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Talk About Making the Tough Choices in Mass Effect 3 at Kotaku Game Club!
Welcome back to the Kotaku Game Club‘s discussion of Mass Effect 3. We’ll be covering the middle portion of the game’s campaign today, picking up where left off last week, after the mission on the Turian Moon of Menae, and looking at everything through the mission on Thessia. It’s a lot of material, but some…
By Mike Epstein Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Microsoft: New Xbox Won’t Be Shown at This Year’s E3
Microsoft’s saying that the successor to the Xbox 360 won’t be the star of the show at 2012’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Speculation had been rising that Microsoft would be the next major platform player to show the successor to their current hardware. Rumors reportedly have the console code-named Durango , claim that it won’t be…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition Announced, Server Explodes [Update]
The mysterious Baldur’s Gate countdown has ended with the bang of servers exploding, but not before an email arrived announcing something called Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition for release this summer. The servers at BaldursGate.comare down, but I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of what the upcoming release entails. Officially licensed by Wizards of…
By Mike Fahey Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Why Are Game Developer Bonuses Based On Review Scores?
Last night, Obsidian’s Chris Avellone tweeted an interesting detail about his roleplaying game Fallout: New Vegas “[Fallout: New Vegas] was a straight payment, no royalties,” he said in response to a fan question about the game’s financial success. “Only a bonus if we got an 85+ on Metacritic, which we didn’t.” Metacritic, an aggregation website…
By Jason Schreier Published March 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedSkyrim’s Newest Update Makes Views to a Kill Much More Awesome
You’re still playing Skyrim. With content from the game’s Creation Kit making the game more weird and grand on a daily basis, why wouldn’t you be? But maybe you’re a bit tired of how all your finishing blows looks the same. Worry no more, Dovahkiin! The 1.5 update’s live on Steam now and will include…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Faces Behind the Voices of Mass Effect 3
Like radio, film, and theater companies going back hundreds of years, BioWare games often have a very familiar voice cast from one production to the next. A Dragon Age II player can’t help but hear Varric’s dry tones from the Male Trooper in Star Wars: The Old Republic, nor can a Mass Effect fan miss…
By Kate Cox Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Ice-T Likes Mass Effect 3 But Doesn’t “Give a F**k About the Stories”
Everybody knows that rapper/actor/Coco-lover Ice-T is a vocal video game enthusiast, right? Checking in on the game series that he’s shouted out over the last few years—Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Gears of War—it’s probably safe to say that Ice-T’s a fan of shooters, especially competitive ones. So it’s a bit surprising that the…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Fired Kane & Lynch Reviewer Gets the Last Laugh, 5 Years Later
Game reviewer Jeff Gerstmann, who parted ways with GameSpot five years ago after publisher Eidos took issue with his review of Kane & Lynch, has returned to his old stomping grounds. GameSpot parent company CBS purchased Gerstmann’s website, GiantBomb, today. GiantBomb will still exist as an autonomous publication. [Justin.TV]
By Jason Schreier Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
There Was Going to Be A Mass Effect First Person Shooter
BioWare’s Montreal studio was developing a competitive first-person shooter called Mass Effect Team Assault in 2010 before transforming that effort into the third-person multiplayer mode in Mass Effect 3, according to a new behind-the-scenes iPad app created by gaming journalist Geoff Keighley. “The goal was simple,” Keighley reports in The Final Hours of Mass Effect…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedWTPT: Who Would Win In A Live Action Fight, Jun or Vega?
In a follow up to last week’s Street Fighter X Tekken video is a new martial artist’s live-action take on the fighting game characters. This time we see Tekken‘s Jun up against Street Fighter‘s Vega. I was hoping for more of Vega’s, um, enthusiasm in the video, but it’s still well suited to the drama…
By Tina Amini Published March 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedIf Air Force One Crashed In Southern California, It Might Look Like This
No bodies. Just wreckage. This is Air Force One, crashed in Southern California as seen in this week’s new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 map Black Box. Playable on Xbox 360 and, eventually, PlayStation 3 and PC.
By Stephen Totilo Published March 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedFight Soot With Cuteness in Pebble Universe
I’m a sucker for cute games. The sounds, the characters, the music, the art. But a cute game coupled with thoughtful gameplay? We have a winner, folks. Pebble Universe is an iOS game (sorry Android users) with all of the above necessary ingredients. In Pebble Universe, the race of adorable pebble creatures is soon to…
By Tina Amini Published March 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedA Stunningly Cinematic Reason to Be Excited About Max Payne 3
Not having played a Max Payne game in years, I’d forgotten why I enjoyed the original entries in Rockstar’s third-person shooter series so much. Then this cinematic and special effects trailer for Max Payne 3 reminded me; it’s not about the story, but how the story is told. This unique mixture of Hollywood magic and…
By Mike Fahey Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Angry Birds, the Chinese Pop Song
Liu Dong, or “Jocelin” as she calls herself in English, is making the transition from search engine staffer to Chinese popstar! Her debut tune should sound familiar: It’s apparently a love song called “Angry Birds” (愤怒的小鸟). The song debuted on Chinese search engine Baidu’s music streaming service, Baidu Ting. Jocelin works in human resources at…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Even Mice Play in Virtual Worlds, For Science
A psychological study using mice, in place of humans or other mammals, is nothing new. Every high school or college student who has ever taken a low-level psych course knows that for ages, scientists have been running mice through mazes, teaching them to press levers for rewards, and having them perform countless other tiny tasks…
By Kate Cox Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Transformers Prime Rolls Out From TV to DS and 3DS This Fall
Activision’s announced that they’re going back to the Energon well one more time with the just-revealed Transformers Prime title. The game—available exclusively for the Nintendo DS and 3DS—ties into the popular animated series currently running on The Hub cable channel.
By Evan Narcisse Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
A Bad (or Possibly Good) Case of Mass Effect 3 Decision Angst
In today’s spoiler-free episode of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Ducce discusses the anxiety that rises while making game-changing decisions in Mass Effect 3. Is this immersion, or is he slowly going insane? I have for the first time in my gaming life been exposed to pure decision-angst. I have been playing through (what I…
By Mike Fahey Published March 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Talk Amongst Yourselves
It’s Thursday, meaning that you can smell the weekend from here. Hang in there. Until the end of the work week, you can enjoy the talk in 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.…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedSuperman Might Be The Best Part of Lego Batman 2
There will be voice-acting in the Lego Batman 2: DC Super-Heroes. That will sound strange if you’ve ever enjoyed the silly warbling that passes for talking in the man hit Lego video games. Stranger still is the possibility that Superman might be the coolest part of Traveller’s Tales ambitious, biggest-ever Lego game. The game starts…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 15, 2012