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Alice in Makielab Land

If you are a long, long time Kotaku reader, you’ll know that Wonderland‘s Alice Taylor once graced us with her writing talents, turning out witty and charming posts. Taylor’s also known for her work at Channel 4, where she commissioned award-winning games for the broadcaster. Her next venture is Makielab, a toy and game company.…

By Brian Ashcraft Published June 28, 2011

Can You Hunt Animals In the Uncanny Valley?

People always talk about the uncanny valley in terms of relating to a human face. Few people stop to wonder what it means for games—like Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012 here—where you shoot innocent animals in the face instead.

By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2011

Hey Japan, There Are Some PSP Value Packs!

For summer 2011, Sony is offering a trio of PSP value packs, each priced at ¥17,800 (US$220). They come in Piano Black, Vibrant Blue, and Blossom Pink. Colors we’ve seen before, but they go on sale July 28 in Japan. “PSP®「プレイステーション・ポータブル」（PSP-3000）バリューパック” 希望小売価格：17,800円（税込）　2011年7月28日（木）発売 [Sony]

By Brian Ashcraft Published June 28, 2011

Later Today, People Will be Playing Journey. Those Bastards.

Journey looks like one of 2011’s most interesting—not to mention most beautiful—games, indie downloadable title or not. It was playable for a very privileged few at E3, but over the next week will be playable by a slightly less privileged few. Sony will be running a closed beta for the exploration game, beginning today, June…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2011

These Ladies Know the Sweet Smell of Success

Every story’s gotta start somewhere. This one starts in Hiroshima, with three girls who had the same kanji character in their names, 香. The character means “fragrance”, and the group was Perfume. Formed in 2000, Perfume was Ayaka Nishiwaki, Yuka Kashino, and Yuka Kawashima, who soon left the group and was replaced by Ayano Omoto.…

By Brian Ashcraft Published June 28, 2011

Mass Effect is Inspired by…Final Fantasy?

Yes, while there are some obvious influences on BioWare’s Mass Effect series – like Syd Mead and Star Trek – there’s one that may have slipped under most people’s noses. And it’s not hard to see why. In an interview with Xbox World 360 magazine, Mass Effect 3 art director Derek Watts says that Final…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2011

Sony Says it was Hacked Because it “Tried to Protect its IP”

At a shareholders’ meeting in Tokyo today, Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer got up on stage and had to field questions about the recent PlayStation Network attacks, which resulted in one of the biggest thefts of personal details in the history of the internet. Brushing off calls for his resignation, Stringer explained why, he believes,…

By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2011

KABOOM!!

Kotaku! It’s getting hot out there, so let’s stay cool with another open thread, our nightly refuge against the heat and conversations that are JUST about video games. C’mon in, the comments are fine. I’ve got an early day tomorrow, heading to MTV in Santa Monica for a GameTrailers taping where I’ll be talking about…

By Michael McWhertor Published June 27, 2011

A Slew of Assassins, From Sexy to Cybernetic, Re-imagined for Assassin’s Creed: The Encyclopedia

Ubisoft will release Assassin’s Creed: The Encyclopedia as part of the Assassin’s Creed: Revelations “Animus Edition,” a super fancy, not very cheap limited edition for European gamers. That encyclopedia features some of the following artwork, assassin’s from all walks of life and stages of history. U.S. gamers won’t get the pricey “Animus Edition” with its…

By Michael McWhertor Published June 27, 2011

Galaga Legions DX Brings Total Space Madness To Xbox Live Arcade This Week

The next entry in Namco Bandai’s “Namco Generations” line and the follow-up to Pac-Man Championship Edition DX hits Xbox Live Arcade this week. Galaga Legions DX, a revamped Galaga Legions, might make you take video game epilepsy warnings more seriously. I played this spectacular and confusing shoot ’em up lightshow at E3 2011 and I’m…

