-
Nintendo Just Made A Lot Of New Tweaks To 3DS StreetPassing
A new update to the 3DS’ StreetPass Plaza will let you finally skip a lot of the chatter that slows down clearing out your StreetPass queue—but it’ll cost you. The update will also let you hide StreetPass games you no longer want to play. That one’s free. If you were hoping that they’d up the…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 16, 2015 -
The Maps Behind Our Video Games
The video games we play are made by people who live and work around the world. But how often do we think about that aspect of this most international of collaborative art forms? I made some maps. I thought it might help. Here, for example, are the locations of the development studios (down to the…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 16, 2015 -
The Very Good Ideas Hiding In A Not-So-Good New Pokémon Game
Pokémon Rumble World, a game likely to rank a distant third in the eventual list of 2015’s best Pokémon games, has nonetheless impressed me in a few ways. It might not be easy for a Pokémon Rumble game to impress anyone. They’re not traditional Pokémon games. Never have been. You don’t play as a plucky…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 15, 2015 -
Google vs The Pony Express
The latest Google Doodle video game celebrates the 155th anniversary of the Pony Express. You ride across America, collecting letters. To play, click the Google logo at google.com. It’ll take you about a minute. More back-story about the Pony Express and the five developers who made the game here
By Stephen Totilo Published April 14, 2015 -
My Five Favorite Kotaku Stories From Last Week
Every so often we wind up with a lot of staffers on vacation or out for illness or whatever. Short-staffed as we’ve been this month, we’ve still managed to run some pretty cool stories. My five favorites from last week: 10 Ways To Make Your Favorite Games Feel New Again | A fun, light one…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 13, 2015 -
ReviewsBoxBoy: The Kotaku Review
I recently told the staff of Kotaku that I would happily buy each of them a copy of BoxBoy. I like it that much and think it’s that useful for them to play. I’d offer to buy you a copy, too, but that would be ridiculous. BoxBoy is special. It’s a clinic on game design.…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 9, 2015 -
Yep, Code Name STEAM‘s Absurdly Long Enemy Turns Are Now Shorter
What a difference a patch makes! Above is a comparison of a turn I just took in Nintendo’s new 3DS game Code Name STEAM: on the left, before the game was patched; on the right, using a post-patch fast-forward button. The game is running here on my New 3DS, where the new fast-forward option is…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 8, 2015 -
This Might Be The Last Time I Rave About Sunset Overdrive
Sunset Overdrive, arguably the best exclusive game on the Xbox One, has now ended the way it began: with a mix of not-quite-there meta-humor and a lot of very fun gameplay. Overall, I loved this game and am grateful that its last DLC gave me a gun that drops satellites on my enemies. Yes, indeed.…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 6, 2015 -
My Five Favorite Kotaku Stories From Last Week
A weird thing about Kotaku lately is that stories we post on Friday nights have been performing really well. It used to be a dead time for us. No more! Even this GTA story blew up for us last Friday night way bigger than we thought it would (pun intended). Anyway, on to my favorites…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 6, 2015 -
Nintendo’s Most Famous Secret Code Returns On PlayStation
Nintendo gamers of a certain age knew the trick: type “Justin Bailey” into the password screen of Nintendo Entertainment System classic Metroid and the game’s hero would change outfits. Fast forward—oh my god, I’m old—twenty-nine years later. I’m playing Axiom Verge, a love letter to Metroid in the form of a brand new, downloadable PlayStation…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 3, 2015 -
Excellent Respawn Animation, Sunset Overdrive
Xbox One exclusive Sunset Overdrive has the best respawn animations I’ve ever seen. They’re mostly jokes, riffing on Portal, Star Trek and stuff like that and worth the few seconds they take to put you back in the action. I’ve played the game for hours, though, and hadn’t seen this one until last night. Might…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 3, 2015 -
Beyond Eyes: The Basics
What is it? It’s an upcoming downloadable game in which you “see” the world as a blind girl who is searching for her cat. How exactly does that work? You’re this 10-year-old girl Rae, and you walk around, sensing the world through what you can touch and hear. It’s not just a matter of having…
By Stephen Totilo Published April 2, 2015 -
Introducing Steamed (Which You May Have Already Noticed)
PC gaming coverage has always been popular on Kotaku, but around the start of the year, we decided to do something new: cover the PC’s top gaming service, Steam, as if it was a platform, the same way we’d cover an Xbox, a PlayStation or a Nintendo whatever. The result: steamed.kotaku.com If you’ve been looking…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 31, 2015 -
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles Is Now A Trilogy Set In China, India, Russia
Ok. This looks cool. What was going to be a single side-scrolling Assassin’s Creed game set in 16th century China is now going to span three eras and three countries, starting on April 21. Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, a game we formerly thought was just its own thing for owners of the Assassin’s Creed Unity…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 31, 2015 -
My Five Favorite Kotaku Stories From Last Week
This is going up late, so let me just get right into it. My top five Kotaku posts from last week are… The Joystick Is Back. Long Live The Joystick.| As editor Luke Plunkett writes, “This post is talking about the traditional definition of a joystick: a single stick that you grab, with the buttons…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 30, 2015 -
The Year’s Most Must-See Episode Of Pro Wrestling Airs Tonight
It happens once a year. It’s the perfect episode of TV for our times: a basic-cable version of the selfie, the Twitter @reply and the Facebook status update all rolled into one. The 2015 edition of this great, fascinating occurrence will happen tonight… on a pro wrestling show. It’s one you should probably tune into,…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 30, 2015 -
My Time In Police Cars
The world outside looks different when you see it through the windows of a police car. And, when you’re in one, you can tell the world sure as hell looks differently at you. I’ve been in police cars three times in my life, once in 1998 and then twice, in rapid succession, in late 2011.…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 26, 2015 -
Good Assassin’s Creed Joke, Watch Dogs
Okay, I’m about nine months late to this, but I just finished Watch Dogs on Saturday. And I liked the little Assassin’s Creed joke I found in the game. The joke appears to involve a specific scene from Assassin’s Creed Revelations, according to this video from the Access the Animus YouTube channel. Neat! Late last…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 24, 2015 -
Crowd Booing The Scripted Wrestlemania Hero? Just Edit Out The Boos [UPDATE]
The advantage of a pre-determined sport like pro wrestling is that promoters can book the ideal storylines. Usually, that means you’ll get a Wrestlemania main event the crowd is excited to see, though usually they’re not supposed to be booing the good guy a few days before the big show. Good thing you can edit…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 24, 2015
Stephen Totilo
Stephen Totilo's posts