- Kotaku East
Nice Guy Hideo Kojima Apologizes for Fake Metal Gear Solid 5 Logo
Kojima certainly didn’t have to, but tweeted, “That title logo is completely fake. Apologies to those who were looking forward to this.” In his tweet, Kojima also added something along the lines that he seemed happy that people still talk about the Metal Gear series. Well, yeah Earlier, Kotaku reported that Konami had denied the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 17, 2012 - Kotaku East
The New Resident Evil Flick Infected this Lady, Turning Her Hideous
This is singer Mika Nakashima. In the above photo, she is not gross looking. In Resident Evil, however, she is. Funny, that. The pop star first appeared in the Resident Evil: Afterlife flick as “J Pop Girl”—the first infected person in Japan. Man, she was scary! Nakashima will be resuming her role as “J Pop…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 17, 2012 - Kotaku East
Japan’s Piracy Crackdown Heats Up the Summer
Sansai Books, the Japanese publisher known for mags Game Lab and Radio Life, is in hot water. Last December, Sansai released a publication called Totally Easy to Understand DVD Copying 2012, which included a detailed how-to and ripping software. That didn’t go over well with Japan’s cyber police. At all. This week, authorities arrested four…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 17, 2012 - Uncategorized
What if Team Fortress 2 Was Made Out of…Glass?
Weird question, I know, but it’s one you now have an answer for regardless, as 3D artist Mariah Combs has used 3D Max to render a bunch of characters and weapons from Valve’s Team Fortress 2 as though they were…exquisite pieces of glasswork. Like I said, weird, but hey, it’s late, let’s just roll with…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 - Uncategorized
Game of Thrones vs Street Fighter vs Dr. Who, the Great Art Showdown
We’ve seen some of Roberto Flores’ art on Kotaku before. He’s the guy who did those amazing Game of Thrones fighting game illustrations. We’re not looking at (many of) those tonight, though. Tonight, we’re looking at his other awesome pics, video game-related or otherwise. In addition to a bonus Game of Thrones image, he’s also…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 - Uncategorized
Borderlands 2 Doesn’t Want You Cracking Jokes About This Character
In designing one of Borderlands 2’s characters, Ellie, Gearbox wanted to build “an independent female character who looked the exact opposite of how most females tend to be represented in games”. Why? Because they didn’t want players to “cast her in a light where the player is encouraged to pity, laugh at, or mock her…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 - Uncategorized
Turn Your Fridge Into an RPG With Custom Dialogue Box Magnets
For the surprisingly generous price of just $8 a pop, you can order one of these cool-as-hell custom fridge magnets, designed to look like the dialogue boxes from Final Fantasy III on the SNES. Those who care deeply about authenticity should know that “The dialog box shape and border match the source measurements perfectly”, and…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 - Culture
Modern Shooters Can Look Pretty (at Least, Their Concept Art Can)
It’s a common, and entirely justified complaint that most modern shooters look too drab. They’re too brown, too grey, too dreary. You could counter that, well, since wars are fought in the dirt and ruins that’s how they’re supposed to look, but it’s too nice a day for arguments. Let’s instead just enjoy this concept…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Future of PC Graphics Sure Looks Sparkly
This video is, supposedly, a demo of PC raytracing tech running on an i7 and Radeon 5870, in DirectX 11. In other words, it’s amazing visuals running on a PC that you might actually already own. It was created by PC modder Hayssam Keilany, who does work on tweaks for games like Skyrim and GTAIV.…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
UncategorizedOld Republic’s Got Some Killer New Droids (and a Killer New Trailer)
If you were at the San Diego Comic-Con, you may have already seen this clip! Since you probably weren’t, though, here’s your first look at the unveiling of killer droid HK-51 in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Note this is HK-51, and not everybody’s favourite meatbag killer HK-47, from classic RPG Knights of the Old…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
A Tribute to Old Video Game Maps
What did you do over the weekend? See some friends, go out to dinner, play some games? Me, I sat in front of a monitor, then a printer, and went through this spontaneous collection of old video game maps. Younger readers, accustomed to things like waypoint markers and mini-maps, may not be aware just how…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 16, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
The Private Atari Emails You Weren’t Supposed to See (Until Some Guy Released Them)
Here’s a rare and fascinating thing: a collection of ten year’s worth of internal Atari Games correspondence from between 1982 and 1992, all stored, public and ready for your voyeuristic consumption. What you’ll find isn’t just boring business talk. There’s all kinds of stuff in here, from high-level corporate discussions to guys making dinner reservations…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 16, 2012 - Uncategorized
Your Friends, The Video Game Systems
We spend a lot of time with our video game devices, so it’s easy to start to think of them as family members. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes they fight. Sometimes they’re happy, sometimes they’re sad. Sometimes they talk to us. It’s not weird! It’s normal! NORMAL I SAY. This terrific illustration by DeviantARTist Ry-Spirit…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012 - Uncategorized
I’ll Never Forget Solving Mysteries With Encyclopedia Brown
I grew up with Encyclopedia Brown. He was my kind of hero, a kid who beat the bad guys not with brawn or physical skill, but with his mind. When I was around ten years old (I’m approximating), I used to devour every story of Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown, his partner Sally, his nemesis Bugs Meany…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012 - Uncategorized
Sexy Mario’s a-Back, Ready To Play Some Sexy Tennis
Because the world always needs more Sexy Mario, the big man in the overalls is back, this time with some super hawt Tennis shots. I’m not sure this quite outdoes the “mouthing of the tiny question mark cube,” but the one with the balls and racquet is… erm, appealing. I guess. Sexy Mario [Facebook, thanks…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012 - Uncategorized
Pipe Bomb Attack Blamed on a “Video Game Community”
An alarming attack on a home in New Jersey, in which several pipe bombs were thrown through windows, has ended with the targeted family blaming the incident on involvement in a “video game community”. Two pipe bombs were thrown into the house in Monroe, NJ, both of which exploded, with a third being tossed inside…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 16, 2012 - Uncategorized
If Mega Man Were A Smell, What Smell Would He Be?
I’ve sometimes wondered what video game characters would smell like—I’m not the only one, as regular Kotaku roustabout Tim Rogers explored the question in depth with hideous results Over at Polygon, Brian Crecente has written a fun story about the act of converting video game characters themselves into smells. Sound weird? It is. Crecente spoke…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012