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This Is What Dead Island (The Game) Looks Like
Last week, the makers of zombie action game Dead Island released an unforgettable trailer for their upcoming game. They also released new screen shots of this undead paradise and they look pretty damn good too. Developer Techland has a lot to live up to, based on the excitement surrounding their cinematic trailer, but these new…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 21, 2011 -
How Realistic Is Video Game Drunkenness?
I’m just going to come right out and say it: I love drunk video game characters. The slurred speech, the blurred vision, the ragdoll physics as they fall backwards down a flight of stairs which somehow never results in paralyzing spinal fractures – I’d much rather nurse a digital person back to sobriety than my…
Lisa Foiles Published February 21, 2011 -
The Scott Pilgrim Video Game Could Have Been A Big Adventure
When comic book series Scott Pilgrim came to video game form last year—as Ubisoft’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game—it played like an old-school beat ’em up, with pixelated style. But it could have been a very different adventure. According to the comic’s creator, Bryan Lee O’Malley, episodic adventure game makers Telltale Games proposed…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 21, 2011 -
Command & Conquer Reborn Under The Flag Of Victory
The brief appearance of a staging site for the new home of Command & Conquer on the web revealed that the beloved real-time strategy franchise will be born again under a brand-new EA development studio, Jon Van Caneghem’s Victory Games. While the current Command & Conquer homepage is still online and fully-functional, a new site…
By Mike Fahey Published February 21, 2011 -
Control A Video Game By Kissing Passionately
We sit here stunned, amazed and just a little bit skeptical that artist Hye Yeon Nam has found a way for people to control a bowling video game by French kissing. Kissing and playing video games were just never fun enough on their own, now were they? Even watching a video of the Kiss Controller…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 21, 2011 -
Bungie on Watson and the Future of Gaming
Watson’s victory over two Jeopardy champs last week isn’t just the first step in human domination by machines, it could also be a step toward better, more interesting video games. We spoke with Chris Butcher, the engineering lead in charge of establishing the future technology direction for Bungie, about what all of this could mean…
By Brian Crecente Published February 21, 2011 -
Kinect Will Connect To PCs Better (And Officially) This Spring
Microsoft is going to give amateur and professional programmers expansive tools to program its Xbox 360 sensor system for Windows 7 computers this spring, according to details dropped to our friends at Gizmodo. Translation: Better Kinect computer hacks coming soon!
By Stephen Totilo Published February 21, 2011 -
Official Minecraft Coming to iPhone, iPad, Android
Rejoice miners! An official version of Minecraft is coming to the iPhone, iPad and even the Android. Speaking with Kotaku earlier this month, Mojang’s head of business development Danial Kaplan said that while the developer had discussions with third party developers, in the end they decided to “do the iOS/Android version of Minecraft inhouse.” The…
By Brian Crecente Published February 21, 2011 -
Driving A Car Using The Power Of Your Mind
German engineers have rigged up a Volkswagen Passat so it maneuvers using only the driver’s mental directions. This technology could lead to a new age in which people actually use their brains while driving. The technology Autonomos Labs uses to mind control the modified Volkswagen Passat Variant 3c should be quite familiar to long-time Kotaku…
By Mike Fahey Published February 21, 2011 -
How Should I Break In My New Gaming Rig
You all helped me figure out what pieces and parts to put into my gaming computer, so it’s only fair that you get to help me figure out which game to play first on it. My Origin computer arrived in a crate today fit for an Ark of the Covenant. Inside, swathed in black cloth…
By Brian Crecente Published February 21, 2011 -
Mexican State Calls For A Ban On Call Of Juarez: The Cartel
After officials in El Paso, Texas, made their discomfort over Call of Juarez: The Cartel last week, the Mexican state of Chihuahua is asking Federal authorities for an outright ban on the video game that hits too close to home. The Mexican state of Chihuahua is home to the city of Ciudad Juarez, a city…
By Mike Fahey Published February 21, 2011 -
Killzone 3’s Engineer Is The Ultimate Team Player
In the first of a series of videos covering Killzone 3’s multiplayer professions, Guerrilla Games multiplayer designer Dan Nanni discusses the engineer, the game’s turret-building support class. Whenever I see any form of the word ‘engineering’ associated with a video game character class, ‘complicated’ is generally the next word that pops into my head. From…
By Mike Fahey Published February 21, 2011 -
Should You Buy A PSP?
Sony’s PlayStation Portable is the first handheld gaming device to survive a battle with Nintendo, but is it worth your money? On paper, it seemed like such a good idea. [UPDATED for the pre-NGP/3DS era.] This is our best advice — updated regularly — about whether or not you should buy a PSP, what games…
Team Kotaku Published February 21, 2011 -
Skyrim Developer Wants Your Babies To Be Dragonborn
You may love Bethesda Softworks’ Elder Scrolls series, but do you love it enough to conceive a child and name it after the protagonist of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? What if a mystery prize is involved? Bethesda’s Pete Hines calculated that February 18 was the perfect day for conceiving a baby that would be…
By Mike Fahey Published February 21, 2011 -
Driving a video game Porsche on the Nürburgring versus the real thing
Every gamer who’s ever lapped a track in Forza or Gran Turismo has wondered how the real track would compare. Driver Brian Maerske got the chance to compare the games to a live run on the world’s toughest racetrack. [Jalopnik]
By Ray Wert Published February 21, 2011 -
An Elegant Video Hate Letter To The Makers Of Call Of Duty: Black Ops
Kotaku commenter Goldwings is having problems connecting to mutliplayer games in Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PlayStation 3, so he voices his displeasure in video form in today’s Speak-Up on Kotaku. My internet is fine Treyarch, so stop telling me that’s the reason why I can’t go online and play some games with…
By Mike Fahey Published February 21, 2011 -
The Nintendo Download Is On Fire This Week
WiiWare really heats up in this week’s Nintendo Download with Cozy Fire, a fireplace simulator with six – count ’em – six different fireplaces to choose from. Yeah, it’s that kind of week. Perhaps Nintendo and dtp young entertainment are celebrating President’s Day by releasing Cozy Fireplace. After all, President’s Lincoln and Washington surely spent…
By Mike Fahey Published February 21, 2011 -
Talk Amongst Yourselves
This is Kotaku’s official forum, now proudly standing next to a headline stack that has a scrollbar. See? I told you it was coming. What will they think of next? While they’re thinking, please comment here about video games. (And, yes, last I heard, comment reply notifications are on their way back too.) Thanks to…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 21, 2011 -
Can A Super Smart Computer Teach Game Characters To Be As Stupid As Humans?
Supercomputer Watson can best the best of us in Jeopardy, but can it make the games we play at home more challenging and fun? The day after IBM’s Watson beat Jeopardy champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, game designer Graeme Devine wondered on Twitter when game makers would be getting access to the technology. I…
By Brian Crecente Published February 21, 2011 -
Green Energy Juice In My (Totally Fake) Zero-G Kitchen
Man, does this ever happen to you? I used my iPhone to film this video in the panoramic, and it ends up clipped down the middle and turned sideways. It does make the Night Note look like it was shot in space. WHICH IT WAS. The 3DS, Torn To Pieces Later this week, the glasses-free…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 21, 2011