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Games For My Break
To: Ashcraft From: Totilo Re: Look What I Caught This Weekend! My month or so of Day Notes comes to an end. I’m starting vacation really soon. Tonight, in theory, though some posts of mine will magically appear for a couple more days. Thanks, Ash and friends for writing back to me after each and…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Uncharted 2 Adds Double The Cash, 100% More Santa Hats
We love the holidays, if only for events like Naughty Dog‘s holiday themed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves weekend self-promotion, in which gamers will get double the experience cash for doing something they’d normally do anyway. But it’s also attractive for the option of placing Santa hats on Nathan Drake, a timely nod I’ve been a…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Drunk Scot Woman Stabs Teen in Xbox Argument
Whoa, whoa, whoa, lady. When I said, “try safe, effective, fast-acting kick his ass,” for video game-playing kids who won’t listen, I did not mean “ventilate his abdomen with a kitchen knife.” Authorities say a 13-year-old Scottish boy was stabbed by his 55-year-old babysitter after he refused to stop playing his Xbox (original or 360,…
By Owen Good Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Scribblenauts Creator Talks About Controls, Console Ports & More On Kotaku Podcast
Did you miss today’s live call in version of Kotaku Talk Radio? Me too! I was fast asleep during today’s show, but thankfully the hour-long podcast with special guest Jeremiah Slaczka of 5th Cell fame is now available for download. In today’s episode, our podcast steering host Stephen Totilo and Jeremiah Slaczka, one of the…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
BioShock 2 Multiplayer Lobby Preview: Yes, The Lobby
The multiplayer mode of BioShock 2 isn’t just supposed to be a fun activity for multiple gamers. It’s supposed to be a prequel to the first BioShock. A prequel told through multiplayer? How absurd, I thought, before entering its lobby. Let it be known that I have ventured no further into BioShock 2’s first-person guns-and-superpowers…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Quake Live Gets Festive, Vixen-Filled For Holidays
Fans of Quake Live‘s brand of free web-based fragging can enjoy some Santa-style gib giving over the next few weeks, as the online shooter offers a Christmas-themed update in the form of a new map and new skins. The “Silent Night” Capture the Flag arena—described as “a slightly re-worked version of an arena from Team…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Holiday Timewaster: Santa Fu
Mrs. Claus has been abducted, and Santa’s out to deck the walls with gingerbread men and nutcracker guts. It’s a Christmas mashup of Kung Fu for the NES and it’s (wait for it) ho-ho-holarious. Just like Kung Fu (or Kung Fu Master, the arcade original) a drunken, raging Santa battles his way through waves of…
By Owen Good Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Give Yourself A LEGO Indiana Jones 2 Demo For Christmas
Microsoft and LucasArts have squeezed out one more downloadable demo just in time for Christmas, giving Xbox 360 owners a chance to test out LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues for last minute gift-giving consideration. If you didn’t feel that our review of the game was informative enough—you’re obviously crazy!—you can try the latest…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
EA’s Post-Christmas Sale Gives You 800 MS Points
EA’s running an online holiday special for the Xbox 360 beginning Christmas that takes a quick cost-benefit analysis to figure out, but as it returns you 800 Microsoft Points might be worth considering. The offer: Buy any three titles from this list and you get 800 Microsoft points back. Now, some of these are full…
By Owen Good Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood Heading To Virtual Consoles West?
A recent update from Australia’s media classification body gives Wii players hope of playing PC Engine classic Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, the Richter Belmont-starring side-scrolling whip ’em up from 1993, via the magic of the Virtual Console service. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood has been available to Japanese Wii owners since 2008, but it may be…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Halo Legends: Origins Rings In New Year With Final Preview
The final episode of 343 Industries’ series of animated shorts set in the Halo universe will get its showing next week. Studio 4oC’s Halo Legends “Origins” wraps up the preview program on Halo Waypoint on Saturday, January 2. “Origins” highlights Forerunner battles with the Flood and “shed light on some of the main events of…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Schrödinger’s Rat Isn’t What You Think It Is
Quick science lesson: Scientist Erwin Schrödinger had a thought experiment where you put a cat in a sealed box with poison. In a nutshell, at a certain point the cat is both alive and dead until you unseal the box. No, he didn’t kill a cat to test this out so far as I know.…
By AJ Glasser Published December 23, 2009 - Reviews
Style Savvy Review: Dressing Miss Michael
Join Kotaku’s tallest, broadest, and hairiest regular contributor as I explore the world of retail fashion design with Nintendo’s Style Savvy for the Nintendo DS. Style Savvy is a game marketed at girls that’s all about fashion – putting together outfits, running your own boutique, and maybe even making waves on the runway scene. The…
By Mike Fahey Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Fashion Fantasy Knows What Girls REALLY Want For Christmas
Social networking/online game, Fashion Fantasy Game, surveyed over 2,500 teen girls to see what they want for Christmas this year. The answer? Cash. I guess they’ve finally grown out of that I-want-a-pony phase. Fashion Fantasy found that after the 65% that wanted cold, hard cash for Christmas, a whopping 59% wanted a laptop. Coming in…
By AJ Glasser Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Talk Radio is Live: Let’s Talk With The Inventor Of Scribblenauts
Jeremiah Slaczka, the visionary behind Scribblenauts and other creative Nintendo DS games from studio 5th Cell is today’s guest on our live Kotaku podcast. We’re starting now. Call in. You could be live on the air with me and Jeremiah. Ask good questions! To listen, head over to our BlogTalkRadio page. Unfortunately, you can only…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
This Week In Video Game Comics
It’s a vaguely BioWare-related week of gaming comics hitting shops in the U.S. We’ve got Sonic and KOTOR. Sonic Universe #11 Written by Ian Flynn. Drawn by Tracy Yardley. Summary Via Publisher Archie Comics: Echoes of the Past Part 3 New mysteries arise, along with new faces – both good and evil! But is everyone…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Batman-Maker Who Didn’t Know The Meaning Of GOTY
Some day this past summer, Sefton Hill was browsing the Internet, reading comments about the demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum. He came across an acronym he didn’t know: GOTY. The lead creator of Arkham Asylum, he would learn it. Feedback about Arkham Asylum has been illuminating and, yes, even educational for Hill in 2009. This…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Snuggle Up With Kingdom Hearts
And you won’t even have to worry about being poked with a keyblade. This is an officially licensed “comfy throw blanket with sleeves” — because regular blankets are just not comfy enough. Sleeves make everything better. So does Disney. And keyblades. And punch. Man, we love punch. Thanks ZeroGinc for the tip!
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Contest Reminder: Are You The Americas’ Top Zelda Fan?
If you are the biggest Zelda fan and desire a $1000 gift card for the Nintendo Store, (!) a signed DS, (!!) a copy of the new Zelda game, (!!!) and/or a Biggest Zelda Fan Trophy, enter our Zelda contest. Ends December 31. Don’t post entries here. See the link above for full contest rules.…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
What The Video Game Industry Wants For Christmas
Christmas is a time for giving, yes, but it’s also a time for receiving. Which is more important. And while we know what we want for Christmas, we wondered: what do the big names of the video game industry want? Wondering got us to asking, so we asked around. And people like Ken Levine, Sid…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 23, 2009