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Kotaku Off-Topic: Rebel Commander
For the first time, I took my taxes to a paid preparer. First thing tomorrow morning I meet with them to approve the documents. The anxiety I feel is absolutely the same as my parents getting my report card. Ordinarily I do my own taxes but because I’m filing in three different states for 2009,…
By Owen Good Published February 24, 2010 - Reviews
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom Micro-review: Snack Of The Clones
The puzzle’s the thing in The Odd Gentlemen’s time-twisting, brain-teasing platformer The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, a pie collecting adventure made fascinating by the eponymous Winterbottom and his superhuman ability to clone himself. In The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, players control the umbrella-wielding Winterbottom and his many clones, which are recorded loops of the pie-hungry…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
What Your $60 Really Buys
Seven dollars of a $60 video game purchase covers expenses for games never even sold. That’s according to a breakdown of retail game cost by an on-demand games service. OnLive, of Palo Alto, Calif., says that $7 covers, on average, “returns.” That’s the cost associated with returning unsold inventory – essentially, sales that don’t meet…
By Owen Good Published February 24, 2010 -
UncategorizedMile Marker 15: Cogs
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, Cogs. In A Sentence Pipe-sliding, cog-turning pulls set around the surface of a wooden block, all rendered and animated with a chunky, realistic,…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Black’s Creator: Modern FPSes are Eff-Star-Star-Star-Ing Boring
Stuart Black, he of the eponymous 2006 FPS for Xbox and PS2 (that would be the game called “Black,” not “Stuart Black”) has caught on with Codemasters and now declares he “can’t be bothered” by the slow-pace of cover-based shooters. Speaking to Official Xbox Live Magazine, which is drawing out the tease for whatever it…
By Owen Good Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
EXCER-CISE!
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Yes, I Have Barfy Kids So I finally got off my fat backend and got around to exercising. After a lifetime of being underweight, and mostly fit, it was a pretty big shock to hear I was so completely unfit earlier this week. I looked into a number of exercise…
By Brian Crecente Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Settlers 7 Box Art Gets Extremely Kirby-ed For America
Ubisoft’s real-time strategy city building game experiences The Kirby Effect during its trans-Atlantic trip, as seen on NeoGAF. (Xtreme version for ass-kicking North Americans follows.)
By Michael McWhertor Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Meet the Women of Red Dead Redemption
It’ll be another 12 years before they get the right to vote, but in Red Dead Redemption, the womenfolk will have their say in how the West was run. Notice that at 0:26 and 0:35 we see that Marston has scars on his right cheek matching those on Red Harlow’s from Red Dead Revolver. While…
By Owen Good Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Killer Whale’s Violent Past Includes Deadly Attack on Ultima-Obsessed Drifter
The killer whale that apparently killed a trainer today in front of a horrified SeaWorld audience was also connected to the death in 1999 of a drifter so obsessed with Ultima Online that he once wandered into Richard Garriott’s home. Daniel Dukes, 27, the son of Columbia, S.C., real estate brokers, drifted into Austin, Texas…
By Brian Crecente Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Sega: Yakuza 3 Cuts Were Necessary For Western Release [UPDATE]
A day after informing IGN that Yakuza 3 was coming to the U.S. with content cuts, Sega offered more explanation. [UPDATED with further comment from Sega to Kotaku, describing the pros and cons the company faced.] On Sega’s official blog, a community manager for the company said that, without the cuts, the game wouldn’t have…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
In Defense of — and a Salute to — The Pro
Two jackasses baiting an Xbox Live moderator and getting banned isn’t worth much outrage. But when they doctor a video and expect everyone to believe it on the knee-jerk faith that mods are fascists, that just insults your intelligence. Each week on Kotaku Talk Radio I write and record a rant/editorial titled “Something Negative.” This…
By Owen Good Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Is Valve Bringing Steam To The Mac?
Yesterday’s announced update to Valve’s Steam digital distribution service came with a surprise—hints that the Half-Life developer may be planning to add Mac OS X support to the currently Windows-only software. Steam forum members dug through newly released files from the recently launched open beta and dug up a handful of Mac OS X-specific graphics,…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Blur Gets All Twittery
Bizarre Creations’ Blur is hopping on the Twitter bandwagon, giving players the ability to send customized Tweets while playing through the developer’s latest racing title. Bizarre Creations would have us believe that Blur is the future of video game racing, so of course it needs to be tied together with the future of talking about…
By Mike Fahey Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Nintendo Summit News Round-Up
The Nintendo Summit in San Francisco is positively bursting with news, with release dates for the Nintendo DSi XL, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, and plenty of information on the games coming in the first half of 2010. Nintendo of America’s Cammie Dunaway kicked off today’s festivities with the long awaited pricing and…
By Mike Fahey Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
David Jaffe Took Your Calls, Needed 15 Bleeps
Eat Sleep Play’s David Jaffe joined our one-hour live podcast this week to take any and all questions and cursing when he damn well wanted to. Plus answers to God of War, Heartland and other questions from all of you. Jaffe talked about hoping he can return to the God of War series he created,…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Meet the Cybran Faction of Supreme Commander 2
Three factions—Cybran, Illuminate, and United Earth Federation (UEF)—control the Supreme Commander 2 galaxy. Cybran traces its beginnings far back into Earth Empire history. In 2592, Doctor Gustaf Brackman, an unmatched genius in cybernetics, successfully “twined” the first human/AI pair, creating a symbiont. The Earth Empire effectively enslaved the symbionts, utilizing their superior AI-assisted thinking and…
By Gawkercreative Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Disney’s Guilty Party A Whodunnit Of Mini-games
Don’t be alarmed by that “party” in the title. Disney Guilty Party from Wideload Games, announced today at Nintendo’s media summit in San Francisco, looks like more than your average Wii mini-game collection. From the developer of Stubbs the Zombie and Hail to the Chimp and published by their new owner Disney Interactive Studios, Guilty…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Speak-Up On Kotaku: Game Mash-Ups, T-Shirts, Singalongs, And Viewtiful Woes
In this week’s thrilling episode of Speak-Up on Kotaku, Rear Admiral Meatwad, Nathan Obbards, Steve Rowland, and Trygle12 discuss t-shirts, Viewtiful Joe, commenting games, and the unofficial Andrew Ryan theme song. Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page. About Speak-Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say,…
By Mike Fahey Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
Planet Mario And Map Suggest Super Mario Galaxy 2 Secrets
May 23rd’s Wii exclusive Super Mario Galaxy 2 has not just a release date and a trailer, but Planet Mario, some screenshots and some bullet points worth sharing. Or is that Planet Luigi? Hard to tell. Nintendo’s fact-sheet for the game indicates that: 1) “Every level is new,” allaying concerns that Galaxy 2 would recycle…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 24, 2010 - Uncategorized
New Metroid: Other M Screens, Story Details, Excitement
Nintendo has released all new media of Metroid: Other M, the Team Ninja and Nintendo developed Wii game that tells a more “revealing, personal story” than previous Metroid games, including Other M’s chronological predecessor, Super Metroid. What Nintendo calls a “dramatic new direction for a legendary franchise and a bold new blend between cinematics, storytelling…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 24, 2010