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Call of Duty Ads “Hideous Marketing”, Says Actual Soldier
Activision’s big-budget Sam Worthington x Jonah Hill commercials for Modern Warfare 3 won a lot of fans, but novelist, essayist and former paratrooper D.B. Grady is not one of them. Writing on The Atlantic, Grant – “a former paratrooper with U.S. Army Special Operations Command and a veteran of Afghanistan” – says the commercial series…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
People are Already Playing Genesis Games on the PlayStation Vita
Oh look. It’s Genesis game Sonic & Knuckles running on the PlayStation Vita, a handheld that’s been out for less than a month. How is this possible? Don’t get too alarmed; rather than cracking open the Vita itself, this homebrew Genesis emulator (originally built for the PSP) is running via the Vita’s own PSP emulation.…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
You Can Use PC Mods On Grand Theft Auto III’s iOS and Android Version
Merry (belated) Christmas, owners of the recently-released Grand Theft Auto III on iOS and Android. That mobile version you bought is actually, in almost every respect, the old PC version of the original, meaning if you can get at its file structure, you can use PC mods on it. For Android users it’s as easy…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
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 another, wound up gone, destroyed, burned, eaten, smashed to pulp or, if we’re really lucky, a combination of the lot. We’ll be fine, of course, but…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 2, 2012 -
Happy New Year, from ‘Black Ops Guy’ and Starbuck
The gentleman who dressed up as the box of Call of Duty: Black Ops at this year’s Fan Expo in Toronto was one of our favorite cosplayers of 2011. He starred in one of Kotaku‘s best ‘Shop Contests and is currently featured in the all-star revue going on now. He sends everyone here best wishes…
By Owen Good Published January 1, 2012 -
Kotaku‘s Most-Read Stories of 2011
In two hours, the year 2011 will have run its course. To video games, it was a year of scandal, of disappointment, of surprise and of achievement. Traveling to all parts of the globe, with staff writers on three continents, serving an audience of more than 3 million unique visitors each month, Kotaku chronicled the…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
A Virtual Season Ends with Plenty of Unfinished Business
Looking back on the list of video games I finished in 2011, it’s an embarrassingly thin roster. It may be my least productive year ever, in terms of what I finished, what I was expected to play, and what I spent most of my time doing. It’s not a resume that really speaks of a…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
This Is the Last Time You Will Talk Amongst Yourselves in 2011
Today’s the last day of 2011, which means it’s the last day of the month and the last day you will see that goddamn righteous chicken in our TAYpic. I’ll be sad to see him go. Many thanks to SkyWizard: The True Creator for the final TAYpic of 2011. As the evening winds down, feel…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
Epic Mickey 2 Rumors Now Peg It for Fall 2012 Release
An online newsletter from Disney has again confirmed long-circulating rumors about Epic Mickey 2, and says the game will release on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii in Fall 2012, reports the site StitchKingdom.com. The original Epic Mickey, released in 2010, was a Wii-only title. Epic Mickey 2 will feature cooperative multiplayer play, according to the…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
Year-End All-Star Extravaganza
Smash Mountain. Ricky Lee Kalichun. Mr. Shady Shades. A power adapter that looks like Mr. T. And so many more. It was an epic year for the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest, thanks to your creativity and drive. Our 50 contests this year featured tons of callbacks to earlier hits, and so now we’re going to bring…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
The Most Pirated PC, Xbox 360 and Wii Games of 2011
This week, TorrentFreak reported on the 50 most searched terms on torrent sites, giving indications as to what may have been the most pirated things of 2011. Not a single video game title was among them. Well, now TorrentFreak has listed its top 5 most pirated games of the year, across three platforms. PC, Wii…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
The Politics of Just Dance: Winners
As we mentioned earlier, some things are getting moved around and pushed up to today because of the holiday weekend. So let’s go ahead and get in the last ‘Shop Contest roundup of 2011. It’s the story of President Obama and a man he met recently at the Best Buy. A man who looks like…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
Endurance Run Fails a Third Time in Q*Bert Record Bid
If George Leutz hasn’t gone completely Ahab already, I’d advise him to let go of the Q*Bert world record. His latest assault on the mark, whose 33 million score is believed to require more than 70 hours of nonstop gameplay, ended in exhaustion after 57 hours, 40 minutes on a single quarter at the joystick.…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
Big Game Makers Take Names Off SOPA Support
The Stop Online Piracy Act, currently a bill before the Congress, is utterly detested by the Internet, in case you don’t read the Internet. Gamers don’t think much of it either, as it would have some rather stupid ramifications for how they enjoy that lifestyle and consume its products. So it’s of note that Nintendo,…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
Ring in the New
Tomorrow brings the new year, in all of its promise. One of those promises is new games. The final Moneysaver of 2011 has more than 60 deals on this year’s crop of games, and a couple for next year’s. too. Check them out! Software • Jan. 31 release Final Fantasy XIII-2 (360, PS3) is $44.99,…
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
Holiday Programming Note
It’s the New Year’s weekend. While Kotaku does have stories and posts planned, we also get the day off. So we’re moving some things around. You’ll see some of our usual Sunday features publishing today instead of then. Happy New Year everyone, and thank you for reading Kotaku.
By Owen Good Published December 31, 2011 -
Hello New Plastic Friends!
Comiket, aka Comic Market, isn’t only about comics. It’s also about cosplay. Oh, and plastic figures. At this year’s Comiket, which runs Dec. 28 to Dec. 31 at Tokyo Big Sight, famed Japanese figure makers are showing off upcoming statues: some are finalized production models, while others are unpainted prototypes. In this gallery, with photos…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 31, 2011 -
A Multiplayer Role-Playing Game You Can Play in Swapnote
Savannah College of Art and Design game design student Ben “MNC Dover” Gray saw more than just a chance to draw dicks with Nintendo’s free Swapnote program for the 3DS. He saw a chance to draw +4 vorpal dicks. What Ben is proposing in this video is a nifty variation of good old play-by-mail Dungeons…
By Mike Fahey Published December 30, 2011 -
Do You Object to Any of These Phoenix Wright Actors?
Next February, Japanese movie theaters are going to lawyer up when the Phoenix Wright movie puts its legal smack down on celluloid. Directed by famed Japanese director Takashi Miike, it could be great. Last October, Kotaku posted the first image of actor Hiroki Narimiya as Phoenix Wright. Today, here are photos of the entire cast…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2011 -
Handsome Man Brings Iconic Cartoon Cat To Life
Doraemon is a fat, robotic blue cat from the future. In his belly, Doraemon carries all sorts of cool gadgets. The character, viewable here, is iconic in Japan. Doraemon also not something one would equate with handsome dude—or good hair. Yet, as this recent cosplay shows, those associations are totally possible. くれ えいぞう [twitpic]
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2011