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UncategorizedThe Best Game Music of 2011: Portal 2
Portal 2 comes in near the top of a lot of critics’ “Best of 2011” lists—it was a joyously brainy, well-written and brilliantly designed puzzle game. I have a soft spot for it partly because it inspired me to break out my dominoes and write the most fun game review I’ve ever written. But I…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Should You Buy Marvel Pinball: Vengeance and Virtue? Yes.
Zen Studios’ pinball renaissance on the Xbox 360 and PS3 is one of the best values in downloadable gaming on consoles this past year. Never better than when it’s handling licensed tables—the kind you always wished you got at the pizza parlors of your misspent youth—Zen returned this week with another four in its Marvel…
By Owen Good Published December 15, 2011 -
UncategorizedGotham City Impostors is a Chaotic, Grappling-Hooked Fun Time
Gotham City Impostors may look like a Team Fortress 2 clone at first, but upon delving into the game, it’s actually quite fun. You can customize the character’s looks, body type, and even your gun (and gadgets!) loadout. Items such as the grappling hook or rollerskates help you navigate the maps, keeping the matches fast-paced…
By Chris Carolan Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Stop Online Piracy Act and You: A Primer
I’m a world-class nerd. But that doesn’t mean I understand the nuts and bolts of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an internet censorship bill on which the House Judiciary Commitee held hearings today. (You can watch the hearings live here.) Worryingly, I’m not alone: As the Washington Post reports, members of the Judiciary Committee…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
NBA 2K12 DLC! NBA 2K12 DLC Codes Here! Get Your NBA 2K12 DLC! Who’s Ready?
2K Sports is spreading holiday cheer with free codes for the “Legends Showcase” downloadable content for NBA 2K12, the extension that lets player go 1-on-1 with a raft of all-time greats in competitions such as HORSE, 21 and other blacktop basketball variants. They’ve given us five codes for a free download on both PlayStation Network…
By Owen Good Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Louvre’s New Tour Guide is a 3DS
Starting in March the Louvre, one of the largest, most visited art museums in the world, plans to replace their audio guides with 5,000 Nintendo 3DS programmed by the game maker to give full tours in seven languages, the AFP reports. The switch will gradually replace the traditional guides used by about four percent of…
By Brian Crecente Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Look It’s The Angry Birds Slide
Angry Birds, Happy Kids | Yesterday we ran a story about the coming of Angry Birds playgrounds. Today the playground equipment maker sent us some neat images of the equipment, like this slide. One Man’s Turned Star Wars‘ Battle of Hoth Into a Starcraft 2 Map Two great flavors of geek culture collide in this…
By Brian Crecente Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Global Gaming Grows By Leaps and Bounds, Especially in Developing Nations
Thanks to the global game-delivery company Pando Networks, who sent over this infographic breaking down their user growth over the past three years. Game downloads have been increasing a some very intense rates around the globe, with a 1025% increase in Europe and a 595% growth in Latin America since 2009. The infographic also notes…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Farmville‘s Maker Looks to Harvest a Cool Billion from the Stock Market
As rumored two days ago, it is now confirmed that Zynga will hold an initial public offering of its stock on the NASDAQ tomorrow. The dominant maker of Facebook video games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars has priced 100 million shares at $10 each. MarketWatch reported the development this afternoon, citing documents filed with…
By Owen Good Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Guy Who Made GTA IV Look This Gorgeous Is Hard At Work on Modding Skyrim
The Icenhancer graphic mod for Grand Theft Auto IV turns Rockstar’s game into something some could mistake for film, rather than a video game. And now Hayssam Keilany says he is working on a mod to turn the sometimes jagged world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim into a similar moving masterpiece. Keilany dropped a…
By Brian Crecente Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Asura’s Wrath Demo on January 10th Lets You Try Out 2012’s Angriest Game
They crank out a lot of Street Fighter and Resident Evil but Capcom also has a history of putting out weird, unique games like Okami, God Hand and Viewtiful Joe. Rageaholic adventure Asura’s Wrath seems to follow in the legacy of such idiosyncratic games. We’ve written a bit about the mythological sci-fi action brawler, but…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Fans of Old Blaster Master Games and Christmas Songs Will Love Today’s Nintendo Shop Update
There’s one major difference between today’s Nintendo Download and our recent installments. Mike Fahey isn’t writing this one. And that’s why this one isn’t as exciting as the recent ones. I mean, he got to tell you people about Pushmo, one of the best portable games I’ve played all year. I don’t have such great…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Wild, Wonderful World of Japanese Hair
Fire up a Japanese video game, and you’ll see it—just look at the newly released Final Fantasy XIII-2, if you don’t believe me. There it is: hair. The West has its bald Space Marine. Japan, where it’s not cool to be bald, has hair wax and luscious locks. The degree of care and attention spent…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
GTA III’s Missing Missions, How Claude Got His Look And More You May Not Know About Rockstar’s Classic Game
You might be celebrating GTA III‘s 10th Anniversary by playing it on your iOS or Android device, with that version freshly out today. Rockstar’s celebrating in a different way, though. On their official site, the developer’s revealing all kinds of trivia and minutiae about the open-world crime game that put them on the map. For…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 15, 2011 -
UncategorizedGotham City Impostors May Be The Most Violent Batman Game Ever
The beta for Gotham City Impostors is out today and it seems pretty cool so far. I haven’t been able to play online yet, but the tutorial showed me some of the cool gadgets you get to play with. I’m playing the beta on the PS3, but Gotham City Impostors will be released to Xbox…
By Chris Carolan Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Have You Been Playing Your Skyward Sword This Week? Kotaku Game Club Wants to Know!
Welcome to the second week of the Kotaku Game Club‘s series on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. This week, we’re talking about the events from where we left off last week, the end of the Earth Shrine up through the Ancient Cistern dungeon. Hopefully the people who’ve been trying catch up because of our…
By Mike Epstein Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
Battlefield 3 Captures Google’s Zeitgeist
Rebecca Black, Google+, Ryan Dunn and… Battlefield 3? Google just released their survey of top search terms for 2011, and Battlefield 3 holds the number five spot for one of the fastest-rising search terms in the world. The Electronic Art’s shooter beat out the iPhone 5, songstress Adele, Japan’s evacuated (TEPCO) Fukushima I Plant, Steve…
By Brian Crecente Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
The New Portable GTA III Has the Entire Original Soundtrack, Rockstar Says
We’ve shown you how today’s 10th anniversary edition of Grand Theft Auto III runs on an iPad. But we haven’t been able to listen to all that much it. So we turned to Rockstar Games today and asked them if the iconic soundtrack of the original 2001 GTA III was in the new game. Rockstar…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
One of the World’s Best Cosplayers is Going Professional
Regular readers of our Fancy Pants cosplay feature here on Kotaku will be familiar with the phenomenal work of Crystal Graziano. From Metal Gear to Valkyria Chronicles, she’s one of the most recognisable and successful video game cosplayers around. So much so that her work is now being professionally sponsored. In a sign that the…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 15, 2011 - Uncategorized
And Now, the $25,000 Super Nintendo Cartridge
Hot on the heels of the near-mint Deluxe Edition NES we posted about today comes word of an even rarer Nintendo artifact. Placing multiple popular games on one single cartridge, the Super Nintendo Campus Challenge cartridge was created for promotional competitions all over the world. There are reportedly only three in existence and one’s shown…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 15, 2011