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Yakuza 4 Stomps The Competition With Its Gleaming White Shoes

As long as Japanese gamers keep buying Yakuza games at this rate, Sega’s going to keep making them. The latest chapter in Sega’s Japanese gangster series just put a hurt on the competition to the tune of 384,000 copies sold. That’s enough to kick Nintendo’s latest Pokemon spin-off, Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki, from first…

By Michael McWhertor Published March 25, 2010

First iPad “HD” Games Sneak Out, Including Plants Vs. Zombies HD

It looks like a slew of new games bound for the iPad include the letters HD after their names, including Plants Vs. Zombies HD, Flight Control HD and Worms HD. The listings for the not-yet-available games were uncovered by the folks at Pad Gadget while they were digging through the web version of the iTunes…

By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010

Kotaku Census 2010: The Results

Last week, we ran a series of polls, asking you for your thoughts on everything from console ownership to piracy to your favourite gaming franchises. We now have the results. You’ll see the key findings represented here. It’s far from everything, I know, but this is the best stuff, presented in a way that won’t…

By Luke Plunkett Published March 25, 2010

Ubi Apologizes For Assassin’s Creed 2 PC Downtime With Free Games

Ubisoft apologizes to Assassin’s Creed 2 purchasers who found themselves unable to play due to attacks on the verification servers, offering free game downloads in exchange for their forgiveness. I suppose you don’t even need to forgive Ubisoft in order to take advantage of the special offer, sent via email to Kotakuite Igor, one of…

By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010

NBC Proves Once More How Out of Touch They Are, With Women Gaming Piece

Have you heard? Video games aren’t just for 13-year-old boys anymore! This shocking revelation comes to us via the crack team of pop culture anthropologists over at the Today Show during a piece they did this morning on the “Big Fish Babes” a group of 60-something-year-old women who happen to have bonded over casual games.…

By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010

The Time Is Right For A Lightsaber Video Game

The man behind the most advanced video game swordplay available today says the time is now right — and the technology is now good enough — for a motion-controlled Star Wars lightsaber video game. Speaking on Kotaku’s live podcast yesterday, Red Steel 2 creative director Jason VandenBerghe said that advances in motion control have removed…

By Stephen Totilo Published March 25, 2010

Wii Netflix Streaming Discs Are In The Mail

Netflix completes its console triple play, as discs begin to ship for the Wii version of the streaming video service. Several Kotaku readers have forwarded emails like the one seen here, alerting them to the impending arrival of the discs necessary to enable Netflix streaming on the Nintendo Wii. By Friday, Wii owners all over…

By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010

Quick! Name All Of The Video Game References… GO!

All you really need to know about movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is that it’s directed by the guy behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Also, it has like a bagillion game references crammed into its trailer. It makes sense that there are plenty of gaming, and even more comic, references in…

By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010

Fat Princess Travels To Candy Mountain

Patch 1.05 for Titan Studios’ hit PlayStation Network game Fat Princess goes live today, bringing with it two new maps – Frost Bite and Candy Mountain – the latter of which is a land of sweets, and joy, and joyness. Candy Mountain, Candy Mountain, fill me with sweet sugary goodness! I can’t imagine a more…

By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010

Mafia II Playable At PAX East, Buyable In August

2K Games nails down a (hopefully) concrete release date for Mafia II, with fans getting their first taste of the 1940’s sandbox-stylings of the sequel this weekend at PAX East in Boston. Delayed, delayed, and then delayed again, 2K Czech has had plenty of time to polish the sequel to Mafia, refining the experience and…

By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010

New South Australian Attorney General Supports Adult Game Ratings

Australia is one step closer to a mature rating for video games, as resigning ratings-blocker Michael Atkinson is replaced as South Australian Attorney General by John Rau, a man who reportedly says an R18+ video game rating is common sense. Australian gamers and publishers alike have long lamented the lack of an R18+ rating for…

By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010

Is The Best Way To Play Games The Subversive Way?

From the moment I broke Mario through the ceiling of Super Mario Bros. World 1-2 to bypass the next few levels of that game, I’ve assumed that an essential part of playing video games is being subversive. I’ve assumed that not following the rules was part of following the rules. I’ve believed that to play…

By Stephen Totilo Published March 25, 2010

BlizzCon Five Comes Alive In October

The annual celebration of all things Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft returns to sunny Anaheim, California this October, as Blizzard reveals the dates for the fifth installment of BlizzCon. Stock up on blue body paint and get your fake elf ears ready, because BlizzCon five is only seven months away. Blizzard’s annual fan gathering returns to…

By Mike Fahey Published March 25, 2010

Alien Vs. Pooh: A Bedtime Story For the Little Gamer In Your Life

You probably think you’ve already read all of the adventures of Christopher Robin and Pooh in the 100 Aker Wood. You’ve read about the the spelling bee, about Tigger’s dreams of Africa and the Harvest Festival. But have you, I wonder, ever read about the time when Aliens came to the wood? I didn’t think…

By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010

The Game Fiction Dilemma: Knights of the Old Republic vs The Sands of Time

Excerpts from the book Expressive Processing. Reprinted with express permission of the author. Author’s Note: At this year’s GDC Expressive Processing (published by MIT Press) was the only book included in the “Game Studies Download,” a selection of the top 10 game studies publications over the last year. This excerpt from chapter 3 uses two…

Noah Wardrip-Fruin Published March 25, 2010

Talk Amongst Yourselves

You can talk about video games in the comments section of this post, but can we also talk about voice-acting? Specifically, who should be voice-acting these guys here? Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ

By Stephen Totilo Published March 25, 2010

The Beautiful Sounds of Arcades Now on Your iPod

Arcades hold a very special place in my heart. They were, for a child growing up on the move, living in different states, different countries every few years, the one refuge in a constantly changing landscape. While the names, the graphics, even the language of my childhood arcades changed with each relocation, the feeling of…

By Brian Crecente Published March 25, 2010

Cornell And Suicides

To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Spring Blizzard As it’s been reported elsewhere, six students at Cornell University have committed suicide in the past six months. (Read more here.) Whether it’s the overcast skies or the intense course work, Cornell has long been known as the suicide capital of the Ivy League. When I was a…

By Brian Ashcraft Published March 25, 2010

Report: Sony To Release Michael Jackson Video Game

Last week, Sony shelled out US$200 million for for the rights to release 10 new posthumous Michael Jackson albums, DVDs and video games between now and 2017 reports The Independent. This is the largest advanced sum ever paid to a musician. The “new” material was recorded by Jackson over three decades and includes never before…

By Brian Ashcraft Published March 25, 2010

Ex-Con Exec: Sony Should Leave The Game Business

At one time, Takafumi Horie was the most powerful man in Japan. Now, he’s not. He does have a lot of followers on Twitter. The Tokyo University dropout headed up internet portal Livedoor and attempted to not only buy an Osaka baseball team, but also carry out a hostile takeover of a major Japanese television…

By Brian Ashcraft Published March 25, 2010