Stephen Totilo

Your Wii Has A Minor Button-Combo Secret

Go to the Mii Channel. Press A. Press B. Press 1. Press and hold 2. Nintendo sent Kotaku copies of Personal Trainer: Walking yesterday, and while we think we don’t need that much training to walk (left foot and then right foot, yes?), we are in fact learning things. We have learned, for example, that…

Making Ghostbusters Game As Funny As The Movie Is “Next To Impossible”

Giant Bomb‘s biggest Ghostbusters fans have played the new Ghostbusters game, only to be reminded that video game humor has its limits. Humor is hard in games. So, as excited as the Giant Bomb podcast hosts sound about the new Ghostbusters game — and they do spent several minutes talking about how much fun they’re…

Xbox Employee Issues Maddening Mad-Lib Tweet

Hideo Kojima can have his countdown clocks. Other publishers can have their surprise trailers. But the best tease of the day may be the tweet from one Stephen Toulouse. From the Twitter feed of Stephen Toulouse, head of Xbox Live policy and enforcement, aka the Xbox 360‘s top cop… “Wow. I got to play with…

When You Hear “Exclusive,” Guess What It Means

The recent announcement of a PlayStation 3 release of Fallout 3 content that was previously announced as exclusive to Microsoft sent us searching for answers about what constitutes an “exclusive.” Last July Todd Howard, lead designer at Bethesda Softworks, took the stage during the Microsoft E3 press briefing and did a rather un-extraordinary thing. Like…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

You can’t use a stylus to discuss video games in this, the Official Kotaku Forum post. But you can use your keyboard. Have at it in the comments section, please. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

Peer Pressure Provoking iPhone Game Development

Some of us succumb to copying the habits of friends by playing the same games or watching the same TV show. Harvey Smith is another developer giving in to a different pressure. Harvey Smith, developer of a full range of games, from Deus Ex to Blacksite 51 is another developer not terribly in love with…

Sony’s E3 Promises, One Year Later

Not many great things are remembered from the 2008 E3 press conference, but, we’ve learned, when Jack Tretton promises something, you can take it to the bank. What good is E3 hype if none of it comes true? To get you ready for this E3, we’ve subjected ourselves to re-living the major press conferences of…

Boom Blox Producer Departs EA For Flower Studio

On the week of the release of the new Boom Blox, one of the game’s chief creators heads to ThatGameCompany. Video game designer Robin Hunicke, noticeable at any gaming event for having the reddest hair of anyone in attendance, is trading her big-company background for ThatGameCompany, a sign that the small studio behind Flow and…

This Week In Video Game Comics

Gaming-based spin-off comic books are increasingly common. Here are the ones in stores this week. Via publisher Wildstorm: World of Warcraft #19 … Written by Walter and Louise Simonson; Art by Mike Bowden and Walden Wong; Cover by Pete Woods — King Varian Wrynn and his son Prince Anduin finally return to Stormwind and celebrate…

Lego RTS Coming To DS, Sneaks Into NYC

Chalk this one up as curious: we’ve seen a DS Lego strategy game from the people who brought Supreme Commander to the Xbox 360. Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment was in New York City yesterday to show off a bunch of games, including Scribblenauts, which I knew to ask for, Mini Ninjas, which is embargoed, some…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

This post may or may not have been intended to debut during E3. But you’re seeing it early – or it’s a fake. Don’t be alarmed. Just go talk about games in the comments section. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

Nintendo’s E3 Promises, One Year Later

Nintendo promised to keep the world smiling at last year’s E3. The company made a few other predictions too, emphasis on “a few”… What good is E3 hype if none of it comes true? To get you ready for this E3, we’ve subjected ourselves to re-living the major press conferences of last year’s big show.…

Scribblenauts Stumpability Update

The claim behind fall DS puzzle-action title Scribblenauts is that the game will render any kid-safe concrete noun that a player types into it. Today, we got our second crack at stumping it. When last Kotaku tried Scribblenauts, it was editor-in-chief Brian Crecente trying to stump the game. But with each word he typed into…

Gears of War Comic Preview: Tai’s Story

Heavily-tattooed Cog soldier Tai Kaliso had a rough time in Gears of War 2. We’ve got a preview of the new comic, in stores tomorrow, that will reveal his back-story. Courtesy of DC Comics and Wildstorm, here are the first seven pages of Gears of War #7. Written by Joshua Ortega and illustrated by Simon…

Resident Evil 5 Producer Meets His Chief Critic

Reporter N’Gai Croal sparked a debate when he commented a year ago about his gut reactions to the racial dynamics of the first Resident Evil 5 trailer. Recently, he and the game’s producer met. Ex-Newsweek reporter Croal wrote about his meeting with RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi in the June 2009 issue of Edge. The column…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

The wait is over. The Talk Amongst Yourselves countdown clock has hit zero. So start commenting here about video games… now! Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

Blow: Less Focus On Innovation, More On Interesting-ness, Please

Braid co-creator Jonathan Blow argues that the pursuit of innovation is a prerequisite for making a great game. Calling the zeal for innovation in games an idea he used to promote but now considers “a little bit misdirected,” Braid designer Jonathan Blow recently described a possibly superior design goal: In a recent interview with The…

InFamous’ Sly Reference

Microsoft’s E3 Promises, One Year Later

Join us in reliving the hype of last year’s Microsoft E3 press conference with the know-it-all hindsight of what did and didn’t come true. Sorry, Microsoft, but you were not perfect in predicting the future… What good is E3 hype if none of it comes true? To get you ready for this E3, we’ve subjected…

3D Realms: We’re Not Closing, Spent $20 Million On Duke Nukem Forever

The creators of Duke Nukem Forever fired back today at publisher Take-Two, detailing the costs of developing the never seen game and saying they haven’t closed the studios. 3D Realms, the studio behind the legendarily delayed Duke Nukem Forever claimed in a statement today that Take-Two, the publisher now suing the studio, provided $2.5 million…