Ten Reasons Why Teenage Girls Become Otaku

Everyone has their reasons. What’s yours, sister? Japanese website Otalabo polled over 600 individuals about what led them to become an “otaku”. Otalab focuses on polling teenage females, and it should be noted that the website uses the word “otaku” and not the gender specific fujoshi, which means literally means “rotten girl”. The term “otaku”…

Let’s Imagine New Pokemons!

On Sunday, Japanese kids’ show Pokémon Sunday showed silhouettes of new characters in the all-new forthcoming game Pocket Monsters: Black and White. Time to imagine what these characters will look like! Pokémon Black and White is a completely new Pocket Monster series. And this fall, the fifth-generation Pokémon series will be released on the Nintendo…

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Four New Challengers Enter

There’s a Marvel vs Capcom 3 feature in the latest issue of Game Informer Magazine, and along with some new screens of the game, a number of previously unconfirmed – though strongly hinted-at – characters have been revealed. The “new” characters are ones we already guessed at from the game’s first promo art, but hard…

Old Haunts

To: Luke From: Owen Re: Half a Move As some know I was down in the Bay Area this weekend for a couple things we’ll learn more about later. But it was nice putting actual faces to some names I’ve gotten to know over the past year, whether it was the guys at EA Sports…

Wii at Last, Wii at Last, Thank God Almighty …

So President Obama, once again, dinged video games in a speech. I’d rather send a more uplifting message, where a console is judged not by the content of its games, but the color of its skin. As we know, today is an historic day* in America – the first black Wii is available for purchase.…

Obama Doesn’t Know How To Work An Xbox Or A PlayStation

Addressing graduating students at Hampton University, Virginia on the weekend, US President Barack Obama has spoken out on the challenges facing government in an information age, one dominated by “Xboxes and PlayStations”. “You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds…

Week in Games: Two Sequels and Something New

Lost Planet 2 (above) and Skate 3 highlight the coming week. But let’s do this roundup a bit differently and, I hope, in a way that’s a little more useful and interesting to you. Monday (May 10) • Photo Dojo (DS): It’s a chop-socky side-scroller/fighter, but more importantly, it gets you into the action, with…

Kotaku’s Top 5 List of Top 10 Lists

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. •Nine Things I Learned from the Halo: Reach Beta [GamerCrave] No. 10: They should just change the game’s name to “Powerhouse Slayer.” •15 Life Lessons…

A Mother Brain for Mother’s Day

More than 2,000 PixelBlocks went into this Mother Brain, which PhotoBucket user Silvernite8 created in honor of Mother’s Day. Because this is what moms find so adorable.

More Sonic 4 Video Spills Onto Internet, Threatens Wildlife [Update]

About a month ago several videos purporting to show gameplay from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 leaked out. This one, visually consistent with the others, shows a new stage: “Mad Gear Zone.” YouTube user SuperBlizHedgehogRev got these up on Friday and they’ve managed not to get smashed down by a Sega copyright claim since then. Skip…

If Not Creating Truth, Then Suspending Disbelief

Ultimately, the challenges the “uncanny valley” poses to motion capture and animation will be overcome by technology. But suspension of disbelief is just as important to a game’s storytelling, writes the actor who portrayed Ethan Mars in Heavy Rain Pascal Langdale, writing on his blog Motives in Movement, examines the latter concept, which he reasons…

Weekend Coupons: Deserve’s Got Nothin’ to Do With It

I’ve killed women and children. I’ve killed everything that walks or crawls at one time or another. And I’m here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you done to my Weekend Coupons. Sorry they’re a day late Mr. Munny. Here are your coupons. Now, if you’ll just lower that shotgun … Hardware • Reminder:…

Sunday Comics

Penny Arcade published May 5 PvPonline published May 4 ActionTrip published May 3 Digital Unrest published May 3 EXTRALIFE published May 5 GU Comics published May 6 Dotgif published May 3 Ctrl+Alt+Del published May 7 Dueling Analogs published May 6 Nerf NOW published May 3 Rooster Teeth published May 8 Monday Night Crew published May…

Kotaku Originals: A Day Late

But, like this guy, not a dollar short. We still had plenty of news – LucasArts’ power outage, Activision’s financials, Fallout: New Vegas and the Black Wii – worth rounding up in the five-star final edition of Kotaku’s original reporting. K Monthly – April 2010 Kotaku Talk Radio Top Stories LucasArts President Resigns Activision Boss…

Kotaku Off-Topic: Home is Where the Smells Are

Just got back from five days away on assignment. Is anyone else weirded out by how their home smells different upon returning from a trip? Like, “Holy Toledo, does it smell like that to visitors?” This time, however, I’m pretty sure the weird aroma was not of my own making. It’s largely attributable to the…

Black Widow

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Merit Badge Edition Winners

The Cub Scouts are now offering pins and belt loops for meritorious study and applied knowledge of the subject of video gaming, but they failed to consult with Kotaku on the lesson plan. That’s where the ‘Shop Contest comes in! The chance to offer a wry take on a familiar subject – achievement whoring, in…

Isn’t It A Little Early For A Star Trek Online Winback Weekend?

Atari and Cryptic Studios have mounted a huge push for players in Star Trek Online, featuring a referral program, veteran rewards, a free demo, and an invitation to lapsed players of the three-month-old MMO to try it again for free. Has Star Trek Online really lost so many of its launch players in the past…

First Footage Of Enslaved, From The Makers Of Heavenly Sword

Developer Ninja Theory will work its multiplatform ninjitsu with Enslaved, a lovely looking post apocalyptic buddy game bound for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. See Enslaved’s Monkey and Trip in action for the first time, thanks to GameTrailers TV

Is The PSP Go Dead Yet?

This is the last picture I took of my PSP Go before selling it on eBay for $200. Is anyone still holding onto theirs? Three months after Sony released the UMD-less, sliding screen PSP Go I finally caved and bought one of my very own. Why? For one, it is a very pretty device. It’s…