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Never-Before-Seen Footage of the Alien Puppets in James Cameron’s The Abyss
We’ve got an video clip from FX legend Steve Johnson’s archives featuring the angelic underwater alien puppets of James Cameron’s The Abyss. Watch the footage now. [io9]
By Stephen Totilo Published February 9, 2011 -
UncategorizedA Motion Control Master Shows The NES’s U-Force Wasn’t So Useless
We recently took issue with Brøderbund’s video game controller that required no physical contact, the U-Force. This forgettable, flaky Nintendo Entertainment System controller, almost universally despised, has been mastered by one man, who uses his U-Force with rare mastery. That man is Joe McKenna, maybe the best U-Force practitioner we’ve ever seen. His sister, Karen,…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Rare Love For Mortal Kombat’s Purple Rain
The underrated fighter Rain shows what he’s got in this excellent Mortal Kombat fan art illustration by Luciano Fleitas. Finish him! Bring it by Luciano Fleitas / demitrybelmont (deviantART) Need your daily fill of geek eye candy? If so, head over to Justin Page’s Rampaged Reality and get your fix. Republished with permission.
By Michael McWhertor Published February 9, 2011 -
UncategorizedFollicle Follies, Railing With Gears and I Played Duke Nukem
The DICE conference kicked off today, though I spent much of my morning in the room writing and working through design issues. I hope you had a chance to check out my hands-on impressions of Duke Nukem Forever. Despite the shallow nature of the game, I kinda want to play through the rest of it.…
By Brian Crecente Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
The Last Story Gives Up First For More Legal Drama In Japan
The Wii’s original role-playing game The Last Story has been knocked from its first place perch in Japan by the legal powers of Capcom’s Gyakuten Kenji 2, the latest game in the portable Ace Attorney series. The combined powers of Miles Edgeworth, Macross, White Knight Chronicles and Dragon Ball made for a top ten full…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Black Ops’ First Strike Hits PS3 In March, Coming To PC Too
The first map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, dubbed First Strike, will be released for the PlayStation 3 and PC on March 3. It hit the Xbox 360 on February 1 and includes four maps, one zombie level. [CORRECTION: There’s no PC date yet, only a confirmation that it’ll be on that platform…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 9, 2011 -
UncategorizedD.C. Universe Online MMO Log: Turning Heel
After three weeks of fighting crime, I decided to fight for crime in D.C. Universe Online, starting anew as a villain under the tutelage of one Lex Luthor. Kotaku’s MMO reviews are a multi-part process. Rather than deliver day one reviews based on beta gameplay, we play the game for four weeks before issuing our…
By Owen Good Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Call Of Duty For China Is Free To Play
The people who publish Call of Duty have been talking about their plans to bring more players into the online multiplayer fold, specifically targeting Asian players. Today, Activision finally divulged some details on its Chinese Call of Duty plans. Activision plans to follow the model made successful by countless MMOs and first-person shooters targeted at…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Magic: The Gathering Taps Into PlayStation Home
What happens when the world’s most addictive collectible card game meets the world’s least addictive virtual world? Find out tomorrow, when Magic: The Gathering enters PlayStation Home. Wizards of the Coast teams up with Sony to bring the creatures and scenery of Magic: The Gathering to PlayStation Home. Fans will be able to explore a…
By Mike Fahey Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Tony Hawk, Music Games Get The Year Off At Activision
There will be no skateboarding games, no music games coming from Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero publisher Activision in 2011. That means no DJ Hero 3 to play and no Tony Hawk games to stand on this year. And, oh yeah, no Guitar Hero games
By Michael McWhertor Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Mystery Game Studio Called Beachhead Will Improve Our Call Of Duty
What is Beachhead? It’s the name of a new game studio we just heard about today. Bobby Kotick, the man in charge of Call of Duty publisher Activision dropped it during a phone call today. All we know about Beachhead is that Kotick promises that the team is making an “innovative new digital platform” and…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Does This Mean Sony’s Kevin Butler Will Also Be Subpoenaed?
PlayStation executive mascot Kevin Butler unwittingly re-tweets the PlayStation 3’s private cryptography key, the key that opens the system up to piracy and homebrew programs, after Twitter user Travis “exiva” La Marr taunts the VP of PlayStation Stuff. Butler’s tweet was quickly scrubbed from his account, marking at least the second time the fictional exec…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Suicide Squad, An Assassin’s Creed Finale, And A Sonic Comic, Of Course
My weekly round-up of comics returns for the new-look Kotaku. There are new comics every Wednesday in American shops and — legally! — for download. Some are about video games. Some are good. (That’s a joke, sort of.) Comics You Should Consider Buying Suicide Squad Vol 1: Trial By Fire: Don’t you want to read…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Activision Just Killed Guitar Hero And True Crime
Publisher Activision has just added a few more games and maybe one more development studio to its kill count. A now partially confirmed report says that the mega-publisher has axed the Guitar Hero franchise, killed its True Crime reboot and fired much of Freestyle Games. Update: Activision confirms that Guitar Hero and True Crime: Hong…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Being Human In Guild Wars 2
In the original Guild Wars being human was a requirement. In the sequel being human is a choice. This week ArenaNet is taking an in-depth look at what it means to be human in Guild Wars 2. For veteran players of Guild Wars, playing a human in Guild Wars 2 might seem like a natural…
By Mike Fahey Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
And Then There Was Only One Fighting Rabbit Game On Apple’s Mac Store…
One week ago, we brought you the contentious tale of two games called Lugaru that Apple was selling on its Mac store. Today there is only one game called Lugaru in that shop. The game’s original creators at Wolfire Games had been frustrated that Apple had not spotted what they deemed to be a copycat…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Capcom’s iTunes Fire Sale
Capcom has a fire sale going on for nearly a dozen of their iPhone games, dropping the price to a penny shy of a dollar. Here’s a break down of all of the games currently selling for $.99 each: * Street Fighter 4 * CAPCOM Arcade (in-app purchase game machines) * Dead Rising Mobile *…
By Brian Crecente Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
We’ve Been Playing Games For 4,000 Years
Almost one out of every ten artifacts unearthed from the ruins of the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro in present-day Pakistan were play related. Have archaeologists been underestimating the social significance of play and games? Elke Rogersdotter from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden certainly thinks so. She’s been studying the artifacts unearthed at one of…
By Mike Fahey Published February 9, 2011 - Uncategorized
Veteran’s Group Warns Of The Post-Traumatic Stress Dangers Of Call Of Duty
Hundreds of thousands of U.S. war veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by their experiences on the front lines. According to Stay Strong Nation, games like Call of Duty: Black Ops can bring those experiences rushing back. Stay Strong Nation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping U.S. war veterans cope with post-traumatic…
By Mike Fahey Published February 9, 2011 -
UncategorizedSolving The Mystery Of LA Noire’s Gameplay
LA Noire’s facial animations have gotten a great deal of attention, but Rockstar’s gritty crime thriller is more than just a pretty face. Check out the first in a series of videos investigating the gameplay of LA Noire. LA Noire mixes action and adventure gaming in a way I never knew I wanted. I was…
By Mike Fahey Published February 9, 2011