StarCraft II Closed Beta Launches This Month

Finally, for real, the StarCraft II beta is about to begin. Activision Blizzard president Mike Morhaime announced today during a company earnings call that the closed beta of the highly-anticipated real-time strategy game will launch this month. The beta will be offered in North America, Europe, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, the place…

New Tony Hawk, With Board, Is Coming In Late 2010

Activision Blizzard isn’t going to let poor reviews of Tony Hawk Ride get them down. Sticking to its schedule of annual skateboard releases, the company announced today that it would release a new Tony Hawk game, using the board peripheral. Activision CEO Mike Griffith said in an earnings call today that the new Tony Hawk…

iPhone’s World at War: Zombies Getting Verruckt Tomorrow

Solid iPhone first-person shooter Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies is getting its first new downloadable map tomorrow, Activision told Kotaku today. Map pack Verruckt will come with the same extras that were included with the console version of the downloadable content. That means a Perks a Cola machine loaded with player perks, new…

Hey Little Sisters…BioShock 2 is Here

Take a peek at a slice of the BioShock 2 universe filled with breathtaking action set against the backdrop of a decaying underwater Utopia, where Big Daddy searches for his Little Sister. Game trailer after the jump! We will be reborn. BioShock 2 out NOW.

Activision Boasts $1.56 Billion, Better Than Expected Q4

Despite doing business in “difficult times,” super publisher Activision Blizzard had a better than expected holiday quarter, with $1.56 billion in revenue during the company’s Q4, bringing the yearly haul to $4.28 billion. How did Activision do so well? Activision Blizzard CEO gives props to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the “#1 best-selling title…

Samurai Shodown Sen Makes It To North America

Originally slated for release last November as Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny, the 11th game in SNK’s weapons fighting franchise will be released this spring in North America as Samurai Shodown Sen for the Xbox 360. We’ve been wondering about the fate of Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny ever since original North American publisher Ignition…

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Impressions: The Tougher Battle

If EA wants its upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to begin wresting military first-person shooter dominance away from Modern Warfare, excellence in multiplayer is only one mission objective. How important is the campaign and can it be as good? Yesterday, I played portions of two missions from Bad Company 2’s single-player campaign on an Xbox…

Pre-order Yakuza 3 And Bowl Like A Japanese Gangster

Sega has announced the increasingly common pre-order bonuses for the North American version of Yakuza 3, a downloadable quartet of additions to the PlayStation 3 exclusive gangster game. Want to Battle for Survival and get more bowling challenges? Pre-order! While the pre-ordering bonus business may induce feelings of consumer ickiness, plopping down a few bucks…

Speak-Up On Kotaku: Damaged Packages, Missing PS2s, Bad Science, And Cheating

In this week’s installment of Speak-Up on Kotaku, Pykestein, Jimmuhpage, Sazzrah, and WhiteMåge is in fact a boy take on packaging woes, PS2 availability, cheat devices, and Jo Frost. 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, and sometimes…

Alpha Protocol Impressions: Looks Deceive

Like the spy agent depicts, the espionage role-playing game Alpha Protocol is stealthily approaching its release, now slated for early summer. And it’s still a tricky game to size up. A few observations from a recent demonstration of the game: It Doesn’t Look Like A Role-Playing Game: At least the Mass Effect games are science…

Frankenreview: Dante’s Inferno

After going through a huge stack of reviews for our Dante’s Inferno Frankenreview, I have determined that this game might have a few things in common with God of War. That, and Dante has no idea how to play Limbo. Is it strange that a game revolving around a long, drawn-out philosophical exploration on the…

Doom II RPG Now on iPhone

You can now pick up a copy of Doom II RPG for your iPhone or iPod Touch for $4. The game includes nine maps, three playable characters, more than a dozen weapons, 11 enemies and plenty of upgrades. Game dev Zenimax, aka id, say there’s about eight hours of gameplay tucked away in Doom II…

Tekken Movie Images

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Teaches Irresponsible Driving

How can Sega expect kids to play Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and not be tempted to jump out of moving vehicles? There are so many bad ideas laced throughout this special moves trailer for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing that I hardly know where to begin. There’s drinking and driving, standing up while driving…

BioShock 2 PC Widescreen Pissing People Off Again

In August of 2007, BioShock caused an uproar among players for trimming the standard 4:3 aspect ratio instead of providing proper widescreen support. Now BioShock 2 PC does the same thing. Here we go again. The exact same issue that had PC gamers fuming when the original BioShock was released has been confirmed to be…

These Are Your E3 Publishers and Developers

More than 120 video game developers, publishers and hangers-on have confirmed that they’ll be at this summer’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, which organizers say is 90 percent booked. “Exhibitors, leading video game publishers, and millions of consumers around the world are eagerly awaiting the opening of the 2010 E3 Expo,” said Michael D. Gallagher, president and…

Does The Video Game Industry Need A Time Out?

In an article written for GameSpy, New York standup comedian Michael Drucker suggests that the video game industry take a year-long break from releasing new titles. Why does this sound like an amazing idea? It seems that Mr. Drucker and I are in close to the same boat – our favorite hobby is getting too…

Heavy Rain Review: No Wrong Conclusion

You’re a man trying to rock a baby to sleep. You’re a woman trying to look sexy for a sleaze. Who cares if you’re having fun, as long as you’re interested? You’re playing Heavy Rain, a video game about people. Many years in the making and a successor to what could most kindly be called…

The Road to IGF Is Paved With Good Games

Indie games are important. No, not because they’re sometimes “art“, but because of the innovations, the stirring of the pot they sometimes lead to. And nowhere is that more celebrated than during the Game Developers Conference’s annual Independent Games Festival. Now on its 12th showing, the festival gathers together the biggest and best names in…

10 Years Of Bejeweled, 1,000 Years Of Lost Productivity

PopCap kicks off a ten month long tenth birthday celebration today for Bejeweled, the causal gaming sensation that’s sold more than 50 million units and stifled the productivity of an entire generation. Bejeweled, for those of you who haven’t immediately run off to play a few rounds in celebration of the occasion, is a simple…