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L.A. Noire Developer Hiring Some Folks To Help Actually Finish The Thing
Remember L.A. Noire, the “interactive detective story” set in the late 1940s, set to be published by Rockstar Games? Apparently, so does the developer, Team Bondi, who are staffing up to maybe actually finish it. The Sydney, Australia area dev — headed by Brendan McNamara, former Director of Development for Sony’s Team Soho Studio which…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Animal Crossing: Wild World Tops 5 Million Sold In Japan
We’re calling it: Animal Crossing: Wild World is a hit with the Japanese. A pretty bold claim, we know, but with five million copies under its belt in Japan alone, we’re feeling pretty confident. Japanese sales tracker Media Create revealed that the Nintendo DS game is the second title for the platform to move past…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Newspapers, Yes, They’re Still Dying
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Japanese Baby Clothes Don’t Cause Choking Hazards. Apparently. I was talking to some friends in the newspaper business today about the future of print media. What a depressing topic. What bothers me most about the seemingly inevitable death of print is how blase everyone seems to be about it. What…
By Brian Crecente Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Raw Thrill’s H2Overdrive In VideOH MY GOD!!!
Specular Interactive and Raw Thrills’ arcade sequel to Hydro Thunder in-everything-but-name looks good in stills. But the powerboat arcade racer H2Overdrive looks amazing in motion. Let’s watch some videos! 1UP has the first in-action clips of H2Overdrive and my goodness does it look lovely. It’s so Hydro Thunder-esque, from its race starting “Go! Go!! Go!!!”…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
WipEout Stylists The Designers Republic Shuts Down
The UK design studio largely responsible for the identifiable visual style of Psygnosis’ WipEout series, The Designers Republic has shut its doors after more than two decades in business. Why? Money problems. The Designers Republic founder Ian Anderson tells the Creative Review that the studio, which handled visual work on titles like WipEout and WipEout…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Don’t Blame the Recession, Blame the Developers
News of game developers slashing thousands of jobs this week and shutting down studios, seems to dispute the notion of a recession-proof video game industry. But video games are indeed recession proof, it’s the developers and publishers who aren’t. “A recession is about the impact on sales, and layoffs are a function of profitability,” said…
By Brian Crecente Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
More Guitar Hero: Metallica Tracks Revealed By ESRB
The slow drip of song reveals from Guitar Hero: Metallica continues, thanks not to Activision or the media, but the ESRB. We’ll know the full tracklisting next week, reportedly, but here are three more songs. According to the ESRB’s description, Guitar Hero: Metallica features some potentially objectionable lyrics. Specifically in Social Distortion’s “Mommy’s Little Monster,”…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
House of the Dead Overkill – Terror, Horror, Flesh, And Ice Cream
Sega’s House of the Dead: Overkill isn’t just another House of the Dead game. It’s a House of the Dead game with one hell of a nice trailer. Can’t say the visuals in the trailer do much for me, and I’ve never really been a big fan of the House of the Dead series outside…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Hands All Over Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition Fight Stick
I know what I’m going to be doing this week. Mad Catz just sent me one of their choice Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition Fight Sticks to review for the Xbox 360. Forget for a second that this beast of a controller sports arcade parts, and just look at the thing. It’s friggin beautiful. It…
By Brian Crecente Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Second Hit Of Grateful Dead Coming To Rock Band
The downloadable content for Rock Band keeps on truckin’, with a second bowl full of Grateful Dead tracks due to hit the game’s music store starting January 27th. What can Dead Heads look forward to? Another half-dozen jams, all master recordings, all $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) each. The Grateful Dead Pack 02, priced at $9.99…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Do you have the skills to DESIGN the game?
If so, graduate to a future in Game Art & Design with The Art Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division. Our unique program is your first step toward becoming an artist and designer in the multi-billion-dollar game design industry. You’ll learn how to design game play and background, create characters and their environments, and apply…
By Chrissie Lamond Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Halo Wars The Video Documentary: Part 1
For those of you who’d rather not fill your Xbox 360 with a nice-sized chunk of video, here’s the first in a series of video documentaries for the real-time strategy game Halo Wars. It almost serves as an introduction to the real-time strategy genre for those fans of the series who are used to the…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009 - Reviews
The Maw Micro-review: A Frank And His Blob
Twisted Pixel Games’ The Maw is a 3D puzzle-platformer, starring the titular Maw and his newly befriended alien pal Frank. The two escape their evil captors, only to go on a gameplay binge. The Maw‘s gimmick, as it were, is the title character’s ability to eat, expand and absorb the abilities of the lifeforms it…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Golden Crecentes, Perhaps the Last GOTY for Rocky Mountain News
Even though I left the Rocky Mountain News to run Kotaku fulltime awhile back, I still write for the newspaper. Mostly because I like the idea of being able to expose a very mainstream audience to gaming. The paper has kicked off the past three years with an annual Game of the Year feature, that…
By Brian Crecente Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Get Beaten By Mortal Kombat Creators On PS3 Tonight
Want to pummel the creators of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe senseless? Franchise co-creator Ed Boon and members of the development team will be on the PlayStation Network tonight, taking on all comers. Tonight from 10PM Eastern to midnight, Ed Boon and a crack team of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe developers and testers will…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Kotaku Podcast: The Drinking Game!
In this month’s in-game podcast Mike McWhertor, Mike Fahey, Adam Barenblat and I are joined by our Kotaku Editor for a day winner in Grand Theft Auto IV. During this episode we talk about politics, furry hatred, upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV DLC The Lost and Damned and why we’re trying to come up with…
By Adam Barenblat Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
In addition to feather dusting the nooks and crannies of Kotaku Towers West this weekend, I plan on spending a bit more time with The Maw, making sure I get all those damned Achievements. Why? Well, I’m fairly certain that if I don’t get all 200 gamerscore points, I’ll be regretting it on my death…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
LittleBigPlanet Dominates Interactive Achievement Award Nominations
The 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Award nominations have been revealed, with Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet dominating the competition with 10 nominations, including Overall Game of the Year. The 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards will be presented by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) at next month’s D.I.C.E. Summit, and sackboy might want to pull…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Rockstar Says “Hell No!” To New Niko Dialog In Lost And Damned
The folks at Rockstar don’t seem to keen on the return of Niki Bellic’s voice actor Michael Hollick, answering “Hell no!” to MTV Multiplayer’s query about new lines for everyone’s favorite Slavic bastard. Grand Theft Auto IV voice actor Michael Hollick made waves last year when he complained to the New York Post about not…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009 - Uncategorized
Halo Wars Is Golden, Demo Drops February 5th
Ensemble Studios’ real-time strategy take on the Halo universe is heading to the printer, with a single player demo of Halo Wars ready to strike Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5th. The Halo Wars gold master is on its way to manufacturing, well in time for its late February / early March release dates. While…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009