• Kotaku East

  Girl Group Wants Japan To Stop Killing Itself

  Suicide is serious. It’s horrible. It’s touched me personally as well as many people in Japan, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. The ruling political part decided to take action to help prevent it: with a slogan and cute idols. Earlier this month, the Democratic Party of Japan unveiled a…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 24, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Kotaku East Starts Now

  Kotaku East runs from 4am to 8am EST. For more info about Kotaku East click here

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 24, 2012
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  Let This Street Fighter II Song be Your Gateway to Shirtless Keyboard Fun

  As Sonaje starts playing the Street Fighter II intro on guitar, you might think this is just another boring video of some guy playing the Zelda theme on violin, or the Mario theme on a tamborine, or whatever. It’s not. Stick with it. There are keyboards. Sonaje is a delight. And watching this video let…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2012
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  The Death Star Arrives in Earth Orbit, They’re Here for our Toys

  In this neat ad for Toys ‘R Us in Denmark, the Death Star pops into Earth orbit and Imperial shuttles start landing. In Denmark. Which seems pretty believable. That’s where all the LEGO is. If I came from outer space for something, it’d probably be LEGO.

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2012
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  Heavy Rain’s Most Screwed up Scene, Recreated in Living Color

  If you haven’t yet played PS3 adventure Heavy Rain, and want to, don’t watch this. It contains a pretty big spoiler. If you have, though, or haven’t and don’t care, or haven’t and want to see drama, take a look at what reader David came up with for his media arts interview at Sheridan College.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2012
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  Go Land on the Moon, it’s Real Pretty up There

  Indie developer Sean Edwards’ Lunar Flight, which we first showed you last year, is now done. And it’s looking very, very pretty. It’s currently available for $10 on GamersGate

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2012
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  The Smithsonian’s Video Games Exhibit is Nearly Ready, Let’s See how it’s Coming Along

  The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “The Art of Video Games” exhibition opens next month. Which is exciting! While the doors aren’t quite open yet, here’s a look at how the exhibition are shaping up as the team puts it all together, and some of the cool/interesting things you’ll see if you manage to make it…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2012
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  This Modern Shooter Can’t Come Soon Enough

  Earlier today, I made a little fun of an upcoming modern military shooter. I am now going to gush over a modern military shooter. The distinction? The first Medal of Honor (well, the latest one) pitched itself as a “real” military tale. Free of a World War 3 soap opera, it was about some guys…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2012
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  CultureTotal Recall

  How Some of the Best Adventure Games Ever Made…Were Made

  If you’ve ever played an old adventure game from Sierra – so King’ Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest, Quest for Glory, etc – you need to see this old documentary showing how some of those titles were made. While the bulk of the clip is taken up with hyping the then-upcoming King’s Quest VI, there…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2012
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  CultureTotal Recall

  A History of the Serious Sam Series

  Call this a developer diary, call it a trailer, I don’t care. There’s facts beneath the bullshit, the bullshit is entertaining, and that guy has a great turtleneck on.

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 23, 2012
• CultureTotal Recall

  A Beautiful Collection of Awesome Nintendo Logos

  I like the games and the hardware, of course, but one of my favourite things about Japanese video games from the 1980s were the logos. And some of the best ones came out of Nintendo. I’m not talking about the company’s primary logo, either. I’m talking about the series of logos drawn up for the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 23, 2012
• Uncategorized

  The New Way

  Hello, Kotaku, and welcome to the Thursday evening open thread. Oh, I like Thursday evenings. I’m slaving away all day on Kotaku Melodic, and then I get to organize the open thread. Today, for some reason, I got started off on one of my favorite films of all time, Wet Hot American Summer. I hope…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012
• Reviews

  A Wireless Headset That Changes Channels and Gets Out of the Way

  How do you review a product for something that isn’t there, and isn’t supposed to be there? That’s the distinguishing trait of the Turtle Beach X32 headset for the Xbox 360. It’s identical in nearly every way to its X31 predecessor, released in 2009, except for one. A big one. It’s the frequency at which…

  By Owen Good Published February 23, 2012
• Uncategorized

  The Very Essence of Sonic the Hedgehog

  This is What We Fell in Love With | A piece of Sonic the Hedgehog fan art that gets everything right (Photo Credit: Reddit User BansheeIndian via Imgur.) Learn How To Make Video Games With This Video Game Code Hero isn’t your basic first-person shooter. You’ll have enemies, and you’ll be “shooting” them, but it…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 23, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Blizzard Working on a Free-to-Play Game? [Update]

  According to a report on Develop, World of Warcraft and StarCraft developers Blizzard are working on “an upcoming, as yet unannounced game” which will be based around a free-to-play business model. It’s unknown whether this free-to-play (F2P) game is Blizzard’s famous “Project Titan” or a separate title. To date, Blizzard’s games have either been available…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 23, 2012
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  This Game Puts You Inside a Gigantic Synthesizer

  It took me a long time to understand synthesizers. When I was a kid, I would often think of a synthesizer as being more or less the same thing as an electric piano—wasn’t a Rhodes or a Wurlitzer basically just a synthesizer? No, in fact—a synthesizer, like a Moog or a Yamaha CS-15, is much…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012
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  This Lovely, Soothing Ballad Makes Lunar Sing

  Music is kind of a big deal in Lunar, a lovely set of role-playing games that hit its peak on the PlayStation back in the late 90s, when a non-stop barrage of Japanese RPGs hit the United States after Final Fantasy VII showed the world that, yes, we’re into this stuff. “Golden Voice” (embedded above)…

  By Jason Schreier Published February 23, 2012
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  The Many Melodies of the Nintendo 3DS

  Welcome back to “Menu Music,” a regular Kotaku Melodic feature in which we’ll be listening to the best and worst menu music in video gaming. Last week, we listened to the mind-numbing music of the PlayStation Vita, so it seemed only fair that this week we should listen to the music of its competitor, the…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012
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  Music To Creep Through the Jungle To

  Last week, I had some fun sharing a bunch of jokey dubstep videos inspired by the new trailer for Far Cry 3. In doing so, I remembered how much I loved the music from Far Cry 2, and so I’m sharing some of it here. This music, composed by Marc Canham, stands apart from the…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012
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  Video Games are the New Best Way to Make a Living Composing Music

  You may have heard that it’s tough to make a living as a musician. You heard right! It’s a tough world out there, and very few people get paid a good living to make music. But while it may seem daunting from the outside, there is actually a greater demand for music than ever—there is…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 23, 2012