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UncategorizedA First Look at the Kingdoms of Amalur Studio’s New MMO
While they may be having their share of financial problems lately, Kingdoms of Amalur creators 38 Studios have still been working on at least one new game. That game is a massively multiplayer project dubbed Project Copernicus; just today, the governor of Rhode Island announced that the game will be released in June 2013. The…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
You’ll Be Happy to Note That None of Our Gaming Apps This Week Were Diablo III
Oh give us a break, it was the first time any of us got to cover the launch of a Diablo game. And hey, we did manage to spotlight five mobile games that have almost completely nothing in common with Blizzard’s game. Almost. I mean sure, Tower of Fortune is a dark role-playing game of…
By Mike Fahey Published May 18, 2012 - Esports
Racist Comment Leads DOTA 2 Commentator To Apologize To Community
Toby “Tobi Wan” Dawson is a professional commentator for esports site JoinDOTA. He covers DOTA and now DOTA 2 matches and tournaments, and is considered to be quite entertaining. Unfortunately, the commentary he was caught making while playing in a live-streamed public match over the weekend is not so much entertaining as it is inexplicably…
By Kate Cox Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Which PC Hardware Works Best With Diablo III?
After 11 years in the making and more setbacks than we care to count, Blizzard has finally unleashed a third installment to its cult classic dungeon crawler. Having waited over a decade, the arrival of Diablo III was a bittersweet moment for eager fans. In what must’ve felt like a cruel joke, missteps in Blizzard’s…
Steven Walton | Techspot Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
EA Offers Crowdfunded Games Three Months of Free Distribution on Origin
So, you’ve successfully rallied hundreds of strangers to pay for your brilliant game idea on Kickstarter, IndieGoGo or some other crowdfunding site. Now you need to make the damn thing. But an even bigger problem looms after you develop and test Amazing Game X: getting it to everyone who wants it, including backers. EA, of…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
38 Studios Begins Paying Back the State of Rhode Island
Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios, who have been mired in financial troubles lately, have successfully repaid $1.125 million of their $75 million debt to Rhode Island after withholding pay from employees.
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
What Makes RPG Dialogue Great (And How It Can Go Wrong)
We spend a lot of time watching video game characters talk. Sometimes they’re perched in dimly-lit inns, plotting out their next moves over frosty mugs of Genuine Medieval Ale. Other times they’re exchanging snarky quips between rounds of troll-hunting or alien-squashing. Or sharing awkward pleasantries after robotic sexual encounters. Japanese role-playing games are especially dialogue-heavy.…
By Jason Schreier Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Most Games are “Not Good Enough for Adults” Says Journey Creator
Jenova Chen thinks that video games don’t access enough of the human emotional spectrum. Sure, they do revenge and aggression well but they struggle to handle love or other kinds of deep connection. That’s why all of the games spearheaded by Chen—Flow, Flower and, most recently, Journey—have all proceeded from a clear mandate of wanting…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Nominate Comment Of The Week Here (Plus A New Policy!)
Hello Kotaku. Happy Friday. Do you have good weekend plans? I was going to go to a concert, but now I have to cancel to play Dragon’s Dogma all weekend for review. Because of you. I blame you. Last week, Stephen asked you all to weigh in on what we’re doing over here at Kotaku.…
By Tina Amini Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Heavy Rain Creator “Not Interested in the Next Generation of Consoles”
We’re at a weird place in terms of expectations for the near-future of video games. Yesterday saw Epic Games unveiling the next iteration of their Unreal Engine and that— combined with a stream of leaks about the successors to the PS3 and Xbox 360—have people thinking about the possibilities of what’s next. But David Cage…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 18, 2012 -
ReviewsGame of Thrones: The Kotaku Review
I’ll confess: I really wanted to start this review with a choice quote from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. “Winter is coming” is played, I just did a riff on “You Know Nothing, Jon Snow” the other week… maybe a less common one, like, “Jon Snow flexed his sword hand”…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe World Revolves Around Video Games In Freddie W’s New Web Series
The first episode of Freddie W’s new Internet series, Video Game High School, is out. Episode 1 introduces us to the concept of the prestigious academy that is Video Game High School. I wish I lived in a world where video game skills were as highly regarded as they are in this show. Then again,…
By Tina Amini Published May 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedMy Compliments to Those Who Made This Could Hurt So Good
I’ve become so jaded by mobile gaming’s endless pleading for my attention that I recently removed every game from my iPhone except for three that I deeply admire. Today, I’m glad to add a fourth to that group: This Could Hurt by Orange Agenda. A shrewdly designed single-control platform challenge, This Could Hurt layers on…
By Owen Good Published May 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedNine Compelling Diablo III Features That Didn’t Make the Final Game
As I play through Diablo III, I can’t help but think back to all of the amazing features I witnessed over the course of three years of BlizzCon that didn’t make the cut. YouTube user AlluvianGarald compiles several of these into one disappointment-inducing video. The biggies are obvious. There’s the arena combat, which was shelved…
By Mike Fahey Published May 18, 2012 -
UncategorizedHere’s a Clip From Community, Entirely in 16-Bit Video Game Form
Do you love NBC’s comedy show, Community? I love Community. Though the show often pokes fun at film and television tropes—typically through the dorky, yet lovable character Abed—the characters sometimes toy around with video game jokes, too. Last night’s show was more than just a few funny video game quips and references. It was 20…
By Tina Amini Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Friday Watch This Play This
Watch! Missing content from Diablo III. Watch! I want to enroll in Video Game High School. Play! Owen takes on pain to protect the Great Oak in This Could Hurt on his iPhone. Watch! The cast of Community enters a video game.
By Tina Amini Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Borderlands 2 Loot Chest Wants to Get Players Pillaging
The team behind upcoming shooter Borderlands 2 first showed off their fancy loot chest last month at PAX East. The design came from community suggestions, made to look like the in-game loot chests, and they promised it would be filled with as-yet unannounced goodies. Well, now the goodies are announced. Nestled deeply in among the…
By Kate Cox Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
See How Spyro The Dragon Evolved In These Early Sketches
Sure, Spryo may be the ostensible core of Activision’s hit Skylanders franchise but once upon a time, he started off as a simple pencil-on-paper drawing. The sketches above come from an archive hosted at The Animation Academy and focus on the work of artist Charles Zembillas as he tried out multiple designs for the firebreathing…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 18, 2012 - Uncategorized
Talk Amongst Yourselves
It’s Friday and the power pellets are right around the coner. Welcome to Kotaku’s official forum, known affectionately as Talk Amongst Yourselves. This is the place where we gather on a daily basis to discuss all things video game and existential. Want to talk about new games, old games, games that aren’t even out yet?…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 18, 2012