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A New, Improved Look At X-Men Destiny And Its Teenage Mutant Ninja Girl
The last time we got a look at X-Men Destiny, the merry mutant adventure from the House of Ideas and Silicon Knights, we cooled to its look and feel. But our latest peek at the game and new X-character Aimi Yoshida has us warming up to Activision’s latest. Yoshida, pitched as a minute 15-year-old Japanese…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Video Game Is Not Worth Stealing Your Mother’s Painkillers Over
A 34-year-old woman in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, today received a one-year jail sentence (suspended to one and a half months) for convincing a nine-year-old to steal his mother’s Percocet in exchange for a video game. If only she had known
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Nintendo They’ve Tried to Forget: Gambling, Gangsters, and Love Hotels
Nintendo, the world’s family-friendly video game maker, formed under less virtuous auspices. Before Nintendo made video games, they made playing cards for gangsters and ran their own love hotel, which some assert their own president frequented—during work. Saucy! It’s deathly quiet. I can hear my footsteps as I trundle down a small side-street, where the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Steam Gets Chatty With Skype’s SILK
Valve announced a Steam client update today that replaces the service’s standard voice chat with SILK, the voice codec developed and used by Skype, ensuring Portal 2 co-op players crystal clear voice chat with which to curse at each other.
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedAnother Portal 2 Hype Video, For People Excited By… Panels
Could you like panels as much as you like portals? According to the latest video hyping April 19 release of Portal 2, panels are/were the next big breakthrough in Aperture Science, the crazy labs of the Portal series. I predict that their next innovation will be gel. Valve jokingly indicates that this video is the…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedThe Augmented Reality of Nintendogs + Cats
Nintendogs + Cats doesn’t just add better graphics, the creepy ability for the virtual pets to watch you and cats to the mix. There are also some neat augmented reality features built into this latest version of digital pet ownership. Once you’ve selected your pet, named him or her and done a little training, the…
By Brian Crecente Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Banjo-Kazooie Relationship Takes A Sinister Turn
What kind of Red-Crested Breegull spends all of her time stuffed inside the backpack of an adventuring bear? A Red-Crested Breegull with nowhere else to go. Dorkly takes a pixelated look at the bird/bear relationship that many gamers never stopped to question. Rare made the whole thing just seem so natural in their platforming series,…
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Makers of Ratchet and Clank Think Gaming is Too Complex, The Solution? Facebook
The people behind Resistance, Ratchet and Clank and Spyro the Dragon think video games are getting so complex that they’re leaving a huge potential audience behind. Their solution? A Facebook game. “Spyro was a two-button game,” said Brian Hastings, chief creative officer at Insomniac Games. “Ratchet and Clank was an eight-button game. Resistance was an…
By Brian Crecente Published March 22, 2011 -
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The Xperia Play Does Horrible Things To One Amazing Lady
Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play is more than just a mobile phone. It’s a gaming device powerful enough make loveable actress and comedienne Kristen Schaal transform into a dwarf, get possessed by the devil, and play with herself. You might know Kristen Schaal from her role as Mel on Flight of the Conchords, the voice of…
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Now Is A Good Time For Sony To Remind Us How Good The PlayStation 3 Is At 3D
With the North American release of the Nintendo 3DS right around the corner, Sony releases a sexy infographic declaring it The Year of 3D on the PlayStation 3 System. I’d say there’s room for both the 3DS and the PlayStation 3 when it comes to 3D gaming in 2011. They really are two different animals.…
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The LEGO Star Wars III: Clone Wars Spill Over Into San Francisco
As thousands of copies of LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars begin appearing at retail locations across the country, LucasArts PR takes the opportunity to take pictures of tiny Star Wars figures in big San Francisco locations. As a toy collector, I find taking pictures of bits of my collection in real-world locations a…
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Duke Nukem Forever, Portal 2, L.A. Noire And A 3DS Headline An Amazing Video Game Spring
The spring season of video games usually starts busy, then slows. But last year’s spring produced Kotaku’s 2010 Game of The Year and a few GOTY contenders are on the calendar to be released between now and June. Plus there’s this one game that some people have been impatiently awaiting for 15 years. Come get…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Get More Trade-in Power at Best Buy
Holding on to a game you’ve beaten is like keeping a girl’s number who you won’t call again. Sure, it’s a reminder of the good times, but come on, player, it’s time to move on! Good thing Best Buy has recently introduced a game trade-in program, where you can turn stacks of your old qualifying…
Sponsored post Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
“Boxer” Makes Playing Old PC Games on Macs a Snap
Retro PC game players are surely familiar with Dosbox, the top-shelf emulator that makes playing games from the ‘80s and ‘90s possible on modern machines. Boxer is Dosbox shined up for Apple computers. (Some call them “Macs.”) And from what I can tell from my dabbling with Boxer here on my work machine, it’s a…
By Joel Johnson Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Popcap Raises $200,000 for Earthquake Relief
PopCap’s discounted iPhone and iPad games helped to raise more than $200,000, the company tells Kotaku. The money will be given to the International Red Cross for use in their ongoing efforts to provide food, shelter, medicine and other essentials for those suffering from the natural disaster in Japan.
By Brian Crecente Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Great Checkpoints Versus Saving Anywhere, Anytime Debate
Commenter MtlAngelus doesn’t like checkpoints in video games, preferring a system that allows players to save anywhere at any time. Which is better? You decide in today’s Speak-Up on Kotaku. I hate checkpoints. I love being able to save whenever I want. If there’s a point of the game that I really like, I want…
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
How The “Heroes” Of Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One Come Together
Bringing together four leading characters from the Ratchet & Clank series together and making them cooperate to survive is an excellent idea, as long as you’ve got a strong story to back it up. Let’s see how Insomniac does it. Ratchet and his robot buddy Clank are pretty much inseparable, unless the plot calls for…
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Do You Want a Dog Killer on Your Copy of Madden 2012?
Much has been written about Michael Vick’s dog fighting ring. About the 70 dogs seized, the cruelty they were subjected to and the two year sentence that came when the NFL football player admitted that he pitted dogs against dogs. And killed—with his own hands—the losing animals. The single sentence that seems to best summarize…
By Brian Crecente Published March 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Dragon Age II For $40? It Must Be An Amazon Gold Box Gaming Day
As we mentioned yesterday, today’s Amazon Gold Box deals are games all day, with Dragon Age II $40 across all platforms and great deals on De Blob 2, Bulletstorm, Dead Space 2, and more.
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2011