Critiquing Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom

Reader Geist002 took the time to check out a school play about video game addiction in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Here’s his take on Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom: Okay, I went and saw this play earlier tonight. My general critique: For a high-school play, it was fairly well done, all things considering. And note:…

Best Wishes Bridge Tecmo-Itagaki Rift

In February, Tecmo Koei and renowned designer Tomonobu Itagaki settled a lawsuit arising from their nasty split in 2008. The two are back on social terms, with Tecmo’s boss sending congratulations to Itagaki’s new studio, and the studio posting it. “Congratulations on establishing a new company,” Kakihara Yasuharu, the new chairman of Koei Tecmo holdings,…

Ghost Trick Brings Ace Attorney Aesthetic to the Afterlife

The man behind Capcom’s oddly addictive Ace Attorney games has a new DS title up his sleeve that has you possessing objects to manipulate and trick your way through plot-heavy puzzles. Ghost Trick Phantom Detective kicks off with the main character dying. Moments later, fortunately for him and the player, he returns as a ghost…

Supreme Court Decision On Whether To Hear Violent Video Game Case Expected Soon

The United States Supreme Court may decide whether to hear a landmark case affecting the sale of violent video games as early as next week, the California Attorney General’s office told Kotaku today. Before the highest court in the country is the decision whether to hear arguments regarding California’s legal battle against the video game…

Free-to-Play Football Sim Signs Another Big Name

Today’s football news isn’t entirely about Madden or the NFL Draft. Quick Hit Football, a free-to-play, browser-based football simulator, picked up Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss to appear in-game for Quick Hit’s second season. Quick Hit, whom I’ve written about a few times before, can’t use the entire roster of active NFL players or any…

Walks and Swordplay

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: How I Lost 8 Kilograms Yeah, walks are fantastic, especially in the wild. We did daily walks in the bush when we were visiting Trish’s parents in Australia’s Blue Mountains last winter. I love it. But, it didn’t help me lose an ounce. You know what did? Vomitting… violently… for…

Brees — and New Orleans — Grace the Madden NFL 11 Cover

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees was, as anticipated, named the Madden NFL 11 cover athlete today, appearing over a montage that honors the team and home city as well as the player. The Saints’ triumph in Super Bowl XLIV was, like it or not, a national feel-good story considering the city’s history in the aftermath…

The Best (Kotaku) WarioWare Games You’ll Ever Play

Last week we asked you to impress us and you have succeeded. On April 12 we kicked off our WarioWare D.I.Y contest with a call to wannabe game developers to create the best Kotaku-themed game. The rules were simple, you had to be the right age and live in the right place and you had…

ghostwire screens

Mega Man Creator To Assure Capcom’s Future

The man behind some of Capcom’s biggest video game creations is now in charge of personally assuring that all of the developer’s titles are hits. “It’s a common comment I hear that games created in Europe aren’t really Capcom games,” said Keiji Inafune, the man behind Mega Man, Dead Rising and Onimusha. “That games created…

Seventy-Three Sega Employees Restructured Out Of Their Jobs

Staff cuts have struck Sega London and San Francisco today, as an email from Corporate Operations Officer Masanao Maeda informs employees of the termination of a combined 73 positions between the two locations. In the email, forwarded to Kotaku from several different sources today, Maeda cites a reorganization of Sega’s business in the American and…

Legal Battle Over Fallout MMO Continues

The legal battle between Fallout IP holder Bethesda and original creator Interplay rages on, despite a dropped appeal granting false hopes to fans eager for a massively-multiplayer online Fallout title. Last September, Bethesda, the current owner of the Fallout intellectual property, filed a lawsuit against Interplay, the studio that created Fallout, claiming trademark infringement due…

Jill Valentine

His Traveling Companion is 3-Inches Tall

Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono tells Kotaku he takes mini-Blanka with him whenever he travels, snapping pics of the plastic pugilist everywhere he goes.

Dead Rising, Gears of War, Resident Evil Represent in Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2 isn’t just a third-person shooter with a robust storyline and oodles of online gameplay options, it’s also a game with a quirky sense of humor. Take for instance the inclusion of these odd choices in character customization. Gears of War’s Marcus Felix, Resident Evil’s Wesker and Dead Rising’s Frank West all make…

PETA Doesn’t Want Animals In The Mafia

Reacting to yesterday’s news that popular Facebook game Mafia Wars is adding animals as weapons, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals requests developer reconsider, using Zynga founder Mark Pincus’ own beloved pet as ammunition. Pit bulls, tigers, and lions are among a few of the animals that Mafia Wars, a social game that’s…

This Week In Comics

As is so often the case, the press I’m reading about comics is about crossovers. Blackest Night. Siege. They are, despite the hate they get — the suspect claims of “event fatigue” — the most popular thing in comics. Technically, we’re at something of a lull in crossover comics. DC just finished their Blackest Night…

A Look At the Real, Not-So-Sexy Samurai of Capcom’s Latest Game

Fact is never as sexy as fiction. That’s painfully obvious when comparing the in-game looks of some of Japan’s most famous samurai to their real world appearance. In Sangoku Basara Samurai Heroes, you take on the role of a historic samurai during Japan’s Warring states period. But somehow these famous generals end up looking like…

Final Fantasy XIII PlayStation Home Items Come To North America

Let your Final Fantasy fanhood ring across the hallowed halls and cubbyholes of PlayStation Home today, as Final Fantasy XIII avatar items, costumes, and spaces make their way to North America. You might recall the gear that made its way to the Japanese version of PlayStation Home last year. The costumes transforming avatars into generic…

The Accidental Love Child of Wii Fit And WarioWare

EA Sports Active 2.0 is probably going to be a healthy product when it is released: software marshaled for good. EA Sports Active 2.0 as demonstrated for me last night was something else, something somewhat intriguing and probably, amusingly dangerous. You see, EA Sports Active 2.0, set for PlayStation 3 and Wii release late this…