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UncategorizedSkydiving and Swordplay Abound in Skyward Sword‘s Dramatic New Trailer
The newest trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword teases many of the events and characters seen in the first few hours of the game — the village of Skyloft, the Wing Ceremony, Zelda and Link, and the general dream-like beauty of the game. It also shows a few things that I wasn’t able…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 29, 2011 -
UncategorizedGame Shows Need More Commercials
Level-5 rented a big space at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but then got cold feet and missed the biggest TGS ever. Doh. Instead, Level-5 is holding its own event, which is called Level-5 World. It will run from Oct. 15 to Oct. 16 at Tokyo Big Site. Admission is free. Honestly, I cannot ever…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 29, 2011 -
CultureThe Dark, Moody Metal Gear Art of Ashley Wood
If you like Metal Gear, chances are you’ve heard the name Ashley Wood before. While these days the Australian artist is kept busy with things like comics, art books, toys, TV and movies, he’s also had a long-running and very successful stint as an artist for Konami’s blockbuster stealth franchise. What’s cool about Wood’s Metal…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Turns Out Sony Didn’t Break the Law When Somebody Else Hacked Them
The law can be a strange beast sometimes. Take Sony and Australia, for example: earlier this year, when the PlayStation Network was hacked into, an investigation was launched targeting Sony, to see whether the company had broken Australian law. Australia’s Privacy Act mandates that all bodies holding confidential information must take “reasonable steps” to ensure…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Most Beautiful Settlers of Catan Board you Will Ever see
There are plenty of ways to play classic board game Settlers of Catan. You can play it on Xbox 360, for example. Or the iPhone. Hell, you could even play the actual board game. If you’re leaning towards the more tangible option, and are going to go to the trouble of setting stuff up and…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Is a Man not Entitled to a PC Casemod Based On BioShock?
Hungarian BioShock fan Gregory Mórocz wanted to build himself a new PC, so he built himself a new BioShock-flavoured PC. Look at it. Isn’t it wonderful? Having spent years working on the thing, it’s now finished, and he’s called it, what else, Welcome to Rapture. In addition to the authentic art deco styling, there’s a…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 -
CultureMy Favorite Japanese Commercial of 2011 Has a Plastic Fist
Toriko is a Japanese manga that follows a “Gourmet Hunter” named Toriko who is on the hunt for rare food. This is an ad for a “Toriko Snack Pulverizer”. You put snacks in it, pulverize them, and then sprinkles them on food. It’s totally awesome. This summer, Bandai Namco released a new Toriko game, which…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Why the Next Game From Braid’s Creator is Skipping Consoles
The Witness, the next game from Braid creator Jonathan Blow, is coming out on PC, and it’s coming out on iOS. It’s not coming out on Xbox 360 or PS3. Why is that? Blow told Edge magazine, “We like 360 and PS3, but their specifications are over five years old now, and that’s a lot…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 -
UncategorizedNintendo’s Cutest Game In a Long Time is This Little Puzzler
One reason why we haven’t had a new Wars game in a while is that Nintendo studio Intelligent Systems has been busy working on other projects. Like Hiku-osu, this adorable puzzle game for the 3DS. There’s not much to it: you push and pull giant blocks around to build steps and platforms so that you…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 -
UncategorizedControlling Four Players at Once Looks Tricky (But Also fun)
This indie PC shooter is called Signal Ops. If you’ve ever played, say, Space Hulk, it may look slightly familiar, with the same mechanic of giving you control over four people at once. Only, it looks way more complex. While it obviously owes a lot visually to Team Fortress 2, notice what happens at the…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Being a Female Professional StarCraft Player Ain’t Easy
It’s hard. Just ask StarCraft II player Kim Shee-Yoon, aka “Eve”. StarCraft is huge in Korea. Pro gaming is big, too, but it’s dominated by male players. Eve isn’t the first female professional player, as e-sport has already seen the likes of ToSsGirL According to website The Mary Sue, Eve was selected for Korean StarCraft…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Battlefield 3’s Beta On the 360 is EXPENSIVE
With the clock having just ticked over to September 29, eager users are reporting that a link to download the Battlefield 3 beta on the Xbox 360 is up. And looking a little worse for wear. Namely, that only executives, rap stars and professional athletes will be able to afford to download it. A glitch…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
How Japanese Cosplay Is Moving Closer to Porn
Its beginnings were humble. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Japanese fans went to manga and anime conventions dressed as their favorite characters. There’s a long history of people dressing as their favorite characters in the West, too—notably, Trekkies. Those were innocent times. As the 1980s wore on and turned into the 1990s, the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Don’t Expect Blizzard’s New MMO at BlizzCon
As World of Warcraft begins its slow, inevitable decline, people will want to hear more about the company’s next big MMO. People might be hoping that this project, code-named Titan, will be spoken about at this year’s BlizzCon. Those people will be disappointed. A Blizzard representative has told IGN that the company’s “‘unannounced MMO’ will…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 -
UncategorizedWizorb is out, Still Looks Brilliant
Hey, kids. Wizorb is out today on the Xbox Live Indie Games Channel. You should, uh, check it out. You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Heavy Rain’s Creator Doesn’t Sound Stupid at all
You’re right, David Cage, creator of games like Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy. You do sound stupid. But just the kind of stupid this industry needs more of. He’s right, turning down the chance to make a sequel to a successful PS3 exclusive is, from a business standpoint, bananas. But too many publishers and too…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallGoing to War Like Only Nintendo Can
Even though Zelda has killing and even Mario has head-stomping, when you think about it, nearly all of Nintendo’s first-party properties are harmless affairs. Bright colours, innocent storylines, big-eyed cartoon mascots and candy-coloured fantasy worlds where everything turns out just fine With one exception: the “Wars” series, Nintendo’s only foray into, well, war. In the…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 29, 2011 - Uncategorized
Internal PayPal Email Points to Nov. 15 for New Xbox Dashboard Release
In May, Microsoft revealed that PayPal would be added as a payment option for Xbox Live transactions such as subscriptions and Microsoft Points purchases. This week, an internal email to PayPal employees asked them to test the service, and pointed to Nov. 15—the 10-year anniversary of the original Xbox launch—as the date the new dashboard…
By Owen Good Published September 28, 2011 - Uncategorized
Ghost Dad
Hey Kotaku! Thanks for sticking around. My gift to you is tonight’s open thread, in which we might talk about ghost movies, we might talk about Star Trek: The Next Generation and we might talk about Skrillex. Maybe we’ll even talk about video games! As we approach Halloween, I’m starting to get the horror movie…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 28, 2011