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A Video Game Needing A Voice Unlike Any Other
As the voice of The Masters, one figures Jim Nantz had tremendous leverage negotiating his appearance in the first video game featuring the tournament. Nantz paused considering that, reluctant to speak for an institution he treasures, one that prizes discretion. “A lot of that came from Augusta National, I believe,” Nantz told Kotaku on Thursday,…
By Owen Good Published January 13, 2011 -
Face Real, Historic American Segregation, Recreated In A Virtual World
We’ve seen the Burning Man Festival, the World Trade Center, and a lot of weird sex stuff recreated in the virtual world Second Life. A recreation of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott? That’s new. Students at Indiana University have turned part of the Second Life world into a bunch of staged re-creations of the civil…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
Your First Look Of The New Spider-Man Of 2012
The spectacular Spider-Man is swinging back to movie theaters in 2012, this time with actor Andrew Garfield donning the spider-suit and (500) Days of Summer director Mark Webb in the director’s chair. When Activision gets around to the video game adaptation of the Spider-Man reboot, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions developer Beenox may be handling development duties.…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 13, 2011 -
Who’s That Pokémon, And Why Is She Taking Off Her Clothes?
From the burlesque troop that brought us Metroid’s Samus Aran stripped down to her skivvies comes the Anime Babes show, in which Pikachu jumps on stage and ruins childhood memories forever. Much NSFW-ness ensues. The Devil’s Playground burlesque troop continues to delight, astound, and disturb geeks everywhere with their ongoing to tribute to everything we…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011 -
Watch The History Of Gaming Pass Before Your Eyes
What’s striking about this quick visual chronicle of the history of video games isn’t just how games have become more advanced but how much better our TVs have become. It’s also striking that the personal computer wasn’t part of the history of gaming, as recreated by the Munich-based quartet of game design students responsible for…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
Who Can Slay Monster Hunter In Japan? Right Now, No One
The Monster Hunter dynasty continues its proud rein in Japan this week with the latest entry in Capcom’s beast slaying sensation managing to win over more PSP fans to its brand of hack and slash action. It may have had something to do with the fact that only one key release managed to sell well…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 13, 2011 -
Making Bomb-Filled Video Game Maps Of Your School Is A Bad Idea
Just because video games give you the tools to recreate your school as a battlefield doesn’t mean you should use them. This morning five Louisville, Kentucky, middle school students learned this lesson the hard way. The five Stuart Middle School students will be disciplined and could face felony charges after a teacher discovered a map…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011 -
A Vivid Look At The Streets of Baghdad
One of YouTube’s most popular gamers, Wings of Redemption, interrupts his flow of clips about Modern Warfare, Medal of Honor and other war games to share a video from his brother, an American soldier in Iraq. The scene is unusual. This is not the Iraq we see in video games, one made drab and full…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
Brain Making Too Much Noise? Reboot It
As many as 23 million adults in the United States suffer from tinnitus – a ringing sound in the ears that won’t go away. Scientists may have found a way to ease the currently cure-less affliction by rebooting the brain. Tinnitus is more common than you think. One in ten seniors and 40 percent of…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011 -
A Gamer’s View of CES From Robotic Pitchman to 3D Bikinis
While last week’s Consumer Electronics Show wasn’t very heavy with video game news, there was still plenty to see and do in the heart of the world’s biggest gadget show. Here for your perusal is a quick run down of all of the oddities, the gadgets, the board games and toys that we found the…
By Brian Crecente Published January 13, 2011 -
Woman Credits Wii Fit For Parkinson’s Diagnosis
A British mother of two says she began to figure out she was suffering from Parkinson’s disease only after stepping on a Wii Balance Board. About one year ago, Julie Wilks noticed that her balance was heavily shifted to one side, an unevennes the Balance Board portrayed on her TV via her Wii. That began…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 13, 2011 -
A Video Game Pirate Trades Sails For Steam
Kotaku commenter Heyitsguy was once a video game pirate, downing PC games for free via the internet. Now he is not. He tells you why in today’s episode of Speak-Up on Kotaku. 2011 will be the year that I stop illegally downloading games. It began just a few years ago when I discovered torrents. I…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011 -
Mordor Is Real, and It’s In Sicily
It’s been nearly 350 years since Mt. Etna blew its top in a major way. Until yesterday, when Europe’s largest active volcano spewed hot lava for two hours—within shouting distance of these people’s houses. Location, location, location. Fortunately the eruption didn’t cause any injuries or damage, which means that the residents of this volcanic village…
By Brian Barrett Published January 13, 2011 -
Super Mario Mushrooms Served 120 Ways
Super Mario Bros. has mushrooms that change your size, grant you extra lives, and even poison you. That’s not enough fungus for deviant artist MyBurningEyes, so he came up with 120 new types of Mario mushrooms. You may have seen some of these creative Mario mushrooms before. Hell, you may have seen all of them…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011 -
Get A Taste Of Diablo III Arena Combat With Bloodline Champions
The Arena player-versus-player system coming in Diablo III blew fans away at BlizzCon 2010. Stunlock Studios’ newly-released free-to-play PC arena combat game Bloodline Champions feels a lot like Blizzard’s competitive multiplayer mode. I couldn’t get enough of Diablo III Arena combat at BlizzCon. Bringing the fast-paced, mouse-drive combat of Diablo into a competitive multiplayer game…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011 -
Own A Panoramic Piece of Game Informer History
Kotaku, Gizmodo and one-time Game Informer illustrator Sam Spratt is taking preorders for the wonderful panoramic he created for the December cover of Game Informer magazine. Updated The image, which spanned three covers seamlessly stitched together, highlight the controversial list of Game Informer’s 30 Characters who Defined a Decade. The semi-gloss prints are a massive…
By Brian Crecente Published January 13, 2011 -
Cooking Mama Barges Into Café World’s Kitchen
Every day thousands of players flock to Zynga’s Café World, clicking on food and serving it to the virtual masses for experience points and in-game coinage. That’s some sweet action right there, and Cooking Mama wants a piece of it. Majesco makes its Facebook debut today with Cooking Mama Friends’ Cafe, weighing Mama’s charm against…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011 -
LittleBigPlanet 2 Gunning For World Records No Other Game Could Win
Guinness is handing out the video game world records left and right, and now it’s Sony’s turn. They’ve assembled a crack team of LittleBigPlanet 2 players to take down fabricated records next week, and you can watch. At this point we’ve resigned ourselves to the fact that the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition is nothing…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2011