview: Mod of War

In April, you can re-shape hell, or fly through it as a lady. And you can play through it with a friend, as co-op comes to this year’s biggest God of War competitor. A couple of weeks ago, Kotaku got a look at the upcoming downloadable content for Dante’s Inferno, the Trials of St. Lucia.…

The Fitness Controllers Are White, Because Black Looked Heavy

Here at Kotaku, we like to ask the tough questions. But sometimes we also like to ask an absurd one. Or maybe it isn’t absurd to ask the producer of EA Sports Active 2.0 why the peripherals for a PlayStation 3 game are white. Because, you know, the PS3 is black. Taarnie Williams, executive producer,…

Sony: Bright Light, Wii Similarities Won’t Deep-Six PlayStation Move

Sony’s new PlayStation Move controller made headlines last week as it added Wii-like controls to the PlayStation 3. But a key difference in the tech, one lauded by Sony, could hurt the device. So could a lack of innovative software. Kotaku brought both of these topics up with Scott Rohde, vice president of worldwide studios…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

It’s time to talk about video games. Amongst yourselves. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ

God of War III Review: Olympic Glory

Bombastic, titanic, brutally imaginative and even occasionally subtle, God of War III is the latest, best reason for a gamer to save money and skip action movies. The better thrills are on a disc on my PlayStation 3. Just five years since the first God of War comes God of War III, a game that…

Call of Duty For The Rest Of Them

There are people who can’t play Call of Duty. Maybe, according to a flight of fancy proposed last week at the Game Developers Conference, those people could at least help us CoD players out. The theory was explained during a panel at GDC 2010 entitled Sporadic Play: The History And Future Of Making Games For…

Should Windows Phone 7 Offer Easy Achievements?

One of the stories I told to a few people at the Game Developers Conference was about the bright idea I had on Tuesday about a psychological trick Microsoft could play, if they wanted to. I guessed that this company, eager to sell the world its new cell phone platform — and therefore probably convert…

EA Sports MMA: Who Knows About Broken Bones?

I was outclassed last week by the other games reporter watching a demonstration of EA Sports MMA. He knew the name of the game’s fighters, the name of the referee — and — he knew the ref’s shaving habits. I am an oddball who likes boxing and pro wrestling but has never had the urge…

Peter Molyneux Wants Fable III Players To Change Their Clothes

Peter Molyneux was smarting last week from the fact that half of the people who played his studio’s last game, Fable II, didn’t bother with half of its depth. People didn’t even change their (virtual) clothes. His fault. Molyneux’s got a plan to fix things, and to induce more wardrobe changes. The butler will do…

10 Short Interviews With The World’s Best Game Makers (And Three Other Guys)

Gabe Newell. John Carmack. The creators of Uncharted 2, Scribblenauts, Farmville. Even Penny Arcade. I interviewed a parade of award-winners backstage at the Game Developers Choice Awards. And I wanted to make sure these post-awards interviews were not dull. We talked about everything from PlayStation Move and Farmville: The Movie to a major sequel that…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

Some people have their Saturday SFO-JFK flights cancelled and get stuck by AA having to fly Sunday-Monday overnight to BOS and then transfer to LGA. Those people will REST on Monday, while you here at TAY discuss video games. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