- CultureTotal Recall
Atari’s Awesome Arcade Prototypes
Companies like Sega and Namco tend to get all the credit when it comes to weird and wonderful arcade cabinets, but even all the way back in the 1970s, Atari was trying its hardest to be different. To that end, it came up with a number of prototypes for cabinets that went a little further…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 18, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallMicrosoft Already Has a Computer Called “Surface”, and it Makes Board Games Look Awesome
The unveiling earlier today of Microsoft’s new “Surface” tablets was a strange one for me. Not because of the nature of the product, but for its name. It’s one Microsoft has been using for years, only, for an entirely different device. One that, for a while there, we thought could change the way we played…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
It’s Time to Settle This Once and For All: Which Breakfast Cereal is the Best?
I love cereal. I love it so much. I’ve felt that way all my life. For years and years, I’ve had cereal for breakfast, sometimes for lunch, sometimes even for dinner. It’s never not a good time for cereal. If there’s one thing people like to debate, it’s… well, it’s pizza toppings. But if there’…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedGods & Kings ‘Fixes’ Civilization V (If You Think it Needed Fixing)
I appear to be one of a rare breed of person who, on the internet at least, is proud to have enjoyed Civilization V. I thought the shift to hexes and abandonment of unit “stacking” was the best thing the series had done in years, and while it wasn’t perfect – the AI could have…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Persona 4 Arena Plays as Good as It Looks, But I Don’t
These sweet new screens of the Arcade Mode in Atlus’ upcoming Persona fighter jogged my memory of the time two weeks ago I would have beat the publisher’s PR master had he not surely cheated terribly. How did Atlus’ Aram Jabbari cheat during our Persona 4 Arena session during E3 2012? Well, first off we…
By Mike Fahey Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
World of Warcraft‘s Azeroth and Expansions Mapped in Google Maps
Video games let us explore other worlds. Sometimes those worlds are massive—that’s certainly true of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. They don’t call it a massively multiplayer game for nothing! However, it can be difficult to keep an up-to-date cartographical record of such a massive world. Enter Cal Henderson, who, upon realizing that MapWow hadn’t updated…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Iconic Game M.U.L.E. Is Back, and It’s Coming to a Phone Near You
In 1983, Electronic Arts published a four-player, turn-based strategy game developed by a little company called Ozark Softscape. The game itself didn’t necessarily sell very well, but it left its indelible mark on a generation of players—and, perhaps more importantly, a generation of designers who would, in time, themselves become legends. That game was M.U.L.E.…
By Kate Cox Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
This Funky Slaughterhouse-Five Game is Unstuck In Time
Why isn’t Kurt Vonnegut’s influence seen in more video games? I couldn’t help but wonder that after playing through Vonneguts & Glory, a new (very short) browser game by Shaun Inman based on Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five It’s a weird little thing, a shooter that is unstuck in time—you move backwards, picking up from…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedI Hope Video Gaming’s Apocalypse Now Fixation Isn’t Just An Excuse for Artsy Violence
It’s starting to look as though game developers have moved their cinematic ambitions beyond the story of Charles Foster Kane and on to something a good deal more violent and possibly more attainable. To put it glibly: Apocalypse Now is the new Citizen Kane As we saw at E3, mainstream video games are in a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Six Tips To Improve Your StarCraft II Skills, From The Designer Of StarCraft II
Want to be a better StarCraft II player? Want to boost your APM? Want to know what APM means? While chatting with StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder last week, I asked him to send over a few basic tips to help Kotaku readers master the challenging real-time strategy game. Since his APM (actions-per-minute, a…
By Jason Schreier Published June 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedMicrosoft Announces New ‘Surface’ Tablet PC
At a press event today, Microsoft announced a new Tablet PC called ‘Surface.’ As you can see from the images in this post, it’s got a nifty keyboard built into its screen-cover. Also, pretty colors! Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky introduced it thusly: “It’s a tablet that works and plays the way you want to. A tablet…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedHey Nvidia, F*** You!
Linux mastermind Linus Torvalds gave a recent speech in Finland, and one of the members of the audience related a story about using a Nvidia graphics card with the Linux OS—rather, unsuccessfully using a Nvidia graphics card with Linux. Nvida wouldn’t offer support and flat out said that they would not. So, what did Torvalds…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedThis PlayStation Strategy-RPG Is Looking Pretty Neat
You might have heard of Rainbow Moon when it was announced late last year, but now that it finally has a release window—late July for U.S. PlayStation Network users—I’m starting to get psyched to play it. Rainbow Moon will run you $15 on the PlayStation Network. Check out the game’s official Facebook page for more…
By Jason Schreier Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
So What If I’m A Woman? Let Me Play The Damn Game.
When I sit down at a computer, my left hand falls automatically into the inverted-V shape known well by all of you; middle three fingers arched across W, A, S and D. Pinky hovering over left-shift, my thumb resting lightly on the space bar. There’s a poetic comfort in this for me. I do it…
katie williams | Kotaku AU Published June 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedWoah, The Vita’s Upcoming Musical Fighting Game Looks Great In Action
When I first heard about Zen Studio’s Kickbeat, I was understandably excited about it. A fighting game that uses music to cue its hits, designed by the people who made the supremely punchy Zen Pinball games? One that tells the story of You can import your own music? Sign me up! Of course, there are…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Ask a Video Game Developer Anything … Call for Questions
You may have heard about the game journalist who wanted to be a game developer, but have you seen this Jeremiah Slaczka guy we’ve got writing for us each month? He may be the CEO and creative director of 5TH Cell (Scribblenauts, Hybrid, Run Roo Run), but I think he might want to be a…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 18, 2012 - Reviews
Golden Oreos: The Snacktaku Review
Oreo. In the snacking world there are few words more powerful than that glorious combination of three vowels and a consonant. Since 1912 Nabisco has dominated the cookie market with this marriage of chocolate and cream, the unassailable king of its domain. As recently as 2003 no serious snackologist would have dreamt of attempting to…
By Mike Fahey Published June 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedWhat’s the Fine for Necrophilia in Cyrodiil?
Great moments in gaming humor finally makes it to The Elder Scrolls! Just because series stars a silent protagonist doesn’t mean it has to be a dour, humorless affair. It can be an affair with a corpse as well! Falanu Hlaalu, alchemist of Skingrad, puts the dark in Dark Elves in this brief exchange from…
By Mike Fahey Published June 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Dorkly Weekly: Death Comes to RollerCoaster Tycoon
Witness as the Dorkly folks bravely attempt to squeeze a little humor out of Chris Sawyer’s classic amusement park sim. You’d think it’d be easy. Kudos to those stalwart comedy video craftsmen for looking in the most obscure places possible for inspiration. Of all the games I consider ripe with comedic potential, RollerCoaster Tycoon doesn’t…
By Mike Fahey Published June 18, 2012