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2011’s Biggest Selling Game Maker in Japan So Far…
This year isn’t over. It’s more than half over. Time to look back and see which game maker is doing the best in Japan. So far. According to Famitsu, here is a list of which game companies made the most profit in the period through game sales. The period is from December 27, 2010 to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
$25,000 Embezzled. What Was It Spent On?
In Salinas, California, charity worker Alexander Harvey turned himself in to authorities and was arrested for embezzling US$25,000 from the Salinas Junior Chamber of Commerce. Harvey formerly served as its treasurer. What did he buy with the money he embezzled? Twenty-five grand is a fair chunk of change. So, did he blow it on booze,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
Another Look at the Ace Attorney Flick
Takashi Miike, known for making a lot of cool movies (and some crap ones, too), is directing a big screen version of Capcom’s lawyer game series Ace Attorney Previously, what are reported to be photos of the film’s Kyoto set leaked online. Today, a spokesperson from Toho movie studio posted a low quality pic of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
So How’s That Non-Nintendo Pokémon Game?
As of today, Pokémon is available on non-Nintendo hardware, namely smart phones. Pokémon Say Tap? was released on the Apple App Store, and sister site Kotaku Japan checked it out. Pokémon Say Tap? is a free rhythm game for the iOS and Android. It’s free, so you get what you pay for. The point here…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
China’s TF2 Rip-Off Also Loves Battlefield Heroes
So Final Combat, China’s seemingly shameless rip-off of Team Fortress 2, isn’t as shameless as we first thought. I mean, it’s not entirely lifting content from Valve’s shooter. It’s lifting it from EA’s Battlefield Heroes as well! This gameplay footage, sent in by reader Enrique, shows that while the game’s characters (and announcer) are straight…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2011 -
Nintendo, Let a Skateboard Show You How To Do 3D
Nintendo is having problems putting old games in 3D. Don’t fret, Nintendo! Artist Jason D Ault is here to help. With a skateboard. Ault recreated retro title Skate or Die in 3D. On a skateboard. How awesome is that? You know what else is awesome? The Skate or Die theme songs. The theme song for…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
Let’s Make a Deal with Awkward Nintendo Cosplay
TV game show Let’s Make a Deal recently had the honour of featuring not one, but two Nintendo cosplayers. The first, dressed as Link, had the honour of being an actual contestant. The second, dressed as Mario, did not. Link, Mario and Luigi visit Let’s Make a Deal [Go Nintendo]
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2011 -
Meet the Biggest-Selling Wii Game Not Made by Nintendo
A common complaint amongst third-party publishers is that the only games which sell well on Nintendo consoles are Nintendo games. Which is mostly true! Unless you’re Ubisoft. It’s been revealed that the single biggest-selling third-party game on the Wii is now (and is likely to remain, given the console’s impending replacement) Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2,…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2011 -
It Appears This Game has Turned You Into a Spider
This is Bound, in which you play Tom, who used to be just a regular guy but who has now been turned into a spider. Bummer. Due for the PC sometime towards the end of the year, it’s a student project from Stuttgart Media University, and while the black & white visuals aren’t exactly unique,…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2011 -
No More Heroes Cosplay Has a Heroic and Revealing Bodysuit
When she’s not cosplaying as Metal Gear Solid characters, Omi Gibson is cosplaying as No More Heroes characters. And when she’s not doing that, she’s cosplaying as other things Just as No More Heroes is getting an adults-only PS3 version, Omi’s uploaded some pics of herself dressed as NMH2‘s Cloe Walsh Omi has a new…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
When Nintendo Is Your Penpal
Remember life before email? Like when people wrote letters? On paper? Kotaku reader Matthew does. Because during the early 1990s, he was a little kid writing them to Nintendo. While going through his old things for a yard sale, Matthew (not pictured) found a couple letters from Nintendo of America—replies. Matthew did things like ask…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
The Latest Castlevania Game Originally Had Simon Belmont In It
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, released last year, ended up starring Gabriel Belmont, and was let’s say…different from most other games in the franchise. Fans will be interested to see, then, that developers Mercury Steam and publishers Konami originally had other plans for the game, with series legend Simon Belmont cast in the lead role. The…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2011 -
Can Anyone Replace Hello Kitty?
In 1975, a coin purse featuring an expressionless cat with its head turned sideways and sitting next to a fish bowl went on sale in Japan. The company was Sanrio. The designer was Yuko Yamaguchi. The cat became known as “Kitty-chan”, and outside Japan as Hello Kitty. Decades later, is the cat still cute? Hello…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2011 -
The Assassin’s Creed 3DS Game is Dead (But Some Parts Live On!)
When the Nintendo 3DS was first unveiled, one of Ubisoft’s first games for the handheld was supposed to be Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy. It won’t be any more, because that game’s been shitcanned. Speaking with Joystiq, Ubisoft writer Darby McDevitt has said that Lost Legacy is no more. Rather than being wasted, though, he says…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2011 -
Sony Exec Calls PSN Hack ‘A Great Experience,’ Quickly Clarifies Himself
Losing the entire PlayStation Network service for 23 days and its online marketplace for more than a month is not many people’s idea of a good time. Nor is it Tim Schaff’s, though the Sony Network Entertainment boss called it “a great experience,” at a forum before, as the politicians say, he revised and extended…
By Owen Good Published July 14, 2011 -
The Thing (2011)
Greetings, Kotaku readers. Got time to join us in another off-topic thread? Good. Maybe we can talk about movies, since this post happens to be movie-centric. So, that first trailer for The Thing (linked below) is out and it looks… alright. A few too many moments of people being yanked into the darkness by some…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 14, 2011 -
Miyamoto’s, Where You Know Everybody’s Name
For its cover of this week’s edition (on newsstands today) the Portland Mercury commissioned this painting, an homage to Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks with Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto and three characters he introduced to America 30 years ago this week. The cover highlights a story about GameOn 2.0, a playable history of video games showing…
By Owen Good Published July 14, 2011