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UncategorizedTurn-Based Role-Playing Fans Find a Safe Haven in Chaos Rings II
Final Fantasy fans seeking to relive the glory days of the series when enemies were on one side of the screen and waited their turn have a new champion on the iPhone in Square Enix’s Chaos Rings II. As with Chaos Rings and Chaos Rings Omega before it, Chaos Rings II is a turn-based role-playing…
By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedEvery Half-Life Fan’s Worst Nightmare
The moment all Valve and Half-Life fans have been waiting for might be revealed at this year’s E3, predicts YouTube user aekime. But will it be the big reveal everyone is sitting on the edge of their seats for? At least Gabe will apparently make the most amazing entrance ever. Fair warning: This video is…
By Tina Amini Published March 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedHorrible Food and Video Games Used to Date Back in the 80s
Video game historian Patrick Scott Patterson writes, “Anyone who claims video games cause child obesity might had more of a case in the 1980s.” Here’s more than eight glorious minutes’ worth of commercials that explain why we were fat in the 1980s. Video game food tie-ins are alive and well today, of course. The difference…
By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedLaugh Through 16 Minutes of This Bubsy Collection Review
Have you ever played a Bubsy game? If you have, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the lackluster controls and odd bobcat mascot who talks… a little too much. If you haven’t, JonTron is here to warn you to keep it that way. Leave your 90s gaming memories untarnished by this platformer. I wouldn’t normally recommend 16-minute…
By Tina Amini Published March 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Tuesday Watch This, Play This
Watch! You probably didn’t need this review of the Bubsy collection, but it’s worth watching anyway. Watch! This is what video game and food ad tie-ins looked like in the 80s. Play! Need a new RPG to play on your iPhone? Fahey suggests Chaos Rings II Watch! One fan’s prediction of Valve’s E3 this year.
By Tina Amini Published March 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Mystery of The Hunger Games Facebook Game
The Hunger Games opened last Friday to sold-out theaters nationwide. Bringing in over $150 million in ticket sales, it claims the third-best opening weekend in terms of revenue in the history of blockbuster cinema. Where there’s a movie, there’s a game tie-in. For The Hunger Games, audiences were promised two. One is iOS side-scroller The…
By Kate Cox Published March 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
They Hope Baldur’s Gate Will Revive The Classic RPG
Classic Western role-playing games are hard to find these days. The most successful ones are chimeras, like Mass Effect 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, games that graft a role-playing game’s quests and statistics onto shooting or action-based mechanics. Even party-based RPG series like Dragon Age can’t seem to emulate that thrilling classic notion…
By Jason Schreier Published March 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedGears of War 3 is Secretly a Masterpiece of Landscape Art
The casual observer of the Xbox 360’s Gears of War 3 may notice the grunting warriors, the characters shooting each other to bloody bits or chainsawing each other in half. Refined eyes will spot beauty. They will see a triumph of modern landscape art, hiding in the background of a big action blockbuster. Watch these…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Welcome, wanderers, 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, game where you draw things? Knock yourselves out! Let the record show that this is the…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
You Don’t Really Want An Assassin’s Creed: Japan
Assassin’s Creed games can be set in any place at any moment of history. For a time, fans thought the clues in the early games ensured that Assassin’s Creed II or maybe Assassin’s Creed III would be set in Japan, the player’s assassin taking on the role of a ninja or other great martial artist.…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedSaudi Arabia Banned This Shoe Shopping Game for Sounding Too Sexy
Shoe Wars is a simple little iPhone jumper about a woman looking for shoes at the mall, an activity many would consider a blissful experience. A little too blissful if you ask Saudi Arabia. The relatively harmless free iPhone app features a woman carrying a shopping bag jumping from platform to platform in a never-ending…
By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2012 - Uncategorized
One Indie Developer Walked Away from Zynga’s $210 Million Acquisition of OMGPOP
Zynga’s absorbed a lot of companies in the last two years, but few experienced the sudden shift in fortunes that OMGPOP did over the last few days. Within two months, the studio saw their Draw Something become a breakout hit, which lead their getting snapped up by the social game giant. A recent New York…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedPreorders Begin for Old School Dungeon Crawler The Legend of Grimrock
The first-person grid-based PC dungeon crawler rises again on April 11, when indie developer Almost Human releases The Legend of Grimrock on Steam and GOG.com. Act now and it’s far cheaper than it should be. You might recall The Legend of Grimrock from a story I posted about the developers changing the game to accommodate…
By Mike Fahey Published March 27, 2012 -
UncategorizedIn BioShock: Infinite, This Siren Will Raise the Dead
In the above video, Irrational Games introduces the Siren—a creepy baddie who is able to raise the dead. In the above clip, BioShock: Infinite‘s creators talk about the character and briefly show game footage of her. Blink and you’ll miss it. BioShock: Infinite is slated for release on Oct. 16.
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 27, 2012 - Kotaku East
Why It Took Me A Year To Buy a 3DS
When the 3DS was announced in March 2010, I knew it was only a matter of time before I bought one. It wasn’t the wonder of 3D or even the games Nintendo was sure to release that gave me this moment of clairvoyance. It was the simple fact that eventually, I buy every system. The…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published March 27, 2012 - Kotaku East
Marvel at China’s Movie Poster Rip-Offs
If you think Hollywood (or the game industry, for that matter) isn’t creative, check out the folks working China’s dream factory. Many of the posters are straight up copies, while some of them *could* be kwinky-dinks, such as the Hero and the DOA: Dead or Alive posters. One of the most interesting things about Chinese…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 27, 2012 -
Kotaku EastFive Songs That Must Be Added to Theatrhythm
The Final Fantasy series has been renowned for excellent soundtracks since back in the 8-bit era. So it’s really no surprise that Square Enix would release a game like Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy. Despite hitting the streets in Japan back in February, it has only recently been announced for Western release. There are five songs from…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published March 27, 2012 - Kotaku East
Namco Bandai Updates Its “X” with “Action Adventure”
Thrilling! Day two of Namco Bandai’s drip-fed PR continues. In this installment of irritating corporate promotion, Namco Bandai added the words “action adventure” in Japanese, along with three question marks. I don’t know what the game is, but unless it’s something utterly fantastic, I already hate it. New Title [Namco Bandai]
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 27, 2012