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PlayStation Home Now 12 Million Users Strong

PlayStation Home director Jack Buser bragged about the social network’s latest population accomplishment, saying that Sony now has an impressive 12 million users signed up for the service worldwide. Why was Sony broadcasting that particular figure at GDC? Buser was courting developers looking for a new platform, part of Sony’s attempts to transform its 3D…

Medal of Honor Trailer: A Breakfast of Rehashed Grit

Something tells me that most every Medal of Honor trailer between now and its release is going to feature the kicking-the-booby-trapped-torture-victim-out-the-window sequence. It’s compelling, sure, but not after seeing it the second time. That is just a small component of this two-minute video, which Totilo mentioned would go live this week in an earlier writeup…

Do You Want Gears of War 3 To Look Like This?

Epic Games makes Gears of War and, if Kotaku had to guess, maybe someday a sequel. At Game Developers Conference, Epic showed their latest Unreal game engine upgrades, including fancy foliage tech, pictured here. Want it in a Gears?

Overcoming a New Fear of Old Failures … and Vice Versa

This is heresy to the cults of both sports and video gaming, but I’d really rather gnaw off my fingers at the first knuckle than play a human in either. This goes back a long ways, longer in real sports than in the computer, of course. On an organized level, my sole team sport has…

Wait a Minute, $200 — for a Faceplate?

Two years ago, Xbox Live gave away 72 limited edition Xbox 360 faceplates with a Need For Speed: ProStreet design. Some guy decided to get rid of his on eBay and has found it commands a price above $200. The seller, out of Queens, N.Y., billed it as an “extremely rare” collectible but listed it…

Electronic Arts Cuts Ties With In-Game Ad Brokers

Apparently tired of giving space to “Knobby Tires” and “Synthetic” on its virtual stadium walls, Electronic Arts is dropping its two in-game advertising partners and moving that sales operation in-house, beginning with Madden NFL 11 EA, according to the digital marketing site ClickZ, will end its partnerships with IGA Worldwide and Massive Inc., after their…

Weekend Coupons: High-Value Targets

Lots of hardware deals highlight the roundup, but don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten the games that make them go. Weekend Coupons happens … NOW. Hardware • Quick reminder, that Xbox 360 Elite bundle, which delivers Forza Motorsport 3 and Halo 3: ODST for $299.99, went live at Amazon this week and is still selling. [Amazon]…

The Return of NBA Jam, in All Its Catchphrase Glory

Here’s the launch trailer for the Wii re-boot of the arcade and early console classic NBA Jam. All your favorites return, and by that I don’t mean Raiden or Bill Clinton, but “Boom Shaka-Laka,” “He’s On Fire,” and “Kaboom!” Remember last week when I said, “If any sports game is capable of selling a console…

Kotaku Originals: Gee, Didya See?

Game Developers Conference 2010 in San Francisco was a power plant of news this week, introducing us to the PlayStation Move. We still found time to review God of War III and report on Steam’s arrival on the Mac. By no means does this week exhaust our GDC reportage. We’ll have much more on the…

Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves

For some reason, this painting struck me as a particularly Groo-like. And now I’m craving cheese dip. Just don’t call me a mendicant. Confused about commenting on Kotaku? Read our FAQ

Crysis 2 Footage Looking As Nice As Expected

Crysis 2 is at the Game Developers Conference, seemingly there not just for its own ends, but to help developer Crytek shill its engine, CryEngine 3. It’s doing a very good job. Even though this is off-screen footage, the point still comes across that this is one good-looking game, especially so when you consider most…

PAL PlayStation Store Update: Tester-Free

It’s a pretty slim week on the PAL PlayStation Store, but then, looking at the stuff Europeans and Aussies are missing out on – like the Tester – maybe that’s not such a bad thing. What you will notice is there’s plenty of DLC, plenty of random PlayStation One games and, best of all, the…

Rumor: Ratchet & Clank Devs Going Multiplatform?

According to “a trusted source”, IGN is reporting that Insomniac Games – creators of both Resistance and Ratchet & Clank – is about to abandon the land of PS3 exclusivity and become a multiplatform developer. Despite long ties to the PlayStation brand, Sony doesn’t own the studio, so if the team decided to go and…

I Am A Master of Picross 3D, At Least The Tutorial Part

I may have liked Tetrisphere, but I am not a man who believes the puzzle games, like Mario games, can be as good in three dimensions as they are in two. I am ready to make another obsession. I beat the tutorial of Picross 3D on a Nintendo DS XL yesterday. I now understand how…

Sony Says PlayStation Move Precise Enough To Play StarCraft

There’s been a flood of information coming from Sony about the new PlayStation Move controller for the PS3, but Sony’s technically inclined folks showed off some of the more technically capable members of GDC, getting down to the finer details. PlayStation researcher Anton Mikhailov, platform research manager David Coombes and developer support engineer Kirk Bender…

Lady Gaga Must Be A Command & Conquer Fan

A deadly cocktail of nerd poisons, featuring the toxic element from EA’s Command & Conquer series combined with a few equally sly Dune and Star Wars references, as seen in Lady Gaga’s (slightly NSFW) “Telephone” video. Thanks, Matt & Charles!

What’s Will Wright Doing at GDC on Saturday?

I ran into Will Wright yesterday just before the Game Developer Choice Awards kicked off. He was wearing a shiny suit and grabbing a drink. I walked up and said Hi, asking if he was giving a talk tomorrow, perhaps under a pseudonym. He just smiled, his Cheshire cat smile. I asked because I couldn’t…

Needle Now or Shotgun Later: A Little Dead Rising Cosplay

Almost lost amid the CCP booth loaded up with free kegs of beer, the PS3 Move set-up and Nintendo was the tiny Zombrex booth packed with faux syringes and a shotgun behind glass. If you’re willing to submit to a bit of manhandling, and a fake shoulder injection, you can land yourself a neato Zombie…

Duo Behind Modern Warfare 2 Sign With Hollywood Talent Agency

When you’ve built a zillion-dollar video game brand, you’re not going to be hurting for future opportunities no matter how hard your former employer fires you. That said, Call of Duty‘s creators have signed with Hollywood’s biggest talent agency. Vince Zampella, the former Infinity Ward CEO, and Jason West, the studio’s former president, have agreed…

Dragon Age: Awakening Raises Level Cap To 35, Boosts Lesser [UPDATE]

You can be more powerful in next week’s expansion to Dragon Age: Origins. I got a quick demo of Dragon Age: Awakening, today, just enough to get a basic feel for the first major expansion to BioWare’s celebrated 2009 role-playing game. Awakening takes players to a new land where they will be Grey Warden with…