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We Totally Dominated That Last GameTrailers Episode and You Should Watch It
Speaking of roofs (rooves?), GameTrailers TV went on ours in New York this week with Totilo, Crecente and Joel. Fahey is still en route, delayed by the hurricane. Boy is he gonna be pissed. Anyhow, the show kicks off GTTV’s fall preview and gives you a look inside our offices at Gawker headquarters in New…
By Owen Good Published August 28, 2011 -
XCOM Has the Freakiest Display At PAX Prime 2011
This XCOM display, which features no real human beings, is a head-turner here at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. Does this make you want to play the game? The retro sci-fi first-person shooter has been sounding much better than it used to, but this thing is just a freak show. It did get me…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 28, 2011 -
The Evolution of a BioShock Infinite Scene, in Two Minutes
Let’s watch how one of the in-game scenes from BioShock Infinite was made, from storyboards to final version, shall we? Your narrator is BioShock creative director Ken Levine. I shot this on Saturday at the BioShock Infinite panel at PAX Prime. At the same panel, they also showed other cool behind-the-scenes videos, focused on the…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 28, 2011 -
Your Ultimate Doppler Weather Action Force Talk Amongst Yourselves Hurricane Edition
Well, did that hurricane destroy earth last night? Has it made landfall in Nova Scotia? If so, have the Trailer Park Boys attempted to profit from it yet? These and other important questions will be answered today in a special Hurricane edition of Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves. Big thanks to Ultimate_Kardas for today’s TAYpic. I’m…
By Owen Good Published August 28, 2011 -
Where Are You Taking This … Thing Winners
As prisoner transfer from cell block 113 at Gamescom last week was the canvas upon which Kotaku’s savvy ‘Shoppers were called to paint for last week’s Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. We have 20 winners, headlined by Schnide’s entry, in the gallery inside. Check it out! Leading off, Heff228 (11) imagines quite the shotgun marriage. Bouzi (3)…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
There Really is a Lando Calrissian Society, and I Just Filmed Their Rally
First, I noticed that the people pushing past me near the Star Wars: The Old Republic booth at Penny Arcade Expo today were wearing teal capes. Then I noticed they had moustaches. This was the Lando Society, and they had a simple, ridiculous message to shout at the top of their lungs: “Never forget.” They…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 27, 2011 -
BioShock Infinite‘s Actors Berated Each Other to the Point of Tears to Get the Scene
At PAX 2011 today, Irrational Games and the two lead actors in BioShock: Infinite gave us another good look at what goes into the voice acting of parts in a virtual medium that has such a complicated story. It’t not enough to understand that your character has amazing powers that defy the laws of space…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
A Rugby Fan Scores a Try in EA Sports’ Top Job
Some executives, when they take over, try to keep it low key. The big leather chair and better office is good enough for a while. No need to go erasing all memory of your predecessor, especially if he’s still lurking about the corporate campus. That’s apparently not Andrew Wilson’s style. “Yes, we’re still very cordial,”…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
Liveblogging the Bioshock: Infinite Panel at PAX 2011
Ken Levine, the mind behind BioShock will anchor a panel alongside Troy Baker and Courtney Draper., the two lead voice actors in BioShock Infinite, beginning momentarily at PAX 2011. Won’t you join Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo as he liveblogs the discussion? There’s bound to be news on one of 2012’s most anticipated games. You can contact…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
Which Hollywood Hero was at The Behemoth’s PAX Booth? You Get Three Guesses.
The Penny Arcade Expo is good for silly sights. Over there, you’ve got the world’s oldest booth babes. And over there, bad bathroom humor. Here, in the booth of The Behemoth, the studio behind Castle Crashers and the upcoming Battle Block Theater, we have an unexpected cosplaying guest. You get three guesses. Then press play…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 27, 2011 -
Notch Gives us a Tour of the Ever-Expanding, Radical Minecraft 1.8 Update
The Minecraft 1.8 update was supposed to add more of a sense of adventure to one of the world’s most popular computer games. It’s adding more than that. It’s adding so much more, in fact, that it’s probably going to split into two updates, 1.8 and 1.9. I got a demo of the new content…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 27, 2011 -
The Sights and Highlights of Halo Fest: Halo 4, Halo: Anniversary, The Duke, and More
Sure, PAX 2011 is taking place in Seattle right now, but let’s not forget that right across the street is Halo Fest. This expo celebrates the game’s 10th anniversary with a look to the future (Halo 4) a nod to the past (Halo: Anniversary), and all sorts of stuff in between. And The Duke. Who…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
The Pink Knight Comes to Life in Castle Crashers
The Pink Knight was an urban myth cooked up by Castle Crashers‘ Xbox Live community. No such dude existed. But he does now, as The Behemoth offers him for free and promises to make up to a $50,000 donation to a breast cancer prevention and awareness organization. Pink Knight has all new weapons, says The…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
Go Ahead and Shoot Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite. Ken Levine’s Way Ahead of You
“It’s in the simulation.” When I spoke with Ken Levine about BioShock Infinite at E3, I was struck by his use of that phrase. The game as he describes it will be a complex concoction of different AIs, each of which exists independently and interacts in unscripted, emergent ways. Two NPCs get into a fight…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
The Cosplay of PAX: Day One
You can’t have a video games expo without the cosplay, and PAX’s attendees are pulling their weight. So far we’ve managed to spot Duke Nukem, Robocop, Uncle Sam, and Jesus. And when’s the last time you saw all those guys together? Those four, plus a lot more, in the gallery inside. Remember, click the magnifying…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
In a Minute and a Half, BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo Explains Why The Old Republic Isn’t Just Another MMO
We’ve written our fair share of skeptical previews of BioWare’s upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. So I thought I’d catch Gabe Amatangelo and ask him to explain what, specifically, it is that will set The Old Republic apart from other MMOs. Believe it or not, his response was not “Because it’s Star Wars,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
Here’s a Real Life Minecraft Block You Can Actually “Mine”
Ben Purdy is a designer and technology artist who was working on a projection-mapping project when his brother mentioned that a projection sample looked a little like a Minecraft block. Inspiration thus hit Ben. It appears that the projection device is within this box [Correction: It’s outside the box], putting an image on all six…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
What Does Jennifer Hale Think of the Nickname “FemShep?” (and Other Things)
From Facebook beauty-contests for the character she plays to big New Yorker profiles to a hilarious case of mistaken Twitter identity, we’ve been talking a lot about Mass Effect 3‘s female lead Jennifer Hale lately. So when given the opportunity to chat with her one-on-one at PAX, I jumped at the chance. We covered a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
The ‘Eyeborg’ Matches Up Real Cyborgs Against Deus Ex
Ordinarily I scoff at the age-gate trailer, but here, I think it supplies a useful warning and a chance to say THERE IS VIDEO OF AN EYEBALL BEING CUT OPEN at the beginning. So look away for the first 16 seconds if you don’t want to see that. The rest of the video is quite…
By Owen Good Published August 27, 2011 -
This is Easily The Single Worst Piece of Marketing at PAX
If you visited any of the restrooms at PAX (well, the Men’s rooms anyway. I don’t know about the ladies’ rooms. I could have checked, but… er, anyway). If you visited any of the men’s rooms at PAX, you probably saw this Prototype 2 sticker on the inside of the stalls and stuck above the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011