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UncategorizedThug PSP Attacker Facing “Long Time in Prison”
Last August, the shameful attack on Malaysian student Ashraf Haziq—carried out as part of the riots sweeping London at the time—captured the attention of the world and left him with a broken jaw and a stolen PSP. Haziq received small consolation at the time, being given a free PSP and some games by Sony and…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2012 -
ReviewsCrusader Kings II: The Kotaku Review
I was playing as the King of England. I ruled for over thirty years, sometimes a tyrant, other times a hero. When I died, I could keep playing, because I was now controlling his son. Who, it turns out, not only had a lisp, but was gay, whose arranged wife hated him and wanted him…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2012 - Uncategorized
Bored Soldier Recreates Modern Warfare Box Art
Note the “bored” was the words of Reddit user Travissimo, not me. I can’t picture soldiers serving overseas having enough spare time to approach being bored, let alone bored enough to engage in box art cosplay. Of sorts. But hey, he must have had a little spare time, because he does a damn good job…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2012 - Uncategorized
Have You Ever Seen This Many Zelda Games at Once?
First Mega Man, then Street Fighter…there’s a video game collection arms race going on, and The Legend of Zelda just joined in. Reader Andy “thought this would be pretty cool to show on the site”. He’s damn right it would be. Note he doesn’t just have every game. For many he’s got multiple editions. Look…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2012 -
UncategorizedWe’re Off to Find the Seven Cities of Gold
If you thought this would be about the cartoon series The Mysterious Cities of Gold, sorry! It’s about the same basic premise, though: a bunch of European types heading to the New World in search of riches. And carnage. In my Total Recall piece on Dani Bunten last week, Cities of Gold was mentioned as…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
Sunset, Big City
You know, last week, I was so excited to be posting awesome Metal Slug art as part of our first Background Story that I forgot to say it was from Metal Slug. Which, turns out, only made it more fun. So let’s do it again. Guess the city and you’ll be halfway to guessing the…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
The Laziest Box Art in Video Game History
I have a fetish for old Sega Master System box art. If I could have that pattern made into a tablecloth, curtains and bedsheets, I would, and when my wife complained, I would just stare at her, like what is wrong this stuff is perfect. Some of my favourites from the system, though, are also…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
So That’s Why People Pirate Game of Thrones Episodes!
Hello Kotaku, and welcome to a new week of video games, news, and video game news. Also, co-existing as humans, and fun, and learning. And so much more. I finished Ghost Trick last night. Wow, what an ending on that game! Anyhow, here is your evening open thread. I’m so glad to have you here.…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Sony Working on its own Kinect
A patent filed in late 2011, but which has only been published this month, reveals that Sony is working on its own version of Kinect, Microsoft’s popular motion-sensing peripheral for the Xbox 360 (and now PC). Of course, the argument could be made that Kinect was Microsoft’s own version of Sony’s EyeToy (indeed, this new…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 -
UncategorizedHow Not to Do PVP in Guild Wars 2
After spending the weekend playing Guild Wars 2 with select members of the press, I felt I had gather enough knowledge to create a video guide to the game’s standard player-versus-player combat. Then I played this round. The more hardcore alternative to Guild Wars 2 highly-accessible world-versus-world combat, the PVP in ArenaNet’s upcoming MMO is…
By Mike Fahey Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
The iPhone’s Pokémon is Gone. Here’s How to Get Your Money Back.
Despite the fact we warned you, the lure of playing Pokémon Yellow on an iPhone proved too much for many, who sent the scam to second spot on Apple’s App Store charts Well, it’s gone now. And thousands of people paid $0.99 for something that shows a title screen and then crashes. If that’s you,…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
It’s Official: Clicking on Cows is a “Thing”
Every day, more evidence that Ian Bogost’s satirical game-turned-real-game-turned-ironic sensation Cow Clicker has become a bona fide sensation. Take the case of the startup “Wander,” which has no real product or service… at all… and yet has registered over 10,000 users. How have they done this? Why, by having their users click a cow, of…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Swedish School goes 8-Bit
My high school had murals in the cafeteria, all painted by senior art students. And although my senior year, members of my class did get to repaint one (they went with a Calvin & Hobbes panel), the next newest one was a portrait of John Lennon painted the year before most of my graduating class…
By Kate Cox Published February 20, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Painstaking Process Behind ‘The Best Pinball Video Game Ever Made’
Pinball is storied; pinball is distinctive. Pinball has a fascinating history, pinball has been a part of almost every American’s youth in some capacity or another. It’s a controlled collision of physics and art, all in the service of giving players a kinesthetic experience that’s not quite like anything else. Pinball is… well, it’s pinball…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
New Skyrim App Brings ‘Free-To-Play’ To Cartography
The folks over at Prima Games have released an app for iPhone and iPad that allows you to explore and interact with Skyrim‘s entire map, developer Bethesda said today on its blog. Unlike Dragon Shout, the independently-created Skyrim map released last fall for iOS, this map will not be entirely free. Though you can snag…
By Jason Schreier Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Respect the Beard
The Bearded Man From City 17 | Valve’s Gabe Newell now looks a good deal more like Half-Life hero Gordon Freeman. Love the knife. (Illustration by G-e-e-r-s/Deviant Art.) Alan Wake’s American Nightmare: The Kotaku Review Going into Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, I’d worried that I hadn’t played the DLC that followed the 2010 game that…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Was League of Legends’ Newest Champion Inspired by an Employee?
A few days ago a League of Legends champion, named Fiora, got leaked onto a respected League of Legends‘ fansite. Accompanying the flood of information was a picture of Fiora herself who seemed…oddly familiar. On the left of the photo above we can see Fiora, the Grand Duelist, and on the right we have Nika…
By Elyas Gorogo-Baker Published February 20, 2012 -
UncategorizedHow They Came Up With Skyrim‘s ‘Arrow In The Knee’ Line
The big video game joke of 2011—and certainly the most repeated line—came from Skyrim, a game populated by guards who used to be adventurers, just like you, before they “took an arrow in the knee.” Sorry if you thought you were done with that line. Can you tolerate it one more time, just to learn…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
BioWare Writer Describes Her Gaming Tastes; Angry Gamers Call Her a “Cancer”
BioWare writer Jennifer Hepler is trying to delete her Twitter account as of yesterday after feeling the hate of gamers who are angry about what she apparently said in a 2006 interview. She’s been called terrible things on the Internet, after a flame that was lit by a post on Reddit calling Hepler, as the…
By Tina Amini Published February 20, 2012