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Farmer Grows Pikachu Fruit
It was about three months ago that sixty-three year-old Toshinobu Takamoto noticed two bumps attached to a Japanese persimmon growing in his yard. After harvesting the fruit, it became the talk of his Fukui City neighborhood, and it was dubbed “Pikachu” for the way it resembled the famed Pocket Monster. Black eyes were drawn on…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 20, 2011 -
Batman: Arkham City Gets Cheat Code, Free Costume
To thank you for making their publishers millions of dollars and themselves a swag of awards, Batman: Arkham City developers Rocksteady have unlocked a couple of holiday treats for owners of the game. First is a “cheat code”, which players can enter and which lets them unlock any skins they’ve earned/accrued without having to actually…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 20, 2011 -
Could the Father of the PlayStation Run Sony?
Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai seemed like a logical choice to replace Howard Stringer. But with Hirai lacking in experience outside gaming, Sony’s old guard could actually select someone with a deep understanding of electronics—namely Ken Kutaragi. [東洋経済]
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 20, 2011 -
See How Magic Cards are Made
How It’s Made is a TV program that shows us how common, everyday items like footballs and musical instruments go from raw materials to the finished product. They have sadly never shown how Magic Cards are made, though, so we’re relying on this write-up from Wizards of the Coast to do their job for them.…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 20, 2011 -
Syndicate Has Been “Banned” In Australia
The latest game to fall foul of Australia’s lack of an adults-only game rating is the upcoming Syndicate reboot, the shooter having been “refused classification” in the country, which effectively bans the game from sale. While no reason has yet been provided for the refusal, the game has plenty of up-close violence and stabbing and…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 20, 2011 -
The Best Game Music of 2011: Total War: Shogun 2
Total War: Shogun 2 may look and sound for all the world like the latest in a long line of reasonably bland strategy strategy games. As most grand strategy games are. Removing the player from the action to such an abstract level tends to rob the genre of its potential to truly immerse you in…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 20, 2011 -
The Most Gloriously Depressing Christmas Song of the Season
I don’t like most Christmas music. “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas”… they can all pretty much bite me. I saw this band called Foxtails Brigade last night in San Francisco and was majorly impressed. So, I am sharing their brand-new (and wonderfully depressing) Christmas song “I’m Not Really…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 19, 2011 -
Rest in Peace, Lil’ Kim. Wait, I Mean Kim Jong-il!
Greetings all, and welcome to another Kotaku open thread. The stockings are getting hung by the chimney with care, and all the blog readers will soon be chatting. Isn’t that the way the poem goes? Something like that. Below are your usual assortment of conversation-starters and miscellaneous junk from around the ‘net. Glark has posted…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 19, 2011 -
Rift Posts a Massive Win as MMORPG.com‘s Game of the Year
“What is Kotaku‘s game of the year?” you may be asking yourself. Well, I’m certainly not going to spoil the surprise. But in the meantime, we’re sharing the GOTY winners from other sites around the web. Over at MMORPG.com, they’ve named Trion Worlds’ color-splosional Rift as the best massively multiplayer online game of the year,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 19, 2011 -
PETA Fights Elephant Abuse with an iPhone Game
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals turn to the iPhone to help communicate that elephants are great and circus folk are the devil. The elephants get their revenge in This is Pop’s Circus Slam! PETA does not like the circus, though they might really enjoy the twisted talents of the folks at Cirque…
By Mike Fahey Published December 19, 2011 -
The Best Game Music of 2011: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I liked a whole lot of things about Deus Ex: Human Revolution, chief among them the way it felt like a loving tribute to so many different games that I love. It successfully combined a ton of familiar mechanics— Metal Gear-style stealth, Mass Effect-style dialogue, Deus Ex-style open levels, and even L.A. Noire-style interrogations. But…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 19, 2011 -
Not Exactly an Energon Cube
Not exactly an Energon cube | More swag, this time for next year’s Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Everything You Need to Know about Japan’s PlayStation Vita Over the weekend Sony unleashed the next evolution of portable gaming on Japan, and Kotaku was there. Here’s our complete coverage of the Japanese PlayStation Vita launch, from queuing…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 19, 2011 -
Three Simple Rules for Talking Like My Star Wars: The Old Republic Smuggler
It may be massively multiplayer, but Star Wars: The Old Republic is still a BioWare game, and that means dialogue trees. Let me share with you the rules I’ve set in place to make sure my Smuggler character is every bit the scoundrel I want him to be. Call it role-playing light. I’ve spent my…
By Mike Fahey Published December 19, 2011 -
If Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron Looks as Good as This, No One Will Complain
Concept art is a guess, a hope and sometimes an unintended lie. Remember that today as you look at the concept art for next year’s Transformers: Fall of Cyberton, the 2012 follow-up to Activision and High Moon Studios’ impressive 2010 Transformers game War for Cybertron People who grew up with the original Transformers—people like me—will…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 19, 2011 -
Gird Your Wallets: Steam’s Holiday Sale Has Begun, and it is Ginormous
The annual holiday sale on the Steam store is officially underway. It is massive and… surprisingly involved. Just about every single publisher is offering reduced prices and a ton of bundle packs, as well as a bunch of “Pack Deals” that bundle together every game from each major publisher. If that wasn’t enough gaming for…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 19, 2011 -
Should You Buy Star Wars: The Old Republic? Yes
When the RPG masters at BioWare team up with George Lucas’ beloved science fiction franchise amazing things happen, but is the developer’s first foray into the MMO market worth your massively multiplayer money? A Star Wars: The Old Republic review isn’t built in a day. With changes and tweaks being made constantly up to launch…
By Mike Fahey Published December 19, 2011 -
Skyrim Gets Shouted Out as GameSpot’s Game of the Year
The Oscars have them. March Madness has them. But, numerous outlets start announcing their year-end picks, I’m wondering if anyone does Game of the Year betting pools? The latest Elder Scrolls game wowed the editors at GameSpot enough for it to win their overall Game of the Year award. Other nominees included Ghost Trick: Phantom…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 19, 2011 -
Alleged Iranian Spy ‘Confesses’ that U.S. Video Game Company is CIA Propaganda Tool
When Iranian state TV aired the alleged confession of a homegrown spy on Sunday night, Amir Mirza Hekmati’s recitation of supposed wrongdoings included the standard claims of working as mole for the American Government along with a less common twist: that he’d supposedly worked for a video game company that was secretly trying to warp…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 19, 2011 -
All World of Warcraft‘s Customer Service Ever Wanted Was a Unicorn
After spending hours on end dealing with angry, distraught, frustrated, and downright abusive customers, it’s easy to imagine this lovely unicorn drawing was enough to get World of Warcraft customer service representatives to reverse a permanent ban. While I cannot confirm whether or not this image, currently making the rounds at Reddit, is real or…
By Mike Fahey Published December 19, 2011 -
GameFly Launches All-You-Can-Eat Digital Download Service for PC Games Today
More and more frequently, analysts and other people pontificate on the gaming industry’s future to say is that brick-and-mortar retail locations are going to become a thing of the past. Like movies, music and even books, they say, video games are probably going to leave physical media behind. So, in anticipation the day when things…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 19, 2011