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In Celebration of Kirby’s 20th Birthday: Fan Art!

Twenty years ago today, Kirby made his debut in Japan on the Gameboy in Kirby’s Dream Land. Today, we celebrate the adorable ball of pink’s birthday, and some of us commiserate with his inability to drink in certain countries. Fortunately I am not amongst those that do. To celebrate, I’ve gathered some standout fan renditions…

By Tina Amini Published April 27, 2012

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Quality Time With The Classic Video Game Characters You’d Switch Teams For

Yesterday on #Speakup, commenter chadoban asked which video game characters we’d all go gay (or straight) for. Your answers were as varied as they were enjoyable, so Chris Person thought he’d grab some of the most popular ones and render them into gifs. Check out the gifs below. Enjoy them. Place them on your desktop,…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 27, 2012

Culture

The Delicious Art of Kinman Chan

Artist Kinman Chan has done a lot of work in the movie business, lending his talents to animated films like Mars Needs Moms and A Christmas Carol. He’s also, though, been an artist in the video game industry, where he’s worked for companies like Rockstar and Sony, on games such as Resistance and Red Dead…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 27, 2012

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The Shameful History of Hip Hop in Video Game Advertising

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, video game publishers and their cohorts in the marketing world thought it would be a good idea to use rap in their commercials. It was not. This clip takes us on a tour of some of the worst, and while some are stretching the definition of hip-hop, others are entirely…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

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The Story Behind Sony’s Homebrew Development Kits

Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote a piece on Sony’s Net Yaroze, a kit which allowed PS1 users to make their own video games. Well, anyone who was interested in the subject, please check out this enormous feature over on Gamasutra, which even has in-depth interviews from the men behind it. [Gamasutra]

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

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Nintendo Power Sure Had Some Amazing Artwork Inside

After I posted those amazing old Zelda images from Nintendo Power the other day, I got an email from reader Yannick, who just so happens to run a blog that collects all kinds of awesome old Nintendo Power artwork by Katsuya Terada. Double Dragon, Contra, there’s all kinds of old NES games Terada has brought…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

Culture

The Art of Prototype 2

Because Prototype 2 is out this week, artists involved in the game are now able to share their work. One of those is Venezuelan César Rizo, who did a lot of environment pieces for the game. Rizo has been a professional concept artist since 2005, and has worked with companies like Radical Entertainment and Relic.…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 26, 2012

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Batman…Why so Serious? It’s Just a Video Game!

If you’re sensitive to unnecessary amounts of drama in your video game advertisements, a word of caution: this contains an unnecessary amount of drama for a video game commercial. If anyone ever tells you the 1990s weren’t the golden age of video game advertising, you slap them, hard, and tell them they are wrong

By Luke Plunkett Published April 25, 2012

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The Third World War Brought Clinton and Saddam Closer Together

The Sega CD was home to some terrible things, but it was also home to some wonderful curiosities as well. And few are as curious as Micronet’s 1993 strategy game The Third World War. Let’s start with the cover art. That amazing cover art. Sadly, it was only for the Japanese edition of the game…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 25, 2012

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Why Did This Game Store Fail? Hilariously Awful Training Videos, Perhaps

Game Crazy, a now-defunct minor player in the US games retail space, operated for around a decade, kicking off in 1999 and winding down in 2010. Those involved with the chain, a subsidiary of Movie Gallery, will tell you its because increased competition squeezed it out of the market. They’re wrong. It’s because a generation…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 24, 2012

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The Making of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

In the late 1980s, Nintendo’s internal development teams set out to make two games that would forever define its classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System. One was Super Mario World. The other was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Work on both games began almost simultaneously. “At Nintendo, we don’t spend a long…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 24, 2012

Culture

More Killer Concept Art From Korea

Not content with showcasing the talents of one Korean artist this month, I’m now going to feature a second, NCSoft’s Tae Won Jun. Also known as “Taega”, he’s an artist at the company behind games such as Lineage, Guild Wars, Wildstar and City of Heroes To see more of his work, visit Taega’s personal page…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 24, 2012

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Omega Boost’s Intro Might be the Coolest Thing 90s Video Games Ever Did

This is Omega Boost. It was an OK shooter released in 1999 on the PlayStation. I remember it, and pay tribute to it here today, not for the game, but for everything around it. Like the incredible FMV intro sequence, which goes from corny to amazing to “wow those aren’t bad props and costumes for…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 23, 2012

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Portal was First Released in 1986, and was an Activision Adventure Game

Portal may be the name for a contemporary series from Valve, about mad robots and jumpsuits, but it’s also the name of a video game first released nearly thirty years ago. That game, Portal – Valve got the trademark after the original ceased using it – was a strange adventure title for personal computers, and…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 23, 2012

Culture

Speak Up on Snacktaku: What’s Your Favorite American Snack?

What, no Snacktaku review in this week’s Kotaku Off-Kilter? Let’s make it up with a Speak Up from commenter Cheese Addict, who is compiling a list of American snacks to have sent in a care package oveseas. What U.S. snacks could you not live without? My friend’s mom asked me to buy her something she…

Speak Up Published April 23, 2012

Culture

The Cast of Tekken, in Glorious Sketch-o-Vision

Japanese artist Shunya Yamashita is to thank for these sketches of the cast of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, used as promotional art for the 2011 arcade fighter. Interestingly, they’re also forming the basis for Kotobukiya’s fancy “Bishoujo” line of Tekken figures You can see the entire collection at the link below. Tekken Tag 2 –…

By Luke Plunkett Published April 23, 2012

Culture

Anti-Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find

The Prototype narrative picks up with James Heller in the lead role of Prototype 2 this week, smashing, slashing, and beating ass galore in New York Zero. Other highlights include the Euro 2012 mode for FIFA 12 and Xbox Live Arcade title Bloodforge Tuesday • Risen 2: Dark Waters (PC) • Prototype 2 (PS3, 360)…

By Owen Good Published April 22, 2012

Culture

Sunday Comics: Born to Kill

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published April 19.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published April 16.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by…

By Owen Good Published April 22, 2012

Culture

This Week in the Business: ‘Sony has Fallen Blindly in Love with its Brand’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Sony has fallen blindly in love with its brand.”—Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University, talking about the huge problems Sony is facing QUOTE | “Batman’s greatest foes … were Bobby Kotick, Yves Guillemot and John Riccitiello.”—Russel Arons, SVP of Worldwide…

Steve Peterson Published April 21, 2012

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Mass Effect Music-Maker Remixes Mass Effect 1 Music, It Is Rad

A little while back, Jimmy “Big Giant Circles” Hinsen released an album of music that he’d written for Mass Effect 2 but that didn’t make the cut. Now, he’s put out a free remix album called Max Effect featuring music from Mass Effect 1, originally composed by Jack Wall, Sam Hulick, Richard Jacques and David…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 20, 2012