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Monkey Island Creator Explains Why Ignoring Fan Expectations Can Make a Better Game
Ron Gilbert is a legend in the world of adventure games. He created Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, touchstones of the great, long-gone era of the LucasArts SCUMM-engine adventure. In a new interview with the Gameological Society, Gilbert spoke candidly about the challenges of making a game funny, the difficulty of creating ensemble casts, and…
By Kate Cox Published July 17, 2012 -
Dust: An Elysian Tail Makes Me Proud of My Right Forearm
Earlier this year a visit to Epic Games in North Carolina inspired me to forever etch a combat-ready green rabbit on my person. The art I used as reference for the vibrant tattoo was created by independent animator turned game developer Don Dodrill, the man behind the unbelievable 2009 XNA Dream Build Play competition winner…
By Mike Fahey Published July 17, 2012 -
Here’s How The Creator Of Gears of War Would Make A Firefly Video Game
Would you play a Firefly game with first-person gun fights? Or Mass Effect-esque dialogue trees? Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski, who says he’d love to turn Firefly into a video game, has some interesting ideas for a hypothetical game based on the beloved sci-fi franchise. He even chatted with Firefly creator Joss Whedon this…
By Jason Schreier Published July 17, 2012 -
Confirmed: Pre-Order Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Get Into the Battlefield 4 Beta
Strong hints of a sequel to last year’s Battlefield 3 surfaced over the weekend when a mention of a Battlefield 4 beta that could be accessed by pre-ordering Medal of Honor: Warfighter popped up on EA’s Origin store. Those hints became fact with specific solicitation accompanying a new Warfighter developer video. An EA press release…
By Evan Narcisse Published July 17, 2012 -
What if Team Fortress 2 Was Made Out of…Glass?
Weird question, I know, but it’s one you now have an answer for regardless, as 3D artist Mariah Combs has used 3D Max to render a bunch of characters and weapons from Valve’s Team Fortress 2 as though they were…exquisite pieces of glasswork. Like I said, weird, but hey, it’s late, let’s just roll with…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
Game of Thrones vs Street Fighter vs Dr. Who, the Great Art Showdown
We’ve seen some of Roberto Flores’ art on Kotaku before. He’s the guy who did those amazing Game of Thrones fighting game illustrations. We’re not looking at (many of) those tonight, though. Tonight, we’re looking at his other awesome pics, video game-related or otherwise. In addition to a bonus Game of Thrones image, he’s also…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
Borderlands 2 Doesn’t Want You Cracking Jokes About This Character
In designing one of Borderlands 2’s characters, Ellie, Gearbox wanted to build “an independent female character who looked the exact opposite of how most females tend to be represented in games”. Why? Because they didn’t want players to “cast her in a light where the player is encouraged to pity, laugh at, or mock her…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
Turn Your Fridge Into an RPG With Custom Dialogue Box Magnets
For the surprisingly generous price of just $8 a pop, you can order one of these cool-as-hell custom fridge magnets, designed to look like the dialogue boxes from Final Fantasy III on the SNES. Those who care deeply about authenticity should know that “The dialog box shape and border match the source measurements perfectly”, and…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
The Future of PC Graphics Sure Looks Sparkly
This video is, supposedly, a demo of PC raytracing tech running on an i7 and Radeon 5870, in DirectX 11. In other words, it’s amazing visuals running on a PC that you might actually already own. It was created by PC modder Hayssam Keilany, who does work on tweaks for games like Skyrim and GTAIV.…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
Old Republic’s Got Some Killer New Droids (and a Killer New Trailer)
If you were at the San Diego Comic-Con, you may have already seen this clip! Since you probably weren’t, though, here’s your first look at the unveiling of killer droid HK-51 in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Note this is HK-51, and not everybody’s favourite meatbag killer HK-47, from classic RPG Knights of the Old…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 17, 2012 -
Your Friends, The Video Game Systems
We spend a lot of time with our video game devices, so it’s easy to start to think of them as family members. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes they fight. Sometimes they’re happy, sometimes they’re sad. Sometimes they talk to us. It’s not weird! It’s normal! NORMAL I SAY. This terrific illustration by DeviantARTist Ry-Spirit…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012 -
I’ll Never Forget Solving Mysteries With Encyclopedia Brown
I grew up with Encyclopedia Brown. He was my kind of hero, a kid who beat the bad guys not with brawn or physical skill, but with his mind. When I was around ten years old (I’m approximating), I used to devour every story of Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown, his partner Sally, his nemesis Bugs Meany…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012 -
Sexy Mario’s a-Back, Ready To Play Some Sexy Tennis
Because the world always needs more Sexy Mario, the big man in the overalls is back, this time with some super hawt Tennis shots. I’m not sure this quite outdoes the “mouthing of the tiny question mark cube,” but the one with the balls and racquet is… erm, appealing. I guess. Sexy Mario [Facebook, thanks…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012 -
Pipe Bomb Attack Blamed on a “Video Game Community”
An alarming attack on a home in New Jersey, in which several pipe bombs were thrown through windows, has ended with the targeted family blaming the incident on involvement in a “video game community”. Two pipe bombs were thrown into the house in Monroe, NJ, both of which exploded, with a third being tossed inside…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 16, 2012 -
If Mega Man Were A Smell, What Smell Would He Be?
I’ve sometimes wondered what video game characters would smell like—I’m not the only one, as regular Kotaku roustabout Tim Rogers explored the question in depth with hideous results Over at Polygon, Brian Crecente has written a fun story about the act of converting video game characters themselves into smells. Sound weird? It is. Crecente spoke…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 16, 2012 -
Left 4 Dead 2 Will be Valve’s First Official Linux Game
Valve’s been openly talking about developing on Linux for a while now, but a new blog post on the company’s site today has for the first time given us our first official information on the company’s plan to bring Steam to the platfom. They say they’ll be bringing Steam to Ubuntu, and while Left 4…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 16, 2012 -
What If Katamari Was Terrifying?
It’s funny to think that the genre of a video game could change based on point of view. From the Prince’s point-of-view in Katamari, everything is peachy, he’s got a job to do, and everything in his path is nothing more than sweet, sweet points. However, from literally anyone else’s POV in that world, the…
by Lisa Foiles Published July 16, 2012
