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These are the Men and Women who Bring Skyrim to Life
One very valid complaint that was levelled against Elder Scrolls IV is that it often felt like there were only three people voicing the game’s entire cast. In Skyrim, for the most part, that’s been fixed. And then some. Even when you get past the token celebrity voice actors, you see there’s a vast, talented…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 29, 2011 -
Get Your Ass to Mars
Greetings Kotaku-eers, and welcome to another late-night open thread. How was your Thanksgiving? Good, I hope? Snag some good Black Friday deals? Maybe you managed to grab some of these terrific Cyber Monday discounts? For my part, I’m back in San Francisco wishing I’d brought some leftovers home with me. I’d kill for a good…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 28, 2011 -
Rainbow 6 Developer Talks Terrorism, Call of Duty, and Moving the Medium Forward
Last week, I headed down to Ubisoft headquarters in San Francisco to get a first look at their upcoming tactical shooter Rainbow 6: Patriots. I posted my impressions of the event earlier today—it looks like a solid evolution of the small-team tactical template set forth in Vegas, but what’s more remarkable is that it at…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 28, 2011 -
A Photo-Gallery Look at the Creation of Minecon’s Amazing Minecraft Models
Special effects artist and designer Greg Aronowitz has posted a very cool, thorough rundown of his process making the life-sized (and sometimes larger-than-life-sized) Minecraft characters that populated last week’s Minecraft-only convention, Minecon. Aronowitz describes how he came on with only two weeks until the convention, and quickly got to work figuring out the design and…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 28, 2011 -
Concept Art Surfaces for Ron Gilbert’s New Double Fine Game
Ever since hearing that Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island maestro Ron Gilbert had moved to Double Fine Productions (The Brutal Legend and Psychonauts studio headed by his old partner in crime Tim Schafer), I’ve been dying to know what he’s been working on. We’ve had all manner of announcements from the studio lately, but nothing…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 28, 2011 -
Beyond Good & Evil HD Just $3 Today on XBLA
Today only, Microsoft is selling the HD re-release of Michel Ancel’s cult adventure game Beyond Good & Evil for a mere $3, discounted from its usual $10. If you’ve ever wondered why so many people love this game, now’s a good time to find out. [XBLA]
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 28, 2011 -
Dust 514 Wants You to Drive Convertible Two-Seaters of Death Into Its Warzones
In most combat games, you get into a vehicle and you ride/drive it—often, it’ll have weapons for you to fire, too—until the wheels fall off. You might be able to upgrade the guns or armor in some instances but that’s generally the extent of it. CCP’s taking a different approach to the vehicles in Dust…
By Evan Narcisse Published November 28, 2011 -
In Case You Haven’t Formed An Opinion About Minecraft By Now…
Sometimes game reviewers only have a couple of days to play and weigh a major game release before releasing their reviews. With indie sensation Minecraft they’ve had over a year. This is going to be the best Frankenreview ever! Minecraft is a tool / toybox / video game about building things with blocks, built lovingly…
By Mike Fahey Published November 28, 2011 -
Culmination is a Flash Game I Can Get Behind
Culmination is a smooth side-scrolling action game with an ambiance that is both eerie and calming. The controls feel solid (with only minor hiccups during combat) and I find myself zoning out while I play. Maybe I’m not a Flash game aficionado, but I am loving how polished this game feels. Culmination [Kongregate] You can…
By Chris Carolan Published November 28, 2011 -
Happy 10th Q-Games
Tenugui | Q-Games Dylan Cuthbert sent me this lovely tenugui to celebrate his company’s 10th anniversary this month. Thanks for the present Cuthbert and thanks for all of those wonderful PxelJunk games. It’s Okay to Pee on the UK’s Newest Game Console First, they put advertisements in front of men’s urinals, figuring dudes who have…
By Brian Crecente Published November 28, 2011 -
Skyrim Goes Hipstamatic
We have certainly seen a lot of different kinds of posts about Skyrim over the past couple of weeks. We’ve got jokes and memes, fan-fiction and fan-art, and one billion YouTube videos, from the impressive to the disturbing But it ain’t a “thing” until some iPhone-toting hipster has posted a bunch of fake-retro photos of…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 28, 2011 -
Xseed Successfully Fishes for Fishing Resort Coverage
Around this time of the year the surprise UPS and Fedex shipments begin to fade and the flow of new games fades to a trickle, making it an excellent time to fish for the illusive video game blogger with a mysterious rainbow suitcase. This is a rather cute little package for a game I wouldn’t…
By Mike Fahey Published November 28, 2011 -
The Busy Single Mom Who Wants to Sneak in Some Game Time
Being single is an excellent excuse to spend every spare moment you have indulging in your taste for gaming, but tack on ‘mother’ after ‘single’ and the opportunities to get your game on dwindle appreciatively. Here are a few gift ideas to help a single mom get her gaming groove back. Babysitting Coupons A large…
By Mike Fahey Published November 28, 2011 -
Skyrim Patch 1.2 Discreetly Disposes of Dead Wedding Guests
Already available on the PlayStation 3 (though masquerading under the name 2.01), the 1.2 patch for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is due out for the PC and Xbox 360 on Wednesday, and the plague of marital corpses finally comes to an end. Containing perhaps the most entertaining bug fix listing I’ve seen since they…
By Mike Fahey Published November 28, 2011 -
Prepare to Pay Through the Nose for the Vita’s Proprietary Memory Cards
Rather than adopting one of the many memory card formats readily available on the market, Sony is launching a special proprietary format for use in the PlayStation Vita. A format so magical it’ll run you anywhere from $29.99 to $119.99 at GameStop. With memory cards having dropped in price drastically since the launch of the…
By Mike Fahey Published November 28, 2011 -
Mother Says World of Warcraft Turned Her Child Into Aggressive School-Skipping Hunchback
A mother writes in to Australia’s Telegraph to complain that World of Warcraft has turned her 13-year-old son into an aggressive computer addict who skips school and threatens violence if pulled away from his game. She says the boy, who is bigger than she is, missed most of his schooling this year and most of…
By Brian Crecente Published November 28, 2011 -
Watch as Indie Game: The Movie Moves Fez‘s Phil Fish to Tears
It’s taken a long time for Fez to get finished. It’s taken a long time for Indie Game: The Movie to get finished, too. So, when filmmakers Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky showed the documentary to gamemaker Phil Fish—who, along with Braid creator Jonathan Blow and the two-man Team Meat, is one of the indie…
By Evan Narcisse Published November 28, 2011 -
It’s a Me a Mario! An 8-Bit Opera
The guys at JonandAl put together a Super Mario opera for the world to enjoy. As ridiculous as it is, I still can’t get the song out of my head. I dare you to not be moved when Mario gets that star power. If only they can remake the original movie as an opera… You…
By Chris Carolan Published November 28, 2011 -
Call of Duty Elite Trailer Shows What It Looks Like When Activision’s FPS Facebook Actually Works
So, getting Call of Duty Elite functional has been a struggle for Activision. The publisher’s promising that the social platform built for their best-selling FPS franchise will finally be mostly functional this week. The mega-publisher’s turned out a trailer to celebrate this occasion. In the clip, you’ll see an overview of Elite‘s basic functionality as…
By Evan Narcisse Published November 28, 2011 -
A Peek Inside the Home of Skyrim’s First Serial Killer
People love to collect in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim They collect loot, they collect books, horses and armor. They even collect butterflies in jars. But this guy (I’m assuming he’s a him because most serial killers are) likes to collect the bodies of decapitated female companion characters and undress and pose them. It’s just…
By Brian Crecente Published November 28, 2011