Kotaku

Outgoing Twisted Metal Creator Would Consider Kickstarter Funding for His New Projects, Too [David Jaffe]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST

Despite his fears—as only he could express them—that crowdfunding for video games could become "a dick measuring contest," Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe says he'd consider a Kickstarter project for backing, as he embarks on life starting up a new development studio. More »

Having Made This Bed, Will MLB 2K Lie In It Next Year? [Stick Jockey]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:30:00 EST

Mark Little flicks the joystick and opens a special developer's menu in Major League Baseball 2K12. The screen jumps to an empty ballpark, with a few lines representing the trajectory of a pitch and the timing of the batter trying to hit it. Little starts fooling with some ratings, creating a situation involving a high-contact hitter with not much pop. More »

Bruticus Leads Transformers: Fall of Cybertron's Toy Store Invasion [Transformers]

Mike Fahey — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:01:00 EST

Only four of the sexy robot designs from Transformers: War for Cybertron ever made it toy store shelves, a tragic missed opportunity. To ensure they don't miss a second time, Hasbro and High Moon Studios are planning a much bigger toy line for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. More »

Machine-Gun This Truck from the Comfort of Your Computer Desk on Valentine's Day [Video]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST

Out in the middle of the desert, a remote-controlled M249 Squad Automatic Weapon will unload its magazine into Sweet Tooth's iconic ice cream truck from Twisted Metal, releasing on Tuesday for the PlayStation 3. The trigger will be thousands of spacebars from across the Internet, and the finger on one of them can be yours. More »

Radiant Historia Gets a Re-Release in March [Radiant Historia]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

Radiant Historia released in North America more than a year ago for the DS and quickly distinguished itself as a top-flight JRPG. Trouble is, Atlus didn't print enough copies to satisfy demand. Case in point: A new copy is now listing for $105 on the used-games brokerage Glyde. More »

"This is Crap," Sony's Chief of Development Said, After First Playing Demon's Souls [Demon's Souls]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST

We've heard (as far back at 2010) Sony admit that it blundered big time by not publishing Demon's Souls in North America. Now we know why they passed. Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Computer Entertainment's head of product development, told Game Informer that he played two hours of the game as it was close to final, and walked away convinced it would be terrible. More »

The Best Videos of the Week [Video]

Matt Toder — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:30:00 EST

Have you heard that video is a big thing over at Gawker Media? It's true, we watch and post a lot of videos each week. Here are some of the best videos of week, culled from an array of Gawker Media sites.
More »

Take the Official Tour of the PlayStation Vita [Video]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

After posting its official unboxing teaser video on Thursday, Sony yesterday published this 12-minute guided tour of the system, explaining all of the features and benefits of the PlayStation Vita, with Guy Longworth, PlayStation's chief marketer, and John Koller, who is the boss of PlayStation's handheld division. More »

This Skyrim Mod Literally ... Well, See For Yourself [Video]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:00:00 EST

This is an update to the Portal Core Space mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and it references the Meme Who Must Not Be Named. But it does so quite hilariously—and loudly. Turn your volume down before playing. It's not NSFW, just loud. More »

March Mass-ness is Sooner Than You Think [The Moneysaver]

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

There are eight days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training in baseball. More importantly, there are 24 until Shepard, Alenko and Liara report for duty in Mass Effect 3. Pre-order deals on the sci-fi epic RPG already are out, along with savings and credits on this week's UFC Undisputed 3 and Twisted Metal. More »

Wired Controllers Blamed in Attempted Murder [Crime]

Owen Good — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:00:00 EST

Cops in a northeastern Pennsylvania community booked a man on attempted murder charges, saying he tried to strangle his wife with "a video game cord." Either he was playing with wired console controllers from a generation ago, or the guy went and grabbed the Xbox 360 brick to choke his spouse. More »

Turn Out The Stars [Open Thread]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:30:00 EST

