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UncategorizedVideo Games Tell Us Who”ll Win the NBA’s Christmas Tipoff and College Football’s New Years’ Bowls
Pro basketball resumes on Christmas Day; college football will begin staging its major postseason contests eight days later. This has, perhaps unintentionally, engendered competing five-game simulations from 2K Sports and EA Sports, makers of NBA 2K12 and NCAA Football 12. Want to know who wins the big matchups? We’ve got the results predicted by these…
By Owen Good Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Madden Picks Up a Top Designer from The Show
Free agent signings are big news in sports video games, not just the leagues they simulate. Today, EA Sports picked up Kolbe Launchbaugh, a senior designer for Sony’s universally acclaimed MLB The Show baseball simulation, and he’ll start work on EA Sports’ cornerstone Madden franchise in a couple of weeks. Launchbaugh himself revealed the news…
By Owen Good Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Club Nintendo Calendar Invents a New Month
Announced this summer, Club Nintendo’s gifts were customarily dumped on, then turned out to be not that bad. For the platinum level, anyway. Elite level members had to settle for a desk calendar. And one containing a new month, between October and December, named “Nobember.” Whoops. Nintendo has noticed the goof and in an email…
By Owen Good Published December 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedThe Best Game Music of 2011: The Binding of Isaac
We’ve done a lot of big-budget games so far in our Best Video Game Music of 2011 series, but there were some great indie soundtracks released, as well. One of the very best of those was Danny Baranowsky’s dangerous, dark, synthy work on the Zelda-esque roguelike The Binding of Isaac Described by our own Stephen…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The PS Vita’s Memory Cards Cost Less Than Expected, but Still Essentially Mandatory
The bad news is you still have to buy a new proprietary memory card for your PS Vita. The good news is it won’t cost as much as originally feared. Of course, the better news would be that you didn’t have to buy them at all. Alas, you still do. But the official pricing, included…
By Owen Good Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Candy-Cane Resistance Christmas
Awwwww | Turns out if you put a Santa hat on anything it looks cute. The iPhone’s Answer to Diablo Gets A Free Horde Mode Long a fan of Gameloft’s Diablo-inspired Dungeon Hunter, I was intrigued when I heard their latest version would be both free-to-play and not a role-playing game. More » Skyrim Teams Up…
By Brian Crecente Published December 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedAsuka Leads a Girls’ Fight Out in This Street Fighter X Tekken Trailer
What do you get when you mix Chun-Li and Cammy of Street Fighter with Lili and Asuka of Tekken? I don’t know, some sort of giant woman creature with eight arms and legs? Spider-Woman? Forget it; it was a stupid question. Just watch the video. I’m not really sure what’s up with all of the…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Do You Think Video Games Are Worth Saving?
We do! Recently, news reports cited as wasteful spending a $113,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games to preserve video games. We disagree. We believe video games not only are the most dynamic, exciting, and innovative form of media today…
Jon-Paul C. Dyson Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
There’s No Stopping the Epic Call of Duty Lawsuit
Denying request for summary judgment, the Los Angeles Superior Court gave Activision the green light to go to trial with its $400 million contract interference lawsuit against Electronic Arts over Call of Duty creators Jason West and Vince Zampella. The gist of the lawsuit is this: Activision Publishing alleges that West and Zampella of development…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
How To Succeed At Infinity Blade II
I haven’t had a chance to check out Infinity Blade II yet, but I loved the first and Totilo seems to like the second, so I’m probably going to take the plunge over the holidays. Fortunately, ChAIR entertainment has my back with this handy-dandy guide to slicing face in the game. And now, here are…
By Brian Crecente Published December 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedThe First Things I Did with My PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation Vita won’t officially be out in the United States until mid-February, but I got one today. It’s from Sony. It’s not a Japanese unit. I guess it’s an American one? They say it’s not necessarily final. They haven’t set it up to connect online, for example. Its services are not up and running.…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 22, 2011 -
Uncategorized
Even Birds Can Get the Super Mario Theme Stuck in Their Heads
Koji Kondo created an earworm of epic proportions when he wrote the theme music for Super Mario Brothers more than 20 years ago. The tune’s become one of the most recognizable pop culture jingles of the last 40 years, to the point where tropical birds feel the need to sing it out loud. The feathered…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
It’s the World’s First Gaming Laptop Delay
Originally slated for release before Christmas, Razer’s ambitious Blade gaming laptop has run into supply issues pushing shipping back to mid to late January. Don’t cry, they’re throwing in a free gaming mouse. You can’t cry when there’s a free mouse involved. In a comment posted on Razer’s Facebook page earlier this week, company CEO…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Come Talk About Skyward Sword Before You Get Any New Games!
Welcome to the Kotaku Game Club! Today will be our third meeting to discuss The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword This week, we’re discussing the events from where we left off last week: the end of the Ancient Cistern through the Fire Sanctuary dungeon. As always, the conversation takes place in the comments below the…
By Mike Epstein Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Game Boy Version of Bionic Commando Coming to Nintendo eShop on Dec. 29
With classics like the original Tetris, Metroid II and Blaster Master released in recent weeks, Nintendo’s eShop has been a retro cornucopia for 3DS owners. Capcom’s announced that they’re adding another old-school title to the download store with the impending debut of 1992’s Game Boy version of Bionic Commando. You’ll be able to grab the…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
GameStop Says The Last Guardian is Canceled, Sony Says It’s Not [Update]
Customers of the world’s largest dedicated video game retailer were shocked today when an automated phone call went out declaring the cancellation of Team Ico’s eagerly-anticipated PlayStation 3 exclusive The Last Guardian. Say it isn’t so, Sony! Update: GameStop apologizes for the mistake. While it is true that The Last Guardian creator Fumito Ueda recently…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
You Can Now Pretend that Nintendo Sent You a Christmas Card
Nintendo’s corporate affairs team just sent me a holiday card. Very official! Actually, their card arrived in the form of a web link to a neat Mario animation. Go ahead, click on it, and pretend that Nintendo’s corporate affairs team sent it to you. They love you. (For other game company holiday cards that involved…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Sony Announces Games and Pricing for U.S. PlayStation Vita Launch
We’ve known for a while when the PlayStation Vita was hitting American shores, but were still in the dark about exactly what games would be coming with it. No more. Sony’s finally detailed the games that will be available when their newest gaming handheld hit on February 22, 2012. According to a post on the…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Bittersweet Triumph of the Sonic the Hedgehog Christmas Tree
Celebrating 20 years of Sega’s blurry blue mascot, this Sonic the Hedgehog Christmas tree from 8BitFix’s Beatboxtaun stands as both a monument to video game culture and a reminder of those who won’t be with us this holiday season. We’ve featured Tanya “Beatboxtaun” Valdez’s creations on Kotaku several times over the past couple of years,…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
This Year’s Most Popular Facebook Game Wasn’t Made By Zynga
Despite its tremendous impact on Facebook gaming, the most popular Facebook game of 2011 wasn’t made by Zynga. They didn’t make the second most popular either, according to Facebook. But Farmville and CityVille makers Zynga, which went public on the stock market this week, still managed to have four of their games in the top…
By Brian Crecente Published December 22, 2011