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Gran Turismo Creator Races at Famed 24 Hour Race
Kazunori Yamauchi doesn’t just make racing games, he races cars. Yamauchi and his GT-R team placed thirty-sixth at the grueling 24 hour Nurburgring race. It was the first time Nissan’s GT-R competed at Nurburgring. [DualShockers]
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 27, 2011 - Uncategorized
There Will Be a LEGO Star Wars “TV Special”
Which sounds a lot like a “movie”. Just that it’s headed straight to TV. Just in case you’re not instantly grasping the absurdity of this, we’re (probably) talking about a movie based on a video game that was based on a toy line that was based on a cartoon series that was based on a…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2011 - Uncategorized
Japan’s Nintendo Online Shop Carries the AWOL Bits You Need
Nintendo catches heat for being clueless about the internet. That’s not exactly fair, because Nintendo is doing cool stuff online—selling instruction booklets, for example. Joining Nintendo of America, Nintendo just launched its own online shop in Japan. While other game companies might try to sell you things you do not need, Nintendo is selling things…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 27, 2011 - Uncategorized
Is EVE Online’s Clothing Fiasco the “Sad Culmination of Vainness”? [Update]
In an interesting footnote to last week’s highly emotional and controversial EVE Online clothing release, the game’s senior producer Arnar Hrafn Gylfason wrote a blog post defending his company’s decision to have virtual clothing goods costing more than real-world equivalents. Or, at least he tried to defend it. And hey, maybe in his head, before…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2011 - Uncategorized
Popularity as Judged Through Edgy Porn and Fake Goods
Earlier this year, anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica took Japan’s otakudom by storm. Now that the series has finished, it’s time for the vultures to swoop in and make a profit. Besides the knock-off products, there’s already the inevitable porn parody, which is anything but vanilla. Premiering in January, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 27, 2011 - Uncategorized
Buy Your Own Portal 2 Propulsion Gel
What really set Portal 2 apart from the first game was its clever use of gels, each providing new ways to zip around a level (and occasionally stump the player). And now you can own some of your very own. OK, so this stuff won’t make you run faster, jump higher or open portals on…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2011 - Uncategorized
Report: PS3 Hacker George Hotz Lands Job at Facebook
George “GeoHot” Hotz, famed for his hacking of the iPhone and PlayStation 3 (and subsequent court dramas), has apparently found gainful employment. At social networking behemoth Facebook. A report on Tech Unwrapped, citing hackers who have been in contact with Hotz since his settlement with Sony, says Hotz has been turning down new hacking challenges/opportunities…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2011 - CultureTotal Recall
The World’s First True Shooting Game
While Nintendo was a pioneer of video game light guns, first for its elaborate shooting parlours and then its Zapper for the NES, it didn’t create the first home version of the technology. That honour goes to the aptly-named Shooting Gallery, a hardware/software combo for the Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first home video game console.…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2011 -
UncategorizedGood Vibrations
A cymbal flutters like a pancake after being struck in this video, taken at 1000 frames per second, by the Fluke Corporation, makers of sophisticated testing instruments. (via Neatorama) Stick Jockey: Don’t Hate the Game, Hate the Player Even as sports games implement more deterministic controls, more realistic ratings and more authentic player performances, little…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Some of Ocarina‘s Original Glitches Were Deliberately Kept in 3DS Version
In building the 3D remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the mandate for the developer Grezzo was to preserve fans’ memories of the original as much as possible. That meant, where possible, that bugs from the original Nintendo 64 game were intentionally left in. “As programmers, we wanted to get rid of…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 -
UncategorizedUnearthed, the Saudi-Made Uncharted Knockoff, is Available for Everything but the 360
Does this look familiar? Aside from the wooden animations, of course. This is Unearthed: The Trail of Ibn Battuta by Saudi Arabia-based Semaphore, and even this Uncharted copy won’t be playable on the Xbox 360. Unearthed has versions on everything else it seems: PC/Mac, iPhone/iPad and Android, and PlayStation 3. The game follows fortune hunter…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Culture
Summertime in the Arcade
The Arcade Edition of Super Street Fighter IV arrives for Xbox 360 and PS3 this week. Another anticipated drop is the “Annihilation” map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops; it delivers another five maps, one of them a zombie level. After that, you’re looking at maybe Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 Tuesday • Super Street…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Go-Karts? In Uncharted? It’s More Likely Than You Think
What’s next for Naughty Dog, makers of Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and Uncharted? Tim Moss, the director of technology at Sony’s Santa Monica studio thinks he knows. [h/t 8bitjay] A Look Into the Future of Uncharted
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Flow It, Show It, Long as I Can Grow It
Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •Top 10 Outrageous Haircuts in Gaming [Gaming Bolt] How come I’m not on this list? Hell, how come Crecente isn’t on this list? •Top 10…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Lulzsec Hackers Call It Quits
Whether planned retirement (or, more likely, hounded into disbanding), Lulzsec, the unlovable clowns behind hack operations against BioWare, Sony, Nintendo, EVE Online and Minecraft, ended its brief reign of semi-terror today with its final dump of stolen data, highlighted by 550,000 user names and passwords for the Battlefield Heroes beta of 2009. Another 50,000 users’…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
EA Sports Won’t Say MMA’s Dead, but Won’t Say It’s Getting a Sequel, Either
To many, the UFC’s acquisition of the competing fight series Strikeforce in March spelled the end of EA Sports MMA. While EA Sports’ chief of development did not say that a sequel is in development, he did not say the label was quitting the sport altogether. “A world where we’re not involved in fighting is…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Inside the Seven-Year Labor Pains of L.A. Noire
It took seven years. It spanned two console generations. It was the biggest undertaking in Australian games development. And the seven years it took to bring L.A. Noire to store shelves was consistently an unhappy time for many who worked on the game, reports IGN. The freelance journalist Andrew McMillen, writing for IGN, gives a…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Caught ‘Em
This week the FBI finally bagged the notorious gangster Whitey Bulger, after he had spent nearly 16 years on the lam. We’re gonna try to get topical here for the latest Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. Yes, given this theme and the headline, Pokémon are fair game. But the overall gist of this exercise will be to…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Hey folks. Welcome to Sunday morning, and another reminder that Talk Amongst Yourselves, the official Kotaku forum, is now open for business. It always is, at the tag #tay, but a little morning reminder never hurt. Feel free to discuss anything on your mind in the world of video games. Once again, thanks to Incursor…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011 - Culture
Sunday Comics
Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published June 20. — Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published June 25. — Read more of Nerf…
By Owen Good Published June 26, 2011