• Uncategorized

  Smash Bros. Brawl User Online Service Ending

  When Nintendo’s Wii fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl launched in 2008, it was touted for its user-generated stage designs and replay data. That service, sadly, will soon cease. From the game’s official website: As of June 30th, 2009, the current service that accepts user-generated snapshots, stage designs, and replay data will no longer be…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  FIFA 10 Preview: It’s The Early-Season Favourite

  Despite being the world’s most popular sport, and also EA’s biggest-selling annual title, FIFA 10 was relegated to a small backroom presence at E3 while Madden was everywhere. Ah well. We played it anyway. What Is It? It’s FIFA. Previously the world’s second-best football game behind Konami’s Pro Evolution series, but since last year, the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Preview: There’s A Light

  E3 2009 marks the first time Konami let us get our hands on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Nintendo Wii, and while the hands-on were brief, they were definitely illuminating. What Is It? Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a retelling of the first game in Konami’s Silent Hill series. You’re still Harry Mason; you’re…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Taste Hot Monkey Vengeance!

  Prepare to meet your frosty, carbonated maker in this E3 trailer for Telltale’s Tales of Monkey Island. Brings back memories, doesn’t it? That’s Dominic Armato voicing Guybrush there. He’s the original voice actor for the character, and it shows. Who else could pull off a line like, “Here comes Guybrush Threepwood’s glowing sword of hot…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  BioWare Doesn’t Expect You To Survive Mass Effect 2

  If you don’t want to know anything about Mass Effect 2, don’t read more. But if you’re curious about just how dangerous this new game is…. Mass Effect 2 lead designer Casey Hudson walked E3 show attendees through a behind-closed-doors demo of his game today. He started spilling news about BioWare’s 2010 sci-fi sequel. First,…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  New iPhone Will Include 3D Graphics Chip, Hits July

  Next week at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference the company will be unveiling its new iPhone, a device that will sport an improved 3D graphics chip, operate on a new, higher-speed network and hit mid-July, sources tell Kotaku. Our sources told us that the new iPhone will also tout much more robust Bluetooth support,…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Eyes On With Sony’s EyePet

  Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s EyePet is one of the increasing number of games that’s hard to go hands-on with. The augmented reality pet-simulation is played mostly by interacting with an adorable on-screen creature with little more than your hands. We sat in on a EyePet demo at E3 that showed off some of the game’s…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  This Is The Most Technically Impressive Thing I’ve Seen All Week

  This being E3, there’s been a lot of impressive stuff on show. But nothing as impressive as seeing somebody play Ubisoft’s RUSE on Microsoft’s $20,000 touch-screen “Surface”.

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Jumpgate Multiplayer Preview: Shades Of Descent

  We descended into the depths of a hollow space station to try out the player-versus-player combat in NetDevil’s Jumpgate Evolution. What Is It? What do you mean, what is it? It’s Jumpgate Evolution, the massively multiplayer online space shooter that’s so thick and rich you can play it with a joystick. Rather than sticking to…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Tetris Creator Skeptical of Project Natal

  Alexey Pajitnov, the father of puzzle video games, like the idea of full motion controls, but thinks any such system faces major hurdles. “I am a little bit skeptical about (Project Natal),” he said. “I know how interfaces work and the reliability of this stuff is the key problem. You have to have 99.9 percent…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Will Team Ninja Take The Slutty Route With Samus?

  Was speaking with new Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi today, and got to thinking…Team Ninja are admirers of the female form. Team Ninja are now doing Metroid. So will Team Ninja be admiring Samus’ form? Oh come on. Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking it. The studio’s games, with or without former boss Tomonobu Itagaki,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Bayonetta Girl Is Not Cosplay, She Is Art

  Sega found a winner for that Bayonetta contest, and she’s been breaking men’s hearts all week long over at the company’s booth. But don’t call her “cosplay”. Don’t call her “marketing”. Call her “a work of art”. Just look at this costume. It’s perfect. From the highly-detailed guns to the hair to the medallion to…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Nier Impressions (Or Lack Thereof)

  Square Enix‘s Yosuke Saito is overseeing development of new action title Nier. So yesterday, we caught up with him, to have a chat and take a first look at the game. Nier is being developed by Cavia, the Japanese studio behind Drakengard and Umbrella Chronicles, but unlike most of Square Enix’s other titles coming out…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Tim Schafer Responds To Activision’s Brutal Legend Lawsuit

  Activision’s none too pleased about Double Fine Productions’ heavy metal epic Brütal Legend having gone to EA. So it’s suing the developer. What say you, Double Fine president Tim Schafer? “Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it,” Schafer said. “Oh great, now Beyoncé is going to sue me…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Glory Of Heracles Hands-On Handholding

  Nintendo’s Glory of Heracles feels like the company’s attempt at RPG Training, a My First Role-Playing Game for the crowd fearful of stats-heavy, turn-based conventions. But then the Nintendo DS game quickly becomes that very thing. That may be due to the game actually being the fifth entry in the Hercules no Eiko series, which…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Microsoft: Rare Working On Numerous Natal Projects

  No Banjo Kazooie at E3? No Viva Pinata? Blame Project Natal. We’ve been looking for Rare at E3. Microsoft’s Shane Kim, corporate v. p. at Microsoft for Xbox 360 strategy and business development, didn’t exactly tell us where they are, but he did tell us what they’re up to. “Rare is intimately involved with Project…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Eyes On With Invizimals: When Pokemon Meets Ghostbusters

  Novarama’s PSP game Invizimals may smack of an obvious Pokémon clone, but the PSP Camera-enabled pet collection game is still fascinating to look at, with magical appeal that younger games might just eat up. Invizimals adds to the mini-monster collect-and-evolve genre with some technically impressive augmented reality tricks, something along the lines of Sony’s PlayStation…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Telltale Tells Tales Of Monkey Island

  With LucasArts busy recreating The Secret of Monkey Island, Telltale is bringing us Tales of Monkey Island, an episodic adventure that picks up where the fifth Monkey Island game left off. Yes yes, I realize there was no fifth Monkey Island game, but don’t tell Tales of Monkey Island that. Telltale walked me through the…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Nintendo Thinks Conan O’Brien Mario Homage Is “Great”

  Now that we’ve seen how Super Mario World’s level design has helped shape Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show backdrop, we had to get Nintendo’s reaction. We did. “That’s great,” Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said as he looked at it for the first time during his interview with Kotaku. “We know that he is a…

  By Stephen Totilo Published June 4, 2009
• Uncategorized

  New Quantum Screens Are No Longer Theoretical

  Tecmo’s “TPS” Quantum is reporting for PlayStation 3 exclusive duty in 2010. The third-person shooter looks very Japanese in its visual design, but Western in its cover system-focused gameplay. The twist(!) in Quantum (known elsewhere as Quantum Theory—yes, that game!) is that the things one needs to find cover behind may change, as you’ll battle…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 4, 2009