• Uncategorized

  Mapstalgia Explores the Strange and Wonderful Ways Memory Changes Video Game Maps

  What you’re looking at is obviously not the official map of The Legend of Zelda; it’s what The Legend of Zelda’s map looks like to themadjuggler, one of the many contributors to Mapstalgia, a website dedicated to reproducing video game maps from memory. Mapstalgia‘s Josh Millard is quickly assembling an impressive archive of video game…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Contest: Write Force-ful Dialogue for This Star Wars: The Old Republic Comic and Win The First Issue Free

  BioWare’s new Star Wars MMO covers a lot of ground when it comes the pre-history of Luke Skywalker’s universe. But, even with all the gameplay and dialogue in The Old Republic, there’ s still lots of stories to be told about the conflicts between Jedi, Sith, Mandalorians and The Republic of the old. Star Wars:…

  By Evan Narcisse Published January 11, 2012
• 

  Uncategorized

  This GTA IV Terminator Mod Says ‘Hasta La Vista, Bellic’

  When you play Grand Theft Auto games, do you ever feel a bit like The Terminator? Walking forward in an ungainly way, absorbing more bullets than a human ought to be able to absorb, shooting cops in the knee with reckless abandon? YouTube user taltigolt has uploaded this video of the “Terminator T1” mod for…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Unit 13 Proves That the PlayStation Vita Can Deliver a Full-Console Experience in the Palms of Your Hands

  People love Nathan Drake. And it’s safe to say that Uncharted: Golden Abyss will be the premiere adventure title for the Vita. However, it’s looking like Unit 13—from Zipper Interactive, the developer behind SOCOM and MAG—will be the one you’ll want to sate that thirst for Rainbow Six-style antics. Stephen Totilo’s already had one look…

  James Pikover Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Kotaku Cautiously, Optimistically Accepts Its Latest Accolade

  We at Kotaku are proud to have just won The Cautious Optimism Award for Steps in the Right Direction from progressive gaming blog The Border House. Unfortunately, if we say anything nice about them in the future, it’ll look fishy.

  By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Lawyers Thought Video Games Could Help Explain Why Man Murdered U.S. Airmen

  On March 2, 2011, 21-year-old Arid Uka walked up to one U.S. airmen outside the airport in Frankfurt Germany and shot him in the head. Witnesses said he boarded a U.S. Air Force bus, shot a second airman to death and injured two more. Uka has already confessed to the shootings, and prosecutors are seeking…

  By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Capcom Celebrates 25 Years of Street Fighter

  We can’t believe it’s been two-and-a-half decades since Ryu first roundhouse kicked himself into our hearts. Capcom has big plans to celebrate 25 years of Street Fighter this year, starting with the official 25th Anniversary logo. [Capcom]

  By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2012
• 

  Uncategorized

  Customize the King of Evil in Army Corps of Hell

  Square Enix parades the troops and dresses up the King of Hell in his Sunday finest in the latest video for Army Corps of Hell, the PlayStation Vita’s most colorfully-titled launch game. In Army Corps of Hell you play as the King of Hell himself, leading an army of 100 goblins of various types in…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  OnLive Partners Up With Google TV to Deliver Console-Free Gaming to Your Living Room

  With overpriced hardware and unfriendly UI, Google TV didn’t exactly set the world on fire when it launched last year. But, a much-heralded 2.0 revision brought Android apps and better navigation to the service last year. Now, thanks to a partnership with OnLive, users of the streaming/search hybrid will be able to play AAA video…

  By Evan Narcisse Published January 11, 2012
• 

  Uncategorized

  This Melodramatic Binary Domain Trailer Takes You into the Human/Robot Wars of 2080

  Developed by the same team that’s made Sega’s open-world Yakuza games, Binary Domain‘s a futureshock shooter that imagines the robot servants of the future rebelling against their human masters. You know, basic Skynet stuff. The twist in Binary Domain comes by virtue of ‘bots that are outwardly indistinguishable from humans, which puts everybody on edge.…

  By Evan Narcisse Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Microsoft Flight Is the Flight Simulator for the Masses

  Microsoft’s Flight Simulator has for years been the most successful and prominent flight simulator worldwide. Microsoft Flight is a completely different take on the franchise, so much so that it isn’t part of the franchise whatsoever. Hell, it’s free. You read that right, free. Microsoft Flight, currently in closed beta (signups here) is a flight…

  James Pikover Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Everquest II Sees a 300% Surge in New Players After Going Free-to-Play

  In video game years, Everquest II‘s like the great grandpa to newer MMOs like The Old Republic or Rift. Launched in 2004, it’s got a faithful community that’s still questing around on its servers but the game’s days of accruing new players month after month seems to have ended a while back. But, in a…

  By Evan Narcisse Published January 11, 2012
• Culture

  We Fear a World Without Twinkies as Hostess Files For Bankruptcy Again

  Being a comic book fan in the 80s I grew up thinking there was no problem that couldn’t be solved by golden flaky crust or delicious cream filling. Apparently that doesn’t apply to financial insolvency, as snack cake maker Hostess Brands files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time. It’s hard for me to…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Reminder: Our Portal 2 Game Club Starts Tomorow

  Make sure to be on Kotaku at 4pm Eastern tomorrow to help us kick off the Game Club’s Portal 2 retrospective!

  By Mike Epstein Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  What’s Your Early 2012 Gaming Game Plan?

  In today’s timely edition of Speak Up on kotaku, commenter Nyan Khajiit lays out their video gaming plans for the first three months of 2012. Do you plan ahead, or just play the games as they come and hope for the best? Gaming Plans for the First Few Months of 2012 JANUARY — Decided today…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  You Cannot Top the New Pac-Man World Record

  I am sure you have Pac-Man skills. We all do. I’m sure you’re good at turning the corners of getting Inky, Blinky & Clyde to trail you just as you’re approaching the power pellet. But I doubt you can break the new Pac-Man world record of one Dave Race of Ohio, who has cleared a…

  By Stephen Totilo Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Here comes Kotaku‘s official forum, bobbing and weaving between hits as its tiger stripe spandex rides up. Let’s talk about games, shall we? Thanks to pan1da7 for today’s great tiger TAYpic! Join in the fun and submit your own TAYpic. Please do your best—or your worst—and share your own riffs on our January image to…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Spaced Away is All About the Orbital Fling

  To channel the late great Chris Farley: Do you remember the part in Apollo 13 (the movie and the real-life NASA crisis), where they used the Moon’s gravity to slingshot their crippled space shuttle around and back to Earth? That was awesome. That is also essentially the setup for Falanxia’s Spaced Away, an iPad 2…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  I Reckon Mass Effect 3 In-Game Goodies Will Do Wonders for the Kingdoms of Amalur Demo

  Who’s going to download the January 17 demo for38 Studios fantasy action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning? Now that folks that play it earn exclusive armor and weapons for Mass Effect 3, I’d say everybody. In a completely brilliant marketing move, BioWare and 38 Studios have inexorably linked the incredibly popular Mass Effect series with the…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2012
• Uncategorized

  Get Ready to Play as a More Brutal—or More Stealthy—Agent 47 in Hitman: Absolution

  Forget everything you know about Agent 47, the bald-headed, bar-coded contract killer of IO Interactive’s Hitman franchise. He does not don disguises, creep in the shadows, or deliver death with surgical precision. He is not a professional. Well, at least he doesn’t have to be. You see, while hardcore fans have endured-enjoyed, even-the sometimes punishing…

  matt cabral Published January 11, 2012