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NBA Jam Checks Off Its Creator’s “Hit List”

When Mark Turmell – the lead designer and programmer on the original NBA Jam – came to EA Sports’ reboot, he brought a list of 60 things the team needed to get right to make a true Jam. The series’ creative director explores what “The Turmell Hit List” and another original Jam personality – announcer…

Activision: Call of Duty Creator Infinity Ward Will ‘Rise From The Ashes’

Embattled Call of Duty and Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward lost a good portion of its top tier talent this year following the well publicized firings of its founders. But Activision believes the developer’s “very specific culture” can be rebuilt. Activision executive VP David Stohl, head of the mega-publisher’s worldwide studios, tells Develop that the…

Only Imperial Stormtroopers Are So Precise…

LEGO enthusiast and master squirrel photographer Chris “Powerpig” McVeigh is either offering the Empire a much-needed tactical strategy learned from Taito’s Space Invaders or proposing the next LEGO Star Wars game. We’re not sure which. Seen on Flickr via Gizmodo

A Bit More on Monday Night Combat’s Second Certification

Sunday we reported that Monday Night Combat passed certification twice when Uber Entertainment found some things not up to snuff after it went gold. Penny Arcade learned it’s because of the game’s ability to tune itself without a patch. Jerry Holkins was intrigued by the claim that Monday Night Combat can make balance adjustments “on…

Quakecon Cometh

To: Ashcraft From: Totilo Re: Weepy Toy Story 3 (An Answer For Ron Gilbert) Wacky day tomorrow, Ash. We’ve got the Madden podcast. I have an evening obligation that’s work-related. And then, I get to take an early-morning flight on Thursday to Dallas for QuakeCon… somewhere in there I’ve got to write up some new…

PlayStation Store Update Vs. The World

Beat up street thugs and ex-boyfriends in the name of love with the arrival of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for the PlayStation Network. Ubisoft’s side-scrolling brawler leads this week’s North American PlayStation Store update. Should you not want to drop the ten bucks American, you can download the demo, which is also available alongside…

Talk Football With The Madden Man Tomorrow

Madden NFL 11 is on shelves now, and tomorrow we’ll have the series’ senior producer, Phil Frazier, take us inside this year’s game and how it was built. Plus a special guest appearance by yours truly! Frazier will be taking our questions and your calls, hopefully fully recovered from whatever hangover “Madden Gras” delivered down…

Plants Vs. Zombies Goes ‘Game Of The Year’ With New Stuff

PopCap Games’ garden of the living dead strategy game, Plants vs. Zombies, gets an upgrade today, touting its “Game of the Year” status with a handful of upgrades (and one downgrade). Valve is now hosting the newer, less Michael Jackson estate-infringing version of Plants vs. Zombies, adding Steam Achievements and Steamcloud support for the casual…

Stephen Hawking Thinks The Earth Should Probably Start Packing

“I see great dangers for the human race,” begins noted theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. As a human myself, that’s exactly the sort of thing I don’t like to hear. Perhaps they are words I , or more accurately we need to hear, however. As part of website Big Think’s Dangerous Ideas series, Hawking suggests that…

Here’s What Square Enix Is Bringing To Gamescom

If you’re going to this year’s Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany—like Kotaku is!—you’ll be among the first to see games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Final Fantasy XIV in action. Those are the two titles that Square Enix will be showing off next week only in its special cinema, where the first public showing…

Aeris Is Dead, Get Over It Already

The latest episode of GameTrailers’ Mythbusters-esque Pop Fiction series adds a few more nails in the coffin of Final Fantasy VII’s flower girl. Are fans still insisting there’s a way for Aeris (or Aerith, in Japanese) to come back to life thirteen years after the release of Final Fantasy VII? Can’t we just let the…

Double Fine’s Next Game Is Costume Quest, A Halloween RPG

The creators of Grim Fandango, Psychonauts and Brutal Legend aren’t making a sequel to their Jack Black-starring heavy metal action game. Instead they’re making four new games, one of which is the Halloween-themed role-playing game Costume Quest. According to a first look from UGO, Double Fine’s new downloadable game—which is due for a timely release…

And The Hello Kitty Shall Devour Thee

Employees flee Hello Kitty’s hungry maw at a Hong Kong exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of Kitty-creators Sanrio.

Assault Horizon Rebuilds Ace Combat From The Ground Up

After yesterday’s trailer piqued our curiosity, Namco Bandai delivers more details on Assault Horizon, a game being called a “complete rebirth” for the Ace Combat franchise, or “steel carnage in the sky.” According to today’s press release, Project Aces has always wanted more out of the Ace Combat series. They wanted a game that not…

‘Hot Piece of Ass’ Busts Boss For FarmVille Obsession? [UPDATE: Probably Fake]

Young woman has job. Boss calls young woman “hot piece of ass.” Young woman quits, uses dry erase board to fire back. Boss, it seems, loved playing FarmVille during work hours too much. [UPDATE: Skeptics vindicated. Appears to be fake.] This is a story told in photos. A sampling, picking up at the point where…

Everything Exciting About Guild Wars 2 In One Video

From now on whenever anyone asks me what excites me about Guild Wars 2 as an MMO player, I’ll save myself a lot of time and just point them to this video. Click to view ArenaNet and NCsoft could have saved themselves a lot of time as well, skipping the past year’s worth of blog…

ace combat gallery

As Wii Hits 30 Million In U.S., Nintendo Reveals Weird Zelda Fact [UPDATE]

Nintendo boasts today that the company has sold 30 million Wiis in the U.S., making it, they say, the fastest-selling home console in gaming history. This proud news was bundled with a curiosity. Hint: Name the best-selling Wii Zelda game. You will find the answer in the 10th spot of a list Nintendo included with…

Valkyria Chronicles II Demo Marches Onto The PlayStation Network

War spills across a much smaller CANVAS today as Sega releases a demo of Valkyria Chronicles II for the PSP on the PlayStation Network. Check out the sequel to the underappreciated PlayStation 3 game ahead of its August 31 release. The original Valkyria Chronicles for the PlayStation 3 is an amazing game, with striking visuals…

It’s Time To Stop Looking At Legends And Killers Screenshots

This post contains the last four screenshots of Red Dead Redemption’s Legends and Killers downloadable content you’ll ever need, as the pack goes live today for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Pig Josh is now in your hands. That’s right, there’ll be no more screenshots, trailers, or stories telling you about the eight characters…