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All Of The Coolest Instruments In The World Unite For A Single Album

Here at Kotaku Melodic, we sometimes talk about music that doesn’t turn up in video games. This week is no different! When I was writing about Botanicula earlier this week, I mentioned my well-documented bass clarinet bias; it’s one of my favorite instruments, though I don’t own one myself. And okay, yes, my headline here…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 19, 2012

If Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’ Was Actually About Video Games. And Was Hip-Hop.

Back when I first heard all this buzz about this singer Lana Del Rey and her song “Video Games, I wondered if it was actually about video games. Turns out, nope! It isn’t really about video games. Talking to Kill Screen, Del Rey described the song’s inspiration thusly: I would consider it a hopeful song.…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 19, 2012

Getting Lost In Super Mario RPG‘s Forest Maze

I’ll admit it: I’ve never played Super Mario RPG. But when I heard its music played in that amazing medley FreddeGredde did earlier this week, I thought “Wow, that is a great melody!” And so I looked it up. And so it is, a very good melody. Composed by Yoko Shimomura, it holds up despite…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 19, 2012

Meet The Man Who’s Making The Music For Halo 4

It’s no small thing, the Halo music. In fact, it’s kind of a big deal. As I wrote last week, Martin O’Donnell’s music for the first five Halo games evolved to become one of the most iconic soundtracks in modern video games. While many chiptune anthems have been enshrined in gamer consciousness, O’Donnell’s Halo score…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 19, 2012

Kotaku Melodic Starts Now

Here now begins Kotaku Melodic, your Thursday night spot for music, video games, and video game music. Sit back and enjoy the show! And remember—every post is better if you listen along.

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 19, 2012

Don’t Send Your Ace in Pursuit of Perfection in MLB 2K12

News and notes from around the world of sports video gaming: • More than 629,000 perfect games have been attempted and 555 have been verified as thrown in Major League Baseball 2K12‘s $1 Million Perfect Game Challenge, which has about 10 days left. Those numbers are the latest available from 2K Sports. That means in…

By Owen Good Published April 19, 2012

Gabe Newell Says Valve-Apple Meeting Didn’t Happen

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Valve head Gabe Newell did not actually meet last week as rumored, according to a new podcast interview with Newell. He squashed the week-old rumor in an interview with the fine folks at Seven Day Cooldown, who were kind enough to let us in on some early excerpts from the…

By Kate Cox Published April 19, 2012

The Secrecy Behind the NFL’s New Look Required a Uniform Effort from EA Sports

The flawless revealing, two weeks ago, of the NFL’s new uniforms and their designs required an unusual level of secrecy. But it was a particularly nerve-wracking process for the Madden NFL developers, the game’s creative director told me. That’s because last year, a Madden teaser video—the kind everyone picks apart for clues about the new…

By Owen Good Published April 19, 2012

3… 2… 1… Sportaku!

From the Worldwide Leader in Sports … Video Games, your 6 p.m. Sportaku begins now.

By Owen Good Published April 19, 2012

Identity Crisis: How Did You Choose Your Online Handle?

In today’s Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Bob is searching for a name to call himself in gaming circles. How did you come up with your online identity? Have you ever had an online/video game identity crisis? So I finally got an invite to the Diablo IIII beta, but before I can play it, I…

Speak Up Published April 19, 2012

The Life Of A Mass Murderer In World of Warcraft

Anders Behring Breivik smiled during court on Monday as the prosecution displayed an image of his World of Warcraft character, Andersnordic. The Norwegian mass-murderer, who admitted last year to killing 77 people, must have tapped into some inner well of nostalgia when he thought about Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Breivik has said he…

By Jason Schreier Published April 19, 2012

Unofficial Teaser for Minecraft Creator’s Next Game Takes You Deep into a Hard Sci-Fi Future

I can’t tell if the fan-made trailer for 0x10c—the upcoming game from Markus ‘Notch’ Person—is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek or deadly serious. The stentorian narration just about screams “irony” but the events setting up Mojang’s next game are nothing to laugh at. Nevertheless, this appears to be one very well-made community-generated trailer. Heck, Notch even…

By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012

The Call of Duty Tactics Game That Never Happened

Infinity Ward may have created Call of Duty but publisher Activision has always wanted to take the hit war-game series into different directions. Most of those efforts stalled—like the third-person variant that dev studio Sledgehammer was working on—and the public never gets to see what might have been But what you’re seeing above is animation…

By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012

If Your Favorite Websites Were Made Into Fabulous Dresses

If Wikipedia were a dress, would you wear it? How about Google? I don’t actually wear dresses, for I am not a lady. But I would wear the heck out of these garments from Victor Farentina. Each one is a design sketch that takes the sensibilities and color schemes of popular sites like Yahoo, Twitter…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 19, 2012

In Dust 514 PlayStation 3 Armies Will Do Jobs For PC Players, Until It’s Time For a Double-Cross

Dust 514 is an upcoming free-to-play first-person-shooter on the PlayStation 3 that will connect to the massively-multiplayer online game Eve Online. This much we’ve known for several months, but pardon me for still having trouble processing how it’s going to work. Enter David Reid from CCP, the company behind both games, CCP, who demoed 514…

By Stephen Totilo Published April 19, 2012

Trials Evolution Leaderboards Crash Under the Weight of 100,000 Rabid Fans

Microsoft, publisher Ubisoft and developer RedLynx all thought they were ready for the release of Trials Evolution on Xbox Live yesterday. Turns out they weren’t. Players logging onto Xbox Live on Wednesday were met with long load times, missing ghost replays and an inability to connect. Just how many people were crashing their way on…

By Evan Narcisse Published April 19, 2012

Preorder Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Get This Adorable Stylus

Square Enix said today it would include this cute stylus as a preorder bonus for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, which is great for two reasons: 1. It’s adorable. 2. It’s an actual bonus, not content that has been stripped from the game and only made available to people who preorder. Theatrhytmhtmhmrhmrthmrthm, which is basically Elite Beat…

By Jason Schreier Published April 19, 2012

Live-Action Mileena’s Special Mortal Kombat Power is Walking on Loose Gravel in Heels

The UK’s live-action Mortal Kombat Vita ad campaign continues, swapping out Kitana for another of the game’s femme fatales and making a poor model navigate treacherous terrain in the least-sensible shoes imaginable. I keep expecting her to fall over screaming, clutching her twisted ankle. Perhaps that’s coming in the full version of the ad.

By Mike Fahey Published April 19, 2012

The Halo Movie Failed Because Microsoft Didn’t Understand Hollywood

It had a script. It had the backing of two major film studios. It had the support of Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. Everything seemed like it was clicking into place for the Halo movie before it abruptly collapsed, and you can blame Microsoft for that, according to writer Jamie Russell. Writing in…

By Jason Schreier Published April 19, 2012

Pay Whatever You Want For The Lovely Botanicula, Get A Bunch of Other Free Stuff Too

I think that Botanicula, the new game from Machinarium indies Amanita Design, is freakin’ wonderful. I already wrote about why I like it, so read that if you’re wondering about the game. Short verzh: If you have a heart and like lovely and funny things, you should play it. Botanicula comes out today, and as…

By Kirk Hamilton Published April 19, 2012