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Imagining a Future Without Xbox Live Arcade
It’s an established part of the current gaming landscape, for some perhaps even their favourite, but in a recent interview Microsoft’s Michael Wolf reminds us it won’t always be here. Asked by nefarious pirate Brian Crecente whether the service was eventually “going to go away”, Wolf replies “Personally, I’d say absolutely, yes.” “I think digital…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 6, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Horror, the Terror, the Custom Star Wars Figures Made of Baby Doll Parts
Once you see these cannibalised figures, you cannot unsee them. You may not sleep tonight, either. They’re the work of Etsy seller GeekyVixen, and take various pieces of Star Wars merchandise, various old-timey children’s toys (and some other figures from the 80s) and smash them together until what’s left is sheer horror If your tolerance…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 6, 2012 -
UncategorizedMagicka’s Developers Turn Badass 80s Shootouts Into a Competitive Video Game
PC specialists Paradox unveiled three new games at GDC yesterday. One is The Showdown Effect, which if you can make it past the intro in the trailer above unfurls into something that looks like Worms and Quake III had a tiny, split-screen baby. The basic premise is recreating action movie insanity. Up to eight players…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 6, 2012 - Uncategorized
Mafia II Developers Working on Grand Theft Auto V?
As ridiculous as that headline sounds, think about it for a second. Yeah, there you go. According to a report on VG247 developers 2K Czech, who released one of the prettiest but also one of the most boring open-world games of all time with Mafia II, are helping Rockstar on Grand Theft Auto V Remember,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 6, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall1943 Gives These Men the Least Satisfying Three Way Ever
Competitive 1943? It doesn’t really exist, but for the purposes of tonight’s episode of Retro Rumble, it does, OK? Watch to see Capcom’s classic shooter put three men through their paces for, well, not money, not trophies, just fame. Internet fame. Which isn’t even real fame, but they’re only playing the game for like a…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 6, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallHow the NES Made That Funky Echo Sound
Ever wonder how NES games like Ducktales were able to make that distinctive “echo” sound? Wonder no more, with this handy explanation. NES Audio: Demonstrating Reverb/ Echo with Ducktales [Retro Game Audio, via Go Nintendo] Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends. You’ll…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Power of the Giraffe Compels You
I don’t care how damn old it is, they put me in charge of the Open Thread post while Kirk is at the Game Developers Conference and if that means giraffe pictures, then so be it. With my luck they’ll be some sort of Gawker-wide moratorium on giraffe pictures resulting in instant termination. In case…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
A Pokémon Team was Kicked out of a Hotel for Throwing Shit
Yup. According to reports, at a recent round of the Pokémon Video Game Championships held in the UK, a Spanish team covered itself in infamy (among other things) after it was ejected from a hotel for throwing human poop. From an eyewitness report, later backed up by others: After 30-40min in my room relaxing with…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Skylanders Wave Four Brings Fresh Life, Air, and Fire to Retail
The hunt begins anew as three more Skylanders figures make their way to retail shelves, filling out the Fire element and adding one each to Life and Air. The checklist nears completion! Electricity-hurling Lightning Rod and bazooka-wielding Zook are a pair of single-packed Skylanders bringing the grand total of Air and Life creatures available to…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Capcom Says On-Disc DLC Is For ‘Easy Compatibility,’ File Size
A whole bunch of Street Fighter X Tekken fans contacted us over the weekend to complain about what appeared to be on-disc downloadable content in the fighting game, which comes out tomorrow for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Some gamers have outspokenly criticized the idea of on-disc DLC—after all, if content is ready in time…
By Jason Schreier Published March 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Kinect Star Wars Dancing Mingame is Even More Horrifying Than I Imagined
Ignore the podracing and dueling portions of this Kinect Star Wars video and jump directly to around :50 in the video. I probably should have apologized first. Too late now. Whatever reasons I might have had to purchase Kinect Star Wars, this negates each and every one of them. I had heard of this dancing game.…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2012 -
ReviewsStreet Fighter X Tekken: The Kotaku Review
Worlds collide, battles erupt, and pink-haired transgendered beauties fight tooth-and-nail with freaking bears; Street Fighter X Tekken has arrived, pitting two of the fighting game scene’s favorite franchises into one sexy, riding-crop wielding package. Perhaps I’m a little obsessed with Capcom’s Poison, or maybe she/he merely represents the best of both worlds with a little…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Dev Behind Crysis Is Making A Mobile Game, And It’s Not What You’d Expect
Crysis has long been a benchmark for PC hardware, a high-octane series packed to the brim with nasty aliens and powerful graphics. So it only makes sense that developer Crytek’s next project is a cartoon game for your phone. Coming this spring for iOS and Android, Fibble is a physics-based puzzle game starring adorable extraterrestrials…
By Jason Schreier Published March 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedFun, Pointless Things To Do With a Portal Gun and a Plumber
We recently reported that Mari0, the Super Mario Brothers-meets-Portal mash-up-game, had launched. Does Mario need a Portal gun? Well, no. Not really. He managed just fine in his 1985 adventure with only basic jumps and fireballs at his disposal. He can squash goombas and rescue princesses just fine without Aperture Science’s latest, greatest device. But…
By Kate Cox Published March 5, 2012 -
UncategorizedHow Stretching Your Thumbs Could Make Your Games Feel Better
The University of Utah News Center reported today that their engineers are hard at work developing a new video game peripheral that stretches the skin on your thumbs. But why, you ask me, would I want little red tactors located on the center of the controller’s joystick to awkwardly move my thumb skin around? Because…
By Tina Amini Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Mass Effect 3‘s Reapers Are Invading The Earth Right Now
If you hear something outside of your window, do not be alarmed. It’s just the Reapers. To pump us up for Mass Effect 3‘s launch tomorrow, the brilliant minds at BioWare have constructed an alternate reality on Twitter in which the series’ menacing villains have arrived on Earth’s soil. Using the hashtag #solcomms, participants have…
By Jason Schreier Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Roger Ebert Not-So-Subtly Reminds Us What He Thinks of Video Games
Roger Ebert is a very smart man and a very sharp and entertaining writer who just happens to think very, very poorly of video games. Sometimes our gamer discussions leak out into the mainstream, as recently happened with Michael Thomsen’s piece in Slate. In his article, as we reported, Thomsen challenged the idea that a…
By Kate Cox Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Femshep Takes a Stab at Mass Effect 3‘s “Take Back the Earth” Trailer
Mass Effect 3‘s “Take Back the Earth” trailer was lovely and all, but for many fans of the franchise it featured the wrong main character. Entertainment Weekly‘s PopWatch has an exclusive trailer that fixes that oversight. Go look! [EW.com]
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2012 - Uncategorized
Show Some Respect, This is a Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist
Meet Wrench, the first fighter revealed for Kung Fu Factory’s upcoming downloadable fighting game Girl Fight. You know, like Bum Fight, only with girls. Now before anyone gets angry, keep in mind that this post is running during Kotaku‘s Off-Kilter humor block, which is quite frankly the only place I could imagine putting it on…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2012