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To: Luke From: Crecente We had our official Kotaku party tonight. It was, as it always is, a blast. We took over both Mother and Mother’s Ruin, two bars that have hosted us in the past and were gracious enough to host our party again this year on extremely short notice. Tons of people showed…

One Web Series’ Success on XBL Doesn’t Mean Others Will Follow

“The Guild” might be a hit on Xbox Live, but don’t look for it to inspire many imitators. A senior Microsoft executive says the sponsorship deal it was able to wangle was rare, and such deals are hard to swing. Ross Honey the general manager of global content acquisition and strategy in Microsoft’s media and…

Bakugan: The Truck

Earlier today I talked a little bit about the mammoth Bakugan-themed truck and trailer that invaded my neighborhood on Friday. As I mentioned the trailer carried with it playable version of the Wii and DS versions of Bakugan Brawers. If you’re interested, here’s a much more detailed look at the truck.

GRIN’s Ill-Fated “Fortress” Still Under Development

Citing unnamed sources, GamesIndustry.biz says the Final Fantasy spinoff codenamed “Fortress” has not died along with original developer GRIN. When the Stockholm studio closed, Fortress had already been taken back by Square Enix. GRIN shut down last month, after a lackluster year that saw Terminator: Salvation, Bionic Commando and Wanted: Weapons of Fate all fail…

Conchords Claim Three Songs OTW to Rock Band

When Jemaine Clement deadpans that Flight of the Conchords, the outrageous music/comedy duo who just missed an Emmy last night, has three tunes coming to Rock Band, I have two reactions: “Oh, B.S.,” and “God, I hope so.” The Emmys’ red carpet is a weird place to drop a bomb like that, and the interviewer’s…

Ju-on: The Grudge Dev Says Wii Is “Most Ideal” For Horror Games

Sure, this trailer for Ju-on: The Grudge was less than impressive, but the idea behind a "game" that’s really a haunted house simulator is pretty cool, right? GamePro‘s got an interview with Makoto Chida, Project Manager on the upcoming Ju-on game. In it, there’s all kinds of tidbits on Japanese versus American horror and gameplay…

Pokemon Fever Helps DSi Return To Hardware Dominance In Japan

The release of the newer, cheaper, more Gundam-filled PlayStation 3 gave Sony’s console a massive boost in the hardware battle in Japan last week. This week, two chart topping Pokemon games give the DSi the number one spot. In week two of the slimmer PS3’s existence at retail, the console sold another 55,000 units. That’s…

Obey The Fist Full Of Cake Screens!

Not to whine about the hand that feeds me, but I was bummed out about not having any screens of Fat Princess: Fist Full of Cake to run with my first look. But today, all that changes and I (via Sony Computer Entertainment) bring you a Fist Full of Cake in screenshot format. Click on…

What Wii Accessory Made It Into the MoMA Store?

Cruising through the posh shops of Tokyo’s Omotesando area didn’t net much in the way of interesting game-related finds. But during a stop in the Museum of Modern Art store, we did spot one Wii find. A battery charger. Yes, Sanyo’s Eneloop line of Wii Remote battery chargers — comprised of stand, battery pack and…

XBLA This Week: Zombies, Warriors, And Particle Physics

This week in the Xbox Live Arcade the Warriors come out to play; Zombies take over the earth; and Ion Assault ruins a perfectly good intro sentence by being a particle physics shooter. Not that a space shooter where you use the free particles floating in space to fight off swarms of aliens isn’t a…

Tokyo’s Video Game Toys And Final Fantasy Jewelry, Of Course

The Tokyo Game Show hasn’t started here in Japan yet, so half of your Kotaku team has been left with time to visit toy stores. We found a horde of video game toys and at least one other curious thing. All photos from Kiddy Land, a toy store in Tokyo’s Harajuku district.

Guitar Hero CEO: Rhythm Gaming Market Not Saturated

CNBC gives a big free ad to Activision for about a minute, then Daniel Rosensweig, the Guitar Hero CEO, gets down to bidness. He doesn’t think rhythm gaming’s a saturated market. Less than 20 percent of console-owning households have one. “There’s the next 80 percent we have the opportunity go after,” Rosensweig says. “So there…

iPhone Game Predicts Where You’ll Be In 10 Years

Forget your high school guidance counselor — let your iPhone tell you all about your glorious future as a systems analyst. Japanese game developer Acute Entertainment aims to inform iPhone owners of their future with the new game, Forecast of Yourself After 10 years. For a mere $1.99 USD on the App Store, you can…

Dark Void Community Site Encourages Cult Mentality

Capcom’s new Dark Void community site works like a cult — they want you to recruit new “resistance members” for the cause… and for free stuff, too. Members of the Dark Void site get access to the usually goodies — developer diaries, screenshots, production blogs — but it seems like they’re really pushing the “missions”…

Pokemon Silver & Gold Remakes Steal Gundam’s Top Spot In Japan

Last week, Bandai’s latest Gundam game for the PlayStation 3 took the top spot on Japan’s list of bestselling games. Typically, that territory is saved for Nintendo DS and Wii games. Well, things are back to normal. As you may already know, Pokemon Soul Silver and Pokemon Heart Gold sold a lot. Close to 1.5…

Frankenreview: Halo 3: O.D.S.T.

Halo Wars showed us that a Halo game in a different genre can do moderately well without Master Chief, but a first-person shooter? Can O.D.S.T. pull that off? Master Chief is such an iconic gaming figure that it almost seems wrong to have an FPS with the Halo name on it without him. It’s like…

Metroid Prime Team Discusses Their Decade Of Samus, Ponders Series’ Future

Following the recent release of Metroid Prime Trilogy, members of Nintendo’s development teams in Texas and Japan answered Kotaku’s questions about what the Metroid Prime series got right, what it missed and more. They even hinted at Prime’s future. Our interview was conducted over e-mail, with questions sent to Nintendo a few weeks ago and…

Holy 2.5 Million Units Shipped, Batman!

2 million units sold is impressive, sure, but now that the PC version is out and about, Eidos celebrates passing along 2.5 million units to retail shelves since the launch of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Eidos celebrates the “must-have game of Summer 2009” today, announcing some rather large shipping numbers for the first Batman game in…

World of Warcraft is Back Online in China

After a two month hiatus, World of Warcraft has resumed full operations in China, where a switchover in local operators had been held up by government regulators and content changes. Gamasutra this morning reported Warcraft’s return to China, noting that Activision’s switch from local operator The9 to NetEase on June 7 will have its costs.…

Aion’s Early Start So Far

This is what Aion looked like for those of us who managed to log in at around 12:02PM Pacific time yesterday, two minutes past the servers going live. If you look closely, you can see my chanter-to-be Caliban, lost amidst a sea of people acting how they normally do when gathered in large groups via…