• Uncategorized

  Wow, there really IS an Arkham Care Website

  I know, I know — just one more thing about Batman: Arkham Asylum and I swear I’ll shut up. But there’s actually an Arkham Care website setup for the game. Warden Quincy Sharp welcomes you to the site and there’s an “Inside Arkham” video clip show that reminds me of the Kaiser Permanente health care…

  By AJ Glasser Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  This Week In Video Game Comics

  Here’s a rundown of the new video game-based comics going on sale in comics shops in the U.S. this week, including Warcraft, Chun-Li and Sonic (always!). Click the thumbnails for more details. Sonic Universe #7 … Written by Ian Flynn. Drawn by Tracy Yardley. Summary Via Publisher Archie Comics: PART THREE OF THE EPIC “MOBIUS:…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Guy Busted for Stealing WiFi at NYC Library — to Play Halo

  In a public library, a dude sitting at a monitor with his hands in his lap, covered by a newspaper, implicitly means bad things. Fear not, he’s only sneaked in an Xbox to steal the free WiFi and play Halo. The tumbelog teendrama picked this up – the writer’s pal spied the multiplayer shenanigans in…

  By Owen Good Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Turbine Rolls For Damages In Atari Lawsuit

  Turbine slapped Atari with a $30 million lawsuit two weeks ahead of the launch date for Turbine’s free-to-play massively multiplayer online game, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited. The suit, filed August 24 in the state of New York’s Supreme Court, alleges among other things that that Atari breached its contract with the developer to…

  By AJ Glasser Published August 26, 2009
• Reviews

  Wolfenstein Review: Occult Following

  The battle against supernatural Nazis wages on in Wolfenstein, that latest chapter in epic saga of one man’s struggle against the occult-fueled Third Reich. Himmler’s Schutzstaffel is on the verge of harnessing a dark paranormal power that would mean the end of the free world as we knew it in 1943, and special agent B.J.…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  New Slim Ads Roll Out Sony’s “Director of Rumor Confirmation”

  Hot on the tail of official confirmation of the much-rumored Playstation 3 Slim and price drop, comes a new U.S. marketing strategy from Sony that employees much tongue in much cheek. The ads will be similar to the ones rolled out by Sony for MLB ’09 The Show with Red Sox’s Dustin Pedroia arguing with…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Blizzcon, Gamescom: More Stories Than You Can Read

  To: Ashcraft From: Crecente Re: This Meat Is So Raw, So Red And Oh So Meaty And that’s a wrap. It looks like we’ve finally run through all of the reporting, previews, impressions, pictures and videos from Gamescom and BlizzCon today. Though I think McWhertor told me he might have one more for Friday. If…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Maxis Hit With Job Cuts, EA Confirms

  Word from Electronic Arts today is that Maxis, the studio behind The Sims and Spore, suffered layoffs today. No word on how many people were affected. EA described the cuts as an attempt to “focus” the studio. “Often in the video game industry, the size of a studio fluctuates in response to business conditions,” an…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Decorate Your PlayStation Home In Early Hellghast

  The Visari Throne Room personal space is just one of more than a hundred new pieces of PlayStation Home content flooding Sony’s virtual world with tomorrow’s update. Killzone 2 plays a big part in tomorrow’s PlayStation Home update, with the launch of the Visari Throne Room bringing with it a ton of new Killzone 2…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Testing Games Gets You $9 An Hour

  The Minneapolis Star Tribune finds one journalism student who is making some money testing an unnamed, unannounced Activision game. Video game tester Kelly Watkins is 20 and hopes to break into the industry. Watkins has already mastered the art of not naming the secret game he or she is working on — as well as…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  New Left 4 Dead 2 Level Appearing At PAX, As Are We

  In an un-extraordinary coincidence, Valve announced that a new level of Left 4 Dead 2 will be playable at next week’s Penny Arcade Expo — on the same day Fahey and I did a lot of PAX booking. Valve announced that “Dark Carnival,” the third of the November PC and Xbox 360 game’s five campaigns…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  The Mario Scape Pepsi Built

  Witness the spectacular aftermath of a Coke versus Pepsi “display war” in a California grocery store. Reader Chris writes that his sister snapped a photo of what she described as a huge 8-bit Mario display Pepsi built out of cases of their drinks at the Safeway in Rohnert Park, California. Keep in mind this isn’t…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Kotaku Talk Radio: BlizzCon

  Hear PlayStation 3 debates featuring live calls from Kotaku readers. Listen to our Mike Fahey reveal the secrets of his strange interview with Ozzy Osbourne. Take Crecente’s podcast-naming challenge (Kotalku???). Laugh at my jokes. It’s our newest podcast episode. If you missed the live call-in show you can stream the full episode right here or…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Enter to Win a Copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum

  Holy cats—everyone’s talking about the latest Batman game. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, you become the Invisible Predator armed with Batman’s gadgets and abilities and battle the Joker’s crazies, including Harley Quinn, Victor Zsasz, and Killer Croc. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, you can roam freely and explore every inch of Arkham Asylum—the infamous island is presented…

  By Chrissie Lamond Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Raven Hit By Layoffs, Some Point to Lackluster Wolfenstein Sales

  Raven Software, developers of recently released Wolfenstein and soon to be released Singluarlity, let 30 to 35 go from their Wisconsin studios, sources tell Kotaku. In a prepared statement released to Kotaku today, Activision confirmed that Raven, a subsidiary of the company, had laid people off today, but declined to confirm or deny the number…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Heavy Rain Story Could Expand Through DLC

  While the full story of PS3-exclusive Heavy Rain will ship on the disc, developer Quantic Dream is toying with the idea of further exploring the game’s diverse cast of characters through future downloadable content. Quantic Dream founder David Cage spoke to Videogamer.com at Gamescom last week about the possibility for additional, post-release downloadable content for…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  How To Hype A PS3 Game Advantage

  If only, for Sony, it was always so easy to argue that the PlayStation 3 version of a game is the superior edition. When Sony launched the PS3 in 2006, stressing the advantage of games being on the console was certainly was part of Sony’s plan: Flaunt the positives of games being pressed on Blu-Ray…

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  The Pictures, Still and Moving, Of Gamescom

  Gamescom was a massive event, both in scale and attendance with a quarter of a million people packing 1.3 million square feet over a week. There were plenty of things to do and even more to see. If you missed our exhaustive coverage, and aren’t really into reading, you should take the time to pick…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Want To Work In The Japanese Gaming Industry? Here’s How

  It’s a regular occurrence. Open my email, and time after time, there the question is, staring me in the face: How do I work in Japanese gaming? Heck, I dunno. I don’t work in the game industry, but rather, cover the game industry. If you want to ask me about that, do it. Fire away!…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 26, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Command & Conquer 4 Gets A Real Name

  After introducing the next C&C game with a placeholder numbered title, EA Los Angeles has settled on a name that only slightly evokes thoughts of sparkly vampires: Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. EA let the fans choose the name they felt best fit the game, and I’d say the fans made a very wise…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 26, 2009