• Uncategorized

  Venture Capital Backs Off, and Boston Development Suffers

  Venture capital investments in U.S. video game efforts dropped by more than $60 million from 2008 to 2009, of particular concern to developers in strong but outlying areas such as Boston. The Boston Globe reported today on the beatdown dealt to game development reliant on venture capital. In 2008, 35 projects were funded at a…

  By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  Review Round-Up: Week Over, Man! Week Over!!

  Stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen, because this week’s batch of original Kotaku reviews is in the pipe, five by five. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but hey, we reviewed Aliens Vs. Predator this week. We also reviewed all of the following games, some of which involve guns, plus one movie…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  Atari’s Missile Command Bound For The Big Screen?

  Missile Command rights holder Atari is banking on Hollywood’s creatively bankrupt studios to warm to a movie based on the 30-year-old trackball game in which missiles are commanded and cities are saved. The LA Times reports that Atari is in “active discussions with studios” to option the rights to Missile Command as a film, hinting…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  In Turn Two It’s Yoshi, Waluigi and Logano …

  After a week in which potholes played havoc with the Daytona 500 field, now it looks like Joey Logano and the No. 20 GameStop Toyota team are gonna rain shells and bananas on Fontana in the next Nationwide Series race. That right there is the Mario Kart Wii paint scheme Logano will be sporting in…

  By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  A Dog’s Tail

  To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Why Is Time Moving So Quickly, Can You Make It Stop, Gee Thanks Did you ever watch the old Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther flicks? I used to love them when I was a kid. One of my favorite reoccurring characters in the movie, besides Sellers, was Cato Fong. Remember him?…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  New PSPgo Owners Get Assassin’s Creed or LittleBigPlanet Free*

  Are you ready to take the digital download-only plunge? If so, Sony will reward new PSPgo owners with one of two free games, handing out a complementary copy of either the portable port of LittleBigPlanet or Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines. That’s $39.99 USD worth of game, which might make the $249.99 USD asking price of Sony’s…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  All-Star Week Expands in MLB 10 The Show

  Home run derbies have been a standalone mode of baseball sims for years. This video shows that MLB 10 The Show will incorporate the All-Star Home Run Derby into its long-term play modes, as well as the All-Star Futures game. Writing on the Playstation.Blog, designer Aaron Luke says the Sony San Diego team set out…

  By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  Does Just Cause 2 Even Need A Story?

  When you can tie a man to the back of a fighter jet and take to the sky with him screaming behind you, does your game really need a plot? Developer Avalanche is obviously trying too hard. There is really no need for you to have a compelling narrative in a game where I can…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  Japan’s Hardware War Feeling A Little Too Comfortable

  The Japanese hardware market has found a groove, the PSP, Wii and Nintendo DS platform continuing to dominate that charts, the PSPgo untouchable in its abilities to hold tightly onto last place. This week’s tally of winners and losers in the Japanese console war looks remarkably like last week’s (and the week before), making hardware…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  There Are No Free Rides In Free Realms

  Sony Online Entertainment continues to add everything you could ever want to its free-to-play MMO Free Realms, with the addition of dragon and dinosaur mounts, now on sale in the in-game marketplace. Free Realms is free, but only to a certain extent. If you want the coolest jobs, nicest gear, and the newly-introduced ride-able dragons…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  Borderlands Creator Wanted Me To Pick A Card, Any Card

  Randy Pitchford, head of Gearbox Software, makes games and performs magic. On the red carpet for the awards out here at DICE, I asked Pitchford to show me a trick. He happened to have a deck of cards. Of course!

  By Stephen Totilo Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  What Are You Playing This Weekend?

  Zombies are trying to eat me and my neighbors, an attack that I’ll be fending off with various plants, seeds and fungi this weekend. That’s right. It’s Plants Vs. Zombies time. On my iPhone! I’ve been playing the iPhone port of PopCap’s brilliant “tower defense” strategy game for the past couple days, a trend I…

  By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  This Week’s Top Five Hotter-than-Hades Stories

  It’s Friday and it’s time for the top 5 hottest Kotaku stories of the week. Warning: reading them may scorch eyebrows, eyelashes, and/or facial hair. Brought to you by Dante’s Inferno. In stores now. Read ’em and burn after the jump. 1. New Final Fantasy XIII Screens Let You Compare Xbox 360, PS3 – 104,596…

  By Gawkercreative Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  Preorder Final Fantasy XIII’s Epic Soundtrack

  If you impatiently imported the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII’s soundtrack from Japan, you might want to start kicking yourself now, as preorders open for the four-disc set in Square Enix’s North American online store. I have to admit I was extremely close to paying an additional $15 for the 85-track Final Fantasy XIII…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  My Silliest Interview Of The Week

  I worked the red carpet for the Interactive Achievement Awards yesterday, doing my best not to ask the gaming luminaries who walked by what they were wearing. Silly mini-interviews can happen at these things. Such as this one: David Adams and Tim Campbell of Vigil Games walked up to me. Their studio made Darksiders. I’m…

  By Stephen Totilo Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  OnLive Resurfaces: Crysis On An iPhone, Data Centers Located

  There’s still no official release date yet, but this week at the DICE Summit, the head of the possible video game revolution On Live was offering more proof that his service is coming together. OnLive CEO Steve Perlman gave attendees at this gaming conference a look at the all-streaming gaming service in action, running multiple…

  By Stephen Totilo Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  The Latest Prince of Persia Plays With Solid Water and Flexible Time

  Elemental powers, time manipulation and a story that fills in seven years of the Prince of Persia’s past are the hallmarks of the upcoming Prince of Persia game, The Forgotten Sands. “In this installment we are returning to the Sands of Time universe,” Michael McIntyre, the game’s level design director, told Kotaku during a meeting…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  EA’s Five Tips For The Next Three Years, If You Want To Make Games And Money

  Times are tough in gaming these days, for the people making what we play. That’s a common theme at the DICE Summit, as studio shutdowns and declining sales have darkened the mood here. But EA today offered some survival tips. Recognize the stakes, before you read on. The EA man talking this morning at DICE,…

  By Stephen Totilo Published February 19, 2010
• Uncategorized

  Dragon Age: Awakening’s Latest Character Revealed Shortly

  The latest new party member revealed for the Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening expansion is Sigrun, a diminutive Dwarven warrior maiden with a gigantic chip on her shoulder. As a member of the Legion of the Dead, Sigrun has vowed to die in battle fighting the enemies of Orzammar as penance for…something I’m sure we’ll…

  By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2010
• Reviews

  Aliens Vs. Predator Review: Too Human

  Aliens vs. Predator tells the story of a colonial base on a distant planet that finds itself at the unfortunate epicenter of a showdown between a hive of Aliens and a hunting party of Predators. Playing through the first-person shooter as a marine, an Alien and a Predator, gamers will piece together the story of…

  By Brian Crecente Published February 19, 2010