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The Tallest Building on Earth is Half-Life 2’s Citadel
And you thought it was some giant building in Dubai. Nope. According to measurements converted from in-game models ad referenced for scale, City 17’s own Citadel, constructed by the Combine, easily takes the cake. Standing at 8430 feet tall, the Citadel easily, ahem, towers over the competition, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa only managing to get 2723…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 7, 2012 -
Assassin’s Creed III Changes Weather, Changes Sides, Loses Towers
There’s a big Assassin’s Creed III feature in the latest issue of Game Informer magazine, and having just thumbed through it, there’s some interesting stuff not already revealed in there that’s worth pointing out. About trees. And Generals. And snow. And the great American frontier. NICE NIGHT FOR A WALK Previous games had a day/night…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 6, 2012 -
It’s Official, SimCity is Back
Sure, it was leaked all over the internet last week, but tonight at the Game Developers Conference, EA has made it official: SimCity is back. The game, simply being labelled for now as SimCity (not SimCity 5), is being developed by Maxis, is due for the PC, and will be out in 2013. EA says…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 6, 2012 -
‘Make Love Games, Not War Games,’ Says Former First-Person Shooter Creator
Enough with the war video games, says Marin Hollis, former chief creator of the great first-person shooter GoldenEye and now one of the ambitious handful of people at the Digital Romance Lab. The Lab is a group of game creators, academics and other thinkers and tinkerers who believe that it’s time for video games about…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 6, 2012 -
Will the Next Star Wars: The Old Republic Update Make it the Game You Want to Play?
Today BioWare released a video outlining the sweeping changes coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic in game update 1.2. With the evolution of the game’s Legacy system and new Warzones, Flashpoints, and Operations in the pipes, is it sad that what I’m most excited about is new lightsaber colors? Yes, this is very sad,…
By Mike Fahey Published March 6, 2012 -
Thief Allegedly Steals Xbox 360, But Replaces It With His Own PS3
Sadly, it’s not uncommon to read about an Xbox stolen for drug money. Even used and resold under less-than-legal circumstances, the popular console is worth some cash. It is, however, uncommon to read about an Xbox and Wii stolen… and then replaced with a PlayStation 3. A young man in Michigan this week apparently did…
By Kate Cox Published March 6, 2012 -
Seven Game Reviewers Fail to Label Mass Effect 3 a Steaming Pile of Crap
You honestly expect me to believe that seven completely different individuals gave Mass Effect 3 generally positive to excellent review scores simply because it’s a good game? I suppose that’s reasonable. Here at Kotaku Frankenreview Central (the desk in my den) we’ve yet to play Mass Effect 3, so I have no first-hand knowledge of…
By Mike Fahey Published March 6, 2012 -
All Those Video Games Might Be Kinda Good For You
Some people might try to convince you that video games are a waste of time. Here’s the perfect retort. Researchers at Simon Frasier University have concluded that games like StarCraft II improve players’ multi-tasking and cognitive skills, the Wall Street Journal reports. The researchers studied the behavior of 150,000 people who played Blizzard’s popular real-time…
By Jason Schreier Published March 6, 2012 -
Why The Indie Game That Was Supposed to be the Next Braid Never Came Out
Back in 2011, innovative platformer Shadow Physics seemed poised to reap loads of love from the video game cognoscenti. The ambitious shadow adventure showcased impressive tech and was part of the freshman class of games getting money from Indie Fund. It looked like their path to success was set. So why did the game get…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 6, 2012 -
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is Trying to Feel A Lot Like The Original
When Firaxis announced its new XCOM strategy game, Enemy Unknown, most fans went through the following two stages: 1. “Holy shit!” 2. “I hope this feels like XCOM.” Don’t stress too much. According to project lead Jake Solomon, you’ll get that old-school strategy feeling from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which will be out this year for…
By Jason Schreier Published March 6, 2012 -
Bastion Was Originally All About… Gardening
In a sense, Bastion was a game about growth—over the course of the game, The Kid would bring back items and characters to the Bastion, which allowed it to grow and flourish. In a metaphorical sense, the Bastion was a sort of garden, growing over time. As it turns out, the game’s planting parallels were…
By Kirk Hamilton Published March 6, 2012 -
Metacritic Says It Has Removed Rule-Violating Mass Effect 3 User Reviews
Aggregating website Metacritic says it has deleted some Mass Effect 3 user reviews and will “continue to monitor” what seems to be a unified effort to spam pages for BioWare’s action roleplaying game, which hit stores today. This morning, a large number of Metacritic users gave negative reviews to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and…
By Jason Schreier Published March 6, 2012 -
Pittsburgh Organization Sticks Its Middle Finger At Gamers [UPDATE]
Ready to rage? Kotaku reader and Best Week Ever writer Dan Hopper sent over a link to this commercial, created by an organization called the Energy Alliance of Greater Pittsburgh. It will make you angry. Just listen to the way the disembodied announcer talks down to gamers, telling them they’d better do something useful with…
By Jason Schreier Published March 6, 2012 -
Street Fighter X Tekken Drops Game Critics with a One-Two Punch
Street Fighter. Tekken. Game titles followed by periods. These are the sort of weighty things on the minds of video game critics as they explore the fighting genre’s latest epic crossover. Epic. Crossover. Street Fighter X Tekken combines the great taste of Street Fighter with a creamy Tekken-flavored filling. It’s the first part of a…
By Mike Fahey Published March 6, 2012 -
Epic Mickey 2 Rumors Likely to Become Facts This Month
Disney fans have been waiting for news regarding still-rumored title Epic Mickey 2 since news first slipped around the first of the year. At that time, a Disney newsletter was sent out — and then immediately edited — that initially leaked information about the still-unannounced game. The newsletter claimed that Epic Mickey 2 would be…
By Kate Cox Published March 6, 2012 -
‘Ashley, Concussive Shot!’ And Other Voice Commands In Mass Effect 3
By now you’ve surely heard that Mass Effect 3, an action role-playing game and the conclusion to developer BioWare’s sci-fi trilogy, is out today for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. But you definitely haven’t heard Kotaku intern Nick Vannucci shouting voice commands to interact with the game on our office Kinect. Mass Effect 3…
By Jason Schreier Published March 6, 2012 -
Marketplace Listing Accidentally Reveals More Scantily Clad Girl Fighters
An Xbox marketplace listing tipped off gaming website XBLA Fans today to the unintentional release of 20 new scandalous screenshots showcasing the fighters in Majesco’s Girl Fight We’ve already met nobel prize-winning scientist Wrench, but what about the other scantily clad fighting geniuses? You can peruse this gallery for some in-action shots. XBLA Fans also…
By Tina Amini Published March 6, 2012 -
GDC Notebook: Day 1: The PS4, Far Cry 3 and the Accidental Movie Star
A few of us are in San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference this year. Thousands of people who make video games show up to this thing. Here are some observations and personal follies from Day 1… Just like last year, smack in the middle of the Moscone Center complex where they’re staging GDC, Apple…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 6, 2012