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Madden 10 Now Pops Up Ads with Annoying Frequency
Madden NFL 10’s in-game advertising arched some eyebrows when it released, but the grousing quickly blew over. The complaints have returned, as some users are reporting even more frequent pop-up ads, sometimes at the rate of one-per-snap. It seems that under the latest patch, which I applied on my Xbox 360 last night, a rectangular…
By Owen Good Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
PS3 Gets Its Last Rebellion In February
Early 2010 offers PlayStation 3 owners one more option in the form of Nippon Ichi and Hitmaker’s Last Rebellion, the action oriented role-playing game with not one, but two protagonists! The game is now dated for sometime in February. That’s according to the PS3 game’s official site, which should explain just what Last Rebellion is,…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Magic Obelisk: Game Arts’ First Original Title In 10 Years
Grandia and Lunar developer Game Arts delivers its first original title in over a decade to WiiWare next week, with The Magic Obelisk, an action-adventure game about the deep bonds formed between tree spirit and light spirit. Lukas is a tree spirit who wants to use his power to transform into a tree to help…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Kids Tell Obama They Want Games For Christmas, He Asks Tough Questions
Kotaku brings you this rush transcript, via CNN, of American children telling a befuddled Barack Obama what they really want for Christmas: DSi, PSP, PS3. We are scrambling to figure out, however, if Obama thinks “sins” is a DSi game. We found the video of this segment. Watch it here. From a Monday meeting of…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
The iPhone Version of Crack – Pocket God and Doodle Jump
Nothing quite says the holidays like killing pygmies and blasting baddies with noseballs in Pocket God and Doodle Jump; possibly the two best games for the iPhone ever created. They are to the iPhone what Super Mario Brothers was to the NES. Meet Doodle Jump, the iPhone version of crack – this game is so…
By Chrissie Lamond Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Clear The Way For New Trauma Team Screens
Atlus brings more medical action drama to the Wii in the incredibly crowded window of spring 2010, administering a baker’s dozen sized dose of new Trauma Team screens well in advance. These are those screens! They highlight the six specialties featured in Trauma Team—surgery, diagnostics, forensics, first response, endoscopy, and orthopedics—and may aid in the…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
PlayStation Store Now Selling “Premium Avatars” In Hong Kong, Europe
The Hong Kong and European versions of the PlayStation Store now offer one more way to empty one’s virtual Wallet, one dollar at a time, with the release of “premium avatar packs” for the PlayStation 3‘s XMB. The first of four avatar packs, each featuring three or four LittleBigPlanet-themed icons that can represent you on…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
On The Worst Day Of Christmas Dante’s Inferno Gave To Me…
The Dante’s Inferno marketing team sinks to new lows in this “The Worst Day of Christmas” trailer. Two purple peaks? Really? Have you ever been embarrassed for someone else? The moment the music starts up in this holiday-themed Dante’s Inferno trailer my cheeks started getting warm. By the time the first line came out, they…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
World At War Map Packs Bundled Up For The Winter
Save five dollars on nine multiplayer maps and three zombie wonderlands with the Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack Bundle, available today on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. Surely someone hasn’t bought these yet, right? The World at War Map Pack Bundle collects all three of Treyarch’s expansion packs for the latest…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009 - Reviews
Machinarium Review: Beautiful Robots
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re playing catch-up here at Kotaku. Reviewing some games that were missed in the run-in to the holiday season. Which is great, because it means I get a chance to talk about Machinarium. Or, as I like to call it, the one game of 2009 that I managed to sneak…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Programming Reminder: Talk Live With Scribblenauts’ Jeremiah Slaczka On Wednesday
As noted yesterday, Jeremiah Slaczka, lead designer of 2009 DS surprise Scribblenauts will guest-host 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 just before show time.
By Stephen Totilo Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Realism’s Place In The Legend Of Zelda
Edge magazine has an interview with Legend of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma in their 211th issue feature, Links To The Past. His feelings on Twilight Princess? Regret. In a snippet of of the interview reprinted on Edge Online, Aonuma says that the realistic look and feel of Twilight Princess presented challenges for the designers…
By AJ Glasser Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Xbox Live Launching Individualized Music Game Stores
Microsoft makes searching for downloadable songs for your rhythm games much easier today, with the introduction of individualized music game stores covering all the major music games. Expected to launch later today, the Xbox Live music games stores will make browsing the latest releases for games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero much more…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Weyland-Yutani: Building Better, Bloodier Worlds
Lance Henriksen slithers back into the role of Charles Bishop Weyland in this story trailer for Rebellion’s Aliens vs. Predator, once again managing to sound comforting and sinister at the same time. I’m pleased to see Rebellion putting so much work into the story mode for Aliens vs. Predator. While I love the multiplayer concept…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Capcom Delays Major Games
Capcom is delaying Lost Planet 2, Super Street Fighter IV, Dead Rising 2 and the North American release of Monster Hunter Tri into a 12-month period starting on April 1, 2010. A forecast revisions document reveals that all four titles will be pushed back to the company’s 2010 fiscal year (staring in April, ending March…
By AJ Glasser Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Man Who Never Wanted To Make ‘The Citizen Kane of Games’
Three unusual things happened to former Metroid Prime designer Mark Pacini in 2009: He received high praise he didn’t seek, saw a somewhat depressing game box and figured out that gaming in 2011 “is going to kind of suck.” Pacini spoke to Kotaku a couple of weeks ago from his office in Austin, Texas where…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Sega Mega PSN Sale
From Alien Breed for the PSP to Valkyria Chronicles downloadable content, if it’s Sega and it’s on the PlayStation Network, it’s now on sale. Announced this morning by Sega’s assistant community manager David Beavers on the PlayStation Blog, the Sega Mega Sale drops the prices of every piece of downloadable Sega goodness on the PlayStation…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
North American Game Industry Employment Somehow Rose Slightly In 2009
According to the third annual Game Developer Census, game industry employment in North America has risen slightly in 2009, due in part to new Canadian studios and a rise in social and online gaming developers. It almost seems impossible, considering the frequent reports of studio closings we’ve reported over the past twelve months, but the…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009 -
UncategorizedUnreal Engine 3 Running On An iPod Touch
A writer from AnandTech got a look at Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 working on the newest iPod Touch. It’s an impressive feat even if there are some asterisks. The Unreal Engine 3 will only run on third-generation iPod Touches and the iPhone 3GS, and the demo being shown is not a fully-operable game, just…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 22, 2009 -
UncategorizedJudge Super Street Fighter IV’s Real-Life Juri
When I first saw Super Street Fighter IV’s new character Juri, my first thought was that the costume she wears is extremely impractical. Capcom’s official real-life Juri confirms that thought. Capcom USA posted this video yesterday, featuring a live-action model wearing a close approximation of Juri’s outfit during a 2010 lineup reveal earlier this year.…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2009