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  Naughty Bear Screens Just As Creepy As The Trailer

  Not even disco dancing teddy bears can save this batch of Naughty Bear screens from being just as disturbing as the trailer we posted yesterday. At first I was relieved. The image of a disco dancing teddy lulled me into a false sense of security, making the scenes of bear-on-bear fisticuffs seem tame. Then I…

  By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2010
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  New Final Fantasy Trailer Includes Lovely Music, English Voice Acting

  Click to view Caught in the translation bubble that gave Final Fantasy XIII to Japan last month, but won’t deliver it to the rest of us until March, we’re all left to watch trailers of the game set to pop music. In this one we get to watch the new International trailer which is set…

  By Brian Crecente Published January 13, 2010
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  BioShock 2 Director Explains Vita-Chamber Changes, Backtracking Prohibition

  Our recent previews about BioShock 2 have raised some questions among fans and skeptics of the series. How has the series’ resurrection system been tweaked? And why can’t players backtrack to earlier levels in the new game? We got answers. Yesterday, BioShock 2 creative director Jordan Thomas walked me through how the Vita-Chambers will work…

  By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2010
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Today is the release date for your comments about video games. So we expect to see them beneath this post, without delay. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

  By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2010
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  Cred vs. Influence (or Killing our Soul)

  Artist, writer, game designer; the biggest feather in Brenda Brathwaite’s cap, in my book, is that she had a hand in creating some of the Wizardry games. A recent dinner conversation led to this interesting piece by Brathwaite about the lasting legacy and impact authors seem to have on our psyche and why talented game…

  Brenda Brathwaite Published January 13, 2010
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  Delays Aren’t Necessarily Bad, Yo

  To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Recovering From CES… AVN Busy night! Gran Turismo 5 is delayed. I know delays suck, but honestly, I’d rather have a game delayed that it released half-baked. Not everything can be fixed with a patch. If a game is not out, I can’t play it. The excitement remains. But if…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 13, 2010
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  Meet Darksiders’ Three Other Horsemen of The Apocalypse

  In Darksiders, you play as War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The other three, though, you never see them. They’re away, at a volleyball tournament. If they were around, though, this is what they’d look like. Vigil’s Joe Madureira originally designed all four horsemen. He of course took some liberties; instead of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010
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  Gran Turismo 5 Demo Downloaded Over 1 Million Times

  Sony announced yesterday that Gran Turismo 5‘s demo “2010 Time Trial” has been downloaded over one million times since first released last month. For such a high profile title, that number’s a little…low, yes? Not to worry, as it only includes the download figures from the 17 countries participating in the actual “Time Trial”, the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010
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  Japanese News: Online Game Addict’s Pee Bottle Appears?

  If someone asks, “Is this news?” The answer is, well, this is Japanese TV news. A morning program on Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) did a feature on the world of “netoge haijin” or “online game invalids”. This morning show interviewed online gamers like this man. He’s a slob and his house is a complete…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 13, 2010
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  Microsoft: Majority Of World’s Publishers Working On Natal Games

  Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division (which includes the Xbox 360), has told the Financial Post that most of the world’s publishers are at work on games for Project Natal, the 360’s upcoming motion control peripheral. “We have something like 70% or 80% of the publishers in the world already doing Natal-based…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010
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  New Yakuza 4 Trailer Ready To Punch Your Face In

  Japan’s favorite gaming crime melodrama with this Yakuza 4 (Ryu Ga Gotoku 4) trailer. Tough guys and cutscenes galore! Series hero Kazuma Kiryu returns once again, and the elaborate cast is fleshed out by a homeless businessman Shun Akiyama, former detective Masayoshi Tanimura and newly released from prison yakuza Taiga Saejima (jailed for killing 18…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 13, 2010
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  New Movies As Old Video Games

  Games as book covers, movie posters as game covers…what’s next? How about new movies as the box art to old Atari games? Sure, why not. Aussie artist Robert Penney has re-imagined some recent flicks like Avatar, Cloverfield and Snakes on a Plane as games on a fictional, ancient “CVS” system. Prison Break is featured too,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010
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  Ar tonelico III Has Male Undressing, Too

  With all that female underwear in upcoming Japanese title Ar tonelico III, one might get the idea that the game is unfair. There’s more to life than scantily clad women. There are scantily clad men, for example. The PS3 title features men that, like the women, end up in their skimpies. One male character’s drawers…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 13, 2010
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  Ten New Cars Added To Forza 3’s Downloadable Content Roster

  The Detroit Auto Show’s going down in…Detroit this week, and to help market some of the new cars on show get people back into Forza 3, Microsoft have released a new DLC pack for the game. The pack contains ten cars, some from last year, some brand new and on show in Detroit this week.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010
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  Interview: There Is Enough Discarded Final Fantasy XIII To Make Another Game

  Square Enix spent years working on Final Fantasy XIII. The game was shown in prototype form at the E3 gaming expo in 2006, but was not finally released in Japan until December 2009. According to the game’s art director, Isamu Kamikokuryou, a substantial amount of these locations that were already running on actual development hardware…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 13, 2010
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  Former Nintendo Boss “Suffering” Through Nintendo “Downturn”

  Late-year surge aside, 2009 was a time of slight decline for Nintendo, spurred by a slide in sales for the once-booming Wii. And nobody felt that slide more than the company’s former boss Hiroshi Yamauchi. Yamauchi, who not only ran Nintendo from 1949 to 2002 but is also the company’s single biggest shareholder, was not…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010
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  First Look At Armored Core 5

  Three days? No, two. Developer From Software‘s online reveal of Armored Core 5 is scheduled for 1.14. It’s leaked reveal from Japanese magazine is scheduled for today. Hello blurry magazine scans! According to the Famitsu article, the game’s concept is “mayhem” mechanical action. The game will feature new weapons, more robust and dramatic mission stories…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 13, 2010
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  Games On Demand Adds GRAW, Kane, Lynch, Zombies

  Sure, for the most part it’s still way too expensive, but Microsoft keep plugging away with their Games on Demand service for the Xbox 360, adding three more games to the lineup for the month of January. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfare 2 is out today in all regions except Japan, while Kane & Lynch is…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010
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  What Do Over 140 Game Consoles Look Like?

  As seen on CONSOLLECTION via GameSetWatch.

  By Brian Ashcraft Published January 13, 2010
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  Ever Wonder How Much It Costs To Make A Game These Days?

  We hear it a lot these days. It costs a lot to develop a game for the 360 and PlayStation 3. But have you ever wondered how much “a lot” actually is? According to research undertaken by M2 – the same guys responsible for the disturbance in the workforce study – the average cost of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2010