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Beatles: Rock Band Required Six Months of Lawyerin’

When you’re building something like The Beatles: Rock Band, the development cycle isn’t entirely on the coding end. A team of lawyers for the Beatles worked for six months on the likenesses, names and trademarks that went into the game. The Lawyer, a legal industry site, reports that the U.K. firm Eversheds handled a slew…

I Remember The Lizzies Being Sexier…

The Lizzies were a revelation in women’s lib as far as gang warfare is concerned, but you’d never know it from watching this trailer about them in the upcoming The Warriors: Street Brawl game. Far better to watch this video instead, if you want to know what the Lizzies were about. However, you should still…

Activision Boss: Next Blizzard MMO To Have “More Broad Appeal”

No, Bobby Kotick isn’t talking about a Blizzard-developed massively multiplayer online game that appeals more to women, but something that probably doesn’t have orcs riding motorcycles. Or even Night Elves! Something that won’t cut into World of Warcraft’s subscriber base. The Activision Blizzard CEO’s comments, as reported by GameSpot, will probably dash any hopes of…

The Warriors: Street Brawl Preview: Go Home To Play

The late 70s must’ve been a hell of a time to spawn visions of a futuristic New York controlled by themed gangs. You’ve got the Baseball Furies, the Lizzies and more neon pieces of clothing than you could shake a crowbar at. Seriously, did something happen in 1975 to inspire these strange, strange interpretations of…

T-Minus

To: Ash From: Crecente Less than a week before we all start heading out for Tokyo Game Show! I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone. I’ve been working with Tim Rogers on securing a venue for our annual Kotaku Reader Party. I can’t announce the location just yet, but hopefully I can in the…

NPD Cross-Ownership Data Shows Some WiiPS360 Love

The NPD Group published a report today showing that game buyers in the United States get their game info from word of mouth “above all other information sources.” But somewhat more interesting is the platform crossover makeup of those surveyed. That data says that Xbox 360 owners and Wii owners look to have the biggest…

Scribblenauts Word Count Higher Than Reported

Over the weekend, a hacker seemed to prove that there are exactly 22,802 words in Scribblenauts. Not true, the game’s creative director told Fast Company. An online article quotes Jeremiah Slaczka, creative director at game development studio 5th Cell, told the outlet that the the weekend word count report missed some words: “That was leaked…

Yes, Gabe Newell Is Goin’ To Australia

Getting Valve’s big boss to fly halfway ’round the world isn’t as hard as you might think. All it takes is a few thousand dollars and a handful of e-mails. Yes, Gabe Newell is going to Australia. Newell has apparently ended his mock boycott of a Left 4 Dead modder’s campaign, committing (along with Valve’s…

Shane Kim To Retire From Microsoft

Microsoft exec Shane Kim, formerly the corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios and current corporate vice president of Strategy and Business Development for the Interactive Entertainment Business, will leave that verbose title behind later this year. He’s retiring. In his role at Microsoft Game Studios, Kim oversaw releases such in the Halo, Age of…

Nintendo’s Unusual 2009 Wii Strategy: Publishing The Oldies

Major music labels are happy to re-release re-mastered classic albums, year after year. Video game publishers, by contrast, focus on issuing new games. But in 2009, Nintendo hasn’t been doing that, as the full-year release lists now make clear. The impending release of Wii Fit Plus in two weeks is the latest in an atypical…

Nintendo Weekly Download Update Issues A Street Challenge

Nintendo and its valued third parties are churning out the content this week for WiiWare, Virtual Console and DSiWare. This week, six new downloadable selections await the Nintendo fan with access to the information superhighway. The list of new items? Texas Hold’Em Poker, Spaceball: Revolution, Mart Racer, Crash ‘N The Boys Street Challenge, Art Academy:…

Follow League Of Legends On Facebook, Get A Beta Key

Riot Games wants to build a huge following for League of Legends, and its willing to flood the closed beta of the game with Facebook users to make that happen. Riot Games wants 40,000 folks to follow the League of Legends Facebook group, or become fans, or whatever it is you Facebook people tend to…

This Is The Underwear Department, Honest

Boxes of video game underwear, including “Guitar Hero Men’s Sleep Shorts” as seen in the men’s underwear department at Target in Brooklyn, New York.

Final Fantasy XIII Could Move Another Half Million PS3s In Japan

The Japanese release of Final Fantasy XIII might just do wonders for the PlayStation 3 in Japan, if the president of Famitsu publisher Enterbrain knows what he’s talking about. A massive marquee game moving consoles? What you talkin’ ’bout, Hamamura? Look, that’s what Enterbrain prez Hirokazu Hamamura said at today’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan,…

Rage Of The Gladiator: Naginata

Behold Naginata, the ninja-flavored combatant featured in the upcoming first-person WiiWare gladiatorial combat game Rage of the Gladiator. We’ve not had a chance to mention Ghostfire Games‘ Rage of the Gladiator on Kotaku yet, so what better way than with the debut of the game’s ninja boss, Naginata? He joins the already revealed human, Minotaur,…

Can ‘Patrice Mode’ Solve Gaming’s Back Problem?

Patrice Desilets is both the creative director of the Assassin’s Creed games and a jovial interviewee eager to advance game design. I thought he’d be troubled that we always stare at video game characters’ backs. See that Batman shot at the top of this post? I took it with my camera this morning. That’s the…

Twilight Princess Zant Statue Kicks Off “Master Arts” Line

First 4 Figures, always ready with a high quality Nintendo character in statue form, will be releasing a center piece modeled after Zant from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess early next year. The first in the one-quarter scale “Master Arts” line of licensed Twilight Princess center pieces, Zant will set serious Zelda fans back…

Dexter Stalks The iPhone

Just in time to tide fans over until the launch of season four of the show later this month, today Marc Ecko Entertainment unleashes Dexter the Game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Dexter the Game follows the general premise of the Dexter television show. You play Dexter Morgan, the serial killer who only kills…

Crime Rates Drop in 08, Video Game Sales Increase

Violent crime, arson and car theft all dropped nationwide in 2008 compared to the prior year, according to the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report. But what does that mean to gamers? In reality, it shouldn’t mean a thing. Crimes and the things that cause people to commit them are far too complex to compare to…

Toys R Us Ad Points To $199 Wii Price Drop This Month

Last week, we got a peek at an alleged upcoming Walmart ad that indicated an official price drop would be coming to the Wii. Today, it appears that retailer Toys R Us may have heard the same thing. While the Walmart listing we saw didn’t put a price tag on the Wii—currently still at its…