The Search For The Video Game Auteurs

As with movies, big time video games need huge numbers of people. Hundreds of developers toil away on AAA titles. With all those hands in the development of a game, is it possible to pin the title to a single author like critics have for films? Traditionally, film producers and directors get their names at…

Endless Ocean: Blue World Review: The Wii Game You’re Wrong About

There’s an optical illusion that sometimes appears to be an ugly hag, sometimes a beautiful lady. There’s a Rorschach blot that looks like a butterfly and a couple making love. This is the Wii equivalent. The people who run Nintendo might want me to describe Endless Ocean: Blue World to you as the Wii’s second…

The Party Is Complete

First Black Mage, then Fighter, Red Mage, and finally Thief. Let’s go see if we can rescue a princess in exchange for a bridge. As seen on my arm this weekend.

Microsoft Prices And Dates The Xbox Live Block Party

Microsoft gets its Xbox Live Block Party started right, scheduling the weekly releases of Toy Soldiers, Scrap Metal, Perfect Dark, and Game Room, with a chance for players to score Microsoft points and a month of Xbox Live Gold. The Xbox Live Block Party is a month-long celebration of….something or another, taking place over the…

The Nintendo Download: Brought To You By The Letter F

Family Go-Kart Racing, Flipper, Faceez, and Flight Control welcome you to this week’s downloadable celebration of the letter F. We’re not sure how Nintendo’s Aura-Aura Climber for DSiWare, Gevo Entertainmnet’s Wii MotionPlus-enabled GhostSlayer, and Big John Games’ Mouse House made the cut this week. Perhaps the lack of any virtual console titles whatsoever made Nintendo…

BioShock 2 DLC Begins With The Sinclair Solutions Test Pack

2K Games bolsters the multiplayer experience in BioShock 2 next month, with the release of the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, bringing new trials, weapon upgrades, playable characters, and a rank increase to our second dose of Rapture. The Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, due out next month for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, is…

Hands-On, Sword Out With Red Steel 2

Whether Ubisoft likes it or not, for many Red Steel 2 will define the potential of Nintendo’s Wii MotionPlus. While the sword and gun action title isn’t the first game to use Wii’s improved motion-sensing add-on, the franchise is inexorably connected to the Wii. The original Red Steel launched in 2006 alongside the Wii. While…

resteel 2 pics

WeMade Brings Digimon Online

The cartoon series that’s all about battling monsters in an online virtual world is finally getting an online virtual world, as WeMade Entertainment shows off Digimon Battle, coming soon to a PC near you. Digimon Battle seems to be the North American version of the Korean Digimon RPG, which was originally scheduled to be released…

GDC Awards Honor John Carmack’s Lifetime Achievement

id Software co-founder and one of the fathers of the first-person shooter, John Carmack is being presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards. John Carmack has been pushing video game technology past its limits for more than two decades, pioneering real-time 3D graphics, creating and honing countless game development…

How To Do A Red Carpet Right: Add Video Games

Attention, Joan Rivers. Heads up to the E! Network. Pay attention, producers of the upcoming Academy Awards pre-show. I am about to show you how to do a Red Carpet right. Because everything is better with video games. Last week, I consented to perform what I believe is the lowest act of journalism practiced in…

iPhone Chart Toppers: Surprise, Surprise, Guess What’s Number 1?

It took Plants Vs. Zombies just hours to claw its way to the number nine spot last week, so it’s no surprise that the PopCap game hit the top spot after a week in the sun. Here’s the full list: Which do you think should be the top game? Check out all of our iPhone…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

The truth is that it’s just about never good Boktai weather, but it always just the right climate for talking here about video games. Go for it. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

Motion Control in Gaming: Rationalizing a New Dissonance

Everything changed in 2001, the year Nintendo decided that the future of gaming didn’t lay in faster processors and photorealistic images, but in interaction. Years later, when the Wii hit stores, it brought gaming and motion control to the masses, showing grandparents, gamers and soccer moms that video games didn’t have to be high-def to…

SUPER BIZZY!

To: Crecente From: Bashcraft Ended up being busy for a Monday, kinda snuck up on me. Don’t you hate (love?) when that happens? What you missed last night Inside Grasshopper with Silent Hill and Doshin the Giant Developers Heavy Rain Banned In The United Arab Emirates There’s Two Sides To Every Xbox Live Banning Just…

Tiger Comes Out of Woods

Better than coming in the woods, no? As seen on Technabob.

Inside Grasshopper with Silent Hill and Doshin the Giant Developers

In early February, Grasshopper Manufacture had a surprising announcement: Silent Hill composer and producer Akira Yamaoka and Doshin the Giant designer Kazutoshi Iida joining the studio. Yamaoka didn’t just leave Konami, but he also left behind a long legacy of both game sound work and producing. Iida is an industry journeyman. By joining Grasshopper, they…

Heavy Rain Banned In The United Arab Emirates

Sony has confirmed this morning that Heavy Rain, one of the biggest exclusives of the year for the PlayStation 3, has been banned in the United Arab Emirates. Following a report on Middle Eastern gaming site megamers, we contacted Sony, who provided this statement released by their local branch: The UAE’s National Media Council (NMC)…

Madden Cover Hopeful Summoning An Army Of Mullets

Vikings DE Jared Allen is one of three candidates to appear on the cover of Madden 11. You’d think that behind the Super Bowl MVP and a flashy WR he’s the underdog. But he has a secret weapon. His mullet. “Everyone at some point in their lives has either had a mullet or known somebody…

Just How Big Is God of War III?

There’s no denying it. Upcoming PS3 exclusive God of War III is a big game. But how big is big? “35Gb of goodness,” tweeted Sony Santa Monica Director of Technology Tim Moss. “Thank heavens for Dual Layer Blu-Rays.” Dual Layer Blu-ray discs started shipping in 2006 and can hold up to 50GB. For comparison’s sake,…