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GTA: Chinatown Wars Will Be Adults Only In Japan
Rockstar Games‘ littlest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is heading to Japan this Fall, making the Nintendo DS title the first to be slapped with the adults only Z-rating on the platform. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars‘ 18-and-up rating isn’t anything new for the series. The Japanese software ratings board CERO shows all…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 6, 2009 -
Decepticon Owners Turn Tables On Autobot Gamers
A little over a week ago, we showed you that players of the Autobot version of the DS’ Transformers Revenge of the Fallen were beating Decepticons fans. Things have changed. The game’s first online meta-game battle did end with owners of the Autobot version of the game winning, having scored 48 million Energon points to…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 6, 2009 -
Hey, It’s Me On The Bonus Round Again
Last week, GameTrailers’ Geoff Keighley, Shane Satterfield, Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter and Kotaku’s I talked about the future of video game controls. This week, we do it some more. In part two of our Bonus Round discussion, we chat about the high-definition “Wii Plus,” Project Natal (again), the possibilities for PlayStation Eye, and if the…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 6, 2009 -
Sony Bringing Ratchet, Clank & Drake To Comic-Con
Heading to the San Diego Comic-Con? We are too! As is Sony, bringing with it the latest and greatest from two of its upcoming PlayStation 3 games, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In time. Sony Computer Entertainment America is holding two invite-only events and promoting two panels, revealing exciting…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 6, 2009 -
Video Games Used As Shorthand In New Movie Trailers
Making a trailer for a major motion picture and needing to show that John Cusack’s fictional son is a bit detached? Need to show that Vince Vaughn is partying hard? Show video games. While sped-up sunsets, crowd scenes in Manhattan and the destruction of the White House are all common elements of Hollywood trailers, video…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 6, 2009 -
Shadow of Memories Getting PSPorted
Konami’s 2001 PlayStation 2 game Shadow of Memories—we call it Shadow of Destiny ’round these parts—will find new life on the PSP later this year. The time-traveling adventure game will be scaled down to UMD format and ship to Japanese retailers on October 1, the same day the new PSPgo ships to North America and…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 6, 2009 -
Explore NeoTokyo In Half Life 2
Colorful cityscapes hide dark intriguing in the streets of NeoTokyo, the newly released Source mod freely available to anyone with Steam and a Souce SDK title. Nearly five years in the making by Studio Radi-8, NeoTokyo borrows inspiration from Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell and Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, plunging players into a future Japan…
By Mike Fahey Published July 6, 2009 -
Pay-Per-P Pricing Fading From Xbox Video Marketplace?
Two months ago, we reported that some video content on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace was priced high. 720 points ($9 USD) for a one hour 720p video. That’s changed, a little. It seemed like the prices for Ring of Honor pro wrestling and M-1 Challenge MMA series were off. But Microsoft told Kotaku that…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 6, 2009 -
SOCOM 4 Is Apparently “In Development” For PS3
A listing for “SOCOM 4” for the PlayStation 3 at production studio PCB Productions might be a good indicator that somewhere, in some capacity, someone is working on another SOCOM game. Wouldn’t that be surprising? After the listing was dug up by PS3 Center, the digital audio recording facility pulled the SOCOM sequel mention—but not…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 6, 2009 -
The Warriors Of Aion
New screens from NCsoft’s Aion highlight the warrior class. front-line fighters which eventually choose between the path of the Templar or the Gladiator. This weekend’s Aion beta test session allowed players to progress past level 10 for the first time, so I go a chance to level up a warrior from 1 to 11, earning…
By Mike Fahey Published July 6, 2009 -
Why Did Twice As Many People Play Dead Space As Bought It?
In studying how Dead Space sold, a key stat loomed large for EA. EA’s Glen Schofield, studio manager for the company’s Dead Space team at Visceral Games, appeared on the second episode of EA’s official podcast to talk games, mention that Dead Space had co-op during some of its development cycle and explain the company’s…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 6, 2009 -
Wii, PS3 Help Japanese Hardware Chart Stay Positive
You know, it wasn’t a bad week for game console sales in Japan, thanks to a little boost in Wii and PlayStation 3 hardware spending. Of course, Nintendo and Sony have software sales to thank for that. Strong sales of Wii Sports Resort helped the Wii get a ten percent bump week-to-week. Don’t be surprised…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 6, 2009 -
Marvel VS Capcom 2: Hulk Smash Puny Wrestler
First it was Ryu versus Wolverine, and now the green goliath takes on the Russian bear in the second installment of Capcom’s Marvel VS Capcom 2 strategy series. It’s the same drill as last week. Capcom takes two of the most iconic fighters on either side of the Marvel VS Capcom 2 conflict and pits…
By Mike Fahey Published July 6, 2009 -
Kids Sings Mega Man 2 Theme A “Ba da ba da ba,” Without Poppin Irksome Younger Brother
Capcom just posted this up on their blog, an adorable kid bopping his way through the Mega Man 2 and 3 themes while fending off a little brother. I’m surprised this video didn’t end in tears, as it would have had I tried to pull that with my older brother… I totally would have too.…
By Brian Crecente Published July 6, 2009 -
Nintendo’s Electroplankton Returns As DSiWare Download
Bite-sized chunks of Nintendo and Toshio Iwai‘s musical software Electroplankton are coming to DSiWare, with four of those releases hitting Japan this week. Each will feature a specific Electroplankton for Nintendo DSi owners to experiment with. Eventually, Nintendo has plans to release all ten Electroplankton via the DSi download service, doling each out 200 Nintendo…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 6, 2009 -
Ubisoft Toronto Brings 800 Jobs To Ontario
After three years of relentless pursuit, the government of Ontario has pledged $260 million in order to help Ubisoft create a new studio in Toronto, creating more than 800 new jobs in the process. The announcement comes today by way of a live press conference with the Premiere of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, held against a…
By Mike Fahey Published July 6, 2009 -
What’s On The BioShock 2 Record
Why it’s the martial Rapture anthem, on two sides of a BioShock 2 promotional 45 obtained at gramophone-free Kotaku NYC last week! Armed with a record player on Sunday, I was able to hear a hidden message. Side A gives us the Rapture anthem, something that’s been around since the first game: Oh rise, Rapture,…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 6, 2009 -
LucasArts’ Rereleases Classics on Steam
A bevy of classic LucasArts games are coming to Steam over the next month, LucasArts Games announced this morning. First news of the announcement came from LucasArts’ Twitter feed: “So lets see who will be happy: LucasArts has partnered with Steam. Digital adventurey goodness.” The back-catalog hitting Steam’s PC on-demand gaming service includes LOOM, The…
By Brian Crecente Published July 6, 2009 -
Putting a Cat’s Face on a Fight Night 4 Boxer
Fight Night 4, like many of EA Sports’ titles, allows you to use a camera and their “GameFace” tech to import a version of your mug into the game. Not content to play as the prerendered fighters in the game, or as themselves, the brothers KindaGamey decided to try and import the face of their…
By Brian Crecente Published July 6, 2009 -
Fallout 2 As A Live-Action RPG
Last month, at a remote disused air-defense base outside of Leningrad, upwards of 300 Russian Fallout fans recreated post-apocalyptic California in a live-action role-playing game based on Fallout 2. All of the information we have on the event is translated from Russian via Google, so it could be completely wrong. From we understand, a workshop…
By Mike Fahey Published July 6, 2009