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CultureTotal RecallThe Time Nintendo Forgot About Games, And Went After The…Stock Market?
Unlike its rivals Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo has usually had a staunch games first philosophy when it comes to hardware. But it hasn’t always been that way. In the 1980s, the company had a brief flirtation with, of all things, the business market. Booming business and ambitious technology were two of the hallmarks of Japan’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 -
CultureThere’s Beauty in a Game’s Menu System
And here you thought Fine Art was just about the guys making the stuff that goes in the game. Today, we’re looking at the work of design firm 1910, who design stuff that goes before, or on top of, a game. Specifically, they’ve designed menus and user interface systems for games like Syndicate, Bionic Commando…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Bringing the Perfect Pixels of the Past to Life
Noirlac’s Tumblr is maybe one of the best in existence. The mysterious man, known only as an anonymous Ubisoft employee, has a site cataloguing weird and wonderful pixel art from old video games, many of them obscure Japanese titles that you haven’t even heard of, let alone played. We’ve featured him a few times here…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Some Things You May Not Know About Mario
You know he’s got a moustache, a red beret and a penchant for jumping on people’s heads, but have you ever stopped to wonder what you maybe didn’t know about Mario, the world’s most popular and iconic video game character? He’s Had Three Names In Mario’s first ever video game appearance, as the hero of…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2012 -
Culture
Nobody Can Finish (Or Bomb-Moonwalk Through) Majora’s Mask Faster Than This Guy
Speed-runs of video games can be hypnotising. Not to simply see people run through a game flawlessly, but because in order to get through them quickly, players think up weird and wonderful ways to get their digital asses moving. Take ZeldaFreakGlitcha, for example, who just set a new world record for getting through The Legend…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2012 -
Culture
This Week in the Business: ‘We might see an Xbox 720 for $99’
What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “We might see an Xbox 720 for $99” – Analyst Michael Pachter, talking about how the Xbox 720 might sell for as little as $99 if you buy a two-year cable TV subscription QUOTE | “They have a major issue with…
Steve Peterson Published June 30, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Let’s Settle This Once and For All: Genesis Aladdin or Super NES Aladdin?
It’s time. It’s time to settle this. A while back, I got into a HEATED EXCHANGE with Kotaku columnist Lisa Foiles about her flagrant proclamation that the Super Nintendo version of Aladdin was superior to the Genesis version of Aladdin I did not remember this to be the case—from my recollection, the Genesis version was…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 30, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThings Sure Got Steamy (And Sandy) in This Insanely Cheesy Atari Commercial
Oh, where to begin with this bit of gaming nostalgia. This commercial for the Atari 5200 is just all kinds of amazing, featuring the beach, surfing, hot girls in bikinis, and some hot! Joystick! Action! Seriously, I kind of wish video game commercials were still this joyfully dorky. I ALSO wish I could play video…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 29, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallGet a Load of This Super-Hot Game of Thrones NES Game Cartridge
Last week, I wrote about the 72 Pins collection of amazing custom NES art, done in a classic style and affixed to real NES cartridges. They looked plenty cool in pictures on the 72 Pins site, but I didn’t anticipate that they’d be so cool-looking in real life. The people behind 72 Pins were kind…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 29, 2012 -
Culture
A StarCraft II Marine Won’t Shoot Monsters This Pretty
Former Blizzard man Fausto De Martini is an award-winning artist who has worked on the cinematics for games like Diablo III, StarCraft II and World of Warcraft. In addition to some of his 3D model work for StarCraft II, in this gallery you’re also going to see some of the coolest aliens, monsters and future…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 29, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Spice Girls & PlayStation Just About Sum Up The Late 1990s
Just in case you woke up this morning feel good about life, music or the PlayStation, here’s Spice World, released in 1998. It featured the vocal talents of all five Spice Girls! Which is about all it featured, really.
By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallThe Mario Games That Were, For Some Reason, Released on PC
Being Nintendo’s principle mascot, you’d think that Mario would only ever appear on Nintendo consoles. And for the most part, you’d be correct! But, as with most things in life, there are exceptions. I thought with the sad news today of the cuts at Radical Entertainment that we’d look back another one such exception: the…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2012 -
Culture
A Game of Thrones Concept Art Banished to The Wall
Cyril Tahmassebi is a French concept artist and visual designer who has worked on games like Darkworks, I’m Alive, Project Kane and, most recently, Dishonored and Cyanide’s Game of Thrones RPG. While that lost one might not have been much of a game, the art Tahmassebi put together for it is terrific Every piece you…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Um, It’s Not Really Atari’s 40th Birthday
There was much fanfare today as Atari celebrated its 40th birthday. Only, it’s not really Atari’s 40th birthday. I hate to be that guy, but the Atari of 2012 has about as much in common with Nolan Bushnell’s original company as my beard trimmings do. Maybe even less, since Nolan has a killer beard. The…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
What’s the Deal With All These German Cyborgs?
One game featuring a German with extendable robot arms is a thing. Two is a coincidence. But three? All starring in games developed by Japanese studios? OK, three is a pattern. This post over on GameWTFs, highlighting ten cyborgs starring in Super Nintendo games, contains not one, not two, but three Germans with robot arms.…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2012 -
Culture
Concept Art From The Last of Us, Prey 2, Tomb Raider…
James Paick is a freelance concept artist who has worked on more big games recently than I could fit in that headline. Since I’ve got more room down here, here’s a continued selection: The Last of Us, Uncharted 2, Prey 2, Infamous 2, Medal of Honor, Tomb Raider, Lost Planet 3… ...Resistance 3, Tron, City…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Q: Why the Sega Saturn Never Really Took Off in the West
A: Because this ad, and this console, never appeared outside Japan. Many people blame the Dreamcast for Sega’s exit from the console market, but that’s a harsh point for both the console and the company. Really, it was the Saturn that marked the beginning of the end. The market share the Saturn ceded to Nintendo…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 26, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
Nintendo Made a Poker Machine. That You Shot At.
Regular Kotaku readers will of course know that Nintendo hasn’t always made video games. The company has dabbled in everything from love hotels to badass “LEGO” sets. It also, in the early 1970s, tried its hand at electronic card games. In about the most bizarre way imaginable. This is Electro Poker, released in 1971. It…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 26, 2012 -
Culture
From Hawken to…Totoro, the Art of Khang Le
Khang Le is the boss of Adhesive games, the studio behind the promising Hawken, a multiplayer mech shooter on PC. But he’s not just the boss. He’s also the game’s creative director. There’s a few Hawken pieces here, as well as some other mechs and robots. But there’s also some beautiful environment pieces featuring fantasy…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 26, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallCaptain Waffle, Video Gaming’s Unsung Hero
Don’t try and make sense of Spinal Breakers, a 1990 coin-op game. It’s got a story that centres around nuclear war, something called “hildroids” (which look a lot like Nazis to me) and the alteration of the Earth’s axis. What’s important is that you play as a man (and walking Michael Biehn tribute) called Captain…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 25, 2012