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Meet The Awesome Russian Housewife Who Conquered a Video Game Made for Men
Tatyana Zinovieva lives in Kursk, Russia. She’s 59 now, younger in the photo here. She only started playing video games three years ago, after getting treated for leukemia. She’d been depressed. TV didn’t help. Video games did. “My husband was playing King’s Bounty: The Legend then,” she said, through a translator in an e-mail I…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 8, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Tragic Mission of the Portal Space Core
You know those really cheesy songs that you’re not supposed to like, but they’re too catchy not to? Jason’s familiar with the concept. For him, it involves his obsession with “Call Me Maybe.” And he’s not even embarrassed by it Although the context is something I can totally stand by—namely, anything and everything Portal—I’m not…
By Tina Amini Published May 8, 2012 -
UncategorizedI Hate You, Ski Safari. Okay, One More Game.
Defiant Development’s Ski Safari is one of those annoying-as-hell games that doesn’t have much to it other than an infuriating knack for making your finger hit the icon reflexively every time you even so much as glance at your iPhone. I see Ski Safari being compared to iPhone classic Tiny Wings quite a bit, and…
By Mike Fahey Published May 8, 2012 -
UncategorizedHelpful Tips for Surviving the Impending Robot Apocalypse
As much as I’d like them to, zombies do not exist, but there is another relentless force that with little prompting could one day attempt to subjugate the human race: Robots. Thankfully we have men like “Robopocalypse” author Daniel H. Wilson on our side. The folks at Epipheo Studios teamed up with Wilson to create…
By Mike Fahey Published May 8, 2012 -
UncategorizedOver 30,000 Dominoes Were Harmed in the Making of this Nintendo Tribute Video
Watching a master creation of dominoes fall to their death is both exhilarating and anxiety-inducing for me. On the one hand, this is what they were made for. All that hard work and meticulous arrangement was put in for this moment. On the other hand, what about all that hard work! And look at the…
By Tina Amini Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Tuesday Watch This, Play This
Watch! A Portal space core goes on an important mission. Watch! Nintendo software and hardware as designed by 30,000 dominoes. Play! Fahey is addicted to Ski Safari on his iPhone. Watch! Prepare yourself for the robot apocalypse.
By Tina Amini Published May 8, 2012 -
UncategorizedSome Things in Starhawk Just Never Get Old
Space-Western strategy-shooter Starhawk launches for the PS3 today. We’ve had glimpses of space dogfights, shooting, and careful battle tactics before. But in all the chaos of space war, some things are just cooler than others. Some really big guns just have that screen presence that makes you cackle out loud every time. Some targeted weapons…
By Kate Cox Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
A Guy Tried to Get His Girlfriend to Play A Video Game. Here’s Why It Didn’t Work.
So you’re lucky. Your significant other wants to sit down and play a game. And not just any game, either. The title that’s piqued interest is Just Cause 2, Avalanche Studio’s stunt-tastic open-world shooter. But Reddit user rfry11 found his lady love stymied by what he says are poor design choices and bad tutorials that…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Is Dragon Age III The Game EA Just Delayed?
It’s time to solve a mystery, or at least come up with a viable theory. Yesterday, executives at mega-publisher Electronic Arts announce a bunch of financial numbers. They also say that they’ve delayed a “key game” from fiscal year 13 to fiscal year 14, which, for those who prefer to speak English, means they’ve delayed…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Welcome to Hades! Um, I mean… 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? Knock yourselves out! Angry Impoverished…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Can Diablo III Really Bring Back That Old Diablo Magic?
Everyone has a Diablo story. Mine is pretty straightforward. When Diablo II came out in June of 2000, I plopped down on a computer chair in the attic and camped up there for months, ganging up with Internet friends to defeat Mephisto over and over again in hopes that he’d drop something gold and that…
By Jason Schreier Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Rumor: Microsoft Prepping “Kinect Play Fit” Exercise Tracking and Heart-Rate Monitor
The Verge is reporting today that Microsoft will be adding new functionality to the Xbox 360 that tracks users’ physical activity across multiple Kinect games. The report also says that there will be a sensor accessory—codenamed Joule—that will track your heart rate while playing. Stats on your activity, measured against various fitness goals, will live…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Rockstar Games’ Social Club Just Got a Lot More Social
In preparation for next week’s release of Max Payne 3 and the launch of the Crews system, Rockstar Games has given its Social Club site a complete overhaul, complete with user profiles, a new friends system, and integration with Facebook and Twitter. In short, this time it’s social. I never really put much thought into…
By Mike Fahey Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Cave Johnson Demands That You Get Portal 2’s Level Creator Today
Today’s the day when the amount of teleporting happening on computers anywhere will start increasing exponentially. Or in the words of Cave Johnson, “You should be designing test chambers, right now and at all times, or by God I will fire you.” The Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC that lets players create and share their own…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 8, 2012 -
UncategorizedThis 12-Inch Replica of Star Wars Arcade Actually Works, Unlike Luke
This amazing 1/6 replica of Atari’s Star Wars Arcade cabinet features a real working control yoke, glowing coin slots, and a fully playable emulated version of the original game. The 1/6 replica of Luke has no soul. You might have seen this all over the place last week. I did not, so the fact that…
By Mike Fahey Published May 8, 2012 -
UncategorizedThis Isn’t Gun Porn. It’s LEGO Gun Porn You Can Make.
As a kid, I’d often snap LEGO bricks together and make crude pistols. They didn’t shoot anything, so for added realism, I would go “bang bang”. Like I said, crude. If I’d seen Jack Streat‘s LEGO gun creations, my head would’ve explode. Heck, seeing them as an adult is doing just that—ka-boom! The 17 year-old…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 8, 2012 - Kotaku East
Dance For Me My Pretties! (Two Hours with The Idolm@ster 2)
Among hardcore Japanese otaku (geeks) there are few games more popular than those of The Idolm@ster series. The premise is simple. As a music producer, it is your job to take a group of recently debuted teenage “idols” and turn them into Japan’s most popular popstars. Or to look at it another way, it’s a…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published May 8, 2012 - Kotaku East
Capsule Toys are Cool. This is Not.
We have Gree and DeNA, two huge social gaming companies, to thank for the massive growth in Japan’s social gaming industry. But their business models use a method called “complete gacha”; it is currently being called unfair, and it may be regulated by the Japan’s Consumer Affair Agency. With the chance of not just the…
By Toshitaka Tachibana Published May 8, 2012 -
Kotaku EastWatch the Slavery Documentary that Apparently Pissed Off China
News network Al Jazeera is closing its Beijing bureau, because Chinese authorities are refusing to renew an Al Jazeera correspondent’s press credentials and visa, or even approve another journalist, the networked stated today. The reason? According to China-based website ShanghaiIst, it is apparently related to a documentary Al Jazeera did last fall on slave labor.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 8, 2012 - Uncategorized
Inside Japan’s Adults-Only Cosplay Event
Are you addicted to cosplay? Adult cosplay? If so, does Japan have an event for you. Over the weekend, “Cosholic” steamrolled Tokyo. The event is 18 years-old-and-up for good reason. The cosplayers on hand specialize in “erotic cosplay”. Some of them are former adult film actresses. Some of them still are. Some of them aren’t…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 8, 2012