Muscle March Micro-Review: Flex Crimes

Aliens have stolen Earth’s precious protein powder and it’s up to an international community of bodybuilders (and one polar bear) to safely return that protein to the excessively ripped community. That’s the plot of Namco Bandai’s wacky Muscle March. The WiiWare game’s premise may be as deep as the gameplay, tasking players with chasing down…

iPad Doubts: A Gamer’s Problems With Apple’s Wonder Machine

The Apple iPad may be great for web-browsing. It may be the best slate on which to list half of the 10 Commandments since solid rock. But, for gamers, well, thou shalt have some legitimate doubts about this thing. Why might the iPad not become the next great player in games? (Bear in mind, we’ve…

Pitfall Creator Honored With AIAS Pioneer Award

Activision co-founder and Pitfall! creator David Crane isn’t just a pioneer in the gaming industry. He’s also a pioneer award winner, having been named the first recipient of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ Pioneer Award. David Crane is more than just the father of the platforming genre. The creator of classic titles including…

Hands On With Apple’s iPad, Just The Games

Immediately following Apple’s iPad reveal event, the Mac maker offered us an opportunity to go hands-on with the touchscreen-controlled tablet. The demo unit came loaded with apps, including about a dozen games. We took (most of) them for a spin. The games on hand, titles like Gameloft’s N.O.V.A., Electronic Arts’ Need For Speed: Shift and…

World Of Warcraft’s Arena Season 8 Armor Is Quite Fetching

Blizzard has posted pictures of the Arena Season 8 armor for World of Warcraft, showing off what the fashionable cold-blooded killers will be wearing about town. Quite a lovely selection this time around, especially the mage. I really like the look of the mask there. Of course I set foot in the arena once, was…

This Is Kotaku’s First Post Written On An iPad

First! The virtual keyboard on the iPad probably won’t work for liveblogging, but it’s a helluva lot better than the iPhone. The games? Well, I’ll write about that in a minute. For now, if you’re considering an iPad purchase, a back up physical keyboard with a charging station isn’t a bad idea. Disclosure: This paragraph…

Heavy Rain’s Mysterious Mailing

I may be very preoccupied with MAG these days, but I haven’t forgotten about Heavy Rain. The very different PS3-exclusive is set for a February release, but I just received review code for the mail. The disc came in a shoebox that spoke when I opened it. “Are you prepared to suffer to save your…

Assassin’s Creed II’s High-Flying Battle Of Forli Trailer

The first batch of Assassin’s Creed II downloadable content drops tomorrow, and here’s a trailer showing us what to expect when we dive into memory sequence 12 – the Battle of Forli. It looks like we’ll be seeing Ezio officially inducted into the ranks of the assassins in the Battle of Forli, and some more…

Speak-Up On Kotaku: Sequel Limits, Disc Swapping, Forklifts, And Haggis

In this week’s edition of Speak-Up on Kotaku, our readers get down and dirty with disc swapping, discuss unnecessary sequels, drive forklifts, and nosh on some good old-fashioned haggis. Dig in! Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page. About Speak-Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say,…

Apple’s iPad, aka TouchXL, Detailed

Ringing it at $500 to $830, the newly announced 1.5-pound iPad doesn’t seem to bring much new to the table, despite Apple calling it magical. But before we get to all of that magic, maybe you should read our take on why it isn’t so magical after all. Here’s a run down of the specs,…

Sizing Up The Apple iPad

How does the Apple iPad size up to other popular portable devices, gaming and otherwise? We’ve compiled a sizing chart that compares the iPad to items with similar functions, which could have folks digging out their old Etch-A-Sketches. The iPad is definitely larger than I imagined it. It turns out our little throwaway joke about…

WarioWare D.I.Y. Screen Shots

Naughty Bear’s Naughty Box

Naughty Bear’s true colors come Shining through in the box art for Artificial Mind & Movement’s teddy bear murder simulator. My previous comments on the over-the-top bear-on-bear violence aside, I think I am slowly falling in love with Naughty Bear. If there isn’t a collector’s edition with a machete-wielding plushie, I might just cry.

EA Plays Need For Speed On The iPad

EA was present at Apple’s iPad event today, giving us a glimpse of the first big-name game running on the iPad, testing the device’s power with Need for Speed. EA’s Travis Boatman came on stage to show off an iPad version of Need for Speed: Shift. Rather than comment on how pretty the photograph looks,…

The iPad Blows Up iPhone Apps Real Good

The iPad will run your iPhone applications and games out of the box, but you’re going to have to do a little stretching to get the full effect. Since the iPad not only features a larger screen than the iPhone, but a higher resolution screen as well, running existing iPhone apps and games presents a…

This Week In Video Game Comics

Halo and Sonic comics this week. And a question for you folks: Would you be interested in this weekly round-up covering more than just video game comics but other interesting, new comics too? (Click each thumbnail for more info.) Sonic The Hedgehog Archives Vol. 12 Written by Angelo DeCesare, Ken Penders, and Kent Taylor. Drawn…

Apple Introduces The iPad

Apple finally unveils the iPad, a touch-screen tablet device that promises to be better at gaming than any laptop or smartphone. As expected, the iPad looks very much like a larger version of the iPhone or iPod Touch, though the screen has dimensions similar to a piece of paper, rather than maintaining the widescreen aspect…

Apple Liveblog: Revenge Of The Tablet

Today, Apple will announce its “latest creation” at a special event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, California. And Kotaku is there! What will Apple announce? And what will it mean for gaming? Those questions may already be answered in our up to the second liveblog coverage of Apple’s…

Talk iPhone Gaming and Console Surprises Live on Kotaku Talk Radio Now

Join us live today on CBS Radio for our latest episode of Kotaku Talk Radio. A show so special it needs two special guests. Call in now to talk to guests Geoff Keighley and top folks from premiere iPhone game publisher ngmoco. The show kicks off at 11 a.m. MT, 1 p.m. ET and we’ll…

Europe Wins The Super Street Fighter IV Box Art Battle

Compared to the European box art for Super Street Fighter IV, the North American version looks like it was thrown together using clip art. Once again, North America gets stiffed in the box art department. It happened with Heavy Rain, but Sony instituted a fix of sorts. Perhaps Capcom will do the same for Super…