By Michael McWhertor Published June 27, 2011

Duel of the Links

Link and his evil other half designed in classic playing card style by Winter-Artwork. This Zelda themed design will be heading to fangamer.net very soon! Related Rampages: GI Bullet | Frosty Ice Kream (More) Duel Links by Winter-Artwork (Flickr) (Facebook) (Twitter) Via: winterartwork Need your daily fill of geek eye candy? If so, head over…

By Michael McWhertor Published June 27, 2011

Tiny Addictive Towers

Tiny TOWERING Towers | I lost much of my weekend to the iPhone’s Tiny Towers. And it wasn’t just me. Tristan and Trish too spent the weekend operating elevators, stocking stores and building floors. Damn you, Russ, Damn you to hell!!! (Photo by Brian Crecente) First Amendment Trumps California in Supreme Court Battle Over Violent…

By Brian Crecente Published June 27, 2011

Finally, Some Gameplay Footage of the Free To Play Tribes Ascend

The next Tribes game, Hi-Rez Studios’ Tribes Ascend, will be free. It’s the loadouts in this online PC shooter that will cost you. The developer of Tribes Ascend (and free to play online shooter Global Agenda) tells IGN that the game will take a different approach to free to play than games like Team Fortress…

By Michael McWhertor Published June 27, 2011

‘Portalmon’ Design Now a Catchable, Testable T-Shirt [Updated]

Remember Matt Parson’s ‘Portalmon’ mash-up design? For the next 48 hours, you can now buy it as a lovely t-shirt for €20 (plus modest shipping). Update: Qwertee has set up a special promotion for Kotaku readers. Simply add the code ILoveKotaku when checking out to get the Portalmon tee for €10—half off!—with €3 shipping anywhere…

By Joel Johnson Published June 27, 2011

Kotick, Riccitiello, Levine and More Praise Supreme Court Victory

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court put to rest, perhaps finally, the debate over not only whether video games are protected speech, but whether they are art. We reached out to more than half a dozen of the best game makers and publishers in the U.S. to get their reaction. Read on to read what…

By Brian Crecente Published June 27, 2011

Crysis 2‘s Ultra Upgrade Explained In Pretty Images and Even Prettier Video

Don’t know your parallax occlusion mapping from your custom shape based bokeh depth of field effects? Don’t worry about it! Crytek, maker of Crysis 2, illustrates what new tessellation and displacement mapping technology, part of the game’s new “Ultra Upgrade” pack, means for you, PC gamer. The free DirectX 11 upgrade for Crysis 2—with a…

By Michael McWhertor Published June 27, 2011

Violent Video Game Foe Rod Blagojevich Convicted of Trying to Sell Obama’s Senate Seat

The verdict is out in the second federal corruption trial of former Illinois Governor (and supporter of failed anti-violent video game legislation) Rod Blagojevich. The jury found him guilty on 17 of the 18 counts. [Gawker]

By Stephen Totilo Published June 27, 2011

Duke Nukem Forever Bringing Its ‘Special Pain Cake’ to the Mac This Summer

Gamers who prefer their operating systems designed by Apple will also have a chance to take a bite of Duke Nukem Forever‘s “pain cake” this summer, when Aspyr brings 3D Realms, Gearbox Software and 2K Games’ raunchy first-person shooter to Mac OS X this summer. Having not yet played Duke Nukem Forever, I can’t explain…

By Michael McWhertor Published June 27, 2011

Cave Story 3D Delayed, Now Going Up Against, Uh… Modern Warfare 3

The lovely-looking 3DS remake of side-scrolling action game Cave Story has been bumped from a summer release to November 8, the same day as Modern Warfare 3. Good luck, Cave Story! Its publisher attributed the delay to: “additional game improvements.”

By Stephen Totilo Published June 27, 2011

Used Copies of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Will be Forever Haunted by the Last Owner

Used Copies of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D might not be worth your money because Capcom made it impossible to for anyone to erase game save date from the game card. Capcom included a note in Resident Evil‘s game manual that reads: “Saved data on this software cannot be reset.” Translation: Everything is permanent. What…

By Sam Winstrom Published June 27, 2011