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Playing Wii Fit With A Japanese Maid, A Photo Journey
Early last month, we brought word of a spot in Akihabara called “Refresh Club” where folks can shell out to play Wii with Japanese ladies dressed as maids. Now, website AkibaMap took one for the team and checked it out. For several years now, places like Refresh Club have been popping up in places like…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Actually, Looks Like There Will Be a Bad Company 2 Beta Soon
Earlier today, GameStop outed a beta – with a launch date – for Battlefield Bad Company 2 in a preorder deal later taken down. EA confirmed to Blend Games that news is coming this week, but no beta date. The scramble started when GameStop published a 24-hour promising deal promising access to the PS3 beta…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
TF2’s Mann Co. Responds to Its Customers Once More
September’s “Team Update” brought another mention of Team Fortress 2’s macho product supplier Mann Co., and some folks took the hint and wrote the company’s address again. Lo and behold, here’s more form-letter hilarity. And – classic comic book covers! Kotaku reader Wayne T. received a form letter, two 1960s/70s era comic covers (“Saxton Hale’s…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Microsoft Starts Xbox LIVE Pilot Program
Microsoft has officially kicked off its Xbox LIVE Rewards program, which we reported last month. “We are always exploring ways to provide the most value for our members and are currently testing a pilot rewards program with a select base of our Xbox LIVE community in the US,” a spokesman told Kotaku previously. “We have…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Bayonetta That Could Have Been…
Sure, she’s got long black hair and librarian glasses. But it wasn’t always that way. A Japanese TV special provided a behind-the-scenes look at the character design, revealing that character artist Mari Shimazaki did over a hundred drawings of Bayonetta before the current design was finalized. Those early prototype drawings included a blond hair Bayonetta…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Preorder Bonus Puts L4D Headwear in Team Fortress 2
“For the first time in history,” writes the TF2 Team, “two separate Valve universes collide!” If you pre-order Left 4 Dead 2, you get Bill’s beret from Left 4 Dead to trick out your Team Fortress 2 guys. The deal’s of course restricted to pre-orders of the PC L4D2, Steam or retail. However, if you’ve…
By Owen Good Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
The PlayStation Network Expands To Clone Wars, Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Sony announces that the PSN is beefed up with offerings from Lucasfilm Ltd., Cinetic FilmBuff, ContentFilm International, Image Entertainment, Inc., MPI Media Group and New Video to the PlayStation Network video delivery service. From Lucasfilm, there’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, while MPI Media Group brings horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Other titles include…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Mai Shiranui Playable In SNK Shooting Game
Mai Shiranui might not be in The King of Fighters XII, but she is in SNK’s shooting game The King of Fighters: Sky Stage. So is Terry Bogard — but back to Mai. In this arcade title, she’ll be flying over freeways, throwing fans and appearing in countless merchandise. Have you ever tried to count…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Xbox Live Ops Manager Ain’t Going for this Facebook/Games Thing
In the latest thrilling episode of Major Nelson‘s podcast, the gang raps about the DSi XL and its virtues and drawbacks, and regular guest “e” (Eric Neustadter, the Xbox Live operations manager) says this whole gaming/Facebook synergy? Not diggin’ it. “I find the in-game uses, OK, may be interesting, the out-of-game, hey, it’s a camera,…
By Owen Good Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Awesome Custom Mario Costume Packs Its Own Soundtrack
Perhaps a little late for Halloween, but you can use this modded Mario costume for inspiration and get to work on yours for next year. Certain motions while wearing the suit trigger fireball, jumping and 1Up sounds, among others. The get-up was built by an Adafruit Wave Shield user, connecting the gadget to an Arduino…
By Owen Good Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Fight Night Gets Three New Fighters, Price Cut
Three new fighters will be offered in the latest round of downloadable content to be offered for Fight Night Round 4, Electronic Arts announced on Monday. Bernard Hopkins, Sonny Liston and Evander Holyfield will join the game. Furthermore, the game’s suggested retail price drops another $10, to $39.99, just in time for the holiday retail…
By Owen Good Published November 2, 2009 - Reviews
Fairytale Fights Review: The Tragic Kingdom
So what exactly does pornographic film star Ron Jeremy have to do with classic fairytales, violent 3D action and buckets full of cartoony blood? Not much, it turns out. The fairy story-themed action title is only adult in that it wants players to be as violent as possible. Players take the role of Snow White,…
By AJ Glasser Published November 2, 2009 -
UncategorizedAussie L4D2 Gets a Deep-Clean Sanitizing
Hey look! Disappearing bodies! No, this isn’t some homage mod to the days of 8-bit fatalities, it’s one of the features put into the Australian Left 4 Dead 2 so it could be approved for sale. You can see for yourself in that video above. The scorecard, according to the Steam community forums is comprehensive:…
By Owen Good Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Russia Gets A Whole Lot Bleaker In Metro 2033
At the rate video games are going, the future Russia is in danger of becoming stereotyped as some Chernobyl-like irradiated, mutant filled wasteland. Granted, Russia would probably be a whole lot less interesting to gamers if it were portrayed as an idyllic fantasy land with happy pink bunnies and stuff. So it’s a good thing…
By AJ Glasser Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Numblast Comes A Little Late To North American PSN Thursday
North American PSP and PlayStation 3 owners will finally get to enjoy Numblast, a PlayStation Network puzzler that does things by the numbers and arrives on the PlayStation Store this Thursday. While Numblast may sound like a topical cream used in more intimate circumstances, it’s actually a video game! It can be enjoyed on the…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
IRL Big Head Mode Makes Halloween Cool & Creepy
Big head mode, an undisputed classic video game Easter Egg, as it turns out, also makes for a damn good Halloween costume. Kotaku reader Eric’s papercraft big head mode version of himself makes normal Eric equally cool and creepy. Eric doesn’t pull off any flaming NBA Jam-style dunks in his Flickr photo gallery, but he…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Belated Halloween
To: Ash From: Crecente I know you had a scare. But besides that did you have a nice Halloween? I spent mine drinking whiskey, handing out candy to kids and watching They Live. Good times. What you missed: Harley Quinn Hearts Kotaku An Early Look At Interplay’s Fallout MMO Return of Alice: The Creepy Trailer…
By Brian Crecente Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Richard Garriott Shows His Automata To Martha Stewart
For the handful of you who may have missed the late October episode of The Martha Stewart Show with Richard “Lord British” Garriott, that show has finally been uploaded for all to enjoy. The Ultima and Tabula Rasa creator brought some of his prized automata and rat tail to the Martha Stewart set, talking about…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 2, 2009 - Uncategorized
Takeuchi: Japanese Gamers Need Western Gamers’ Curiosity
Usually, when a country’s gaming scene struggles, game creators take the heat. But an Edge interview with Lost Planet 2 producer Jun Takeuchi suggests gamers could also be to blame. Here’s Takeuchi discussing the winter 2009 Lost Planet 2 with Edge magazine‘s interviewer. Note that Lost Planet 2 is designed to be played in co-op…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 2, 2009