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Starcraft II‘s Heart of the Swarm To Make Its Multiplayer Debut at MLG in June
Heart of the Swarm, the first expansion for Blizzard’s Starcraft II, will be in playable beta at this year’s MLG pro gaming championship in Anaheim, which runs from June 8-10th.
By Kirk Hamilton Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
One Leaves, One Enters Kotaku‘s Power 40
If you scan the column to the right of the Kotaku.com/Power 40 list, you’ll find our reorganized list updated for April complete with individual updates where relevant, and a returning addition: Capcom With sales on Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City doing well after release, and Resident Evil 6 coming together nicely, it’s about time Capcom…
By Tina Amini Published April 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedRosman Stadium—the House that Prototype 2 Built
Prototype‘s continuity is set in New York. Well, it’s set in “New York Zero,” which is what the city has become after an apocalyptic biological disaster. Still, it’s New York, home of some of the most famous athletic venues in the world. The original Prototype, set entirely on Manhattan, featured a Madison Square Garden-style building,…
By Owen Good Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
MLB 2K12‘s Perfect Game Challenge Does Judge You on Your Physical Skill
To throw a perfect game, a single pitcher must retire every batter, and at least 27 of them, in a victory. That we know. 2K Sports, in its “$1 Million Perfect Game Challenge, on Major League Baseball 2K12, applies a formula to those games, rating their degree of “perfection,” so to speak, according to factors…
By Owen Good Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Pre-Order Cards Show Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 As Coming November 13th
Rumors have pegged this year’s Call of Duty as a sequel to the Treyarch-developed Black Ops. Now, an image of Target pre-order cards running on IGN appears to confirm the title and show a release date of November 13th. If you’re keeping score, that’s one week after Halo 4 The release date follows rumors of…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Target Specific Organs This Week in Gaming Apps
It doesn’t matter how good the rest of this week’s Gaming App of the Day apps were, we should have just dropped the mic and called it when Monday featured a hunting game that lets players target specific organs. If I had been paying closer attention, I would have had Ashcraft save Deer Hunter Reloaded…
By Mike Fahey Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Bonus Weekends Finally Available on PS3
BioWare has been running regular multiplayer bonus weekend events in Mass Effect 3 since March, but until now, PlayStation 3 owners had been unable to participate. An earlier statement from BioWare seemed to point the finger at an issue with approval on Sony’s end, leaving players hanging. However, today BioWare announced that effective this weekend,…
By Kate Cox Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
5 Reasons The Walking Dead Game Is Better Than The TV Show
I wanted to like the television adaptation of The Walking Dead when it premiered on AMC back in 2010. I like zombies; I like Frank Darabont. I’d heard nothing but good things about the comics the show was based on. And I liked the pilot; I really did. But immediately after that… they lost me.…
By Kirk Hamilton Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
To-Do in New York: Play the Next Indie Sensations Before Anyone Else
Indie games that capture your imagination like Canabalt, Sword & Sworcery and Beat Sneak Bandit seem to come out of nowhere sometimes. But, in the case of other ambitious titles, like Mark Essen’s Nidhogg or Terry Cavanaugh’s At a Distance actually get commissioned by New York University’s Game Center for their yearly No Quarter exhibition.…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Come Here And Nominate This Week’s Best Comment
Happy Friday, Kotaku. I am writing to you from a cabin. In the middle of the woods. We have Internet here. You (hopefully) know the drill by now. If you saw a comment this week that you liked enough to be featured on tomorrow’s Best of Kotaku feature, please bring it to my attention in…
By Tina Amini Published April 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Real Reason Aeris’s Death Made You Cry
Let me paint you a picture. You’re Cloud, standing in the middle of an ancient city, surrounded by crystals and conch shells and crystallized conch shells. Your hair is irresponsibly spiky. Before you kneels Aeris, that flower girl you’re sorta kinda crushing on. Her eyes are closed. She’s praying. Whoosh. Down comes that douchebag Sephiroth,…
By Jason Schreier Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Here’s How Sega Thought They Could Sell You A Crappy Kinect Game
Demographic projections. Drip-feed PR. Invoking the name of popular, established games to create interest in new ones. It’s the cold calculus of marketing, also known as everything you hate about modern day video games. Want to know how it works? Here’s a leaked marketing plan from Sega that lays bare the marketing strategy for a…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Zynga Posts $85 Million Loss
Love-to-hate-em social game developer Zynga has posted a loss of $85.4 million during the period of January-March 2012. Recent months have proven to be a rough patch for the company, with strife breaking out after their acquisition of Draw Something developer OMGPOP and insiders, including the company’s founder, looking to unload their stock Zynga spent…
By Kirk Hamilton Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Listen Up! Ken Levine and Amy Hennig Are Talking
Game design, particularly for big-budget, blockbuster console titles, is an incredibly tricky and intricate process. In the most recent episode of the Irrational Interviews series, the creative directors of two renowned franchises compare notes on how they work, what creative design really means, and how the games ever get out of the door. Ken Levine,…
By Kate Cox Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Emotions Free-to-Play Games Prey on to Get Players to Pay
“In a freemium game it’s not a rational decision to pay; it’s an emotional one.” Wednesday at the East Coast Games Conference in North Carolina, former BioWare design manager Ethan Levy explained how free-to-play games can harness to emotions of their players in order to profit. Up until recently Levy, who delivered the “Game Design…
By Mike Fahey Published April 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Skyrim Patch Files Hint at an Incoming Snow Elf Prince and Crossbows
Hints of what’s coming next for Skyrim may be buried in the latest patch for Bethesda’s hit action/RPG. In the lore of The Elder Scrolls V, the Snow Elves have been driven underground by the Nords. But the in-game legends about the mystical race make it sound like they’re former badasses who’ve been laid low…
By Evan Narcisse Published April 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedThat Glorious Moment When Video Games Win Against Marriage
Unlike in-game marriages, real-life marriages can be problematic when video games are involved. Andrew Allen, a USC film student and a lifelong gamer, acts out these troubles in his latest episode of games versus marriage. Featured is Gears of War, which has undoubtedly ruined many people’s social and marriage lives. But Andrew (or, rather, the…
By Tina Amini Published April 27, 2012