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Shadow Complex Impressions: Metroidvania Made Unreal
There is something winning about the game developer who can’t hold back when he meets with Kotaku’s man in New York. We’re talking about a game developer who always dreamed of making a game like Super Metroid and is putting one out this summer. He’s a developer so relaxed about showing his game that he’s…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Did EA Just Announce Command & Conquer 4?
It might not have intended to, but EA’s UK public relations team might have just jumped the gun on officially announcing Command & Conquer 4. Funny thing is, that announcement is now nowhere to be seen. Earlier today, the European PR folks posted on Twitter that “EA LOS ANGELES ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF COMMAND & CONQUER…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Frankenreview: Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood
Grab your hat and strap on your irons, we’re going on a Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood review round-up! Developer Techland revisits the Spaghetti Western in Bound in Blood, the sequel to 2007’s Call of Juarez. This time around the game focuses on Thomas and Ray McCall, the original protagonist’s step-father and uncle respectively,…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
iPhone Gets Another GTA Game… Still Not Official
Due out by the end of the summer for the iPhone and Touch, Gangstar West Coast Hustle is Gameloft’s take on an open-world crime game, AKA Grand Theft Auto. Gangstar has players taking on the role of a gangster in a 3D recreation of what sounds to be a reconstruction of a fictional L.A. As…
By Brian Crecente Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Dragon Quest IX Pre-orders Top 2 Million In Japan
Square Enix is set to release Dragon Quest IX in Japan this Saturday, almost five years on from the previous PlayStation 2 entry. If pre-orders are any indication, the Nintendo DS role-playing game will be another hit. According to Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, pre-orders for Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito have topped 2 million. That…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Aion Preview: Onward Towards Ascension
After taking part in several weekend beta test events, we’re finally ready to turn a slight more critical eye on NCsoft’s latest massively-multiplayer offering, Aion. What Is It? Aion, formerly Aion: The Tower of Eternity, is a massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game created by Korean developer NCsoft. It takes place on the world of Atreia, which…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Kotaku’s 2009 Summer Playing List
July is the time for snooty summer reading lists (not ours) and cocktail party chatter about reading them. The time when certain magazines and certain readers just lord their oh-so-fulfilling summer over your shiftless vacation. This hasn’t happened to you? Lucky. Tell you what. We’re going to put together our summer list, the games that…
By Owen Good Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Dragon Age: Origins Ogres Are Not Loveable
The ogre depicted in this new bath of screens for BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins is not cuddly, nor does it have layers, like onions. I’d say it’s an accurate assumption to say that they do not fall in love with lady ogres voiced by Cameron Diaz, or befriend talking donkeys or cats with Spanish accents.…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
LucasArts Hopes To Turn Old Into Gold With Adventure Games
There was a time when gaming was left more to the imagination than the pixel-count. When the written word was mightier than the joystick. Adventure games started as just black on white, or perhaps green on black. Word told the story. Words described the scenery and through words people played. Text adventures like Pyramid 2000,…
By Brian Crecente Published July 8, 2009 -
UncategorizedDon’t Copy That Floppy: The Next Generation
MC Double Def DP’s 1992 hit “Don’t Copy That Floppy” is getting a modern-day update, once again unleashing the industry’s number one weapon against software piracy – rap music. Kids, if you pirate software, your mother will be dragged into the street and beaten by the police. At least that seems to be the message…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
BioWare: Sometimes Sex Makes Sense
A blast for the not-too-distant past today, as BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk revisits the Mass Effect sex scene controversy, explaining that sometimes sex just makes sense. CVG interviewed Zeschuk recently, touching on the subject of the Mass Effect sex scene, a subject that drove the uninformed media wild around the time of the game’s initial…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Lessons From a Pinball Wizard
At 98, the father of modern pinball still has some lessons to impart to the video game industry. It was in 1948 when Steve Kordek revolutionized pinball. Asked to design a new pinball at the last minute for the upcoming pinball trade show, Kordek decided to add flippers to his design. Competitors were using six,…
By Brian Crecente Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Witcher Patch Removes DRM, Adds Adventure
Patch 1.5 for CD Projekt Red‘s award-winning PC roleplaying game The Witcher is now available, removing the pesky digital rights management while adding five new player-created adventures to the game. Those of you pondering removing The Witcher install from your PC in order to free up space might want to hold off a little bit…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Dungeons & Dragons Online’s Freedom Dated
Turbine has selected an early August date for the release of Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, the update that switches the massively multiplayer D&D game to a free-to-play business model. Early August brings massive changes to Dungeons & Dragons Online, with a new class, new dungeons, and a new free-to-play, micro-transaction-based financial model that…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
THQ Outlines Laundry List of Fixes For UFC’s Broken Online Play
It sounds like the current state of online play for UFC 2009: Undisputed is a bit of a mess. Fortunately, publisher THQ says they know all about it and are working on a patch. Neven Dravinski, UFC Producer, tells gamers that the entire development team play a lot of online matches and read the boards…
By Brian Crecente Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Battlefield 1943 Establishes Beachhead
Battlefield 1943 is available today for purchase and play on Xbox Live Arcade, and the quote-laden launch trailer is here to compel you. This is the UK launch trailer for DICE’s big thing in a small package Battlefield release, but luckily for those of us in the U.S. they included a quote that lists the…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
EA Re-NERFs The Wii
Packaging a video game with a NERF gun worked so well the first time that EA’s doing it again, adding secret decoder functions to the arsenal in NERF 2: “N-Strike” Elite for the Nintendo Wii. NERF 2 is being developed partially in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the NERF brand, and perhaps mostly due…
By Mike Fahey Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Peggle Gives Away World of Warcraft-Themed Game
PopCap Games today released a standalone World of Warcraft-themed Peggle mash-up for free on their website. The game comes with ten new levels and includes the “sights, sounds and storyline” of World of Warcraft… plus unicorns and rainbows. Levels in the freebie include “Too Soon, Executus” and “The Traitor King” and new challenges include “Phat…
By Brian Crecente Published July 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
This Is…
To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: What’s a Grit? Man, I miss a good breakfast. For all the food Japan does right, breakfast really leaves a lot to be desired. As many of our astute commenters pointed out, a teru teru bozu. You can learn all about it right here. What you missed last night Dragon…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 8, 2009