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Instead Of Pepper-Spray, They Should Call it Gingerbread-Spray
Greetings, Kotaku cadets, and welcome to a mid-week open thread. It’s a down week for us, and there hasn’t been too much new news. Did you get any good games over the holidays? Did you get anyone else any good games? Are you looking forward to 2012, or dreading it? Can you believe that we…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 28, 2011 -
An MVP Graces MLB 2K12‘s Cover
Adam Larson, the artist behind the three custom covers for NBA 2K12, has also supplied the base art of the Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander for the cover of MLB 2K12 2K Sports released the game’s official pack shot yesterday. Verlander, whose 24 victories, 250 strikeouts and 2.40 earned run average led the American League…
By Owen Good Published December 28, 2011 -
Area Man Selects Skyrim as The Onion‘s Game of the Year
The people who brought you such fantastic headlines as “Burrito Eaten As If Someone In The Room Wasn’t Crying” and “Brief Reprieve From Mariah Carey’s Christmas Song Comes To Resounding End” have selected their Game of The Year, and it’s not ironic at all: Bethesda’s Skyrim has edged out the competition to take top honors.…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 28, 2011 -
Valve on Half-Life 3 Rumors: ‘This is the Community Trolling the Community’
Every popular video game has its following of wishful thinkers, wannabe designers, and straight-up trolls. None has more hard at work on the next title than Half Life 3. And they’ve been very busy lately. There is, of course, this total fakey-fake-mcfakerson website, a goldmine of cognitive dissonance that’s not even registered to Valve. Then…
By Owen Good Published December 28, 2011 -
The Best Game Music of 2011: Bastion
Bastion snuck up on me—I had heard a lot of friends and fellow critics hyping it after seeing it at PAX East and GDC, but I didn’t actually play it until it was released. For the first hour or so, I wasn’t sold, but as the story snowballed and the levels stretched out, I fell…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 28, 2011 -
Unwinnable
Holiday Bonus Stage | An Unwinnable Christmas Card, as seen in the envelope I opened in my house this afternoon. Nintendo To Host New Year’s Eve Video Telethon on Your 3DS Nintendo plans to kick off a two day video New Year’s telethon starting the last day of the year and running until the morning…
By Brian Crecente Published December 28, 2011 -
There’s a Special Gift Inside Every Launch Copy of Twisted Metal, and It’s Not Green Stamps
Twisted Metal co-director David Jaffe manages to make fans of the series extremely happy and me feel incredibly old in one fell swoop. Thanks for the free copy of PlayStation 2 classic Twisted Metal Black, Dave. If anyone needs me I’ll be down at Hardees with the rest of the elderly, stuffing horrible food into…
By Mike Fahey Published December 28, 2011 -
Police Say Christmas Gaming Drove Woman to Attack Children with Butcher Knife
Allegedly enraged over her five-year-old son’s playing of a video game he received as a Christmas gift, Jutrina Tillman of Phoenix, Arizona, dragged the young boy into his bedroom and began to strangle him before threatening to kill him and his 13-year-old sister with a butcher knife. Around 10PM on Christmas night Phoenix police received…
By Mike Fahey Published December 28, 2011 -
Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO Log Part Two: Some Sort of Jedi Mind Trick
What happens when a crazy Smuggler is joined by, a Jedi Consular, a Trooper, and a Sith Warrior in week two of Kotaku‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO Log? Opinions change, ideas form, and they all learn a little something about friendship (and possibly crafting). I spent my second week in The Old Republic…
By Mike Fahey Published December 28, 2011 -
Paper-Rock-Scissors Tactics Spring to Life in Fire Emblem 3DS
This spring in Japan the swords, axes, and spears of Fire Emblem spring forth from the 3DS screen to pierce your eyeballs with varying degrees of severity depending on which sort of weapon you’re holding at the time. Check out the live stream of the game from the Nintendo Direct presser. One of the first…
By Mike Fahey Published December 28, 2011 -
The Best Game Music of 2011: Make Your Readers’ Choice Nominations!
We’re coming to the conclusion of our Best Game Music of 2011 series—there are only two games left! I’ve been having a lot of fun writing these, and thanks to Luke and Evan for their entries as well. As I’ve been doing the posts, I’ve been getting lots of notes from readers about game soundtracks…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 28, 2011 -
Your First Look at Kid Icarus: Uprising’s Online Multiplayer
News that Kid Icarus: Uprising will feature both local and online multiplayer was followed up with this video showing the game’s online play in action. The gameplay looks like free-roaming third-person shooter with wings and some fancy weapons. Players seem to team up, light versus dark, in this video. Though there’s also a free-for-all Battle…
By Brian Crecente Published December 28, 2011 -
Would You Like a Little Pikachu On That Latte?
A “Mocachu” as seen on GameTrailer’s SideMission Twitter account
By Brian Crecente Published December 28, 2011 -
Swapnote is Much More Than a Fun Way to Send Your Boss Penis Drawings With Your 3DS
When the original DS launched Nintendo gave us Pictochat, a decent local wireless program for chatting and exchanging pictures with our friends. When the 3DS launched, casual chatting was nowhere to be seen. Swapnote fixes that. Available for download now in the 3DS eShop, Swapnote does exactly what the name implies, allowing users to swap…
By Mike Fahey Published December 28, 2011 -
Viacom Ordered to Pay $383 Million to Rock Band Makers
Viacom is fighting an order to pay Rock Band makers Harmonix Music Systems $383 million, or a bit more than half of the money sought by the former shareholders in a long-running legal dispute over unpaid bonuses. The arbitration decision is the latest in a legal fight between former Harmonix owners Viacom and the game…
By Brian Crecente Published December 28, 2011 -
And the Winners of the First Annual Speak Up Video Game Awards Are…
Commenter GiantBoyDetective has posted the winners of the 2011 Speakys, the unofficial video game awards of our Speak Up forum community. Now all that’s left to do is vote for Game of the Year. Most Underrated Game of the Year Winner – Rayman Origins (Multi) Runner-up – Ghost Trick (DS) Best Indie Title of the…
By Mike Fahey Published December 28, 2011 -
Futurama’s Dr. Zoidberg Versus Spider Spider-Man in a Skyrim Battle Royale
Perhaps these Dr. Zoidberg modded Skyrim mudcrabs aren’t as freaky as the contorted spider Spider-Men, but their screams of agony when you kill them are pretty spot on. Also, thanks to XtremeScope we get to see the two doing battle. Someone really needs to do a full-on Futurama mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
By Brian Crecente Published December 28, 2011