• CultureTotal Recall

  Show Today’s Kids a 1980s Computer and, Well, Yeah

  The Commodore 64 turned 30 this week. As the firs video game platform my family ever owned, it will always have a very special place in my heart. But I was born in 1980. What do kids born in the 21st century think of the machine? The BBC and C64 fan Mat Allen went to…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 2, 2012
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  You Might Soon See Paradox’s Big PC Games on an iPad (But Probably Not a Console)

  As someone who spends most of his time on an iPad playing strategy games, and as someone who when not playing them on an iPad is playing them on a PC, when I had the chance to speak with Johan Andersson, the Studio Manager of Paradox’s internal development team, there was one thing I needed…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 2, 2012
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  The Average Age of a “Gamer” Just Dropped by Seven Years. Um, What?

  As video gaming has become more popular, thanks to platforms like Facebook and mobile phones, the industry (and passionate fans) took a lot of pride in seeing the average age of a “gamer” climb out of the teens, into the 20s and then the 30s. So it’s a bit weird, then, to see that the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 2, 2012
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  How The Olympics Could Have Learned a Thing or Two From Video Games About “Cheating”

  One of the more bizarre stories to come from the London Olympics so far has been the farcical conclusion to the group stages of the women’s badminton, which saw eight players deliberately try and lose in order to manipulate their knockout stage seedings, to the outrage of many. Maybe instead of blaming the athletes, though,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 1, 2012
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  Batman Sucks at Halo, But Excels at Kicking Robin’s Ass

  The Dark Knight is not very good at Halo. Bruce Wayne was obviously too busy with all that money and grief as a kid to have learned his way around a control pad. He’s making up for it now, though. The only way he knows how.

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 1, 2012
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  The PC Franchises Some Gamers Think are Improving, and Others Think are Getting Worse

  Which PC franchises are getting better with age, and which are getting worse? Before we go any further, know that this is not science. It’s just the results of a survey a single website specialising in PC gaming ran a little while ago. Like our own grand census from a few years back, that makes…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 1, 2012
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  Customize The ‘Meow Mix’ Theme Song Of Your Darkest Nightmares

  Tina isn’t doing the off-topic thread tonight, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have cats! In fact, let’s just combine her thing (cats) with my thing (music) into one super thing I give you THE MEOWMIXER. File this one under “Publicity Stunts We Fell For,” because I fell for this one. Something about mixing my…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 1, 2012
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  The Best Meat-Head Dialogue From the New Expendables Game

  That’s the point of The Expendables, right? That they’re a bunch of meatheads from another era who are Back To Kick Some Ass? Even keeping that in mind, this game footage assembled by our video maestro Chris Person is some of the goofiest, most meatheaded dialogue I’ve heard in a long time. It’s practically Duke…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 1, 2012
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  You’ve Met The Pyro. You’ve Met The Heavy. Now, Meet Portal 2‘s Cores.

  In the spirit of the many “Meet The” videos from Team Fortress 2 comes this fan-made video by Harry Callagan. Made mostly in Premiere Pro and Photoshop (not in Source Filmmaker!), it’s an impressive showing, considering that Callagan describes it as something that “started as a very quick visual test, but grew into something a…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 1, 2012
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  Who Should Star in a Real Video Game Version of The Expendables?

  Duke Nukem is Sylvester Stallone. Kind of. The Rocky actor wants you to believe that he can still explode the living hell out of armies of bad guys. So does Duke. And, with the right vitamins (or developers), they both can! We hope. The meta-hook for The Expendables movies is audiences are in on the…

  By Evan Narcisse Published August 1, 2012
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  Midweek Moneysaver: Dogs‘ Days of August

  This Wednesday edition of Kotaku’s The Moneysaver catches all the offers, promotions and bargains that can’t wait until the weekend. The Midweek Moneysaver is brought to you by Dealzon. Software • Aug. 14 release Sleeping Dogs (PS3, Xbox 360) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $60. [Dealzon] • Sep. 18 release Dead…

  dealzon Published August 1, 2012
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  Shiver At The Sight Of DayZ‘s Ghostly Flying Man

  DayZ is the kind of game that leaves you on edge at all times. You never know when you’re going to be ambushed and killed, or get taken for a ride to a deathcamp, or be ambushed by sprinting zombies. Or, as is the case here, when you’re going to see a totally freaky bug…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 1, 2012
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  A New Look At Far Cry 3‘s Story-Based Co-Op

  In addition to a big, head-trippy single-player campaign, the upcoming Far Cry 3 will feature a fleshed-out 4-player co-op campaign. It’s more than your standard “kill the enemy waves” setup; FC3‘s co-op has a story, complete with four different playable characters. There’s the hardassed chick, the goofy older russian dude, the wiseass cockney (or some…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published August 1, 2012
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  ‘Backbreaker NFL 13‘ is Now Available—From a Certain Point of View

  If you’re sick and tired of Madden NFL, or if you just don’t want to wait until the end of the month to complain about it, why not get a real downloadable roster update for a sports video game really released two years ago, the way everyone says it ought to be. Backbreaker, the flawed…

  By Owen Good Published August 1, 2012
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  Let’s Make Our Own Olympics and Not Invite All the Jocks

  With the world’s eyes on the 2012 Summer Olympics, commenter GiantBoyDetective, awash in newly-discovered marital bliss, takes a moment out of his busy husbandry to ponder the perfect video game Olympics in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. Oh man! I just had an awesome idea. There should be an Olympics for video games. They could…

  featuring GiantBoyDetective Published August 1, 2012
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  Did Rush Limbaugh’s Newsletter Steal An Image From Dungeons & Dragons?

  Well here’s an interesting coincidence. The image on the left is a monster from a 2002 Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual called the Nightmare Beast, drawn by artist Wayne Reynolds. The image on the right is the August edition of talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s newsletter, the Limbaugh Letter. The similarities are uncanny. So uncanny,…

  By Jason Schreier Published August 1, 2012
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  Olympic Gymnast Uses Zelda Medley During Performance

  Mexican gymnast Elsa Garcia Rodriguez Blancas did her Olympic qualification routine to an arrangement of music from The Legend of Zelda. Specifically, an arrangement by violinist Lindsey Stirling. Awesome, no? Read more about Elsa Garcia Rodriguez Blancas, her love of video games, and how she came to choose this piece of music for her performance.…

  By Jason Schreier Published August 1, 2012
• Reviews

  Origin’s Powerful 15-Inch Gaming Laptop Doesn’t Need to Dress to Impress

  When Origin PC sent me their EON15-S laptop for review, time and time again they stressed that while I was getting a plain cover unit for the system, they were also available with a shiny colored plastic lid, special molded to evoke futuristic technology. To which I say hey, Origin PC, you don’t need to…

  By Mike Fahey Published August 1, 2012
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  Bullet Run Is Now Available for Your Deathmatch Needs

  Sony Online Entertainment’s new free-to-play online shooter comes to Windows machines today, letting you compete in gun-based bloodsport on a fake reality TV show. More info here

  By Evan Narcisse Published August 1, 2012
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  Load “Great Memories”,8,1

  The Commodore 64 turns 30 today. Reams of copy have been written in tribute to this machine. It wasn’t the first personal computer, but it truly was one that democratized them to millions of middle-class households. Releasing in August, 1982, it stepped into the breach a year later when console video gaming, as we knew…

  By Owen Good Published August 1, 2012