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The Horrible Family Secret of Japan’s Anime Envoy
Taro Aso was a shit prime minister, but in incidental things that count—shooting guns, collecting comics, and booze— Taro Aso excels. This week, he was named Japan’s official anime envoy to China. Cut off from Japanese pop culture for decades, China is getting into anime like Gundam in a big way. From June 8 to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 26, 2011 -
UncategorizedSouth Park Shreds EA Sports and Peter Moore
South Park never goes harder than when it goes after hypocrisy, and tonight, its allegorical tale involved the NCAA and the obscene profits reaped from what is essentially free labor. Yet EA Sports—and, of all people, its president, Peter Moore—ended up getting it the worst. Breaking down tonight’s show TV Guide-like, Cartman’s latest scheme is…
By Owen Good Published May 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Microsoft is (Not) Helping an Xbox Live Hacker “Develop His Talent” [Update]
Around a month ago, Xbox Live users were alerted to a phishing scam on popular online title Modern Warfare 2. You’d think this was the work of nefarious group, but no, it was a single perpetrator. Who Microsoft is now working with? According to Microsoft’s Paul Rellis, the culprit responsible has been caught, and discovered…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 26, 2011 -
UncategorizedDragon’s Dogma Gameplay Footage Is All About Killing Giant Animals
You know, I only just realised that Dragon’s Dogma is Capcom finding an excuse to put its Monster Hunter expertise to work in a game like Dragon Age This gameplay clip starts off fairly ho-hum, a few arrows here and there, and then WHAM, GIANT GRIFFIN. And then things get really interesting. Dragon’s Dogma is…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 26, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallSorry, Everyone, It’s Time to Talk About the Wing Commander Movie
When people look back on films based on video games, they tend to skew towards the good (Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia) or the bad (Mario, Double Dragon). They don’t talk about the greats because there haven’t been any. And they don’t talk about Wing Commander because it’s just too damn painful. Wing Commander, if…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 26, 2011 - Uncategorized
Backbreaker Studio Hits the Ice With Icebreaker for the iPhone
First spied in development seven months ago, Icebreaker will arrive on the iTunes App Store next week as a hockey-style complement to Backbreaker, the football title whose “Tackle Alley” minigame saw tremendous success as an iPhone port. Icebreaker mimics “Tackle Alley” (which became Backbreaker: Tackle Alley and Backbreaker: Vengeance for the iPhone) by pitting you…
By Owen Good Published May 25, 2011 -
UncategorizedHey! Look At What’s New In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
The Nintendo 3DS remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time does more than just give the Nintendo 64 original a visual makeover and bring it into magical stereoscopic 3D. It has (at least) three potentially exciting new features. As shown in the video above, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D has…
By Michael McWhertor Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
New Features Aren’t All Free in NCAA Football 12
There may not be any optimal time to tell gamers about all the microtransactions and DLC for which they can expect to pay extra in an upcoming release. But the official reveal of a game’s main features – the stuff folks expect to come with the $59.99 retail price – would probably be the least…
By Owen Good Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Check Isn’t in the Mail
The Postal Service lost something I mailed a week ago to my Dad. This kind of an occurrence may not be any less rare today than it was before e-mail and other services, but it’s definitely losing credibility as an excuse. “It must have gotten lost in the mail,” is never believable when money is…
By Owen Good Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
Chinese Prisoners ‘Forced’ to Play Video Games, Farm Your MMO Gold
Inmates at China’s Jixi prison labor camp are tasked with backbreaking, mind-numbing work: mining rock, carving chopsticks by hand, and assembly line work. Some are even forced to endure grueling video game play, farming for gold in online games. That’s no joke. The Guardian reports on the conditions at a Chinese labor camp that allegedly…
By Michael McWhertor Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
Mega Man vs. Wolverine vs. Spider-Man vs. Batman
New comics come out in comics shops and on some of your favorite portable devices each Wednesday. Not all of them are worth your time and money, but some are. Some are even about video games (others are about Wolverine). As I do each week, I’ve got some recommendations: Comics You Should Consider Buying (from…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 25, 2011 -
UncategorizedGet Trenched, That World War I Tower Defense Mech Game, on June 22
The people at Double Fine Productions, of Brutal Legend, Costume Quest and Stacking fame, are releasing their next game in June. That’s Trenched, remember? You don’t remember? Well, if you’re not in the mood to click the link to Kotaku‘s preview of Trenched, it’s an entertaining blend of tower defense tactics, third-person shooting from the…
By Michael McWhertor Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
NHL 2K12 Ain’t Happening
2K Sports yesterday confirmed that NHL 2K12 will not be published on any console, likely ending that simulation’s run. Unable to gain traction against EA Sports’ NHL series, 2K put NHL 2K on a one-year hiatus last year, ostensibly to return with a breakthrough game built on a two-year cycle. The series still published on…
By Owen Good Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Flight of Joysticks
CURSE YOU RED BARON | French scientist, engineer and aviator Robert Esnault-Pelterie, inventor of joystick control in aircraft. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) I’m A Little in Love With My New iPad Arcade Machine Last night I sat in front of an arcade machine in a darkened room of my house and played ’80s…
By Brian Crecente Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
Super Smash Bros. (and Everyone Else) Brawl
The house is full with this group of backseat gaming legends! Artist Nina Matsumoto has them all fighting for the controller. (Complete List) Check out the gaming store that commissioned this piece HERE Related Rampage: Transbender Backseat Gaming by Nina Matsumoto (Blog) (deviantART) (Twitter) Need your daily fill of geek eye candy? If so, head…
By Michael McWhertor Published May 25, 2011 -
UncategorizedParkour Pioneer Cole Phelps Wants His Damn Hat Back
I forget at what point exactly but in L.A. Noire Cole Phelps remarks that his hat cost $12. How much is that worth in 2011 money? Dunno, but it’s worth falling off a house a dozen times in 1947. How the hell did his hat get up there in the first place?
By Owen Good Published May 25, 2011 -
UncategorizedDiablo III‘s Skill-Transforming Runestone System in Action
When it was first explained to me way back in 2008, the power-enhancing rune system of Diablo III sounded like it would lead to countless permutations of every skill and spell in the game. Now it’s only five, but they’re still pretty spectacular. This slimmed-down runestone system made its debut at last year’s BlizzCon. Rather…
By Mike Fahey Published May 25, 2011 -
UncategorizedKonami’s Birds of Steel Brings WWII Plane on Plane Violence to Consoles
Fans of World War II era aerial dogfighting may want to enlist in Konami’s Birds of Steel, coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation courtesy of developer Gaijin Entertainment (IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, Apache Air Assault). Birds of Steel promises to bring online and offline Axis versus Allies aerial combat to consoles, stuffing “over…
By Michael McWhertor Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
This is Real War, Viewed from the Call of Duty Camera Angle
In real, modern combat, in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some soldiers have cameras attached to their helmets. The videos make it to YouTube (and on Kotaku, too), giving the rest of the world a first-person view of real combat. This week, The New York Times presents a simultaneously stunning and mundane video of…
By Stephen Totilo Published May 25, 2011 - Uncategorized
Japan Falls in Love with the Naughty Akiba’s Trip, But Portal 2 Not So Much
A game about stripping the clothes off of vampires in otaku haven Akihabara is Japan’s bestselling game right now, the curious and cleverly titled Akiba’s Strip for PSP. That game easily beat the new Dead or Alive and Valve’s Portal 2 overseas. Dead or Alive: Dimensions settled for second this week, a debut not so…
By Michael McWhertor Published May 25, 2011