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UncategorizedA Look at Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation in Action
Here’s our first look at the next map pack coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops. In the video we get a quick walk-through of Annihilation’s four maps: Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo and Hazard. Hanger 18 takes place in Area 51 and is packed with conspiracy-theory Easter Eggs. There’s a nice mix of close quarter…
By Brian Crecente Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Shigeru Miyamoto Wants to Unite Inverted and Un-Inverted Gamers
During the same Nintendo developer roundtable where we were given a Tanooki suit history lesson, Nintendo godfather Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the new control scheme for Star Fox 64: 3D, and how the they may have provided the solution for a long-standing source of stress for him. Miyamoto’s issue revolves around inverting the game’s Y-axis controls…
By Mike Epstein Published June 16, 2011 -
UncategorizedNext Week’s New L. A. Noire Case Promises Action and… Howard Hughes?
Rockstar has a new $4 case for L.A. Noire players to solve, and it’ll be out next week. Along with the official trailer, here’s the official summary: “Nicholson Electroplating” is a downloadable case from the Arson desk available for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. At 9.45 in the morning, a thunderous explosion rocks Los…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Make Portal 2 Music
If you listened closely, you may already know that Brooklyn band The National recorded a song “Exile Vilify” for Portal 2. And now Valve is holding a music video contest for it. Win and get swag from Valve and the band [http://www.ThinkWithPortals.com]
By Joshua Rivera Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
One Very Odd Circus of Video Games
They call it E3, which isn’t that cool a name. Absurdly, you may have also heard, that E3 is Video Games, or what (some/most) of the big, rich companies in the gaming industry would have you believe is Video Games. That’s kind of right. Each June (sometimes July), the ESA does this E3 thing. The…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 16, 2011 -
UncategorizedTroll Faces and Empty Jackets Populate This Animated Look At the Hacker Civil War
Next Media Animation’s army of computer graphic animators churned out a story today neatly encapsulating the week’s escalating hacker wars. LulzSec, depicted as the bad guys in this video, are responsible for attacks against a number of sites including Sony, The Escapist, Minecraft and Eve Online. Out of the swamp that is 4 chan, two…
By Brian Crecente Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Dig These Minecraft Pads
Joining a host of t-shirts and fridge magnets born of a Minecraft licensing deal are these foam pickaxes and sticky notecubes. Now you can wear a Minecraft Union shirt and smack around a block notecube with a faux pickaxe while you kill time waiting for the game to finally launch. The notepad, which shows damage…
By Brian Crecente Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
It’s a Nintendo From a Parallel Universe
Graphic designer Graham Smith has a little ongoing project where he takes famous brands and switches their logo. So for example you get the Coke logo but it says Pepsi. His work include a few video game examples. Two are Nintendo (one as Sega, another as Sony), one the Xbox 360 (as the PlayStation 3),…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
How Do You Stop a Team Fortress 2 Addict From Playing?
Playing video games is normally a harmless hobby, but when a game consumes every single waking hour of your existence there’s a problem. Commenter Wtfisthisidonteven is looking for help breaking his little brother’s Team Fortress 2 habit in today’s very special episode of Speak Up on Kotaku. I’m having a problem with my 13 year…
By Mike Fahey Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Nintendo Download Welcomes eShop Games Into the Fold
The weekly Nintendo Download makes the move to Thursday morning this week, as the era of the eShop kicks off with the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong and a colorful WiiWare game about snails. I had feared I would miss the Nintendo Download this week due to a pair of new personal reasons, but…
By Mike Fahey Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Hear ye, hear ye! The time of day has come to officially commence the official Kotaku forum. Talk, subjects, talk! Let’s thank UsernameOfTheDead for their “yeah, it does kinda look like a Dreamcast” TAYpic. Don’t we all wish we could relive the Dreamcast? If you’d also like to play Frankenstein in Photoshop, kindly drop your…
By Drew Cohen Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Tomb Raider Hopes to Recreate a Gaming Icon
Don’t think of Tomb Raider as an origin story, think of it instead as a sort of metaphorical creation myth, a game that won’t redefine just who Lara Croft is, but also the world in which she exists. Gone not only is her over-sexualized physique, two guns and ponytail, but also her past, her way…
By Brian Crecente Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Third Call of Duty: Black Ops Map Pack Hits This Month, Includes Shangri-La Zombies
The rumors (and signs) are true. Call of Duty: Black Ops isn’t done yet. Treyarch will release a third map pack, on the Xbox 360 first, on June 28. It’s called Annihilation and will feature four maps: Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo and Hazard. “Players will also enjoy an all-new Zombies experience, Shangri-La,” Black Ops‘ studio…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
1000 Heroz Brings A Thousand Mini-Trials to Your iPhone
1000 Heroz promises that you’ll have something new to do on your iPhone or iPad for at least the next three years, updating daily with 1000 heroes, 1000 things to collect and 1000 quick bursts of physics based platforming. Even if the raw numbers of 1000 Heroz don’t wow you, perhaps the development pedigree will.…
By Michael McWhertor Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Sometimes, You Just Want to Put a Lancia on Kotaku
Jump In | GREAT BRITAIN:Juha Kankkunen races his Lancia Delta at 1991’s RAC Rally of Great Britain. (Photo: Allsport UK | Allsport) The Beautiful Fighting Game Art of Stanley Lau Stanley Lau has been asked by Capcom to provide the official artwork for the upcoming Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Online Edition. Being both an…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Ragnarok Online Comes Alive
Earlier this month, South Korea’s GungHo held a, well, GungHo Festival in Tokyo. The event also saw the Ragnarok Online Japan Championship—so there was that, too! Ragnarok Online is a South Korean MMORGP that has a sizable following in Japan and throughout the world. Kotaku Japan was on hand for the festivities, the costumes, and…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Game Release from Beyond the Grave
Game Republic, the Tokyo-based studio behind PS3 titles Folklore and Genji, appears to be dead. The studio’s honcho went from riches to rags, and the studio’s been erased from the internet—and the Earth. Yet, Game Republic’s Knights Contract is still getting promoted in Japan, garnering a huge splash on Famitsu. Namco Bandai, the game’s publisher,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011 - Uncategorized
Multiple Wii U Controllers Are a Cost Issue
The Wii U comes with one Wii U Controller. Each console will support only one of these controllers; Kotaku broke the news that Nintendo is looking into games that support two Wii U controllers. But why is Nintendo planning to release the console with single Wii U Controller support? “There’s a cost issue,” Nintendo president…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2011 - Culture
The Beautiful Fighting Game Art of Stanley Lau
Stanley Lau has been asked by Capcom to provide the official artwork for the upcoming Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Online Edition. Being both an accomplished comic artist and a Street Fighter nerd, his work does not disappoint. In addition to the stuff he’s done for the game’s upcoming re-release, Lau is something of a…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2011