Nielsen: Games Account for 5 Percent of U.S. Entertainment Budgets

Across all U.S. households, video games account for 4.9 percent of monthly entertainment spending – to 2.8 percent for CDs and mp3s – according to recent Nielsen research. Among households that are active game buyers, the figure is 9.3 percent. It’s important to note this is not a whole-dollar measurement – it does not mean…

The Secret Armory Of General Knoxx Opens This Week

With a raised level cap, tweaked enemy AI, and new villains, weapons, and vehicles, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx is Borderlands’ biggest dose of downloadable content yet, and it’s due out tomorrow. That’s right, those sneaky folks at 2K Games have waited until the day before the DLC drops for the Xbox 360 to…

Project Natal’s Lag, As Judged By Stopwatch

Microsoft’s controller-free add-on Project Natal may be perfect for virtual painting and hyperactive ball-swatting, but is it responsive enough for something more intense? What does MTV’s stopwatch tell us? The MTV Multiplayer folks performed a little stopwatch-based survey of Project Natal’s real-life movement to on-screen movement interpretation capabilities, deeming that the average lag time was…

Super Meat Boy! In My Xbox Live Arcade? It’s More Likely Than You Think

Edmund McMillen, creator of indie games such as Gish and the recently profiled Super Meat Boy!, passes along an image that subtly hints at a release of his meat-based platformer on Xbox Live Arcade sometime this year. It took a bit of detective work to decipher the image’s message, but we eventually figured out what…

Braced For The Skeptics, Richard Garriott Challenges Gamers And Teases What’s Next

Richard Garriott, back from space is now back in video games. Last week, his new venture Portalarium was announced. This is an adventure that comes with a challenge to you the Kotaku reader, and a tease of Ultima-meets-FarmVille. As we reported last week, Portalarium is a new venture from Garriott, aka “Lord British,” the chief…

Kotaku-Tan, The T-Shirt For The Kotaku Fan

It’s been a long time since we’ve had Kotaku tees for sale… But now we have Kotaku-tan. Based on the moe anthropomorphism style of 2chan’s OS-tans—or if you prefer, console-style-tans—Kotaku-tan taps into references that are probably familiar to the longtime reader: the friendly Pointer Fish, our unhealthy love of cake, the ‘K’ logo, the… um……

Warcraft Plushies Now Available

The cutest little transportation systems ever rendered in plushie form are now available for purchase at Blizzard’s online store. At what price, cuteness? The plush Gryphon Cub and Wind Rider Hatchling, which I sort of reviewed last week, are now on sale at the Blizzard online store, complete with code redeemable for in-game pet counterparts…

Unreal Engine 4 “Still A Long Ways Off”

Attending the DICE gaming summit to promote his company’s Unreal Engine technology and celebrate the conclusion of the Make Something Unreal modding contest, Epic Games’ Mark Rein said that the next generation of Unreal game-making tech is a ways off. Rein told Kotaku that work is still underway on Unreal Engine 4, but that the…

Fret Nice Isn’t Your Only XBLA Game of the Week

Fans of the weekly downloadable Xbox Live Arcade offering will have more than just guitar controller based platforming to enjoy starting Wednesday, as puzzle platforming and online multiplayer strategy gaming combine for 2800 Microsoft Points-worth of new games. Sure, Fret Nice isn’t so new, as PlayStation 3 owners will have been enjoying Tecmo and Pieces…

Red Steel 2 Has Live Action, But Not How You’d Think

While checking out Red Steel 2 earlier this month I couldn’t help but notice that the game, like Mad Dog McCree, has its own form of live action. No, you won’t be slapping leather against the likes of One-Eyed Jack, instead you’ll be following along as a woman shows you how to play the Wii…

Mile Marker 17: AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity

Tired of stodgy corporate games made by The Man and his minions? We’re playing the 31 best indie games for a change of pace —- and so we can judge them. Today, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity. In A Sentence Part score-based sky-diving game, part re-imagining of please-the-crowd-while-you-plummet (snowboarding game) Amped 4, the…

Zenonia 2 Brings More RPG Goodness To The iPhone

Gamevil is looking to one-up its own success next month with the release of Zenonia 2: The Lost Memories, the sequel to one of the best role-playing games available on the iPhone. The original Zenonia was one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had on the iPhone, hearkening back to the heyday of Super Nintendo’s…

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