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ReviewsRhythm Heaven Fever: The Kotaku Review
The door closes behind you with an ominous click. It’s bright in here—too bright. Before you can get your wits about you, your host begins to speak. “We hope you’ll enjoy finding your own rhythm,” she says, all smiles. “So have fun and enjoy all the game has to offer.” With that, she leaves the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Ni No Kuni Comes West This Winter, Includes Japanese Vocals
Namco Bandai will be releasing Level-5/Studio Ghibli collaboration Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch in North America sometime during “Winter 2012”. For Europe, it’s early 2013. That’s the bad news. The good news? The delay is down to an extensive localisation push: it’ll include an English dub (along with major European languages for…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Bankrolling Psychonauts 2 was Just a “Semi-Joke,” Says Notch
A Tweeted offer to back a sequel to Tim Schafer’s cult favorite Psychonauts was “a semi-joke,” said Markus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft and a guy who’s not hard up for cash in light of that game’s success. Notch rattled off a host of reasons why we shouldn’t get our hopes up, especially the…
By Owen Good Published February 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedDouble Fine’s Adventure Game Will be DRM-Free, Available on PC, Mac & Mobile
Because you all gave Tim Schafer and his Double Fine studio so much damn money, their upcoming old-school adventure is going to be a little bigger than first planned. It’s going to be available on Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s also shooting for iPhone and (certain compatible) Android devices. It’s going to have voice. It’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Show ‘Em How It’s Done, Lin
Lin-finite Potential | Jeremy Lin’s so good they’ll need two roster updates this week for NBA 2K12. He takes his act back to New York tonight, where the Knicks greet the woeful Kings at 7:30 p.m. Sony Hopes Vita Will Stymie Pirates, Please Fans and Last Eight Years The PlayStation Vita is built to last…
By Kirk Hamilton Published February 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedYou Can Vote on the Cover of the Next … Lacrosse Game?
News and notes from around the world of sports video gaming: • EA Sports has gone cover-vote crazy of late, but Madden NFL 13‘s all-star 64-man scrum for cover honors isn’t the only contest taking place this spring. College Lacrosse 2012, the third edition of the Xbox Live Indie Game sports simulation, will hold a…
By Owen Good Published February 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedSports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Cover Girl Shows MLB 2K12 How to Push Her Buttons
Kate Upton’s boobs made the front of yesterday’s annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, fairly bursting from that smedium-size top. She took time out of her supermodeling to show all-star pitchers David Price and Justin Verlander just what kind of twirling motion she wants them to do with their thumbs. Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce looks like he…
By Owen Good Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Video Game Version of Jeremy Lin Is Unrealistically Bad at Basketball
A re-rated update to the NBA 2K12 roster failed to appease America’s feverish Linsanity—the phenomenon surrounding the New York Knicks’ Jeremy Lin—and so a second update, giving the point guard even more of a boost, is due by the end of the week. Lin, who went from the end of the bench to leading a…
By Owen Good Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Sportaku Starts Here
From the Worldwide Leader in Sports … Video Games, your 6 p.m. Sportaku begins now.
By Owen Good Published February 15, 2012 -
UncategorizedThis RPG Is Topping Charts In Japan, But Americans May Never See It
The PlayStation Vita has been out for two months in Japan. So how is a PSP game topping the charts? Andriasang reports that Konami’s Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki, released last week for the Vita’s predecessor, was the number one game sold in Japan between February 6 and February 12, at 61,784 copies. The…
By Jason Schreier Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
From the Makers of the Wikileaks Video Game, Here’s One About Killing People With Unmanned Drones
No modern-day military practice comes under more fire than unmanned aerial vehicle attacks. Bombing by UAV gets called out as cowardly or as a morally indefensible method of waging combat. It’s derisively been called video game warfare, a way of distancing the American public from the acts of violence done in their name. Fittingly, then,…
By Evan Narcisse Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Typographic Prints Make Art From Gamers Favorite Quips
Via NerdWire, we have today a set of typographic prints and t-shirts representing some of gaming’s most famous icons, old and new. These aren’t quite the “standard” typographic style where the words themselves form the entirety of the art, but I enjoyed how the minimalistic icons and colors worked together with the words to evoke…
By Kate Cox Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
PC Gamer Vitriol Subsiding, EA Promises Origin Will Be Excellent Within Two Years
Less than a year ago, EA told PC gamers it would give them something that many PC gamers probably thought they didn’t need: a competitor to Steam. Another PC storefront for downloading games. Another PC service for connecting PC gamers. Another thing to install and… wait, where’d the EA games go on Steam? EA’s service…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
High Moon Just Can’t Handle a PC Version of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
This fall when Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers are tearing through Cybertron in the shiny metal skin of Grimlock, PC gamers will remain earthbound, forced to witness the grand robot battles from afar. After a poor showing on the PC for Transformers: War for Cybertron, High Moon Studios isn’t even going to attempt to…
By Mike Fahey Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
This Godfather Case Mod is as Compelling as a Severed Horse Head
I would have found a different PC case mod to kick off PC Gaming Lives’ weekly celebration of the art of enclosure craft, but this Godfather-themed masterpiece made me an offer I probably could have refused but chose not to. Were I capable of crafting my own glorious PC-containing creation featuring the likeness of Marlon…
By Mike Fahey Published February 15, 2012 - Reviews
Razer Blade: The Kotaku Review
When I see the term ‘gaming laptop’, the first word that comes to mind is ‘performance’. And when I hear of a gaming laptop with a price tag of nearly $2,800, I imagine a system that can readily outperform any less expensive machine. That’s just the way I’ve traditionally evaluated a gaming system — I…
By Mike Fahey Published February 15, 2012 - Uncategorized
Quiet Indie Mystery Dear Esther Profitable in Six Hours
This February is proving to be a fascinating month for non-traditional development and funding paths in game design. While Double Fine’s Kickstarter proposal has been in the news, indie title Dear Esther has been making small waves of its own. Dear Esther became available for purchase on Steam yesterday, and launched to mixed reviews. (The…
By Kate Cox Published February 15, 2012