The Lack Of Women Presenters At The PS4 Event Is Bigger Than Sony

The consensus on Wednesday’s post about the lack of women presenters at Sony’s PS4 event was rather uniform: there were no women at the PlayStation 4 reveal, because obviously there aren’t women in high positions and the project leads just happen to be male. “The reason there were no women on-stage is because the presidents…

If You Like JRPGs, It’s Time To Start Speaking Up

I spent my Wednesday night sitting in Kotaku‘s office, gulping down coffee and furiously typing as I watched Sony announce their new PlayStation, a revolutionary device that will let you play games where you shoot people with guns. And as they banged out one announcement after the other, my mind kept roaming to a single…

The Incredible Rise and Fall of a Hacker Who Found the Secrets of the Next Xbox and PlayStation—And Maybe More

The first thing that ever puzzled me about the man I used to know as SuperDaE was that he didn’t sound Australian. I couldn’t detect an accent. SuperDaE told me back then, during our first long-distance call from New York to wherever he was Down Under, that he got that a lot. He swore to…

Digital Storm Bolt – Titan Edition: The Kotaku Review

This week Nvidia released its latest high-tech graphics card, the GeForce GTX Titan. The announcement was accompanied by the usual flurry of press releases from boutique PC makers, eager to get their name associated with the next big thing. Normally these me-too systems don’t garner more than a passing mention, but Digital Storm’s offering is…

DayZ Dev Shows Us What A Convincing Zombie Moves Like

Boy does motion capture—the process involved in animating digital characters—looked darned goofy sometimes. This is especially true when you’re pretending to eat a human, apparently. Here’s the latest DayZ standalone video blog, which features the mind behind DayZ, Dean Hall, along with other members of Bohemia Interactive. Dean is suited up in a mocap suit,…

PC Tomb Raider Will Be So Much Better Than Console, If Your Rig Is Up to It

Rejoice, computer gaming Tomb Raider fans—when Lara returns to her home turf this March she’ll be bringing along a treasure trove of PC-centric bells and whistles that’ll make the console versions look downright sad in comparison. Let’s see if your system has the juice to run them. Tomb Raider started on the PC, and Crystal…

A Mysterious Next-Gen Project Sponsored By Bill Gates, And Other Gaming Secrets

In his LinkedIn profile, a Seattle engineer who joined Activision as vice president of research and development this month states that he is “looking for graphics and systems software developers in the Greater Seattle area,” seemingly suggesting that the publisher is establishing an office in Washington. (Presumably this is unrelated to Bungie and Destiny, as…

What Sonic Might Play Like, If Sonic Were Invented in 2013

Magnets, man. They make you go fast. Major Magnet looks like Sonic a little, even though Sonic is a hedgehog and Magnet’s protagonist is a pudgy, big-nosed hero. Major Magnet kind of sounds like Sonic at times, too. As far as I can tell, these similarities are intentional—but, unlike Sonic, Major Magnet is an iOS…

A retro adventure game based on the worst movie of all-time, Manos: The Hands of Fate is now available on Android

If PS4 Games Only Cost $60, They’re Actually Cheaper Than PS3 Games

On CNBC last night, Sony CEO Jack Tretton implied that games for the company’s newly-announced PlayStation 4 won’t retail for more than $60. “We’re gonna welcome free-to-play models, games from 99 cents up to those 60 dollar games,” he said. Later, he added: “We’ll justify that $60 price point.” That might come as welcome news…

In Fear I Trust Is a Game I Don’t Want to Know About

What I know about In Fear I Trust: It’s developed by Turn Me Up Games in conjunction with Black Wing Foundation. It’s built on Unreal Engine 3, and looks wonderfully creepy. It’s an episodic psychological thriller set in 1979, and the first three of ten episodes are due out this spring for iOS. It’s got…

Why Your Board Game Collection Needs Some German-Style Games

Board games are big business now! I’ve been screaming this for so long that my lungs resemble two teabags flapping in a breeze. Excitingly, this means every week I get a tweet, email or text from someone who’s started their board game collection. I’m hoping that includes you, my favourite reader (I have other readers…

This Week’s iPad Charts: What Happens When You Set the Zombies Free

Last week it was Infinity Blade, this week it’s Plants Vs. Zombies. It’s really not fair to the real free games when you temporarily give away wildly popular paid iPad games you guys. Poor Temple Run 2. It was on top of the free iPad app world at one point. Now it’s got Monsters, Inc.…

Hungry for more Dreamfall? The devs are streaming the 2006 game and commenting live on TwitchTV, starting at 12PM EST.

In Japan, People Do Not LOL. They wwww.

You see it on Japanese forums. Strings of “w’s”. I often quote individuals as writing “lol”, “LOL”, or even, “lulz”. But let’s get something straight. People in Japan do not laugh out loud. Oh, no. They wwww. Using “w” is not new. Online in Japan, people have been using them for over a decade, which…

Serving Cooked Penis in Tokyo Won’t Get You in Prison

In May 2012, a Japanese illustrator named Mao Sugiyama oversaw an event during which his post-op genitals were served up for dinner. Five people paid money to eat them! And that they did. The event gained international attention. Japanese police began investigating the event, hoping to pin Sugiyama and the event’s organizers for breaking food…

Sony told a Japanese journalist that the PS4 won’t support CDs or Super Audio CDs, like the PS3 did.

Why I Gave Monster Hunter a Second Chance

Monster Hunter: it has sold millions of copies in Japan. I have personally seen it played in parks, on trains, and in countless fast food restaurants in the Tokyo area by everyone from kids to adults. Simply put, it is one of the most prevalent and popular gaming franchises in Japan. The same cannot be…

A Badass Samurai Helmet Fit for Mickey Mouse. Yours for $2,600!

Every spring in Japan, families with sons display miniature samurai armor. The armor, called yoroi (鎧), or samurai helmet, called “kabuto” (兜), are for Children’s Day. Families want their sons to grow up strong and healthy. It’s a Japanese tradition. Starting March 1, Disney, never one to shy from merchandising, is offering a “Disney Pure…

A New Disgaea, The Guided Fate Paradox, and Time and Eternity Are Coming to American Shores

Last night at their press event in San Francisco, NIS America announced they would be releasing three new Japanese titles this year. The first of these, Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness, is the newest PS3 title in the long-running strategy RPG series, Disgaea. It is a direct sequel to the first game in the…