Mass Effect 2’s Elusive Illusive Man is … Martin Sheen?

Shepard confronts the behind-the-scenes puppeteer “Elusive [sic] Illusive Man” who blends the habit of Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-Files with the look of Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock – and the voice of President Bartlet from The West Wing. Exclusive Ellusive Man Gameplay [GameTrailers]

The Importance of Asking ‘Why’

In film or literature, the creation of acclaimed work is sometimes attached to a personal event, or reaction. “That doesn’t show up often in game development bios,” says one dev. Finding that “why” might save games from a “cultural ghetto.” As reported by Gamasutra’s Chris Remo, Chris Hecker (formerly of Maxis, now an independent developer)…

World Store Launches New Super Mario Bros. Wii This Afternoon

Friendly reminder to those in the vicinity of New York City – Nintendo’s World Store is throwing a launch party beginning in a couple hours (3 p.m. US Eastern time) for New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The shindig is more than just a line-up for an early purchase. Nintendo says it’ll deck out the store…

Maybe the Greatest of All Time, but not In Its Time

Of the major game-of-the-year awards given out each year, no sports title has ever taken top overall honors. And yet five years later, there is one still talked about in ways that year’s winners are not. That would be ESPN NFL 2K5, the last and best of an uncommonly good crop of football games in…

Weekend Coupons: ‘Twas the Week Before Black Friday

That means this is the last guilt free week you can drop disposable income on yourself. By U.S. law, once the Holiday Shopping Season officially opens, you have to buy a bunch of crap for other people. Hardware • Hey, remember that new Xbox 360 Wireless-N Adapter? Yeah, well, it’s out, and A/B/G & N…

Kotaku Originals: News that’s Hot, Spot or Not

Modern Warfare 2’s release was the big news everyone could see coming; a bloodbath at Electronic Arts, and GameStop deliberately breaking a major street date, was not. Huge developments marked an unusually newsy week, even for this time of year. Top Stories The Story and Gameplay of Final Fantasy XIII Modern Warfare 2 Sells Nearly…

It’s nice to see Luigi NOT getting the short end of the stick this time, and actually getting to show Mario how things are done 🙂 #newsupermariobroswii

EyePet Review: His Master’s Voice

In controlled environments, Sony’s EyePet had looked set to revolutionise the way we interacted with our games. But my house is not a controlled environment. Not that it’s not a nice place. It is! But it’s also a place where the lights were installed by me, not by Sony. Where my furniture and windows were…

New Super Mario Bros. Wii Super Guide In Action

In my review of New Super Mario Bros. Wii I talk about how the Super Guide works, and how important it could be to gaming. Now take a look at how the guide works while playing. Be warned, this does show an entire level in the game. Click to view

Oh, So That’s How They Got Two Million People On Xbox Live

As seen on Modern Warfare 2 last night (thanks Jordan!)

Final Fantasy XIII Also Has A European Release Date

When Square Enix finally announced a release date for Final Fantasy XIII in North America earlier today, they also quietly slipped a European date out the door as well. And you know what? It’s not as bad as you’re thinking. While earlier developments had led to a degree of pessimism on the part of European…

Halo 3: ODST Drops Three Million Copies

Perhaps feeling a little aggrieved at the way Modern Warfare 2 blew right on by Halo 3’s sales numbers earlier in the week, Microsoft have tried to salvage a little pride by releasing some Halo 3: ODST numbers. And, all things considered, they’re not bad. Since launching on September 22, ODST has sold just over…

Ubisoft: All Our Games Will Do This UPlay Thing

Ubisoft’s freebie-dispensing UPlay community will launch alongside Assassin’s Creed II, and ultimately will incorporate all games under the Ubisoft banner, the publisher’s CEO said on Thursday. Gamasutra, reporting Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s remarks at yesterday’s BMO Capital Markets conference, said Guillemot is betting that UPlay “will allow us to get a lot closer to our…

New Red Dead Redemption Screens

Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption will be out next year. And if you were wondering whether it’d feature sun-drenched frontier homesteads and steroid-injected horses, well, wonder no more.

Here are the Madden NFL Arcade Rosters

Yesterday, Madden NFL Arcade announced its Thanksgiving Week launch. Today we get the full 10-man rosters for every team in the five-on-five shootout. Pasta Padre has the full list of all 32 teams. Everyone gets 10 players, five on offense and five on defense. On offense, each team gets a quarterback, running back, wide receiver,…

Meet StarCraft II’s Brutalisk

Blizzard has spawned a new Zerg strain for StarCraft II, the race’s biggest and most brutal, the legendary Brutalisk. So what is this giant monstrosity? And what does it do? Well, as those of you who may have read the spoiler-laden version of our StarCraft II single-player preview may already know, the Brutalisk doesn’t do…

Expect Fewer “Hero” Games From Activision In 2010

Activision plans on shipping less product into the crowded music game genre next year, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be getting new Guitar Hero, Band Hero and DJ Hero titles in 2010. Dan Rosensweig, CEO of Activision’s Guitar Hero business, tells MCV that we will “probably see fewer SKUs” from the publisher in the…

More than 50,000 Snap Up the Free Unreal SDK

Epic Games announced more than 50,000 downloads of its Unreal Development Kit in the first week the publisher started offering it for free. “We are very excited to see the uptake of UDK cross over the 50,000 mark in only one week, and we’re looking forward to seeing amazing games and applications come out of…

Rumor: First Fallout Online “Project V13” Screen Shots

Interplay’s attempt at a massively-multiplayer online Fallout comes three screen shots closer to reality, if these shots of Project V13, reported to be court submitted evidence of the game, are the real deal. Fallout fan Wikia The Vault believes them to be, writing today that they were acquired from an “anonymous, but reliable source” and…

Modern Warfare 2: Fight Against Knife Spam

Hi, I’m Kotaku Senior Editor Michael McWhertor and I’m here today to talk to you about something close to my heart: random throwing knives. Have you ever found yourself just walking down the street, minding your own business, when THUNK! you look down and see a balanced throwing knife piercing your esophagus, your aorta rapid-firing…