- Culture
Frito-Lay’s Handling the Skylanders Freebie Like It’s 1980 or Something
Thirty-two years ago, Dad came home with what could only be described as the Holy Grail of my childhood—Boba Fett. Dad was the kind of guy who once called Kenner, under the auspices of a local newspaperman, to ask if they were making a Yoda action figure and when it would arrive. In secret, he…
By Owen Good Published July 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedTracing The Musical Saga Of Mass Effect
Remember when this is what Mass Effect sounded like? There was a time when the story had a fairly straightforward theme, using electronic and orchestral sounds to draw us into a sweeping space opera with dark tones around the edges. Back then, of course, it was a more straightforward story. It was a theme in…
By Kate Cox Published July 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedA Listener’s Guide to the Music of Kids on the Slope
And so with one last musical interlude, Shinichirō Watanabe’s marvelous anime Kids on the Slope concluded its 12-episode run. Kids was something truly special—a nostalgic, dream-like tribute to friendship, love, and the mysterious power of music. And oh, what music! I’ve already written at length about my unabashed love of this series. If anything, my…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedA Team Fortress Musical Worthy of Valve
Of the many, many splendid films we’ve seen made with Valve’s new Source Filmmaker tools, this one is my favorite yet. YouTuber burningfajitasalt (nice!) has put together this video to accompany Ken Ashcorp’s lovely song “Just One More Hat,” a musical tribute to the many hats of Team Fortress 2. In the video, the scout…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedFrom Kingdom Hearts to Super Mario RPG: The Yoko Shimomura Mixtape
One of the best parts about doing a weekly mixtape is hearing suggestions from readers on which composer to cover next (PS: keep ’em coming). Out of all the suggestions, nobody has been more requested than Yoko Shimomura. So this week on the Kotaku Mix Tape, we celebrate one of gaming’s most moving composers. Even…
By Chris Person Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Melodic Starts Now
Greetings, readers and listeners, and welcome to another week’s Kotaku Melodic. We’ve got some great music for you, so sit back, turn up your speakers, and enjoy the tunes. As always, for more about Kotaku Melodic and all of our past posts, check out the Kotaku Melodic main page
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedI’d Freak Out if You Kept Getting Up After A Hundred Shots to the Chest, Too
So in a game like, say, Uncharted, we’ve all lamented those nameless henchmen or mini-bosses that seem to take a ridiculous number of shots to kill. “I shot you,” we’ll yell. “I shot you like twelve times! In the head! Why won’t you die?!” But imagine how much worse it is on their side! They…
By Kate Cox Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Hey, Dead Space‘s Dismembered Hand Makes a Great Night Light
Some folks see a scary movie or play a scary game and proceed to purge all that terror out their minds immediately. A game as scary as the original Dead Space made me want to void my bowels many times over. I breathed easy once my time with the game was done. For other people,…
By Evan Narcisse Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
EA Sports Practically Begging for South Alabama’s Forgiveness Now
Whoever screwed up—whether EA Sports or some paper-pusher at the NCAA—the University of South Alabama will not be in NCAA Football 13 during the school’s debut year in major college football. While USA is one of 124 schools, and its alumni base is comparatively much, much smaller, this kind of exclusion is terrible PR in…
By Owen Good Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Your Best Bets for Starting a No-Name Dynasty in NCAA 13‘s First Week
There are many reasons to pick up NCAA Football the day it releases, and the next edition arrives on Tuesday. The rosters, however, are not one of them. For hardcore players, the first week is often spent tinkering with secondary modes while waiting for the roster editing community to complete a full and accurate naming…
By Owen Good Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
He Says the PlayStation Vita is Already Dead
In today’s mournful edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter aw3str1k3r, early adopter and believer in Sony’s latest handheld gaming system, commits his purchase to an early grave. The Playstation Vita is dead. I say this as an early adopter of the handheld. I feel like the system has already been abandoned. Sony made that…
Featuring aw3str1k3r Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
How the Spider-Man Game Picks Up on the Spider-Man Movie’s Missing Threads
Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen or played the new Amazing Spider-Man movie or game yet, don’t read any further. Seriously. Remember all those The Amazing Spider-Man promos? The ones that teased something mysterious lay in Peter Parker’s past, specifically the fates of his long-dead parents? It sure seemed like the newest movie reboot of…
By Evan Narcisse Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
You Must See These Stunning Photos Of Game of Thrones Set In Minecraft
This is truly unreal. By now of course you’ve seen Kotaku‘s coverage of this tremendous project, which we’ve shown you several times before. But it’s hard not to be stunned by these new glamor shots from the Game of Thrones Minecraft project. You could almost call it… A Feast For Eyes. No? Okay, I’m just…
By Jason Schreier Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
You Can Pick Up In-Game Health At a Real-World Pharmacy in Robert Bowling’s New Game
If you needed first-aid supplies, you’d probably go to your local pharmacy or drugstore, right? It only makes sense. And when you’re playing a character in a video game, if that character needs first-aid supplies, you tend to loot them from a hospital or pharmacy. It makes a post-apocalyptic kind of sense. Of course, there…
By Kate Cox Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
This is the Ultimate Custom Arcade Fight Stick… for StarCraft II
Fighting game fans go great lengths to create their own custom arcade controllers, personalized weapons carved from raw passion to wage a war against all comers. What if the same ingenuity and passion were applied to a non-fighting game like StarCraft II? I think it would go a little something like this. Created by the…
By Mike Fahey Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
With The Secret World, Funcom has Mastered the Art of the Buggy MMO Launch
In June of 2001, Norwegian video game developer Funcom released its first massively-multiplayer online game, Anarchy Online. It is considered by many to be the worst buggy MMO launch in the history of the genre. This week sees the release of Funcom’s third MMO, and it might be the best buggy MMO launch of all…
By Mike Fahey Published July 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedSome People Don’t Like DayZ. This Live-Action Video Is Here To Explain Why.
Not everyone gets overly excited while playing DayZ, ArmA II zombie mod. Not everyone gets a chance to live-tweet their kidnapping in DayZ Some people just can’t get into the game, and the reasons probably look something like the video posted above.
By Tina Amini Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
From Skyrim to Mass Effect: Is DLC Ever Worthwhile?
For today’s edition of Burning Questions, we’re going to try something different. While we usually have our weekly conversation/discussion/debate/verbal melodies via online chat and then put them on Kotaku, today we’re going to do everything live. We’ll be hanging out in the new discussion system, chatting with one another and maybe even you guys. So…
by Jason Schreier & Kirk Hamilton Published July 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Rumors Suggest Smaller iPad Could Launch This Year
Apple could launch a new, smaller version of the iPad this year, according to new reports. Rumors from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal suggest that the smaller iPad, not to be confused with an iPhone, would have a diagonal measure of seven to eight inches. The current iPad is 9.7 inches by diagonal measure.…
By Jason Schreier Published July 5, 2012