A Bright Idea: Sims 3 USB Christmas Lights

To go with the reviewers’ copies of The Sims 3 Collectors Edition (plum-bob USB memory stick included), EA also sent a set of USB Christmas lights, also in the shape of plum-bobs. The tips of the lights are sharp enough to cut skin or a small child’s mouth should they attempt to gum them. According…

This Is Why I Thought Just Cause 2 Was “Best In Show”

I called Just Cause 2 the best thing I saw at E3. That’s a big call for a sequel to a so-so game. So, just in case you think I’ve gone mad, watch this. It’s the same developer demo I sat through behind closed doors at E3. It runs for around 10 minutes, but it’s…

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Mini-Marches To DSiWare

What new digital treasure await the Wii Point and DSi Point bearing Nintendo fan this week? Perhaps most noteworthy is arrival of Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, announced last week for the Nintendo DSi and available right now. This week’s new downloadable titles for WiiWare, DSiWare and the Wii Virtual Console has a…

Games For Cheaper Auto Insurance

Allstate Insurance and Posit Science, a San Francisco start-up, are looking into brain-training video games as a way to give drivers a discount on auto insurance. SF Gate reports that a driver who played used the “brain-training software” game called Jewel Diver narrowly avoided a car accident when another driver ran a red light at…

New Tekken 6 Campaign Mode Spawns E3 Screen Shot Of Show

Namco Bandai announced that Tekken 6 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 would one-up its arcade counterpart with the “Scenario Campaign” mode, a single and two player online co-op campaign that makes for great screen shots. You might be able to kick giant pandas in the face or battle women made of wood in…

Recovered?

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Have You Recovered From E3? How can I have recovered from E3 when it’s still happening in my head and my writing. The amount of content we still have to post, really good content, could possibly outweigh what we’ve already reported. How crazy is that. This morning we started to…

Grapple Buggy Hands-On: Swingin’ Through VALD-END 317

Nathan Fouts‘ Grapple Buggy immediately conjures up warm, fuzzy feelings of Bionic Commando, Super Metroid, Contra III: The Alien Wars and Blaster Master. Damn good retro company to be kept in. Fouts brought the work-in-progress Grapple Buggy to E3 2009, giving us a hands-on demo of the adventure platformer, showing us around the world of…

Sony Explains Unnamed New PS3 Motion Controller A Little More

The head of marketing for the PlayStation brand told us at E3 that Sony’s new PlayStation 3 motion-control tech could be the thing to get hardcore players into “motion gaming.” We covered Microsoft’s new motion-control system, Natal, heavily last week. And that’s without us getting a firm release date for it. But what of Sony’s…

New Aliens Vs. Predator Screens Feature Aliens, Predators

Sega’s first game to cash in on the Aliens license is Aliens Vs. Predator, which, if I can count correctly, is the ninth video game* to chronicle the epic battle between Aliens and Predators. It’s definitely the prettiest. It was one of the games at E3 2009 that I didn’t get to play, unfortunately, but…

Gran Turismo For PSP Was Almost “Gran Turismo Spyder”

Polyphony Digital‘s “real driving simulator” Gran Turismo is finally coming to the PSP this October, some four years after it was announced as Gran Turismo 4 Mobile. But now it’s just simply Gran Turismo. Why is that? We sat down with Polyphony president Kazunori Yamauchi at E3 last week to find out more about the…

PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe Preview: Marital Bliss

I’m not writing the following preview for Kotaku readers. I’m writing it for my wife, who loves PixelJunk Monsters and has demanded more information. PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe is the first PSP release in the well-reviewed, artsy-retro PixelJunk series that has been a delight for PS3 owners (and for a certain someone I live with). Announced…

So my buddy swears to me that there is an increasing number of Counter-Strike players who are using meth to enhance their abilities. Now, he’s never cited this, I always just assumed he guessed this based on his own experience (I’d like to know what servers HE plays on), but it doesn’t seem entirely illogical.…

Nintendo Lays Out DS, DSiWare Release Schedule At E3

We’ve already gotten a peek at Nintendo of America’s newly released, but still tentative, Wii release schedule, which shows 2010 will be very good year. But what about all those great Nintendo DS games? When are they coming out? Nintendo has penciled in a few of its releases for this year, but some, like Golden…

Divinity 2: Ego Draconis Impressions: I Am Dragon

Journey back into the magical land of Rivellon in Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, Larian Studios PC and Xbox 360 follow-up to their poorly-title action roleplaying game Divine Divinity. Ego Draconis takes place a couple of years after the last game, and a war between dragons and humans is in full swing. While the two races…

EA: Fight Night And MMA Will Alternate Years

At E3, EA Sports chief Peter Moore let us in on his master plan to guarantee an EA Sports fighting game every year. It’s an odd-numbered year this year, and so it is that EA Sports shall give us a boxing game. Fight Night Round 4, to be specific. Later this month. EA Sports’ Peter…

My Favorite E3 Game Moment: Mass Effect 2

While I saw plenty of amazing games at E3, the one moment that sticks with me is when BioWare was demonstrating the new conversation interrupt system for Mass Effect 2. Briefly touched on in Totilo’s impressions post, the interrupt system goes hand-in-hand with the tougher COmmander Shepard we’re seeing in Mass Effect 2. It’s a…

New Tekken 6 E3 Screens Give Us Another Peek

Namco Bandai has capitalized on this year’s E3 with a batch of new screen shots for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of its 3D fighter Tekken 6. Cheeky high kicks abound. We count ten crotch-exposing high kicks from various Iron Fist Tournament contenders, including Lili, Nina, King and Jin. Even Christie takes an…

Tony Hawk’s MiniMe?

As seen on Twitpic. [Thanks Tom]

Burnout’s Big Surf Island Gets Priced

The Big Surf Island expansion for Burnout Paradise is coming this Thursday to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. How much does Criterion’s biggest add-on yet cost? It’s not cheap, but it should be worth it, adding a much-needed infusion of new drivable real estate to Burnout Paradise, with a handful of new cars to…

High Voltage’s Gladiator A.D. First Impressions

The Conduit developer High Voltage is bringing the original arena sport to the Wii with Gladiator A.D., part fighting game, part roleplaying game. At first glance, Gladiator A.D. looks like a rather simplistic sort of fighting game. Players take on the roles of warriors of the ancient world, driving sword against shield and spear against…