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The Billion-Dollar Video Game vs The Billion-Dollar Movie
James Cameron’s Avatar has brought in over $1 billion at the box office. Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 has done likewise. Let’s see how a blockbuster film and a blockbuster video game compare. As you can see, when it comes to profit – the only number that really matters – the two are relatively close, the…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 16, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Off Topic: Bonus Round
Earlier today, I hauled it over to MTV’s Santa Monica offices to tape an episode of GameTrailers’ Bonus Round, joining Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter and Shacknews’ Garnett Lee for a rousing debate about the games of 2010. That means I’ve had plenty of game related talk today, thank you very much. So let’s talk…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Bungie Seeks Halo Heroes for Haiti
Bungie’s mobilizing the Halo community to join the Haiti recovery effort. On Wednesday, the studio encourages players to wear a special emblem supporting Haiti relief and pledges to donate up to $77,000 depending on how many participate. For every 1,000 players who don the emblem on Wednesday or Thursday next week, in either Halo 3…
By Owen Good Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days: Eyes-On With The Best Worst Camera Ever
Kane & Lynch’s raw and grimy aesthetic extends to something rarely expected in IO Interactive’s sequel—the camera. In a game full of unlikable and unattractive characters, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days’ damaged goods visuals fit right in. After sitting in on a hands-off demonstration of two of Kane & Lynch 2’s levels at Square…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
How Much You Bet These Guys Aren’t Talking About Hitting at All?
I don’t speak Spanish (pardon my grammar; I don’t speak no Spanish) but I halfway think that Seattle’s Felix Hernandez and the Angels’ Kendry Morales aren’t saying what’s in the subtitles. Or maybe I just wish it was that way. Also, way to tip off that you’re sitting on the fastball, Kendry. See if you…
By Owen Good Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Quantum Theory Gears Up For March Release On PS3, 360
Tecmo’s third-person shooter Quantum Theory has a release date (okay, window) for North American Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners looking for, well, I guess something new to play. The newly multiplatform “TPS” follows the Gears of War gameplay and aesthetic closely, adding in an AI-controlled co-op partner and an organic shapeshifting tower as the…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Original Aliens vs. Predator Coming to Steam
Rebellion’s original Aliens vs. Predator for PC, from 1999, will be released via Steam for “very cheap,” sometime before the updated version releases on Feb. 16, Rebellion’s CEO says. Update: It’s already available, and it’s $4.99. “It shows its age a little bit, but it is frightening and it is difficult,” Rebellion boss Jason Kingsley…
By Owen Good Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Nintendo DS Outsells Game Boy Advance In The U.S.
Nintendo had a very happy holiday in the United States, shattering sales records by selling more than 7 million hardware units in December 2009 between the Wii and Nintendo DS. But Nintendo has a few more records to brag about. The company announced that lifetime U.S. sales for the Wii have surpassed 27.2 million units.…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 15, 2010 - Reviews
VVVVVV Micro-review: AAAAAAH!!!
Gravity flipping intergalactic platformer and death by spike simulator VVVVVV has already resulted in heavy casualties at Kotaku. My first playthrough of the game ended with my character dying more than 900 times. Such is the torment of VVVVVV, an old-school platformer from developer Terry Cavanagh featuring simple controls and a smartly explored mechanic. Unlike…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Catan Seems Likely for North American PS3 Release
The ESRB shows a new listing for a PS3 adaptation of Settlers of Catan, the popular resource-allocation strategy board game. A version of this game by the same developer was released in Japan back in 2008. Game Republic developed the Japanese version of Catan; it’s listed as the studio for the new version rated by…
By Owen Good Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Haiti
To: Owen From: Stephen Re: When I Get To Friday… It feels wrong to be writing about video games all week, disseminating so much information to the public and not personally mentioning the suffering in Haiti once. I considered some Haiti stories to write for Kotaku, reached out to some people in game development with…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
You Will Download PS3 Firmware 3.15 And Like It
PlayStation 3 owners, you must download the latest firmware for the console, whether you want to play PSP minis on the thing or not. The previously optional firmware update (v3.15) has been upgraded to mandatory. Download now! [PlayStation.com]
By Michael McWhertor Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
World Of Warcraft Armory Goes 3D
The Armory, World of Warcraft‘s number one stalking, tool is now even stalkier, as upgrades introduce 3D character models, character data feeds, and calendar feeds, allowing players to sync their WoW calendars to their Google calendars. I feel so naked, and that’s probably because the World of Warcraft Armory database now shows my mage, Rande,…
By Mike Fahey Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Marble Madness Creator Selected to Hall of Fame
Mark Cerny, a developer known for his work with Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games – and for his 1984 arcade hit Marble Madness – has been selected to the Hall of Fame of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Cerny joins only Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto as developers honored by both the AIAS…
By Owen Good Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Rockstar Has Some Fun With “Eye Of Sauron” Comparison, Still Won’t Comment
Capping off a week during which Rockstar Game’s New York team was unfavorably described as an Eye of Sauron overlooking its development studios, the company just posted some new editions to its wallpaper series. The company entitled the three-image series: “The Eye Is Watching.” Earlier in the week, an anonymous ex-Rockstar employee described to MTV…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Cost Of Playing Star Trek Online
Cryptic and Atari have announced the subscription rates for Star Trek Online, finally giving players an idea of the cost of playing the Trek-themed MMO, aside from sleep deprivation and a gradual loss of skin pigment. Cryptic is going with the current paid MMO standard of $14.99 a month for Star Trek Online, but there…
By Mike Fahey Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Should Video Games Permit Three-Player Arm Wrestling?
Yesterday, I found the line between reality and unreality that video games would not cross. It involved arm wrestling. I was visiting the offices of a public relations firm in Manhattan on Thursday to check out early builds of upcoming games from the publisher Hudson Entertainment. Among those was Deca Sports DS, the first portable…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Jack Bauer’s Calling
…from his Motorola i880, his mobile of choice. He wants to know if you are ready for Season 8 of 24, which premieres on January 17. What say you? Ping him back. No wonder Jack likes the i880—it has a 2.0 megapixel camera/camcorder, Walkie-Talkie features, GPS capabilities, Internet microbrowser, voice dialing and voice recorder. It…
By Chrissie Lamond Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
BlazBlue Portable Strikes Stateside In March
The PSP version of Arc System Works’ BlazBlue comes to North America in March, complete with a new game mode, a shop full of unlockable content, and Unlimited versions of all twelve characters. Check out the announcement trailer. The 2D fighting game that confused the hell out of button mashers everywhere on the PlayStation and…
By Mike Fahey Published January 15, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kingdom Hearts Does Wonders For PSP In Japan
The release of Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep has given the PlayStation Portable a sales boost, while other platforms faltered this week. The PSP sits atop (and at the bottom of) this week’s hardware chart. The PSP moved nearly 150,000 units this past week in Japan, likely aided by the solid sales of…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 15, 2010