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UncategorizedWhen I Fell in Love with Grandia III, I Really Fell in Love with a Song
To many role-playing fans Grandia III was a slightly-above average role-playing game with an excellent battle system, a clichéd plot, and inconsistent pacing. To me Grandia III is three minutes long, sung by a Japanese pop/rock singer, and absolutely amazing. It’s amazing how much a single short and simple piece of music can color one’s…
By Mike Fahey Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedHop on a Bicycle and Cause Some Mischief With This Classic Theme
You guys all know I love Rockstar’s Bully, right? I’ve written at length about how great it is, and how I wish that more games were set in high school. (As an addendum to that article, I am finally (finally!) playing Persona 3 Portable on the Vita, and I am loving the crap out of…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedCheck out Dyad, a Majorly Musical Upcoming PS3 Game
News of Dyad has been out there in the ether for a little while (we’ve even written about it). The in-development PS3 game combines racing and music, imagining players as a single particle flying along at warp speed. Lancing and combining with other particles causes changes in the music, triggering tones and textures. The second,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedThis Awesome Game Will Sing You A Song and Get You Drunk
It sure has been a banner week for drinking games here at Kotaku! Well… actually I’ve only posted one other drinking game, but still, two in one week feels somehow indulgent. You may have heard of musician/inventor/super-genius Ali Spagnola over on our sister site Gizmodo, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hear about her again.…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedIf This Pac-Man Game Is Sex, Its Bitchin’ Menu Music is the Foreplay
Welcome back to “Menu Music,” our regular Kotaku Melodic feature where we look at (and listen to) the best and worst menu music the video game world has to offer. Menu music is a very important thing—it’s the first thing we hear when we boot up the game, and it sets the tone for the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Musical Heroine of Moneyball
Last week, I finally watched Moneyball. Man, that is one good movie! I genuinely wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. Everything about it surprised me, from Brad Pitt’s careworn, layered performance to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s capable performance as Oakland Athletics’ owner Stephen Schott. But one of my favorite parts of…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Kotaku Mixtape Vol. 1: The Neverhood Series
Doug Tenapel’s bizarre, cult, claymation adventure game The Neverhood—and its platforming sequel Skullmonkeys—is unique on many levels. Greenlit by Stephen Spielberg and developed by Dreamworks Interactive, both games are totally unlike anything made before or since. Today on Kotaku Mixtape we look at some of the music from those games. Written and performed by Terry…
By Chris Person Published March 1, 2012 - Uncategorized
Back This Kickstarter, Get A Ton of Great Video Game Music
The game/music website Nubuwo is holding a kickstarter to raise money to help them launch a couple of different projects centered around video game music. They’re short of their goal with only a few hours to go, but if you pledge, you can score a huge collection of great video game music, featuring work by…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedThis Amazing Credits Anthem Mostly Plays at Night. Mostly.
Aliens sure are awesome, aren’t they? They are the ultimate killing machine! They’re super sweet-looking! They star in two of the best sci-fi films ever made! The surprisingly cool Nintendo DS (not 3DS) game Aliens Infestation sure did like those titular xenomorphs, merging alien-killing with Metroid-like action to create a surprisingly fun game. [Update 11/1/2016:…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedYouTube Users Are Currently Mostly Hating Mass Effect 3‘s Gay Male Sex Scene
You can role-play as a gay man in next week’s Mass Effect 3. Why? because the game’s creators believe in giving their players a choice of who they want to be. Gaming site CVG got a copy of the love scene between a male Commander Shepard and a male lover. They posted it to YouTube…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedA Video Introduction to The Show‘s “Diamond Dynasty”
News and notes from around the world of sports video gaming: • The Diamond Dynasty mode for MLB 12 The Show is extremely deep—last week, I hit the broad points, but still there are some details and features that you may not yet know about. Matt Vasgersian, the game’s play-by-play announcer, tries to answer all…
By Owen Good Published March 1, 2012 - Uncategorized
Baseball’s New Playoff Format Will Be Supported in MLB 2K12, Whether It Happens This Year or Not
Though not yet officially ratified by Major League Baseball, a 10-team playoff format said to take effect this season will be supported in the season-long modes of Major League Baseball 2K12 when the game hits shelves on Tuesday, 2K Sports confirmed to Kotaku. A 10-team playoff, in which two wild-card qualifiers from each league play…
By Owen Good Published March 1, 2012 - Uncategorized
Lawsuit Against Facebook, EA, Zynga May Be The Attack of a Patent Troll
GameTek LLC was originally the company that once operated as a video game publisher known for TV game show adaptations. But since the 90s wave of those games has washed over, and the company shut its doors in 1997 after hitting bankruptcy, it has since become the business license of an unknown company. What is…
By Tina Amini Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedWhy Can’t Every Game Let you Skip Long-Winded Cutscenes with Violence?
Asura’s Wrath is a game brimming with excellent ideas, most of them involving punching, and while complaints that it’s more cutscene than gameplay are valid, it also features what could be the greatest scene-skipping mechanic in gaming history. Video games (and popular fiction in general) are filled with villains all-too-eager to have a little chat…
By Mike Fahey Published March 1, 2012 -
UncategorizedIt Wouldn’t Be Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Without These High-Tech Toys
This isn’t modern warfare, kids. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier brings a whole new level of technology to the battlefield, giving players access to the sort of convoluted electronic goodies that would make your average Call of Duty soldier look like your grandmother trying to program a VCR. Hell, I’ve just dated myself by mentioning the…
By Mike Fahey Published March 1, 2012 - Uncategorized
Zynga Launches Its Own Website, Edging Away from Facebook
The time when your Facebook newsfeed isn’t clogged up by Farmville request from friends may be coming soon. Social gaming powerhouse Zynga launched its own dedicated website today, the first step in eventually hosting its vastly popular games somewhere other than the world’s largest social networking site. In an interview with Gamasutra, COO John Schappert…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 1, 2012 - Uncategorized
Sony’s Going to Reveal The Next Wave of Vita Games on March 9th
So, if you’ve been lucky enough to snag a Vita since Sony’s latest handheld made its debut, you’re probably enjoying its standout titles. Sony wants you to know that there’s more on the way. According to Andriasang, the PlayStation company will be announcing updates on games and services in an upcoming webcast.
By Evan Narcisse Published March 1, 2012 - Uncategorized
Help Us Say Something Nice About Fighting Gamers
The fighting game scene has taken a lot of criticism this week due to the controversy surrounding one player’s harassment of another player on Capcom’s internet reality show Cross Assault As Kotaku has covered these stories, a number of readers in the comments and elsewhere online have questioned why it appears that only negative stories…
By Kate Cox Published March 1, 2012 - Uncategorized
Check Out What’s New On Kotaku Melodic, Our Very Own Music Section
Brought to you every Thursday, from 7pm-9pm (EST), Kotaku introduces video game music from menu screens to entire soundtracks and everything in between. The most recent batch of stories include: When I Fell in Love with Grandia III, I Really Fell in Love with a Song Hop on a Bicycle and Cause Some Mischief With…
By Tina Amini Published March 1, 2012