How APB ‘Torpedoed’ Developer Realtime Worlds

The developer of Crackdown and APB, Realtime Worlds, was recently hit with layoffs. Members of the APB team were axed, as was much of the team developing social gaming software Project MyWorld. So, what happened to the promising studio? According to a commenter at Rock Paper Shotgun going by the name ExRTW, claiming to be…

Flight Control Coming To PSN With Move’s Launch

Flight Control, which did very well as an app with the iPhone’s multitouch controls, is getting a release for PlayStation Move at launch. It’s also playable with the PS3’s standard controller. The game will be sold over the PlayStation Store; no price was given in the news release, but it will be available in all…

Localizing Exclamations In Final Fantasy XIII

“Gnhhh!” … “Whhhhaaaah!” … “Bah….ah…gahhhhhh”… “Hmmmf!”… “Ehiehhh” … “Mhaemm!”.. These grunts, sighs, squeals and miscellaneous other vocalizations compose roughly 1/4 of the dialogues in the early hours of Final Fantasy XIII. On one hand, they’re to be expected; Japan is known for its plethora of exclamations and onomatopoeiae. On the other – when translated literally…

The Mystery Of The $1250 Halo Reach Has Been Solved

Why does Microsoft seem to be selling Halo Reach over Xbox Live right now for $1250? Answer from Microsoft: They’re not, and they don’t plan to sell Reach as a downloadable game. The $1250 version is for reviewers, a Microsoft spokesperson told Kotaku today and it’s not something anyone will have to or be able…

Your First Look At Red Faction: Battlegrounds

The first downloadable Red Faction game was officially named and detailed earlier today, but publisher THQ is making its latest game announcement officially official with new Red Faction: Battlegrounds media. The Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network game is coming in 2011, courtesy of developer THQ Digital Studios UK and Volition. Four players can go…

PlayStation 3 Slim Packs On 40GBs [Update]

The cheapest version of Sony’s thinner PlayStation 3 is now 40GB fatter in North America, a “just announced” improvement now shipping from retailer GameStop. The better news is that it’s still $299 USD. GameStop is carrying the upgraded version of the console now, seemingly a replacement for the base 120GB model that has been on…

Here Comes The Boom, Ready Or Not

Sweet Aunt Nancy’s pajamas – what? Tim Kitzrow, who probably gets introduced as “the Boomshakalaka guy” at parties, brings the bonkers in this tease for NBA Jam’s high-def version on Xbox 360 and PS3, included free with NBA Elite 11. The game will be downloadable with a free one-use code included in new copies of…

You Gotta Love the Food

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Spoiler Alert Today we flew into Germany, meeting up at the hotel before walking over to the Cologne Convention center. After registering for the GDC Europe and picking up our press pass for Gamescom we walked over the mammoth halls of the show to check things out. Blizzard has a…

Blizzard’s Booth Includes Diablo III, Cataclysm Goodness

In this first (and yes, very shaky) look at Blizzard’s massive Gamescom booth we catch a glimpse of StarCraft II, World of Warcraft Cataclysm and Diablo III. Judging by what we saw walking through the under-construction booth, it looks like there’s a good chance that Diablo III will be playable. No surprise there since the…

About 30 Jobs Lost At 2K Sports

Visual Concepts, the 2K Sports in-house studio handling NBA 2K, NHL 2K and MLB 2K, cut roughly 30 positions, Take-Two Interactive confirmed today. Very few jobs, if any, came from the studio’s upcoming NBA 2K11, its biggest moneymaker. Industry Gamers this morning reported Take-Two’s confirmation of the job losses. “These reductions will not affect 2K…

New Mortal Kombat Arcade Comp Listed, Yanked By Retailer

Online retailer ShopTo may have outed the Mortal Kombat team’s plans for a new collection of some of the series most fondly remembered games by revealing the Mortal Kombat Arcade Compilation. According to ShopTo’s listing—spotted by CVG and quickly pulled—the PlayStation 3 title will include Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.…

Nintendo Download: ‘Karaoke Game Of The Year’

Unless press releases lie, the Karaoke Game Of The Year became available for Nintendo DSi download today. So did a cool-looking side-scroller involving reflections. I’m not Mike Fahey, but this is your Vritual-Console-free Nintendo Download. WiiWare Space Trek Publisher: CALARIS Players: 1 ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Fantasy Violence Price: 700 Wii…

StarCraft II To Enable Free And Paid Character Name Changes

News from Blizzard today is that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will allow you to change your character name, something our biggest StarCraft fan on the team tells me is “huge.” Blizzard indicates that subsequent name-changes will cost a fee, a la World of Warcraft. They have not revealed the price for those later name…

The Massive GamesCom Preview Gallery

Take a peek at what’s going on this week at GamesCom in Germany, as Kotaku takes you on a tour of the convention grounds, with a special sneak peek at the show floor. We spent today wandering around Cologne, Germany, taking in the local flavor, before our curiosity got the better of us and we…

Xbox Indie Clips: AvaGlide

Today on Kotaku’s Xbox Indie Clips we take a look at AvaGlide, the Xbox Live Indie Game that gets us in a Pilot Wings sort of mood. Our pal Luke Plunkett drooled over Haiku Interacive’s Xbox Live Indie Game AvaGlide a few weeks back, but couldn’t play it, because Australia doesn’t have Xbox Live Indie…

Ghost Recon Predator Shows Its Screenshots, Its RC Car

Confirming a leak last month from the U.S. games ratings board, Ubisoft confirmed today that there’s a new Ghost Recon coming to PSP, a welcome addition to the platform’s thinned line-up. It’ll be out in November. At the PlayStation blog, Ubisoft brand manager Nate Mordo establishes the game as a squad-based mission behind enemy lines…

Somehow, Gun Loco Is From The People Who Make Final Fantasy

When you think Square-Enix’s Japan studios, do you think violent shooter with people wearing over-sized rabbit heads? Gun Loco, a 2011 disc-based Xbox 360 exclusive fits that bill. The game’s website launches on Wednesday, so this might be a Gamescom thing. The oddest aspect of the pre-release describing the game is that the characters are…

Gun Loco gallery

‘It Would Be Dishonest To Say This Is Not BioShock.’

If BioShock Infinite debuts with a gameplay demo and a trailer that includes no Little Sisters, no Rapture, no — so far — apparent storyline connection to earlier BioShocks, is it really a BioShock game? Yes, its creator told Kotaku. “It would be dishonest to say this is not BioShock,” Irrational Games creative director Ken…

A Very Strange Place To Find A Trading Card Game

The last place I expected to discover a fully-realized online trading card game, complete with duelist animations, experience point rankings, and animated dueling effects, was the virtual world of Second Life. I wouldn’t have discovered the LOGOS Collectible Card Game at all, had an e-mail from the game’s creator arrived a month ago. Fortunately my…