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Zynga Protests That Their Games Are Creative, And That Numbers Breed Fun
“We used to give people 10 horseshoes when they start [FrontierVille] – then we did a little test of, ‘Well, what if we gave 15?’ We thought that maybe the would help them get over the hump of building the cabin because we noticed that people who make it to finishing the cabin were more…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Thorn Dice, The Most Brutal Tabletop Dice In All The Land
Although you’ll have to make sure they get a good randomizing rotation in the air before they land-they don’t look like they’d roll well-you’d be hard pressed to find a more badass set of number generators than these “thorn dice,” available in hard resin or metal depending on how much you’d like to pay. (Platinum…
By Joel Johnson Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Ditching Reality For A Game Isn’t As Fun As It Sounds
In October 2004, a Bush aide-widely believed to be Karl Rove-informed the New York Times Magazine’s Ron Suskind that, as a journalist, he was part of the “reality-based community.” It wasn’t a compliment. The aide told Suskind, scornfully, that “when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality … we’ll…
Heather Chaplin, Slate Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Max Payne 3‘s Proof Of Life Is Here In Two New Screens
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Rockstar Games and Max Payne 3, a game that’s still without a release date. But Rockstar promised it’s “still working hard on Max” and to deliver “news in the coming months” late last year. Looks like we may actually hear more about Max Payne 3 soon, as…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Ridiculously Short, Arrival Sets The Stage For Mass Effect 3
The Arrive downloadable content pack for BioWare’s award-winning Mass Effect 2 has been unleashed, giving players one last chance to spend some quiet time with Commander Shepard before the trilogy’s Earth-shattering conclusion. An hour and a half just doesn’t seem like enough time. Before I go deeper into my Arrival impressions, know that I’m going…
By Mike Fahey Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Captain America Turns 70, Sonic Braces For Dr. Eggman’s Next Scheme, And More
Wednesday = new comic books here in the United States of America. Many new comics are junk. Let me tell you about a few ones that are not, some of which are even about video games. Plus, there are some classics and some classically-ridiculous comics debuting on the iPad this week — for people who…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
When Racing Through An Earthquake Feels Inappropriate
This is natural disaster as roller coaster ride. The race starts with a helicopter drop onto a collapsing highrise. My ATV lands as the building leans, falling like a domino into the adjacent building. I jump the diminishing gap amid clouds of dust and debris, tearing down the rooftop as it too begins to tilt.…
By Brian Crecente Published March 30, 2011 -
UncategorizedThe Future of Full-Immersion Virtual Reality Used to Play a 99 Cent Game
This CAVE system has 3D spacial recognition technology, the ability to “place sound” over a 5.1 sound system, an infrared camera tracking system, a floor that can thump to accent gameplay and haptic feedback through a Wii remote. So what do you do with all of that impressive technology? Play Fruit Ninja of course!
By Brian Crecente Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Sword & Sworcery EP, the Indie Game That’s Taking the iPad By Sworm
I want to hug everyone who had anything to do with this game, but I have to do that with words first. So, let’s get to it before you dismiss this review as fundamentally unserious and click over to a technical white paper on pathfinding algorithms. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is a transportive, cunningly…
Rob Dubbin | KILL SCREEN Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
BurgerTime Has Never Looked So Meaty
After giving us a few tantalizing peeks at the high definition remake of the culinary classic platformer, MonkeyPaw Games delivers a handful of scintillating new screens for BurgerTime HD. It’s nice to see there’s more to BurgerTime HD than building sandwiches amidst the purple swirls of outer space, as our previous glimpses at the game…
By Mike Fahey Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Just Cause Creators Go Downloadable With Renegade Ops
Avalanche Studios unveils Renegade Ops, a downloadable vehicle-based action game with up to four-players battling to save the world from terrorists. Renegade Ops is coming to the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 later this year from Sega
By Mike Fahey Published March 30, 2011 -
UncategorizedThe F.E.A.R. 3 Story Trailer Tells A Twisted Tale
A pair of brothers tries to find their place in a town torn apart by the psychic influence of their tortured mother in F.E.A.R. 3, sure to be the feel-good game of the year. With talent like Halloween’s John Carpenter and 30 Days of Night’s Steve Niles hammering out the storyline for the third installment…
By Mike Fahey Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
SOCOM 4 Turns The Hurt Locker Into A PlayStation 3 Sport
War video games let us pretend we’re in movies. They may let us pretend we’re in actual war, but come on, not really. We’re the great hero in war video games. We are fighting impossible odds. The music swells. The bullets cause us only brief problems. We heal. We triumph. We remove bad guys from…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
The 3DS’s 3D Is Easier To Understand Under A Microscope
We can toss around terms like parallax barrier to describe the Nintendo 3DS 3D effect all day long, trying to explain how the system alternates lines of pixels to trick your eyes, or we could just show you. Peter Silk of Nukezilla pulled out his pocket microscope and took a gander at the Nintendo 3DS…
By Mike Fahey Published March 30, 2011 -
UncategorizedYou Mean Gamers Aren’t All Bloodthirsty Domination Maniacs?
It’s time for a video Speak-Up on Kotaku! Commenter FuzzleMail takes issue with this AlienWare commercial for depicting gamers as bloodthirsty domination maniacs. I hate this Alienware commercial. It’s the one with the guy going all Reb Brown with the machine guns in some made up game world, then it reveals hes just way too…
By Mike Fahey Published March 30, 2011 -
UncategorizedResident Evil: Operation Raccoon City‘s First Teaser Shows Off Fast-Paced Zombie Slaughter
Undead creatures swarm, bullets fly, and gas stations explode in this action-packed first look at Slant Six Games’ Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City It could be the fastest-paced Resident Evil game ever. Retelling the story of Resident Evil 2 and 3 from the perspective of an Umbrella Corporation clean-up squad is not only a genius…
By Mike Fahey Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Welcome back to another installment of Kotaku’s official gaming forum where you can talk about your favorite and least favorite video games all you want. We’re running another classic image today, from reader Aryxandre. Submit your image to #TAYpics (Read this thread for directions on how to do a TAYpic.)
By Stephen Totilo Published March 30, 2011 - Uncategorized
Sometimes You Need Tongs For Potato Chips
SNAPSHOT | OSAKA, JAPAN: These “Potetong” are actually recommended for use while gaming as well as computing. (Photo: Brian Ashcraft) Wake Up, Kotaku Xbox 360’s “New Disc Format” Is A 1GB Storage Boost So, Microsoft is testing a “new disc format”. The more fanciful of you are thinking that means “Blu-Ray”. The more sensible and…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2011
