• Uncategorized

  This Spanish Movie Looks Like Some First-Person-Shooter

  Spanish horror film REC 2, the sequel to 2007’s excellent REC, is another exercise in claustrophobic horror. While the prequel was heavy on the hand-held camera, REC 2 employs camera mounted on the soldiers’ helmets. It’s a bit like watching a first-person-shooter. This is hardly a first — other movies have done this before. But…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  DJ Hero Turntable Pics

  During E3, Activision finally worked the gumption up to show off the DJ Hero turntable in the flesh. Since most of you weren’t there, though, here’s some renders of the thing.

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Pokemon In 3D!

  On October 14, the first two Pokémon 3D anime film shorts will be returning once again to Japanese movies theaters in a remastered Pokémon 3D Adventure double bill. Originally opening in 2005 as the first 3D Pokémon film, the 11-minute Mew o Sagase! (Find Mew!) has been given a new ending for the re-release. The…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  E3’s Fuzziest Controller Causes Cute Overload

  This "Pluff" controller/application is more than a graduate student’s master thesis — it’s the cutest damn thing ever. Diana Hughes from the University of Southern California created Pluff to function is a combination Furby/Tamagotchi pet that’s both a controller and a virtual pet. Petting him makes him happy, slamming his head against a desk makes…

  By AJ Glasser Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Bioshock 2 Multiplayer Screens

  Keen for some 10-player Bioshock deathmatch action? Then you’ll have to wait until Bioshock 2 is released. Until then, you’ll have to make do with these MP screens.

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  11-Year-Old Genius Says Video Games A Waste Of Time

  Normally, you’d never listen to an 11-year-old kid; but this one’s graduating with honors from East Los Angeles Community College this month with a degree in Liberal Studies. That could make him a genius, right? Moshe Kai Cavalin started college when he was 8. He tutored his older classmates, scored some martial arts competition awards…

  By AJ Glasser Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Japanese Console Sales Jump On Kingdom Hearts Release

  The release of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Gyakuten Kenji has done wonderful things for Nintendo DSi sales in Japan, almost doubling them week-to-week. In fact, improvements were almost across the board. Thanks to a batch of brand new releases, tepid hardware sales overseas saw a little kick in the pants. It was the DSi…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  E3: It Never Ends

  To: Owen From: Crecente It’s been one of the busiest E3’s in recent memory, and the stories on Kotaku prove it. We’ve reported on everything from the new tech of Project Natal, the PSP Go and Vitality Monitor to Shigeru Miyamoto slipping up and telling us about Nintendo’s save system. We also managed to drop…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  So, Which E3 Announcements Generated The Most Buzz? [Update]

  E3 is all about the buzz. What was best, what was worst, that kind of thing. But what news generated the most buzz? Market research firm Buzzstudy mechanically scanned millions of blog stories, news site items, twitter feeds and forum posts (hey, not like they’d do it by hand) to find out. Their results? That’s…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 5, 2009
• 

  Uncategorized

  Shadow Of The Colossus Cast Upon LittleBigPlanet Next Week

  Media Molecule has big things planned for LittleBigPlanet, including a batch of new Shadow of the Colossus themed content coming next week. On June 11th, Team Ico fans will get their first taste of Wander and Colossus Sackboys and Shadow of the Colossus stickers in LittleBigPlanet. Expect something Ico related as well. But if Media…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Rapstar Impressions: “They Sing, We Rap”

  While other members of Team Kotaku are busy flying/driving home today, I had one last E3 appointment to attend: spend some time with 4mm Game’s hip-hop karaoke title Rapstar. And while karaoke games are normally seen as a bit naff, something for young girls and drunks, I’d been secretly looking forward to it all week.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Kingdom Hearts Slips Japanese Sales Chart A Mickey

  Japanese gamers snapped up a ton of new titles in Japan this past week as the new Kingdom Hearts game for the Nintendo DS topped charts. The top ten was full of new, including Gyakuten Kenji and… HAWX? While robust sales for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days likely won’t surprise purveyors of Japanese gaming tastes, a…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night At E3

  Uber gamer/ late night host Jimmy Fallon sent Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudekis to E3 to check out the latest and greatest in gaming. Sudekis, a big gamer himself, got some face time with Mickey Rourke, Eliza Dushku, and of course Project Natal. It’s a great segment and a must view for anyone who watched…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Just Cause 2 Impressions: In Which Everything Explodes, Awesomely

  I saw plenty of games this past week. Some good. Some bad. Some worse. But only one game could be the best-looking thing I saw all week. And that game was Just Cause 2. Just Cause, released a few years back now as a GTA clone set on a sparsely-populated tropical island, was one of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Bayonetta Foreplay At E3: Megatons & Gigatons

  PlatinumGames’ Bayonetta is packed with megatons. The action game from Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya starring titular witch Bayonetta was playable at E3 this week and we got to unleash some of those megatons. We’re not talking about video game industry shaking announcements, message board dwellers. We’re talking about one of the many facets…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Everything You Need to Know About Project Natal

  This E3 was packed with explosive news and announcements, from confirmation of the PSP Go and Sony’s motion controls to the whispers of a new Metroid and Zelda. But one of the most startling may have been Microsoft’s Project Natal. On it’s simplest level, Project Natal is a straight forward motion control for the Xbox…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 5, 2009
• Reviews

  The Sims 3 Review: Delayed Gratification

  After a more than three month delay—and more than four years on from the release of The Sims 2—The Sims 3 is finally here. So let’s get down to reviewing it. There are two types of Sims player: the Second-Life types who enjoy crafting and sharing stuff online and the God-types who look for new…

  By AJ Glasser Published June 5, 2009
• 

  Uncategorized

  Milo Has The Lifespan Of A Fruit Fly

  Lionhead’s Project Natal demo Milo may look to be eight, but he’s never lived longer than 12 days. Speaking with Peter Molyneux this week, the developer said that the child artificial intelligence for Xbox 360 tech demo Milo and Kate is usually “scrubbed” after about 200 hours. The longest Milo has “lived” is 300 hours,…

  By Brian Crecente Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  What Are You Playing This Weekend?

  After a week’s worth of pastry for breakfast, pizza for lunch and taquitos for dinner, not to mention all that delicious booze, that copy of EA Sports Active is going to get some needed attention. Sure, I may feel a bit whipped from all that intense E3 action, even though I placed second-to-last on the…

  By Michael McWhertor Published June 5, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Armada of the Damned Is All About Choices

  I briefly sat down with Alex Peters, Propaganda’s game director for Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, who stressed the importance of choice in Disney’s upcoming action role-playing game. The game is an action RPG on an epic scale. How epic? Alex name checks games like Oblivion, Dragon Age, and Fable, saying that…

  By Mike Fahey Published June 5, 2009