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Culture
The Metallica Game We Never Got (But Maybe Should Have)
Around 2003, Black Rock Studio (which is sadly now no more) was working on something fairly unique: a Metallica game that didn’t involve plastic instruments. It instead was a “post-apocalyptic driving/adventure game”, in which the band’s members were badass, gun-toting characters. Destined for the PS2, nothing ever came of the title. It was never even…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 7, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallBelieve it or Not, There Was a Goonies Sequel
Despite annual reminders, Hollywood has never made good on its threat to release a sequel to classic 1985 adventure flick The Goonies That didn’t stop video games from coming up with their own Goonies II, though. In 1987, Konami released The Goonies II on the Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System. And proceeded to confuse the shit out…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 7, 2011 -
Culture
The Beasts and Beauties of God of War
A former comic book artist, Andy Park is one of the main men to thank if you liked the look of the last two God of War games, as he was a senior concept artist on both God of War II and God of War III That means many of the series’ classically-inspired nasties, as…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallThere Has Never Been A Good Akira Game
It’s one of the defining works of modern popular culture, and features plenty of stylised, graphic action. So why is it nobody has ever made a good game out of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira? It’s not for want of trying, that’s for sure. There have been three (well, maybe five, but we’ll get to that later)…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 -
Culture
Sister…This Storyboard Artist Has a Twin Sister…
That Darth Vader line has always creeped me out a little. This stuff, though, featuring a pair of storyboard artists working in the games industry, does nothing of the sort. After I ran that Crysis 2 art last week, I was contacted by Trudi Castle, another artist who worked on the game. Unlike the static…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 5, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallSnatcher, Hideo Kojima’s Adventure Masterpiece
Most people know, and love, Japanese developer Hideo Kojima for the Metal Gear series, a franchise he created all the way back in 1987. For me, though, that’s a convoluted mess of a property that’s become more unwieldy and pointlessly self-referential with each passing entry. If you feel the same and would like to see…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 5, 2011 -
Culture
Disgaea 4 and Some Other Games
I’ve been hearing it for a month about Disgaea 4 not being included in the Coming Soon for Sept. 6 alongside other games such as Resistance 3, Driver: San Francisco, Dead Island and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. So here you go: Disgaea 4, here on the front page, big as Christmas, is coming out this…
By Owen Good Published September 4, 2011 -
CultureShop Contest
Smash Mountain
No-brainers make for the best ‘Shop Contest ideas and this one was a lead-pipe lock as soon as it was spotted on Tuesday. This log flume full of Smash Bros aficionados takes the gold for best roller-coaster reaction shot of all time, but we’re going to make it better. The exploitable potential of this really…
By Owen Good Published September 4, 2011 -
Culture
Sunday Comics: Don’t Look a Yoshi in the Mouth
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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Aug. 29. – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Aug. 31. – Read more of Nerf…
By Owen Good Published September 4, 2011 -
Culture
This Week in the Business: “PS3 Will Outsell Xbox 360”
QUOTE | “PS3 will outsell Xbox 360.” – That’s the belief of Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, IF Microsoft decides to stand pat on 360 price this holiday season QUOTE | “Like a religion.” – Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg says 60 frames per second is critical to Call of Duty as he describes the four…
James Brightman | IndustryGamers.com Published September 2, 2011 -
Culture
The People and Places of Crysis 2
Today at Fine Art we’re looking at the work of Daniel Rizea, who in the last few years has provided art for games like Crysis, Crysis 2 and Crytek’s upcoming fantasy title Ryse Rizea hasn’t always been at the PC powerhouse; he got his start at Ubisoft, where he worked on Blazing Angels, Silent Hunter…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 2, 2011 -
CultureTotal Recall
Let’s Go Shopping For Video Games! (In the 1980’s and 1990’s)
Ah, paper catalogues. They still make them, but they’re not what they used to be. What are now glossy prints highlighting only a select few items from a store used to be informational tomes, full of almost everything you could ever want. And we all wanted video games, right? These catalogues, mostly from US retailer…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 2, 2011 -
Culture
The Amazing Concept Art of Deus Ex: Human Revolution
It’s the flavour of the week here at Kotaku, and to echo Kirk’s glowing review, every second I’ve been awake and not working I’ve been walking up to people and saying hello there have yo-ELBOW KNIVES. So now is as good a time as any to look at some of the gorgeous concept art for…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 1, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallWhat Makes the Mother Series so Great?
They may not be chart-toppers – indeed, the third game has never even been officially released in the West – but the Mother/Earthbound series of role-playing games are some of the most revered and cherished of all Nintendo games (at least among certain cliques). There’s a very good reason why this is. And it has…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 1, 2011 -
Culture
Gameloft Games Look Better at the Concept Art Stage [Update]
Mobile publisher Gameloft gets a lot of bad press for the way its games borrow visual and design cues from popular console titles. Its popular NOVA series, for example, is really HALO in all but name. Or so it is by the time it hits your phone’s screen. At the concept art stage, things are…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallRemembering The House That Civilization Built
I don’t tend to truly miss many video game studios. Businesses come and go, their developers move on, make new stuff, the world keeps spinning. But on a weekly basis I find myself missing Microprose, who gave us Civilization. And X-Com. And Master of Orion. And Railroad Tycoon. And Master of Magic. And Falcon 4.0.…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011 -
Culture
Where Can You Find Nazis, EVE Online and the Beautiful Adrift all In the one Spot?
Why, right here of course, in the latest instalment of Fine Art, Kotaku’s daily look at the concept art of video games. Today we’re admiring the work of French artist Michel Koch, currently an art director at Dontnod Entertainment, developers of the wonderful-looking Adrift, and a man who has previously worked on titles like RUSE…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2011 -
CultureTotal Recall
There Were Worse Mario Cartoons Than the American One
It has a certain nostalgic charm, yeah, but lets face it, the American Super Mario Bros. cartoons were pretty terrible. Poorly animated, poorly written, poorly voiced. Next to the Japanese Mario cartoon, though, the American version looks like it was made by Disney. Premièring around the same time as America’s The Super Mario Bros. Super…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallHip Tanaka Is A Nintendo Legend
He may not sit in the limelight like some of the company’s other legendary names like Miyamoto, Yokoi or Iwata, but make no mistake: Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka is one of the most important men to have ever worked at Nintendo. Especially if you like music. Or Pokémon! Born in December 1957, Tanaka is a lifelong…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 29, 2011 -
Culture
Midsummer Madness
A holiday for many sports gamers, Madden NFL 12‘s release moved to the final Tuesday of August to position it closer to the league’s opening day, which is Sept. 8. The 23rd edition of EA Sports’ venerable football franchise is still the week’s headline release. Monday • Achron (PC) Tuesday • Madden NFL 12 (360,…
By Owen Good Published August 28, 2011