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  A Peek At Bungie’s Office and One Really Big Halo ODST Map

  Today’s peek inside a development studio offers a bit more than just a look at the desks behind some of today’s greatest games. This picture of Paul Bertone, Bungie’s design director for Halo 3: ODST, also affords us a chance to steal a look at what appears to be some maps for upcoming shooter and…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 17, 2009
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  What’s German for: “Please write about games here”? Welcome to GamesCom week. And get ready for some other convention, too. Plus, QuakeCon stuff that you’ll all like is still coming. Your turn, now. Have at it and start chatting. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ.

  By Stephen Totilo Published August 17, 2009
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  Guten Morgen!

  To: Crecente From: Luke So you and Mike have touched down in Germany, eh? Enjoy! Good food and beer in Germany, and places that do good food and beer are good places to spend a week in. Especially when you throw video games into the mix. Here’s what you missed while you were scoffing down…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  Hey Capcom, What Did You Think Of Bionic Commando?

  While some people cling to the belief that you could wring some enjoyment out of Bionic Commando, like blood from a cold, heavy stone, most people ignored it. Didn’t buy it. Why was that, Capcom? As part of a Q&A from the company’s recent fiscal earnings conference call, Capcom President Haruhiro Tsujimoto gave his two…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  Britain Gets A 360 Price Increase

  While there are 360 price cuts on the horizon in the US market, in Britain, consumers don’t have things as easy, because instead of price cuts, Microsoft have instead announced an impending price increase. According to a report on Eurogamer – who spoke with ShopTo and another “corroborating independent retail chain source” – Microsoft sent…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  id: No More Monster Closets, Promise!

  If you remember Doom 3, you’ll remember that the amazing visuals and creepy setting were ruined by two things: too much darkness, and those stupid “monster closets.” Looks like id have learned their lesson on the latter. To those who may not know what they are, “monster closets” were areas of a map where an…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  Xbox 360 Hits 9 Million In Europe

  Much like the US in recent months, in Europe the Xbox 360 has been bucking the 2009 trend of downward sales, registering positive sales growth as it moves past the 9 million sold barrier. That’s according to Xbox Europe’s Chris Lewis, at any rate, who says that so far in 2009 the 360 is the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  Monkey Island: Episode Two Screens Wash Ashore

  The second island of Telltale’s take on Monkey Island will be out on PC this Thursday. My, how time flies. In the meantime, here are some new screens.

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  And Europe’s New “Biggest Market” Is… [UPDATE]

  The answer is pretty obvious to those who know their DDRs from their FRGs, but if you haven’t the foggiest on where that image above is from, know that the United Kingdom is no longer the biggest games market. Germany is. It’s overtaken the UK in the past few months, as British game sales suffered…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  1vs100: 2.5 Million Downloads, 200k+ Playing In A Single Night

  No doubt flushed with the unexpected success of it all, Microsoft this morning released some statistics for their Xbox Live party/quiz title 1 vs 100. Most importantly, that it’s been downloaded 2.5 million times. Also disclosed were the records for players in one night (230,000 in North America, 215,000 in Europe), as well as simultaneous…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  A Couple Of Starcraft II Gameplay Clips

  As Mike has told you, Starcraft II is coming along nicely. Need to see for yourself? Here’s two new gameplay videos from the Terran campaign. Click to view Click to view StarCraft 2 Evacuation/Lava Mining Gameplay HD [GameVideos]

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  Serious Sam Now As Shiny As It Is Silly

  This is the first trailer for the upcoming HD re-release of Serious Sam. As you’d expect, it’s very HD. And as you’d expect, it’s very silly. In a good way, of course.

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  First StarCraft II Single Player Campaign Hands-On (With Spoilers)

  We’ve played one-third of one-third of StarCraft II’s single-player campaign recently. Blizzard gave us a full day with the most recent playable build of the game, a seven-mission long journey through the Terran’s Wings of Liberty portion of the trilogy. We took notes. Lots of notes. And in this post, the full no facts-barred details…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 17, 2009
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  First StarCraft II Single Player Campaign Hands-On (Now Spoiler-Free!)

  Blizzard offered a day-long hands-on demo of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first chapter in the StarCraft II trilogy. We played about a third of the game and we’d like to tell you about it—minus the spoilers. While there wasn’t much in the way of massive story revelations in what we played—we were just…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 17, 2009
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  StarCraft II: The Unit Upgrades That Make Single-player Shine

  While StarCraft II multiplayer may be the long-term draw of Blizzard’s highly anticipated real-time strategy sequel, the game’s single-player campaign is also packed with depth and replayability. That’s due, in part, to the game’s technology upgrade system. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty’s campaign mode features units and buildings that players won’t be able to use…

  By Michael McWhertor Published August 17, 2009
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  One-Inch Xbox Is, Yes, Slim

  While the world waits impatiently for a PS3 Slim, this modder has gone ahead (well…backwards) and created an Xbox that’s even slimmer. The guy’s name is Bandit5317, and his Xbox is one-inch wide, losing the clunky disc drive and replacing it with a 320GB HDD. It’s like the Xbox of the past and the Xbox…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 17, 2009
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  I Need a Couch

  To: Luke From: Owen Re: I Should Probably Start Packing When I moved in to my new apartment, I knew there was no way my old couch was fitting through the door. And I was right. The frame must have been three inches narrower than its shortest axis. I kept the damned thing in the…

  By Owen Good Published August 16, 2009
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  Afternoon Tea Now Includes Space Invaders

  In an inverse Coors-Blue-Mountains way, this tea vessel shows blue pixelated Space Invaders when the contents are, of course, the hottest-tasting beer tea in the world. Yeah, yeah, taste isn’t a temperature. That’s been discussed before. Still, this tea service design won some damned tea-off for 2009, and should class up your joint if you…

  By Owen Good Published August 16, 2009
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  Play Spot-the-Difference in Current-Gen Madden

  A lot of the year-to-year “advances” in Madden are about as subtle as noticing the change in typefaces in the white pages. “Real-time natural grass growth physics.” “Crowd boos its own mascot.” “Authentic third-quarter beer cutoff.” You get the drill. Here’s a 10-question quiz testing your knowledge of all the changes in the Madden NFL…

  By Owen Good Published August 16, 2009
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  Kiosk Chain Offering $2 Game Rentals

  RedBox, the DVD rental kiosk company largely doing business in western U.S. supermarkets and McDonald’s locations, has begun offering $2-a-night game rentals at its locations, with Reno, Nevada as a test market. The kiosks will cover the major consoles (PS3, PS2, Wii and 360) and the $2 per night doesn’t blow the doors off Blockbuster’s…

  By Owen Good Published August 16, 2009