LucasArts Confirms Layoffs, Ex-Staffers Speak Out

Star Wars game developer LucasArts has confirmed to Kotaku that it’s making cutbacks at its internal studios today. Word from those affected by LucasArts layoffs indicating deep cuts. One former LucasArts developer, let go from the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II team, called today’s round of layoffs a “massacre,” with an estimated 60 people…

Out Of Ammo: Our Favorite Shooter Melee Weapons

Whether you’re seriously low on ammo or just want to make someone’s life completely miserable, there’s nothing quite like bringing a hammer, crowbar, or chainsaw to a gun fight. Here are some of our favorite gun alternatives. Over the years, melee weapons in first-person shooters have transformed. They started off as a way to add…

Author On Roger Ebert’s Remarks: Insane

This past April, film critic Roger Ebert wrote a post called “Video games can never be art” that carried dogmatic statements like this: “Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form”. Alex Garland, author of the book The Beach and screenwriter…

Apple Boasts iPod touch The ‘#1 Portable Game Player’

Some gamers may not consider Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch platform a viable video game device, but the company’s CEO sure does, calling it “the number one portable game player” on the market, just before introducing the iPod’s latest iteration. CEO Steve Jobs claims the Apple device has “50%+ the marketshare for portable game players…

Get Your Hands-On Killzone 3 Multiplayer At PAX 2010

We played Killzone 3’s multiplayer at Gamescom. Now’s your chance, as Guerrilla Games and Sony hold the first public hands-on with the game’s online component at PAX in Seattle this weekend. Sony’s booth at PAX is sure to be a crowded spot, with eight-on-either matches of Killzone 2 multiplayer running from the time the show…

Mortal Kombat Takes Its Shadow Boxing Seriously

Fan favorite characters fight in the shadows in a trailer for the new Mortal Kombat so dark and moody they had to play Disturbed’s new song “Another Way to Die” to lighten things up. “Another Way to Die” is a track off Disturbed’s Asylum album, and it’s a perfect fit for a teaser of the…

The Complete Playstation Move Compendium

The Playstation Move brings Playstation 3 owners into the world of motion gaming with a high-definition bang. Are you ready? Here’s a run down of everything we know about the hardware, about the games, about the technology. This round-up includes more than a baker’s dozen game reviews and impressions, more than 20 original videos showing…

Play With The Unreal Engine On Your iPhone With Epic Citadel

The creators of the Unreal Engine and the games that run on it have brought their tech to the iPhone. Epic Games is now letting iPhone owners see how well their engine works with a free demo, Epic Citadel. Epic Citadel is not the newly announced iPhone and iPad game from Epic Games. The creators…

Turn Your PlayStation Camera Into A 3D Scanner

The PlayStation Eye is fairly handy as a console camera, a PC webcam and even part of Sony’s Move setup. But it’s even handier as a 3D scanner. That means that with the Eye, some software and a home-made rig, you can create your own 3D scans, which can then be used as mere models…

The Ultimate Guide To The PlayStation Move

This is your guide to everything you need to know about the PlayStation Move: how it works, what it costs, and what games you can play on it. What Is The PlayStation Move? The PlayStation Move is a motion-sensing game controller platform for the PlayStation 3. It consists of a wand-shaped controller the player holds…

Gunfusion: The Force Feedback, Pistol-Gripped, 3D Mouse Controller

Somewhere between a light gun and a 3D mouse things went sideways over at peripheral maker Novint’s laboratories. The end result: This monstrosity. The Novint Falcon Pistol Grib controller never quite took off, though you can now pick it up for 80 percent off over at Novint Check out our impressions of the controller to…

A Look At Monster Hunter Portable 3rd

Capcom is making another Monster Hunter Portable game for the PSP. It’s the sequel to Monster Hunter Portable 2nd and called…Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. Boy, that’s clever. So here, have a look. As previously detailed here the game is dated for December 1 in Japan and will be playable at this Year’s Tokyo Game Show.

Apple’s Answer To Xbox Live Launches Next Week

Friends lists, matchmaking, and a unified multiplayer gaming experience come to the iPhone in next week with the release of Apple’s Game Center in iOS 4.1. Apple first revealed plans for its unified gaming service back in April, and we’ve been waiting patiently for news of its release since then. Today at Apple’s special event…

Project Sword Is Epic’s First Unreal Engine iPhone Game

Gears of War and Unreal Tournament creators Epic Games will bring competitive multiplayer sword-based combat, powered by its Unreal Engine, to the iPhone later this year with slash-em-up Project Sword. Epic’s Mike Capps and Donald Mustard—he of Shadow Complex development fame—showed off the first- and third-person slasher at Apple’s event in San Francisco this morning,…

Playstation Podcast: I Like to Move It, Move It

Stephen Totilo and I have spent the past week (and one very, very long night) playing, stress-testing and examining the Playstation Move. Do you have any questions for us? We’re going to be chatting about the Sony tech live on today’s episode of Kotaku Talk Radio. We’ll also be sure to break in with any…

New Batman: Arkham City Screens Almost Look Too Good To Be True

These twenty new screen shots of Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham City are so impressive, so easy on the eyes that more cynical gamers might cry “Bullshot!” But if you played Arkham Asylum, you know Batman games can look this good. Batman looks tough. Catwoman looks super sexy. As does the much improved Harley Quinn. Two…

What’s Inside An Atari 2600?

To celebrate the launch of video game repair guides, do-it-yourself repair website iFixit is tearing down old video game consoles all week long. Today they give us a peek at what’s inside the classic Atari 2600. By today’s standards, the Atari 2600 is downright primitive. There’s no fan and no CD-ROM drive to get gummed…

Batman: Arkham City Screen Shots

PlayStation Move Stress Tests, Using Lighting Changes And Human Distraction

The PlayStation Move can be flummoxed by bright sunlight. That’s the one stress test Sony’s new motion controller failed in a series of trials involving a range of lighting conditions and human distraction to which we subjected the Move. Lighting Tests The PlayStation Move wand used the PlayStation Eye camera to track it’s movement in…

Move Podcast Inbound

We’ve had our say, plenty of say, about the Playstation Move. Now it’s your turn. Join us at 1 p.m. eastern today on our live podcast to chat about the upcoming Sony motion controller.