- Uncategorized
Assassin’s Creed: The After-School Cartoon Would Be A Blast
Assassin’s Creed is a pretty serious franchise! It’s nothing but killing, war, politics, religion and prostitutes. It’s about time it lightened up. Maybe with an animated series? DeviantArt user doubleleaf has drawn this entirely fantastical series of images depicting what the characters of Ubisoft’s stealth/action franchise (in particular the latest game, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood) would…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2011 -
UncategorizedTwo Of The Last Great American Arcades (Might Be) Closing Down
Fans of arcade gaming in the United States might be on the receiving end of a one-two punch, with both New York’s Chinatown Fair and California’s Arcade Infinity in danger of closure by the end of the month. For different reasons, both were seen as two of the finest arcades left in North America; Chinatown…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2011 -
UncategorizedHey, LeBron James, Why Don’t You Play Games Online?
Caught by a gamer at the recent NBA All-Star game, here’s Miami Heat superstar LeBron James talking about which games he plays (and why he doesn’t play online). The fact he plays Call of Duty, Madden, NBA2K, etc shouldn’t break your heart. The guy isn’t going to say, “Well, on road trips me and the…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 21, 2011 - Uncategorized
Final Fantasy Versus XIII Is Still A PS3 Exclusive…For Now
The most recent issue of Japanese magazine V-Jump features an article on upcoming role-playing game Final Fantasy Versus XIII. The game is supposed to be a PS3 exclusive. The latest V-Jump begs to differ. Developers Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura, the guy designing it, have repeatedly stressed that this game is PS3 only. Yet, in…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 21, 2011 -
UncategorizedPlaying Games Is Easier Than Being A Pop Star
Citing fatigue, pop star Hikaru Utada is taking 2011 off. She’s not touring and not releasing any new albums. Instead, she’s doing what many do when they want to relax: she’s playing video games. In particular, she’s all about recently released dungeon crawler Mysterious Dungeon Shiren the Wanderer 5: Fortune Tower and the Dice of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 21, 2011 -
CultureCan a Controller Be Programmed to Speed-Run Super Mario Bros.?
Long story short, this modder built a controller that, when plugged into a Nintendo Entertainment System, auto speedruns Super Mario Bros. in just a shade under 5 minutes. Naturally, commenters have shouted it down as a fake, but the Tool-Assisted Speedrun community is unanimous in calling the mod real. Modder pjgat09 provides a step-by-step, with…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 -
UncategorizedWhat’s Cookin’?
My new morning routine: Get up, dump, prepare coffee, boil a pot of water to do the dishes from last night. I have no hot water in my kitchen sink. This will get fixed sometime this week. Until then, I’m washing plates old school, and using them as little as possible. Here’s our big stories…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
No Dead Island Movie in the Works
Dead Island studio Deep Silver has said, via the game’s Facebook page, that no rights to a Dead Island movie have been optioned yet. “Rest assured, a high-quality movie is the #1 thing we’re concerned about for a film adaptation,” writes the developer
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 -
UncategorizedAnd Now, Minecraft Spoofs Dead Island
With a haunting trailer that went instantly viral this past week, Dead Island joined Minecraft as a YouTube subject where you just can’t go wrong. What happens when you combine the two? Comedy gold. Need a refresher for what the gag is? See the original Dead Island trailer here, or see it edited in forward-sequence…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Shooting Stars
Killzone 3 and Bulletstorm get their guns off on Tuesday. The third release in the Killzone series won’t have as much cussin’ in its dialogue, says developer Guerrilla Games. Bulletstorm, frankly, doesn’t have much non-cussin’ in its script. Tuesday (Feb. 22) Killzone 3 (PS3) – The Killzone trilogy brings the fight to Earth as you…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Top 5 of Top 10: Heroes for Hire
Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •11 Public Domain Characters Who Need Their own Video Game [UGO] Actually, quite a fascinating list, drawing on literary figures, defunct comic book characters, and…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Billy Mitchell Opens an Arcade
Billy Mitchell, who supplied every villainous stereotype short of twirling his mustache in “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” has opened an arcade at Orlando’s airport under the film’s branding – with good guy Steve Wiebe gracing the entrance. The King of Kong branding on Mitchell’s arcade probably means everyone’s aboard with it,…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Billion-Dollar Expectations Caused Activision to ‘Abuse’ Guitar Hero, Says Ex-Publisher
The ex-CEO of Guitar Hero’s original publisher, RedOctane, has weighed in on Activision’s decision to close down the franchise, completing the cycle of reaction. Kelly Sumner says the publisher “abused” the franchise and had unrealistic expectations for it. “Not every game can be a billion dollar franchise, but maybe that’s what Activision wants,” said Sumner,…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Find Velocity Girl
An offhand remark in Luke’s look back at the early vision for Xbox Live Marketplace brings us this week’s challenge: Who was Velocity Girl, and what the hell does she look like? “We must get the internet masses to draw a mock-up of Velocity Girl,” said The Sentient Meat. “Sounds like a photoshop challenge to…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Uncategorized
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
This is Kotaku’s official open forum. Here you may discuss whatever comes to mind about video games. Well, go ahead, discuss something! I’m waiting! Kidding aside, thanks to reader jungletoad for today’s image. Submit your image to #TAYpics (Read this thread for directions on how to do a TAYpic.)
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 - Culture
Sunday Comics
Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. published Feb. 14 – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. published Feb. 18 – Read more of Nerf…
By Owen Good Published February 20, 2011 -
UncategorizedSpace Invaders, Played with Kinect
From France comes the latest Kinect mod – fully playable Space Invaders, whose control scheme turns the 1978 Taito classic into an exergaming ordeal. Extend left arm, move left. Extend right arm, move right. OK, but you have to extend both to fire. That means, even if you’re a perfect shot, you’re doing 55 jumping…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2011 - Uncategorized
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest : Give This Guy His Game Winners
My absence last weekend created a bit of a stir. Never fear, we’re here to award the winners of the ‘Shop Contest of Feb. 6, featuring everyone’s favorite Darth Maul impersonator from the Hoosier state, Ricky Lee Kalichun. Since it’s been two weeks, we’ll bring you up to date on the ballad of Ricky Lee.…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2011 -
UncategorizedHere’s Doom — Running on a Graphing Calculator
Here, folks, is gaming on the original handheld – a calculator. While you’re still snickering over spelling out BOOBLESS and HELL upside down on yours, some guy’s gone and run Doom – real Doom – on a Texas Instruments Nspire. The admin of the TI calculator enthusiast site (i.e. – gang o’ nerds) Omnimaga got…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2011 - Uncategorized
Why the NFL’s Labor Strife Might Be the Best Thing That Happened to Madden
Even if a lockout doesn’t happen – even if the dispute between owners and players is solved tomorrow – the labor unrest in the National Football League will have ramifications reaching well into the future – for video games. This week, EA Sports and the NFL altered the terms of their notorious exclusive arrangement, which…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2011