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The Insanity, Players, and Games of Three Huge Gaming Events
It’s been a crazy few weeks here at Kotaku as we scrambled to cover the world’s biggest game show in Germany, the largest Penny Arcade Expo in history and the first ever convention dedicated to all things Call of Duty Maybe you weren’t able to keep up, I know we struggled to. Here, in a…
By Brian Crecente Published September 6, 2011 -
UncategorizedSiege Hero is For Those Who Prefer Vikings to Furious Birds
I’ve never liked Angry Birds. Not because I’m angry with any birds in particular, but because I always preferred the free game that came before it, Crush the Castle Rather than get bitter at Rovio’s billions, Crush’s developers (well, hosts) Armor Games, are sticking at it, and have released on iOS a revision of the…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Angry Birds Pops Up at Burning Man
Angry Burner | BLACK ROCK DESERT, NV – Spotted by reader Kenji. (Photo: Reader Kenji) This Is the Arcade, Totally Re-Invented In the past decade, retro game bars have popped up across Japan. Part of the appeal is that these water holes have game consoles you can play while getting shitfaced. More » Halo Creative Director…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Godfather of Game Journalism Passed Away
This weekend, Bill Kunkel passed away. He was 61. Considered by many to be the “Father of Game Journalism”, Kunkel co-founded Electronic Games Magazine in 1981. It was America’s first gaming magazine sold on newsstands. As GameSetWatch explained, Kunkel penned his “Game Doctor” column for several magazines, such as EGM Kunkel penned Confessions of the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Xbox 360 Bar Hostess Game Coming to the PS Vita
Dream Club (this NSFW clip is all you need to know) debuted on the Xbox 360. According to Japanese magazine leaps, it’s coming to the PS Vita and will no doubt give the touch screen a good work over. [オレ的]
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
What Is Holding Up Deus Ex in Japan?
Deus Ex: Human Revolution was supposed to be out Sept. 8 in Japan, but it’s now slated for sometime in Oct. The reason for the delay is that “prohibited images” were found in one place in the game. In its official statement, Square Enix did not clarify what the offending content was. In early August,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 - Culture
The Beasts and Beauties of God of War
A former comic book artist, Andy Park is one of the main men to thank if you liked the look of the last two God of War games, as he was a senior concept artist on both God of War II and God of War III That means many of the series’ classically-inspired nasties, as…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 -
UncategorizedMinecraft 1.8: It’s (Almost) Adventure Time!
Having given up on Minecraft a long time ago, I’m actually looking forward to the vaunted “Adventure” update, which will finally add a little purpose to the game. Minecraft 1.8, as the Adventure update is more formally known, will add improved graphics, tweaked health systems, improved combat mechanics and, most important of all, stuff to…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 -
UncategorizedVice City Meets 2011 In Vice City Rage
The last we saw of Grand Theft Auto IV mod Vice City Rage, it was looking a little…empty. A few months on and the team behind the overhaul of the 1986 2002 classic have made some good progress. Star Tommy Vercetti is now in the game engine and sticking to the ground, meaning the building…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Watch Out Hackers! Sony Hired a Homeland Security Official
This spring, a cyber attack resulted in a 23 day outage of the PSN and the theft of personal details from over 77 million accounts. Sony is strengthening its online network and stepping up its security. Sony created a new chief information security officer post, reported Reuters, and selected former U.S. Department of Homeland Security…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Whoops, You Might be Playing An Unfinished Version of Dead Island
Those who have been among the first to download zombie game Dead Island from Steam have been finding things a little odd. A number of features/cheats like no-clipping, which normally aren’t available automatically in games, are just a button press away. And there may be a very good, very funny reason for this. People digging…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
The New, Cheaper PSP Isn’t For You (Unless You’re a Kid!)
And if you’re a kid, you shouldn’t be reading this. You should be outside, getting some exercise. Making friends. Skipping rope Still with me? Awesome. So, Sony has a new model of the PSP for Europe that makes a lot of sense: it’s €99/£89, and at that price, it’s something you could pick up on…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Have a Baby. Get Some Money!
Japan’s population is graying. The population is shrinking. Until the country can either open up immigration or mass produce robot citizens, there’s only one thing left to do: Screw. One of the culprits always blamed for the country’s low birth rate is corporate Japan. Namco Bandai is looking to change that with generous bonuses. Namco…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 -
UncategorizedIf the Original Deus Ex Had Been More Like Human Revolution…
If you think the kind of people who say “games were better in the good old days” are bad, they’re even worse when they’re talking about PC games. Except, on rare occasions like this, they actually make a decent gag out of it. This clip blends the original Deus Ex, which is eleven years old,…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Halo Creative Director Leaving Halo 4 [Update]
Halo 4 is the first title in a new trilogy of Halo games. The previous three titles were developed by Bungie, but the next three are being made in-house by Microsoft’s own Halo studio. Halo 4 won’t be out until late 2012, and today, one of the game’s creative directors, Ryan Payton, is not only…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Dragon Quest X Needs the Internet And Extra Money, Too
Dragon Quest IX was the deal of the century. It had something like seventy hours of single player gameplay, checking off two things that Japanese gamers love: meaty RPGs and playing solo. DQX is a different beast. An official Square Enix FAQ regarding the game noted that while DQX can be played alone, it can…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Whoops, 3 Million Copies of Dirt 3 Just Went Missing [Update]
Publishers Codemasters and graphics card manufacturer AMD have been running a promotion lately whereby purchasers of a card got a free copy of excellent racer Dirt 3. That offer has now been, uh, slightly expanded. It seems Codemasters had the reserved download codes for the promo – estimated at around 3 million copies of the…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
This Is the Arcade, Totally Re-Invented
In the past decade, retro game bars have popped up across Japan. Part of the appeal is that these water holes have game consoles you can play while getting shitfaced. There are other places where you can game with maids or talk with game voice actors who serve you alcohol. But what about a place…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011 -
UncategorizedNi No Kuni Is Looking Beautiful In This New Trailer
Here’s a new trailer for the upcoming Ni No Kuni for the PS3. The more I see of this game, the more I clench my fists, grind my teeth and try and will it into already being out. And in English. While the DS version was released last year in Japan, it’s the sexy PS3…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011 - Uncategorized
Japan Gets Official Uncharted 3 Control Pad
On November 2, the same day the game is released, Japan will be getting this fancy, limited edition DualShock 3 bearing the colours and livery of upcoming action game Uncharted 3 Featuring a two-tone colour scheme with khaki up top and brown down below, the pad also comes with a “map” motif across the surface.…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2011