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Gamer Comes Home To Blu-ray, DVD
You can now own (OK, rent) last year’s video game turned mind-controlling futuristic bloodsport, Gamer on handy DVD and Blu-ray formats, giving you a chance to enjoy the movie that Crecente called “more Second Life than Counter-Strike.” Before you go ahead and buy this thing—or more likely, add it to your Netflix queue—you can see…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Fans Localize Fatal Frame 4
Nintendo’s decision to withhold Fatal Frame 4 from Western release didn’t sit well with fans, so a group of them has produced an English patch that translates the game for players in North America and Europe. Fatal Frame 4, known in Japan as Zero: Tsukihami no Kame, won’t see a U.S. retail release any time…
By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
2009 Game of the Year Finalist Debate: Demon’s Souls
The brilliantly immersive Demon’s Souls, unfortunately known better for its brutal difficulty than its rebellious game design, is my choice for the title most deserving of the accolade “Game of the Year.” From Software’s original role-playing game is admittedly challenging. The constant cycle of death and rebirth is not the escapist entertainment that’s often expected…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Section 8 Makes With The DLC
The first downloadable content for Section 8 is now live, bringing three new maps and 10 new achievements to TimeGate’s first-person shooter in the Seek and Destroy Map Pack. Four months and change after SouthPeak Games released it, and Section 8 is finally getting a dose of downloadable content. The Seek and Destroy Map Pack…
By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Mass Effect 2 Is Latest EA Game To Sweeten The Deal For “Original Purchasers”
In the war against used game sales, publisher EA appears to be favoring one tactic: Adding value for those who purchase the company’s games new. The publisher announced such a tactic today for Mass Effect 2. With Mass Effect 2, as with last fall’s Dragon Age: Origins and The Saboteur, EA will reward “original purchasers”…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
3D Dot Heroes Does Not Need More Dots
Atlus has dropped off the first localized screens for Silicon Studio’s 3D Dot Heroes for the PlayStation 3, and I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t point out how blocky the graphics are. Then again, I suppose that is the point. Call it a Zelda ripoff, or call it a tribute to retro…
By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Programming Reminder: Talk Live With Mass Effect 2’s Greg Zeschuk On Wednesday
As noted yesterday, Greg Zeschuk, co-founder of role-playing-game powerhouse BioWare, will be our guest on tomorrow’s live Kotaku call-in podcast. Show time’s 11am MT, 1pm ET. Call-in and listening details will be live on the site at show time.
By Stephen Totilo Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Preorder BioShock 2 PS3 From Amazon And You Get This
PlayStation 3 owners who put their money down on BioShock 2 at Amazon will find themselves the proud owner of this excellent Big Daddy outfit for PlayStation Home. The Big Daddy costume for PlayStation Home is the creation of Heavy Water game production, the company responsible for many of Home’s more creative personal spaces. Perhaps…
By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Boston School Training The Next Video Game Composers
Composers working on video game soundtracks seem to either be veterans of game-making or TV/movie folks crashing the medium. Take note, then, of schools like Berklee Music College in Boston that just might train people to compose music for games. The Boston Globe reports: Berklee is offering five classes this semester in video game audio…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
And The Nominees For The 10th Annual GDC Awards Are…
The nominations are in for the 10th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, with Uncharted 2, Flower, and Assassin’s Creed II dominating the nominating. Naughty Dog could win big at the 10th annual awards show, held every year during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has been nominated for no less…
By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Bioshock 2’s Chief Creator Against A Tide Of Skeptics
Jordan Thomas has no overall map for Rapture, the majestic underwater city in which the BioShock series is set. He doesn’t have blueprints or a population figure. He works a little more by instinct. Thomas is the creative director of Bioshock 2. He’s got one of those dream gigs in games, overseeing a major release…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Catch Ho-Oh Or Lugia When You Preorder Pokémon
Nintendo gets your Pokémon collection started with these figures of Ho-Oh and Lugia, yours when you preorder Pokémon HeartGold or SoulSilver for the Nintendo DS. Starting February 1st, select retailers will be offering these two limited edition figures for customers who preorder these latest Pokémon remakes, with HeartGold customers scoring Ho-Oh and SoulSilver pre-purchasers walking…
By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2010 -
UncategorizedBest Video Game Cut Scenes of 2009
We’re not just debating the best video game of 2009 this week. We’ve got other awards to dole out. Today, I declare which ’09 game had the best cut scenes and which was the runner-up. Winner: Little King’s Story The obscure Wii-only Japanese role-playing game mixes city-building with Pikmin-style roaming-gang action with unexpectedly touching storytelling…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Intern At Kotaku
We’re looking for a few good folks, people hoping to one day enter the realm of journalism and cover video games. If that’s you, then maybe you should consider an internship at Kotaku. It will mean lots of hard work, almost no perks and zero pay. If that doesn’t dissuade you then here are a…
By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Suggestions
To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Night Flyer WATCH THAT BOB DYLAN DOCUMENTARY. What you missed last night Pocket God Micro-Review: Heaven or Hell? Why Is Square Enix Raising Cash? Rock Band Network Launching Tomorrow U.S. Army Trains with “SimCity Bagdad” Unpaid Internet Bill Leads to Game-Blamed Stabbing
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 19, 2010 - Reviews
Pocket God Micro-Review: Heaven or Hell?
You are god. That’s the premise of iPhone app Pocket God from the two-man developer team Bolt Creative. But is it a heavenly experience or a hellish one? In Pocket God, players are a divine hand. As the first sentence of this review explains, you are god. And, as god, you can do pretty much…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
British Sales Charts: You Dance
It seems our warnings were for naught. And now Britain suffers, with Ubisoft’s Just Dance the best-selling game in the country. You’ve nobody to blame but yourselves. Well, not literally you lot. You probably went out and bought Army of Two, or Bayonetta, or Darksiders. No, you’re looking for somebody to blame, blame your mum.…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
People Still Writing Scripts For Warcraft Movie
Whether or not famed director Sam Raimi does the Warcraft movie in the near future is anyone’s guess. Just in case he does, though, the movie’s engines are being kept running. Robert Tapert, producer on the project, has told iFM “It’s in development. We’re in the outline/story/script phase”. Which in movie language means early days,…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Wii Balance Board Goes Forth In The Name Of Science
While the Wii Balance Board‘s usefulness as a fitness device are questionable, there’s no doubts over its ability to perform as a…rehabilitative “force platform”. That’s a device used by doctors to measure the balance of a person recovering from a stroke (or similar injury), employed when the patient is “relearning” how to walk. While lab-grade…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2010