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Town Life
Town Life | It’s worn a little thin by 2012, but boy, wasn’t Animal Crossing something? By トキワラ Forcing Old Atari Game Boxes to Tell the Truth Rarely was there ever a greater discrepancy between actual graphics and box art design than during the Atari era. You’d get these amazingly evocative, painted box arts for…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
Xbox Live Couldn’t Handle a UFC Match
The Xbox 360 getting UFC matches seemed like a good idea at the time. Pity Xbox Live couldn’t actually cope with all the people trying to watch one. Last Friday, UFC 141 was slated to appear on Xbox Live’s fancy TV service. It was such a big deal that Microsoft gave away 30,000 coupons so…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
Kinect and the Wii Help This Robot Pet a Cat
It’s…it’s like the entire internet, rolled up into a single story. A software engineer by the name of Taylor Veltrop has managed to work out a way to get a Nao robot to react to his movements via both Kinect and a Wii Remote. His setup also includes a treadmill and a head-mounted display: the…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
The Zelda Timeline Has Now Been Fixed
Nintendo recently released an official timeline for The Legend of Zelda series, and despite providing closure for some, it provided problems for others. For the latter, here is a much more plausible fix. It may not carry the official, canonical seal Nintendo’s version does, but Zac Gorman’s interpretation will probably sound a lot more believable…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
The Melvins: Honey Bucket
You want to talk about institutions in the world of rock, you talk about The Melvins. Originally hailing from Washington State, formed in 1983 and instrumental in the formation of some guys called Nirvana, the band isn’t just still around in 2012, they’re as relevant and revered as ever. This is Honey Bucket. It’s from…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
Don’t Expect Any More Zelda Games Looking Like Skyward Sword
When Ocarina of Time was released, the next game in the series re-used its art design. When Wind Waker was released, it spawned a number of handheld and multiplayer games borrowing its cel-shaded look. Even Twilight Princess’ art style turned up more than once, even if the second outing was for a crossbow game. Skyward…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
Half-Life 2 Movie Posters Make You Wish for a Half-Life 2 Movie
If you’ve ever wanted to see a live-action Half-Life 2 movie, these mock posters are only going to make you want to see one a lot more. They’re the work of British graphic designer Sean Keenan, and are, for the most part, wonderfully tasteful and subdued. He’s based them on the posters for Chris Nolan’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
Turn Your Minecraft Creations Into Actual Sculptures
There’s a new program available called Mineways, which uses open-source (read: free) software to let people turn their Minecraft creations into real-world objects. We’ve seen services like this provided before, mostly for avatar recreation, but this looks way cooler, both because the software is free and because it lets you build anything from the game.…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 3, 2012 -
The Great Fallout Legal Battle is Over
The legal stoush between Bethesda and Interplay over the rights to certain aspects of the Fallout universe, which has been dragging on for years, has finally been settled, according to a report on Fallout fansite Duck & Cover While the actual details of the settlement are yet to be released – they’re expected to be…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
All of the Best Video Game Music of 2011
It’s been a lot of fun cataloguing and recognizing the best video game music of the year. We’ve gone from AAA blockbusters to indie games, sweeping melodies to ambient synths, heroic themes to dread-soaked atmospherics. Some of the games built music into their gameworlds, while others brought in full orchestras and still others used the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published January 2, 2012 -
The 2011 Video Game Year in Review
We love video games here at Kotaku. We love them so much. We think they had a good year in 2011, although it was a pretty weird year. We had the PlayStation Network going down. We got a 3DS and, at least in Japan, a Vita. We got Minecraft and Duke Nukem Forever and even…
Kotaku Staff Published January 2, 2012 -
Portal 2 Takes Kotaku’s 2011 Game of the Year Award for Science, You Monster
After several weeks of debate, discussion, and deliberation, Kotaku‘s 2011 Game of the Year Award came down to a simple vote, and the majority voted for science. We voted for Wheatley, the delightfully ditzy but well-meaning artificial intelligence that unwittingly guided us to our potential doom. We voted for GLaDOS, the power-hungry robot with a…
By Mike Fahey Published January 2, 2012 -
Is the PS Vita A Device Ahead of Its Time or Behind It?
With its big, bright screen, ability to sense touch and motion, and controls that mimic a home game console’s, Sony’s Playstation Vita delivers the sort of gaming that approaches what you might expect to experience in your den. But is that what gamers still want? I’ve spent the past week with a PS Vita, enjoying…
By Brian Crecente Published January 2, 2012 -
Meet the Team Fortress 2 Kids
Wee Little TF2 | Dutch artist SLiD3 breaks hearts with these cute little Team Fortress 2 soldiers. Why People Say the World Will End In 2012 You’re going to hear a lot this year about how, at some point in 2012, the world is going to end. That we will all, in some way or…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
New Halo: Reach Figures Capture Tiny Little Flags
Next month, McFarlane will release what feels like the 117th series of Halo toys, this time based on the characters and bad guys from Halo: Reach There are Spartans with multiplayer colour schemes, actual character Spartans from the game with no helmets on, giant aliens, human pilots and, my favourite, a pack containing multiplayer accessories…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
Portal Boots Look Great in the Real World
Once again, Volpin Props knocks it out of the park. Though in this case, they’ve knocked themselves out of the park. And fallen a great height, only to land safely, thanks to these Portal Long Fall Boots. Master prop builder Harrison Krix’s efforts continue to amaze, these boots looking like they jumped straight out of…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
Jon Hopkins: Circle
One day, I’m going to make a science-fiction movie. It won’t be about action, or killing. It’ll just be about some guys cruising the galaxy, exploring all the cool shit that’s out there to see. And when they see it, they lean back in their space chairs and just…soak it all up. When I make…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
Mass Effect Monopoly is my Favourite…You Get the Idea
If you liked the idea of BioShock Monopoly but prefer the depths of space to the depths of the deep blue sea, Mass Effect Monopoly might be more your thing. Tommy LeRoy is the man to thank for this awesome custom game, which changes everything about the original to bring it into line with BioWare’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
Bison, Ling Xiaoyu Are In Street Fighter x Tekken
This screenshot, posted on Street Fighter x Tekken’s Xbox Marketplace website, accidentally (?) reveals two new characters for the crossover title. You won’t see them punching; you’ll find them in the character section up the top of the screen. They’re Tekken’s Ling Xiaoyu and Street Fighter’s M. Bison. For Tekken, the day Bison graced this…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
Zelda’s Great Fairy Takes On Star Wars
Just because you’re (probably) on holidays doesn’t mean the cosplayers of the world take a break. In this week’s Fancy Pants, we have an amazing Great Fairy from Zelda, a double serving of perfect Star Wars cosplay, Final Fantasy, Mortal Kombat and, believe it or not, some Muramasa Fancy Pants is a look at the…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012