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Let’s Remember Sonic’s Good Old Days
Or, at least all the crap that used to be associated with them. At the back of Sega’s Gamescom booth this year, where Sonic Generations is displayed front and centre, is a small memorial to the heyday of the furry blue hedgehog. It may look like a bunch of old junk, but one man’s trash…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 21, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Summer of Valve Winners
Last week’s protest for Half-Life 3 outside Valve’s headquarters provided the creative inspiration for the latest Kotaku ‘Shop Contest, in which Gabe Newell was presented with a set of fresh demands that are only slightly less likely to be met. We’ve got 20 finalists inside, plus Pikmin and Pokémon fan Hermain Cain! Leading off, GiantBoyDetective…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Clever Xbox Live User Sues Microsoft for $500 Billion (or 625,000,000,000 MS Points)
Some cletus down in Arkansas opines that Microsoft has to pay him $500 billion because it didn’t answer, in writing, a mailing designed to not get a written response to his demands for $500 billion. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is your source for all the fun, courtesy of a federal civil complaint filed Monday by one…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Sweet, Superb and Scary Cosplay of Gamescom 2011
Gamescom 2011 may have been overcrowded today, but not with people dressed as video game, anime and comic book characters. While European cosplayers did represent at Gamescom, they did so in the corners of the Cologne Messe. There was some great stuff—a respectable Alice in the American McGee style, a quartet of very attractive BlazBlue…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Who Owns Madden‘s Virtual Playbook?
They have all the secrets to make you a better Madden gamer. “SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE OVER THE COMPETITION,” says the website. “DOMINATE ONLINE.” It sounds like a huckster pitch from any of the numerous, unofficial, strategy sites dedicated, for the last decade, to selling tips and secrets to winning in Madden‘s gladiatorial multiplayer community. But it’s…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Fancy PC Cases of Gamescom
Germany being mad for the PC like it is, there are a ton of PC accessories, peripherals and other pieces of kit available at Gamescom. Easiest on the eye are these, the PC cases. These are some of the nicer ones we saw during the show. Note that these aren’t custom or handmade ones; they’re…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 20, 2011 -
Uncategorized“Rise of the Cakeling,” LittleBigPlanet 2‘s Move-Enabled DLC, Arrives Sept. 14
LittleBigPlanet 2 will roll a PlayStation Move-enabled DLC pack on Sept. 14. Pricing isn’t set yet, but with the ability to create Move-enabled Sackboy games, as that video shows, this could be the most useful application of that controller’s features of any PS3 game out there. There’s all sorts of other stuff include in the…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Minecraft-Inspired Shoes to Help a PC That Went SSSSS-Bang [Update]
KyozoKicks, a custom shoe designer featured recently in Official PlayStation Magazine (and before on Kotaku), intended to wear these Creeper Vans to Gamescom this week. Instead, as his PC up and died, he’ll be selling them to raise money toward a new one. Only one pair exists, and KyozoKicks doesn’t plan on making more. They…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio Has Become Bomberman
When we first started playing Assassin’s Creed, all the way back at the beginning of the first one, if you wanted to kill a man you usually had to stab him somewhere. As the series has progressed, though, we’ve slowly been given more and more ways to kill a man from a distance. Knives, pistols…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
EA Confirms Launch Copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic Will Be Limited
In an effort to manage capacity on the day the MMO launches, Electronic Arts has capped the number of physical and digital copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The actual figure is unknown, but once it’s reached, no more will be sold until EA can add server capacity to accommodate more players. Gamasutra yesterday…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 -
UncategorizedWait ‘Til You See This Hawaiian Wrestler’s Shoryuken
Gymnasium/ballroom/armory pro wrestling is a beautiful thing. A beautifully cheesy thing. This combatant from Hawaii, “Kenryu Takadoki”, has shed all pretense of trying to become noticed and promoted to a bigger circuit because, hey, they’re way out in Hawaii. So why not go with a repertoire based on Street Fighter moves? E. Honda’s hundred-hand slap…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 -
UncategorizedWorld’s Biggest Video Game Show Locked Down Over Crushing Crowds
Gamescom, the biggest video game show in the world, just got too big. Saturday morning the convention had to temporarily stop letting people in after the massive Cologne’s Koelnmesse, the fourth largest convention center in the world, neared the show’s 62,000 person capacity. A Gamescom official told Kotaku that the center started regulating the show’s…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
How to Check Your 3DS Ambassadorship Status
I’ve never been named an ambassador. I was once, like the Philadelphia Eagles’ Hugh Douglas, a badassador, but that is altogether a different thing. Anyway, this free-games 3DS Ambassador program, rewarding suckers early adopters like yours truly, required North American customers to log into the Nintendo eShop before Aug. 11. I was curious whether in…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’s Zambia
Despite simplifying the heads-up and on-screen information displayed in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Ubisoft’s upcoming third-person shooter still has a lot of things to tell you on screen. Here’s a look at the subtler, slightly refined intelligence gathering of the shooter. These shots also give you a look at the game’s Zambia level You can…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Let Off Some Steam, Bennett
Listen, loyalty is very touching. But it is not the most important thing in your life right now! But what is important is gravity! I have to remind you Sully, this is my weak arm! Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last? I lied. Ah, Commando. Somehow I managed to watch this when…
By Owen Good Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Armored Core V Knows Not Everyone Wants to Drive a Giant Mech
As appealing as the idea may sound, not everyone wants to drive a giant mech in a video game. Some people just want to watch other people drive them and tell them what to do. At least, that’s what From Software is hoping for with Armored Core V The latest entry in the long-running mech…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
This Is What Battlefield 3 Will Look Like on an iPhone
EA and DICE’s Battlefield 3 is drawing huge crowds at Gamescom this week, with waits of up to three hours to get hands-on time with the first-person shooter’s multiplayer mode. If only the iPhone version were out to help the Germans pass that time. This Battlefield 3: Aftershock, the version of the military shooter bound…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
They Want to Blend Lemmings with The Lost Vikings
They’re not sure what to call their budding creation yet, but they know what they want it to be: The love child of puzzle games Lemmings and The Lost Vikings The game, which at one point they were calling Troopies, has players taking command of five soldiers as they puzzle-solve their way through the game’s…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Only at Gamescom Would (NSFW) Dark Souls Bodypainting Exist
Models wearing little more than a thong and thin layer of paint is not unheard of at German video game conventions, but the choice of hardcore action role-playing game Dark Souls as promotion-by-nearly naked woman candidate is sure… surprising. Dark Souls publisher Namco Bandai has been spraypainting barely dressed women to promote its Gamescom line-up,…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 20, 2011 - Culture
Adrift Makes a Dirty Future Look Beautiful
Look out! It’s a special Gamescom edition of Fine Art! And when we’re talking about Dontnod’s Adrift, fine is the optimal word. As we saw in the game’s debut trailer, all that’s been released so far of Adrift’s vision of a future Paris is concept art. Which for a feature about concept art is fine…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 20, 2011