-
Only One Man in the World Owns TF2‘s “Top Notch” Hat
It shouldn’t be hard to guess who it is, either. Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson was invited to play in Team Fortress 2‘s third Mixup event. Playing on RED, he was teamed with Valve’s Jon Lippincott and Cobalt’s Daniel Brynolf (against a BLU comprising filmmaker Freddy Wong, Valve’s Robin Walker, and others). After Notch collected…
By Owen Good Published November 27, 2011 -
Frozen Delights
Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. • 12 Awesome Han Solo Frozen in Carbonite Tributes [oddee] From ice cube makers to cell phone cases to that badass executive desk, I can’t…
By Owen Good Published November 27, 2011 -
Just in Time for Christmas, the Batcave Will Be Arkham City‘s Newest Challenge Map
After being mentioned in the GTTV Presents GameStop Unwrapped TV special on Thanksgiving, it looks like the newest location for players to kick the asses of Gotham’s worst criminals is going to be the Dark Knight’s innermost sanctum. A new DLC pack’s coming on December 20th, which bundles the all-new Batcave challenge map, along with…
By Evan Narcisse Published November 27, 2011 -
Saudi Arabia’s Gaming Expo is Also a Giant Sausage Party
When Saudi Arabia gets into games news here, it’s usually for banning a game (which its citizens can readily obtain by other means), although it does have developers, who recently published an Uncharted clone. This weekend saw the nation’s first gaming exposition, too, although a visit to its main page advises “Attendance for males only.”…
By Owen Good Published November 27, 2011 -
A Note About the Most Recent ‘Shop Contest
Regarding our ‘Shop Contest of Nov. 27, “Don’t Fear the Creeper.” The base image, submitted to Kotaku’s tips forum by a reader, was taken by Adam Sahlin of minecraftforum.net. Kotaku did not receive permission to use it and has been asked to remove it. We have. As such, this week’s ‘Shop Contest has been aborted.…
By Owen Good Published November 27, 2011 -
Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves
Everybody had their fill of turkey and shopping? Good, we can all kick back and get back to talking—amongst ourselves, in Kotaku’s official open thread. Discuss anything you like here, so long as it’s about the vidya. Big thanks to Pan1da7 for today’s TAYpic. We had to reach back a week to find one. It…
By Owen Good Published November 27, 2011 -
Tanooki Suit Riot Winners
As PETA picked a peck of pickled trouble with Super Mario 3D Land‘s use of the Tanooki Suit, it figured to be a good time to ‘shop up a Tanooki-clad Mario enthusiast who’d rather cosplay than go naked. We’ve got 20 winners inside, including Zigzagoon—who also made ‘Shop Contest history! Leading off, Deadphool (4) had…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
Is “Morning Wood” Really a Map Name in Modern Warfare 3‘s First DLC?
Grain-of-salt territory here, but rumors have it that Modern Warfare 3‘s first set of premium downloadable content will feature five maps entitled “Morning Wood,” “Concrete,” “Park,” “Italy,” and “Overwatch.” The title of the first, and the fact “Overwatch” was a map in Modern Warfare 2, calls for some healthy skepticism. Modern Prestige has what it…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
Is Sony Working On its Own Smash Bros. Game?
It seems Sony could well be working on its own take on Smash Bros., Nintendo’s beloved first-party fighting game series. Called (or at least code-named) Title Fight, the project, supposedly in development at SuperBot Entertainment, features a range of Sony’s first-party mascosts squaring off against each other in a fighting game. Some of the characters…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 26, 2011 -
Magneto’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Suit is Again a Royal Pain for Spain
About six years ago, Marvel needed to give Magneto a uniform befitting a head of state for his appearance in The Pulse: House of M Special. It was, as that image above suggests, a straight copy of the duds King Juan Carlos wears as World’s Most Interesting Man Captain General of the Armies. The royal…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
The Games for All of Us
With respect and admiration for, if not apologies to, the late Ernie Harwell, here’s something adapted from his famous Induction Day speech at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Aug. 2, 1981, which itself was adapted from this 1955 essay. Stick Jockey published this last year on Thanksgiving weekend. I’ve updated it for this year,…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
Lawsuit Dropped with “Jew or Not a Jew” iPhone App’s Removal
If someone was going to sue over an iPhone app called “Jew or Not Jew,” I would have expected it to be an infringement claim coming from Saturday Night Live, or Al Franken, the Minnesota senator who wrote a sketch by that name which aired in 1988 here in the U.S. Instead, it was an…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
EA Sports Delights in Signing Away Pro Evolution Soccer‘s Three-Time Cover Star
Back in January, one of Lionel Messi’s teammates on FC Barcelona let slip that the football superstar greatly enjoyed playing EA Sports’ FIFA series. At the time, he was the three-time cover star of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer, from its 2009 to 2011 editions. So it wasn’t much of a surprise, then, when Cristiano Ronaldo…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
Get a Sneak Peek at Gears of War 3‘s New Multiplayer Characters
RAAM’s Shadow, the second downloadable extension to Gears of War 3, is due to arrive Dec. 13, but its six new multiplayer skins have already been exposed through the game’s character-selection stage. Kotaku reader Jestin snapped shots of the new skins with his phone camera but says he didn’t try to download them out of…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
Nexon Says Huge MapleStory Breach Did Not Compromise U.S. Players’ Personal Info
The second-largest data breach in South Korea’s history compromised the personal information of more than 13 million subscribers to the Nexon MMO MapleStory, but none of those accounts are held outside of Korea, the publisher said Saturday. A Nexon spokesman told the Yonhap News agency that the game operates separate servers for each country. The…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
Black (and Blue) Saturday
If you’ve survived the stampeding, rioting, body-slamming, pepper-spraying madness that marked Black Friday here in the United States, then pick yourself up and dust yourself off, there are 29 more shopping days until Christmas. Prepare for the long march ahead with this weekend’s roundup of the best gaming hardware, software and accessory deals—and get ready…
By Owen Good Published November 26, 2011 -
Want To Read All the Skyrim Books? Like, Right Now?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim doesn’t only boast a vast in-game world. It also has a vast array of in-game books. They might be only a couple pages each, but the total amount of text for you to peruse in Skyrim is mind-boggling. Website Capane loves reading the books in Skyrim, going as far as…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 25, 2011 -
Let’s Overdose on Plastic Figures, M’Kay?
Starting today, the Tamashii Nation 2011 figure event kicked off in Akihabara. Wrapping up on Nov. 27, the event showcases upcoming plastic figurines. “Tamashii” means “soul” or “spirit” in Japanese, and Namco Bandai’s Tamashii moniker brings that passion to toys and figurines. On display, there were Namco Bandai toy properties like Gundam, Kamen Rider, and…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 25, 2011 -
Gamers Pepper Sprayed During Black Friday “Competitive Shopping”
Customers shopping for games at the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch, San Fernando Valley got a little more than they bargained for last night when they were blasted with pepper spray amidst scenes of commercial chaos. Here’s the thing, though; the spraying wasn’t done by police or security. It was the result of one crazy woman,…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 25, 2011 -
“If Hollywood Won’t Make a BioShock Movie…”
The BioShock movie isn’t happening. Blame the special effects, blame the water, blame Hollywood. Whatever. It’s Dead. That doesn’t mean there aren’t bands of eager filmmakers roaming the internet, making fan films and trailers, like the one right up there. Because there are. And what they lack in special effects and money, they make up…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 25, 2011