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UncategorizedWhen Your Developer Goes Bust, The Music Must Go On
Game designer (and musical maestro) Simon Viklund has had some adjusting to do over the past few years, watching a game series he was once a driving force behind end up in the arms of another man. Well, team. Viklund served as creative director on 2008’s Bionic Commando Rearmed, a pulsating remake of 1988’s Bionic…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Today’s The Day For Your Dragon Age 2 Demo
A demo for upcoming RPG Dragon Age 2 just hit Xbox Live. It’s 2GB, and is available (sorry!) only for Gold subscribers. The PS3 and PC versions are due later today (or tomorrow if you’re in Europe).
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
A Country With No Late Night Online Gaming
Starting March 3, those hoping to play online games between 10pm and 8am in Vietnam will need to find a workaround. The country’s Ministry of Information and Communication has asked internet service providers to block access to online games. “Provincial departments of information and communication will inspect on-line games activities nationwide and deal with organizations…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
This Uncharted Art Is So Good You’ll Think You Can Touch It
Despite the amazing name, Hanno Hagedorn is not a Norse God. He is a mortal, an artist who worked on Uncharted 2, crafting 3D images so damn pretty you have to be told they’re not actual works of sculpture. These pieces are “unpainted” digital models of some of Uncharted 2’s main characters, including villain Zoran…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedTaiwanese Game Show Heroically Shows Old Stuff
This year’s Taipei Game Show recently wrapped up. And while it’s short on breaking news when compared to the Tokyo Game Show or the E3 gaming expo, it does look like a grand time. Japanese website Game Watch Impress was on hand to capture the festivities. Well-known Japanese game designers like Hideo Kojima and Kazunori…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedWatch A 360 Avatar Try Lip-Syncing
Microsoft’s upcoming “Avatar Kinect” was pitched as a glorified chatroom. It didn’t sound that exciting. This real-time demonstration, though, at least makes it look remotely interesting. Sure, it’s still a glorified chatroom, but there’s some neat technology on display, not the least of which is the impressive almost-real-time lip-syncing your avatar is capable of when…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
The PlayStation Phone Looks Better In White
Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play, the device we used to call the PlayStation Phone, isn’t the prettiest thing on the planet. Swap the drab silver out for a creamy white, though, and things are looking up. This white version of the handheld will be offered by British telco O2 when the Play goes on sale in…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedHow A Blind Man Plays Video Games
Mechanical engineering student and gamer Terry Garrett can play just about the perfect game of Abe’s Exoddus. Which is pretty awesome, considering Garrett is totally blind Having lost one eye at the age of 5 and the other at age 10, Garrett is limited in what he can play because, unable to see what’s happening…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
China Getting Mysterious Motion-Controls For MMO
With the “eBox”, China already has a Kinect-like motion sensing controller. And apparently, the country is also getting a totally different motion-sensing-controlled PC game. If only there was more to go on than some lady waving her hands around. According to website ChinaGame, massively multiplayer online game Land of Lords Online is getting motion controls.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Nintendo-Powered Museum Closes Its Doors
I often get emails from readers, asking where they should go while visiting Japan. There are the obvious answers like Akihabara or Den-Den Town. But one place I usually recommend, a Nintendo-funded museum in Kyoto, is closing its doors. For the time being, at least. Dubbed Shigureden, it sits in Arashiyama, a quaint Kyoto village…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 22, 2011 -
UncategorizedThis Slick Minecraft Documentary Needs Your Help
2 Player Productions, the world’s finest purveyors of video game documentaries, are in a bind. Having filmed a short documentary on Minecraft, they now want to make a much longer one. But they need your help. Making professional films isn’t cheap or easy, and the team need money to get the project off the ground.…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 -
Uncategorized
Celebrate Zelda’s Birthday With This Stunning Painting
Japanese artist ag+ has commemorated the 25th anniversary of the release of the original Legend of Zelda in the best possible way: with one of the most amazing pieces of fan art you will ever see. If Nintendo had a chapel and (bear with me) that chapel had an ornately-painted ceiling, this would surely be…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 -
CultureTotal RecallRemembering Possibly The Worst Thing Zelda Ever Did
Nearly every single Legend of Zelda video game is revered, if not as an all-time classic, then at least as a pretty good/good/great game. The franchise’s one major departure onto TV screens? It was not good. Not at all While Mario was turned into a big Hollywood movie and Metroid was long rumoured to be…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 22, 2011 - Uncategorized
Hirsutes With The Parachute Fruits
Welcome back to the workweek, Kotaku readers. How are you loving that new scroll bar? This is the place where we can talk about our fondness for UI changes, video games, or any other thing that crosses the mind. I’ve got a dog full of something that needs to be taken, outside, so unless you…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 21, 2011 - Uncategorized
How The Great Gatsby Became A Long Lost NES Game
The Great Gatsby—the “NES” version, that is—started its strange life as a single screen shot, a pixelated recreation of Francis Cugat’s iconic cover art for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel. “It was just too funny,” says The Great Gatsby NES lead developer Charlie Hoey of that artwork “all NESified and blocky with PRESS START…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 21, 2011 - Uncategorized
Looks Like More Mass Effect 2 Is Coming With ‘Arrival’
Plans for even more downloadable content for Mass Effect 2 is hardly surprising, given BioWare’s extended post-launch support for the role-playing game. Somewhat surprising is how we’ve learned about Arrival, via a patch for the PlayStation 3 version. Kotaku reader Vamplosion spotted something strange after updating his copy of Mass Effect 2: three new PlayStation…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 21, 2011 -
UncategorizedWell Hellooooo PC Gaming
I got my boutique-built gaming computer in the mail today. It was a monster, packed in a wooden crate and ensconced in a sheath of black cloth. It worked for almost four hours before I ran into my first issue…. sigh. (Don’t worry, I think it’s a static issue I’m having with USB ports.) Can…
By Brian Crecente Published February 21, 2011 - Uncategorized
Xenogears, A PlayStation Great, Becomes A PSone Classic
Well, we can’t say we didn’t see it coming, but the arrival of PlayStation role-playing game classic Xenogears as a downloadable PSone Classic is still welcome news. The official PlayStation.blog heralds the release of Square Enix’s turn-based RPG on the North American PlayStation Store tomorrow.
By Michael McWhertor Published February 21, 2011 - Uncategorized
Historic New York Arcade Closure Is ‘Rumor Started By A Moron’, Though It’s Kinda True
The phone has been ringing repeatedly today at New York’s Chinatown Fair, a beloved arcade in downtown New York, thanks to word on Facebook that the place was shutting down. Not true, not really, well … probably not really. “That was a rumor started by a moron,” Chinatown Fair manager Valentino Ventura told Kotaku on…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 21, 2011