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Halo Composer Wrote Jingles for Flintstones Vitamins, Tidy Cats
A profile by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, calling Marty O’Donnell the John Williams of the Halo series, turns up this tidbit: He wrote the Flintstones Vitamins jingle (which you now have stuck in your head) and his kids sang the chorus. That’s not news to hardcore fans (it’s all over the Halo wikis), but O’Donnell’s past…
By Owen Good Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Onyxia Is Back And Badder Than Ever
World of Warcraft patch 3.2.2 hit the servers this morning with a resounding roar, as the dragon Onyxia is reborn, ready to take level 80 players down several painful pegs. The latest patch brings the terror back to Azeroth, returning the mighty dragon to her former glory. What was until recently possible for 2-3 people…
By Mike Fahey Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Earth Has Officially Fallen
Fallen Earth‘s self-title post-apocalyptic MMO goes live today, with a retail version hitting store shelves by the end of the month for folks averse to downloading large amounts of data. The beta testing is over, the Earth has been destroyed, and the monkeys are a great deal more intelligent now in Fallen Earth, the post-apocalyptic…
By Mike Fahey Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
A Development Studio That Doesn’t Put Out Many Games Might Be Busy
Do you ever wonder why some of gaming’s top development studios put out so few games? I know, I know. Making games is hard. But here’s what happens when you ask the Metroid Prime developers that question. (For context, you need to know that Nintendo-owned Retro Studios, with involvement from Nintendo Kyoto-based producer Kensuke Tanabe,…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Way of the Samurai 3 Comes To The iPhone (Barely)
As a casual fan of Spike’s Way of the Samurai series, I was probably more excited than you were to read that Way of the Samurai 3 was now available on the iPhone. Technically, it is. And if you’re a massive Way of the Samurai fan, loving the series warts and all, you should grab…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Brutal Legend: Forging The World
Enough with the goofy Jack Black-flavored promotional videos for Brutal Legend. Art director Lee Petty takes us through the process behind the building of the Brutal Legend world. Brutal Legend is definitely a beautiful game, and Lee is responsible for a great deal of that, so excuse him if he isn’t quite as dynamic as…
By Mike Fahey Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
The World Ends With Totilo
Released last year in the U.S., The World Ends With You brought action role-playing to the real-world setting of Shibuya reimagined by Square-Enix. In the game, Neku Sakuraba searches the alternate plane of Shibuya’s “underground” for predatory “noise.” Since we were hanging out in the fashionable Shibuya area much of today, we thought it would…
By Brian Crecente Published September 22, 2009 - Reviews
Mini Ninjas Review: Hitman: Lunch Money
Strange one, this. Mini Ninjas is, at first glance, clearly aimed at children. Or at least children at heart. Big-eyed characters, cute design. But it was also made by the same guys who did Hitman. Mini Ninjas is a game that sees you start off as a young ninja, sent out into the world to…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Pokemania Still Running Wild In This Tokyo Store
See the Pokemon Chopsticks. Pokemon Play-Doh. Pokemon dolls. Pokemon Lanterns. Pokemon Toy Cars. Pokemon Magic Tricks… The Pokemon Chair…. and more. We have images and videos here of the intense amount of Pokemon in Tokyo’s Kiddy Land toy store. The last two thumbnails in this gallery are videos. Watch them. They are key to understanding…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Swastika Gets Wolfenstein Pulled from German Shelves
Nazi imagery is a big nein-nein in Germany, and the localized version of Wolfenstein was supposed to have removed all of it. A small swastika slipped through, and Activision is said to be recalling the game from shelves there. The news, sourced back to 4players.de (translation) attributes a statement to Activision saying that “although it…
By Owen Good Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Wish You Were Here: Shibuya
The fashion capital of Japan, Shibuya is also home to a slew of night clubs, eateries and fancy hotels. Most notable to gamers, perhaps, Shibuya is the setting for last year’s The World Ends with You. The game is filled with iconic scenery from the area including the train station, person-packed crosswalk, the Shibuya 109…
By Brian Crecente Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Left 4 Dead Patch Improves Zombie HUD, Adds Achievements
A patch went out today for Left 4 Dead that adds improvements to the HUD when you play as a zombie in versus mode. Speculation also is that it lays the foundation for the upcoming Crash Course campaign. The most notable content addition is a timer in the Zombie HUD that counts down the special…
By Owen Good Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Controllers Round 2
Round One is over, and judging by the amount of Street Fighter IV sticks and controllers Mad Catz sold, the peripheral company came out on top. Now it’s time for Round Two. Round 2 of Mad Catz officially licensed Street Fighter IV controllers features the same Tournament Edition FightSticks and FightPads as the first batch,…
By Mike Fahey Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Hands On With Street Fighter Sound Stick Keychain
I found this while wandering the aisles of 6-story toy story Kiddyland in Harajuku earlier this week. The Street Fighter-themed keychain has a little joystick and a punch and kick button. If you pull off the moves correctly the device will make the sounds for hurricane kick, uppper cut , fireball, all the good stuff.…
By Brian Crecente Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Itagaki Talks Missiles, Tecmo And Sixaxis Bounce
The Tokyo Game Show is days away and just before it kicked off, we had a chance to catch up with former Team Ninja lead ninja Tomonobu Itagaki — designer of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. Itagaki has kept a relatively low profile since leaving Tecmo, working with his new company Tokyo Vikings and…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Aion’s Global Community
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/global-community-aion/56332 The fourth episode of the Aion video podcast takes a look at the global community, while answering important questions about PVPVE, crafting, player housing, and how awesome associate producer Lani Blazier is. Speaking of long queue times, last night was simply amazing. I spent 40 minutes in the queue at first, and then my…
By Mike Fahey Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Live From Tokyo, It’s Kotaku Radio
With Brian Ashcraft, Mike McWhertor, Stephen Totilo and myself out in Tokyo for the week to cover the Tokyo Game Show, staffing is a bit light at the Tower. So we’ve decided to try and host our weekly live call-in show from Japan. You’ll still be listening to the show and calling in the same…
By Brian Crecente Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
New DSi Colours Announced for Europe
Due Oct. 23, Europe will get metallic blue, light blue and red, preloaded with Flipnote Studio and Facebook. Also, buying one and taking it to the Nintendo DSi Shop over the Wi-Fi Connection will get 1,000 free DSi points. The points offer is good from the date of release until March 2010. There was also…
By Owen Good Published September 22, 2009 - Uncategorized
Get Cash Back On Your Xbox 360 Elite
Microsoft sweetens the deal on the newly $299 Xbox 360, offering a $50 rebate on all Elite consoles purchased between now and October 5th. It’s 14 days of savings! Simply purchase an Xbox 360 Elite at the regular price, visit http://www.xbox.com/eliterebate (once it goes live), jump through whatever hoops they require you to jump through…
By Mike Fahey Published September 22, 2009