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What Are You Playing This Weekend?
It’s been a busy month, with moving, travel and a handful of guests staying at Kotaku Towers West. Not much time left for gaming… until now! That’s why I’m finally breaking the seal on this copy of Raiden Fighters Aces. That’s just to cleanse the palette, as I’ll be digging into a few downloadable titles…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Second Skin Documentary Debuts In Theaters, On Hulu
Second Skin, Pure West Films‘ documentary about the lives of the people behind the players of massively-multiplayer online games, hits select theaters today, but if you can’t make it there’s always Hulu. Second Skin provides a rather balanced look at the relationships formed via online games, from friendships to romances to relationships that go even…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Rabbids Go Home: The Stripping Gets Your Attention
In case you were planning on skipping Ubisoft’s new Wii-only adventure game, first consider that it will allow players to strip human beings to their underwear. I played a bit of Rabbids Go Home a little over a week ago at an event for developer and publisher Ubisoft in New York City. I was going…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Arkham Asylum: Making The Game, Respecting The Franchise
With the demo dropping today and the game right around the corner, Eidos and Warner Bros. release another behind-the-scenes video to make sure everyone knows how much they respect the franchise. If this were any other comic book franchise, I’d say they were laying it on a bit thick, but Batman fans have been burned…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Penny Arcade’s Tekken 6 Comic Packs A Pouch
That’s no typo; Namco Bandai has enlisted the boys from Penny Arcade to create a Tekken 6 web comic, and they’re focusing on the most compelling fighter the series has ever produced. Yes, Penny Arcade is telling the secret origin of Roger, Tekken’s gestalt character, who is actually two fighters in one. When an erroneously-named…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron Preview: To Fire The Ion Cannon
All I wanted to do when I played the newest Star Wars game on the PSP was fire the ion cannon. I became immature about it, even. Imagine a normally respectable Kotaku reporter badgering a LucasArts PR man: “But I want to fire the ion cannon!” Worse, imagine that turning into: “I’m going to go…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 7, 2009 -
UncategorizedPlaying Guitar Hero On Expert While Solving Two Rubik’s Cubes
That’s what happens in this video. Guitar Hero fan and “speedcuber” Julian plays Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr. Crowley” in Guitar Hero World Tour on expert difficulty while also solving two Rubik’s Cubes with his free hand. Sorry, should’ve warned you to take your shoes off, because your socks were probably just blown right through them. Oh,…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Best Buy Now Matching GameStop’s Used Prices On New Games
Electronics retailer Best Buy is firing a shot at competitors GameStop and Game Crazy, offering a price match guarantee on video games that would match prices on new titles against other retailers used prices. Yeah, that is awesome. One Cheap Ass Gamer snapped this photo highlighting the promotion at a West Jordan, Utah area Best…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
How Many Hours People Play Sports Games On Wii (Go, Madden)
People buy sports on the Wii, the only console currently bundled with a sports-based video game. But how much do they play these things? And how do the Maddens, the fishing games and the mighty Wii Fit rate? Yes, I’m defining “sports game” loosely. But, on the Wii, where the boundaries of gaming communities and…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 7, 2009 - Reviews
The King of Fighters XII Review: Still Royalty?
This year is the 15th Anniversary of fighting game franchise The King of Fighters. To mark the occasion, developer SNK unleashes a “rebirth” for the series, The King of Fighters XII. For those just coming to the series, The King of Fighters XII is a four-button, three-on-three fighter. Unlike Street Fighter, a series KOF is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Why Did Nintendo Send Me A Rock In The Mail?
I’ve received a lot of peculiar things from Nintendo in the past: A DSi cake, a call from Mario, a box of candies, but this is the first that made me work to find out what it was. Inside today’s package was a large white rock with the words Fossil Fighters cut into its surface.…
By Brian Crecente Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Humorous And Romantic Old Republic Smuggler
Humor and romance are two things you don’t often associated with an MMO character class, but those are two qualities BioWare is focusing on for the Smuggler class in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Senior writer Hal Hood talks about creating the Smuggler class in the latest developer diary on the Star Wars: The Old…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
One Strange Unlockable
Nintendo’s newest DSi downloadable puzzle game aims to calm your frenzied life by offering bonus "relax rooms." This is the strangest unlockable I’ve played since WarioWare Twisted let me stick an SUV in a giant cheese grater. You can earn this unlockable in ArtStyle Precipice, which was released as a $5 download for the DSi…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
The First Game Dedicated Entirely To Sushi
City Interactive makes a bold claim while introducing its upcoming Nintendo DS game, Sushi Academy, the “The first-ever video game dedicated entirely to sushi.” Bold words! I’m pretty sure I’ve played a sushi-themed puzzle game or two in my lifetime, but if they mean the first-ever video game dedicated to the preparation to sushi…well who…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Gamescom Awards Includes Gameboy in Potential Contenders
That’s right, when Gamescom premieres in Cologne in two weeks they won’t just have their very own awards, they’ll also be looking for possible contenders out of the possibly extinct Gameboy market. The Gamescom Award for best games at the trade fair will hand out honors in a number of categories with the help of…
By Brian Crecente Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Tying Together Dead Space Extraction’s Story
How does a development team create a whole new story for a prequel like Dead Space Extraction for the Wii while maintaining ties to established fiction? If only there was some sort of video explanation… Ooo, convenient. Running parallel to the events in the Dead Space comic book series and the animated feature, Dead Space…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Tales Of Monkey Island Continues August 20th
Telltale continues the tale of Guybrush Threepwood that began in Launch of the Screaming Narwhal on August 20th, when they release Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: Siege of Spinner Cay. When we last left our intrepid pirate friend, he had found himself stranded on Flotsam Island, a strange place where the wind always blows…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Work and Play: A Peek Inside the Lives of Gaming’s Insiders
In the original Work and Play, we posted a collection of photos of game developers and journalists’ desks and game setups from around the world. We are thrilled to be revitalizing this project in our new gallery system with several new additions. On Wednesday, Crecente posted a gallery of developers and industry insiders. Today, we…
By Andrew Freedman Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
More City Of Heroes Power Customization Screens
Paragon Studios shows off more of the power customization coming in the Issue 16: Power Spectrum update for City of Heroes. The new screenshots come with the news that every player will be getting one free Tailoring session per costume slot when the Power Spectrum update is released, in order to ensure that every costumed…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Gorillaz Trample Rock Band Next Week
A heavy dose of classic rock in next week’s Rock Band Music Store update gets completely overrun by the Rock Band debut of Gorillaz. Feel good? I’m feeling glad. Up until now, the Gorillaz presence in music games has been limited to karaoke games and an appearance in the promising yet ultimately disappointing Battle of…
By Mike Fahey Published August 7, 2009