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BioShock Designer’s New Project “More Ambitious” Than BioShock
Ken Levine designed BioShock, but he’s not involved with BioShock 2. He and his team are working on another title, a very “ambitious” title. Levine tells game site Gamasutra, “And when we thought about the shipping date of the project… We needed a certain kind of length for the title, because we had a scope…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Jake Gyllenhaal Is Now Wearing Clothes
We’ve send loads of shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal Prince of Persia movie pics. We’re totally numb to chesty Jake! Here’s something new: a photo of Prince Jake wearing a top. This is the first official picture of him in character. “I’m tired of taking myself so seriously,” says Gyllenhaal. (So are we.) According to EW.com, the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Philly Inquirer: MW2’s Night Vision an “Invitation to Mischief”?
The Inky’s video games blogger professes his love of “fake realism” but thinks the NVGs being offered with Modern Warfare 2’s “Prestige Edition” are akin to “giving away a free race car with Gran Turismo.” Rob Watson, the “Bare Knuckles” blogger for the Inquirer, doesn’t want to come off as someone railing on the evil…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Microsoft Handheld A Matter Of “When”
While there’s always been a lot of chatter surrounding the possibility of Microsoft entering the handheld gaming space, Microsoft themselves have always been rather evasive on the subject. Which is why these comments from Shane Kim are so surprising. In an interview with Kikizo, the Microsoft man opens up a little, saying “For us, it’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Mario’s Family Line
It’s not a family tree – a) that would be too large and b) it assumes games mate and produce offspring. This is a family line, showing all Mario games, by generation, with their siblings. The thing is so super-huge you should probably just go directly to it or download it to magnify it for…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Yes, Someone At Google Is *Slightly* Triforce Obsessed
When Earth Day rolled around, an army of Kotaku tipsters pointed out the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda‘s cameo in Google’s holiday logo. Turns out that’s happened more than once. A lot more than once. Google apparently has an… enthusiastic Legend of Zelda fan on staff, as Google Blogoscoped points out, highlighting eight of…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
EA Brings Ten Titles To Comic-Con
Electronic Arts will show strongly at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con, armed with ten games and plenty of panels. It may be your first chance to go hands on with games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. Titles planned to be previewed on the show floor, at EA’s booth, include Brütal Legend,…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Effort Begun to Remove Trademark Troll from IGDA Board
Tim Langdell’s not really a developer – “litigator” might be a better job description – but the Lord of Edge is really on the IGDA board. Now someone’s started a petition to remove him. This is a little more meaningful than your average ranting internet petition. It was begun by International Game Developers Association member…
By Owen Good Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Can’t Wait For Diabolical Box? Here’s a Professor Layton Movie Trailer
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box isn’t due Stateside for another month or so, but this full theatrical trailer for the movie that’s not coming out in North America should tide you over. Sadly, I don’t think the trailer is a puzzle like the first two teaser trailers we saw back in March. However, the…
By AJ Glasser Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Fat Princess Developer Holds Court
If there was ever anything you wanted to know about Fat Princess — aside from her exact dress size — now’s the time to ask. Developer Titan Studios plans to answer a selection of fan-submitted questions in a PlayStation Eye conference next week. You can submit your own question here, after scrolling past three new…
By AJ Glasser Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Screenwriter Believes Halo Is “Our Generation’s Star Wars”
Stuart Beattie, responsible for big screen adaptations of Pirates of the Caribbean and G.I. Joe, is a big Halo fan, having “read every book, played every game, every graphic novel.” Proof? His unsolicited Halo: Fall of Reach screenplay from 2007. With the Peter Jackson produced Halo film said to be “entirely dead” by the man…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Weekends Are Made For Owen
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: There Is A Severe Shortage of Picture Frames This week Kotaku is getting an extra dose of Owen as he transitions to full time at Kotaku Tower. What’s that mean? It means an expanded weekend, chock-full of new delights like a Sunday Comics Page, more reporting, refined coupons page and…
By Brian Crecente Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Killzone 2’s Napalm & Cordite Dated, Trailered
Guerrilla Games will “radically alter the Killzone 2 multiplayer dynamic” next week with the release of the Napalm & Cordite Map Pack, offering two new maps and two new weapons, seen here in action for in this brief trailer. Showcased are the Suljeva Cliffside and Arctower Landing maps, plus the two weapons that give this…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Tapping Into the Power of Collective Gaming
With the number of gamers playing online, why don’t more video games tap into that millions-person collective to achieve something interesting, socially grand or just fun? Turns out that sometimes they do. While efforts like Sony’s Folding@Home project, which uses the collective processing power of unplayed Playstation 3’s to research and better understand disease, have…
By Brian Crecente Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
NPD Top 20 Home To Ghostbusters, Nintendo Dominance
Yesterday, the NPD Group released its estimates for U.S. video game sales for the month of June, with Activision’s Prototype and THQ’s UFC 2009: Undisputed topping the list of bestsellers. That list was missing a few key releases. Games like Atari’s Ghostbusters failed to find a place in the top ten, as did the perennially…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Brütal Legend Adds 4v4 Multiplayer Skirmish To Set List
When we spoke to Double Fine Productions‘ Tim Schafer at E3, he teased the reveal of Brütal Legend‘s then unannounced multiplayer modes. Consider (one of) those multiplayer modes a secret no more, thanks to the ancient tomes of Xbox.com!! The game’s product page describes the “four-versus-four ‘skirmish’ multiplayer” mode as a holy union of “action…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Notebook Dump: Key Modern Warfare 2 Ratio, Dragon-Free Chatpad, More
There comes a time in the week to reflect on what got into my reporter’s notebook but didn’t turn into Kotaku blog posts. Shall we? Another Chatpad Dream Dashed: On Monday I ran my preview of Dragon Age: Origins. I included most of what I learned about the game’s contents in there. I omitted something…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Braid Developer Hiring For “Quiet, Philosophical Puzzle Exploration Game”
The official Braid news blog offers some helpful hints about developer Number None‘s follow-up to the time-bending puzzle-platformer. Just don’t expect that particular game any time soon. The unnamed, unannounced title is described as a “puzzle-exploration game that is philosophical, and quiet” in listings for 3D Environment Concept Artist and Lead Artist positions. The game…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
BioShock 2’s “The Sisters” By Jhonen Vasquez
2K introduces the BioShock 2 Artists Series today, with a rendition of sisters both big and little by Jhonen Vasquez, creator of Invader Zim and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Several talented artists will be contributing to the BioShock 2 Artists Series, which celebrates the impact the look and feel of Rapture has had upon the…
By Mike Fahey Published July 17, 2009 - Uncategorized
Microsoft: “Gay” Almost Always Used as a Pejorative on Live
This weekend the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is hosting a talk about homophobia online and in games and Xbox Live’s head of policy and enforcement will be on hand to hear what they have to say. Stephen Toulouse is going top the talk at Electronic Arts as his team works to find a…
By Brian Crecente Published July 17, 2009