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Report: Microsoft Might Launch $99 Xbox 360 With Monthly Payment Plan [UPDATE]
Microsoft may launch a $99 Xbox 360 package attached to a two-year $15 monthly subscription plan, according to a new report. The Verge says the bundle, which could ship as early as next week, will include a 4GB Xbox 360, Kinect, and an Xbox Live Gold subscription. You’ll have to dish out $99 upfront and…
By Jason Schreier Published May 2, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Sorry State of Mario & Sonic, Gaming’s Worst Team-Up
If Darth Vader and Captain Kirk ever meet, I hope they will not do so while ice-skating. When Optimus Prime finally crosses paths with Harry Potter, I trust they will not spend their first hour together bowling. Since 2007, Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Mario the plumber have co-headlined three video games. That’s not as…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Harmonix Doesn’t Know Why Mobile Rock Band Is Going Away This Month [Update]
The iOS version of Rock Band could expire on May 31, according to an image, originally posted on Reddit, that has been circulating the Internet today. The Rock Band app, which sells for $4.99 on iTunes, purportedly says it will no longer work at the end of this month. As of this writing, iTunes has…
By Jason Schreier Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Talk Amongst Yourselves
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! The first TAYpic to riff on the “Rich…
By Evan Narcisse Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Yet Another Gorgeous JRPG Might Not Make It To America
Beautiful PSP role-playing game Grand Knights History might not make it to U.S. shores after all. Publisher XSEED has axed plans to localize the Vanillaware-developed RPG, it said in a statement this morning, citing a lack of “development resources.” Although another publisher could theoretically swoop in and pick up U.S. localization rights for Grand Knights…
By Jason Schreier Published May 2, 2012 -
UncategorizedAre You a Silent Assassin, or Do You Want to Kill Everyone in Your Way?
Now that’s a question that you’ll only hear in a video game trailer. Or at least I hope you only hear it in a video game trailer. I bet Hitman: Absolution‘s Agent 47 gets that all the time. He’s in line at Wendy’s, ordering a Frosty. They ask him if he wants fries with that…
By Mike Fahey Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
LittleBigPlanet Karting And Going Back To The Things You Love
“You have to make games for someone you love,” says William, “because that way you can imagine who you’re making it for. “You can imagine the smiles the game will bring to their face; you can imagine the good times that people you care about can have with your game.” William Ho, Design Director at…
Mark Serrels | Kotaku AU Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Pirate Bay Speaks Out Against UK Ban, Offers Workaround
Yesterday the High Court ruled that infamous torrent site The Pirate Bay must be blocked from access by all UK internet providers due to copyright infringement issues. “The galaxy’s most resilient BitTorrent site” responded with a call to arms and a way around the oncoming ban. With torrent and file sharing sites under heavy fire…
By Mike Fahey Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Nintendo Man Rescued by British Cricket Superstar
The heat was intense. The distance far. David Yarnton, Nintendo UK’s honcho, collapsed during a charity bike ride in Greece, and English cricket star, Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, discovered the Nintendo exec in the road. He needed to act fast. Yarnton was unconscious, and Flintoff, who was also participating in the cycling event, performed emergency first…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 - Kotaku East
Persona 4 Website Mentions Xbox 360 and Kinect. Wait, What? [UPDATE]
Persona 4: The Golden is getting a Western localization—that we know. But, as Japanese websites have pointed out, it *might* be getting a PS3 version and an Xbox 360 version as well as a Kinect version. Persona 4: The Golden was released on the PS Vita. Since the Western version’s website also has a PS…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastIt’s Like Final Fantasy, But with Adults-Only Scenes
Futsuno Fantasy might look like Final Fantasy—or maybe Dragon Quest The game’s initials, FF, echo Final Fantasy‘s. There are Chocobo-like characters called “Choko” and even Dragon Quest Slime characters called “Slimy” (“Metal Slimy”, too!). And the in-game sprite maps reek of DQ But make no mistake. Futsuno Fantasy is not Final Fantasy—nor is it Dragon…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastSo How Does Diablo III Sound in Korean? Hear It Compared to English.
Like this! Above is a sample of the game’s Korean voice track compared with the English voice track. While some non-Korean speakers seem to think this voice track is pretty groovy (even saying they’d prefer it over the English track), many Korean speakers aren’t exactly thrilled. Case in point? At around the 2:17 to 2:20…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 - Kotaku East
Do Not Have Sex in the Cable Car
Just because cable cars offer wonderful nature views, doesn’t mean they should offer views of folks getting down au naturel. The cable car service in China’s Yaoshan mountain is supposedly safe, but bumping and grinding might cause the cable car to start-a-rockin’. That seems far less safe. It’s not just shaking cable cars that led…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 - Kotaku East
Win Blowfish and Salamanders with This Arcade Game
Crane games typically offer stuffed animals, not real animals for prizes. This crane game, however, looks to be anything but typical. Spotted by author and game localizer Matt Alt, this UFO Catcher is stocked with fugu (poison blowfish) and axolotl salamanders. According to Alt, “they’re almost impossible to win” due to the weak claw arm…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastSometimes Porn Parodies Bring Porn Apologies
Japan does not have a shortage of video game inspired porn parodies. In the past few years, dirty moviemaker TMA has specialized in skin flick takes on popular games, anime, and manga. One parody, however, will vanish from its line-up. Layers;Gate is a blue movie version of Steins;Gate, a visual novel originally created for the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 - Kotaku East
Persona 4: The Golden Is Coming to America
Good news, Japanese game fans! Persona 4 Golden is getting an official Western release. It will be out this fall in North America. Persona 4: The Golden is a PS Vita version of the PlayStation 2 role-playing game, Persona 4. It adds new animation, at least one new character and new voice acting to the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 - Culture
The Astounding Video Game Art of Yang Qi
Yang Qi is a concept artist working in the video game industry. Currently based in Shenzen, he’s most recently worked on Asura Online, a Chinese game. Note in some of these that, in addition to his character artwork, Qi has even dropped in mock screenshots or dioramas featuring the characters or places in question. Neat…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Comparing STALKER the Game With Stalker, the Movie it’s Based On
Long-time fans of the game series probably already know this, but bleak open-world shooter STALKER isn’t an entirely original concept, as it’s based loosely on the premise of a 1979 art film called Stalker There’s not too much in common other than the name, but in a great piece on the New York Review of…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 2, 2012