Greetings, camp Kotaku. It's friday evening, and that means it's officially the weekend! I hope you had a fun week. I sure did. We welcomed more simultaneous voices to Kotaku than... maybe ever? More »

The Week in Unbelievably Gorgeous Screenshots: Grand Theft Auto IV [Dead End Thrills]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST

Since we ran a feature on Duncan Harris, the groovy "video game photographer" behind the website DeadEndThrills, I've been sharing some of his work each week here. More »

What Are You Playing This Weekend? [Game Plan]

Owen Good — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:49:59 EST

Fleeing from the NeverDead tyranny, the last Battlestar, Goodlactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest to a shining planet known as UFC Undisputed 3. More »

The Roof, the Roof, the Roof is Not on Fire, Says Konami [We Don't Need No Water]

Owen Good — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:17:16 EST

An image circulating Twitter earlier today seemed to imply a Konami office building in Japan was burning. It most certainly was not, a spokesman told Kotaku. Reading into Japanese Twitter users' feeds, it appears this "strange smoke" might be only building steam. All is well. More »

Five Days of Pure Unadulterated Gaming App Hotness [The Week In Gaming Apps]

Mike Fahey — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST

Balls were kicked. Knights were wound. Towers were defended. Passwords were hacked, and the dead rose to detect among the living in another spectacular Week in Gaming Apps. More »

Get Five Amazing Game Soundtracks For as Little as $1 [Game Music]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:45:00 EST

Hey, why should indie game developers get to have all the bundling fun? Game composers should get to experience the joy of bundling too. I'm glad to see that they finally are. More »

This Mass Effect 3 Misspelled "Renagade" Console is Up for Grabs [UPDATE] [Mass Effect]

Owen Good — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:30:00 EST

EA has put a "Mass Effect 3 Mission Command" app on Facebook, through which fans can unlock some Avatar items and possibly get chosen for early access to the game's upcoming beta. There's also a big sweepstakes opportunity to win one of two custom Xbox 360s, painted in the game's Paragon and Renegade themes. EA sent us these pictures earlier today. More »

Why We Love Our Commander Shepard [Video]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST

Many of us here at Kotaku like Mass Effect. And as people who like Mass Effect are wont to do, we really like to talk about its protagonist, Commander Shepard. Specifically, we like to talk about our Commander Shepard. More »

This Dancing Bear is My Favorite Part of Street Fighter X Tekken [Video]

Chris Person — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:30:00 EST

One of the only things better than beating a friend at a fighting game is childishly gloating about it, and no gloating is complete without an amazingly victory dance. More »

Concentrate All Firepower ... [Note]

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST

Concentrate All Firepower on that LEGO Star Destroyer | The assembly of an enormous Executor-class Star Destroyer, in LEGO. It's 50 inches long, 3,152 pieces. (via Geeks are Sexy)

The Most Adorable Exploding Humans I've Seen All Day [Video]

Kate Cox — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:30:00 EST

This Week in the Business: 'Activision Should Man Up and Buy Take-Two.' [Industry Gamers]

Steve Peterson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

What's happened in the business of video games this past week ... More »

This Taco Bell PlayStation Vita Contest Seems A Little Weird [UPDATE] [Vita]

Jason Schreier — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:30:00 EST

Taco Bell is giving PlayStation Vitas to customers every 15 minutes — except when it isn't. More »

Hate The New Silent Hill 2 Audio Tracks? Turn 'Em Off [Video]

Chris Person — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

We reported late last year that Silent Hill 2 was getting an HD makeover. As a fan of that game, I see myself as a bit of a purist and snob. Honestly, I think it comes with the territory. So I kinda scoffed at the idea of someone re-dubbing the entire game for it's re-release in the Silent Hill HD Collection. "Sure everyone sounds like they're on Dayquil; That's the whole point!" I said to myself. More »

The Arkh Project is Creating a Game For "Queer People of Color" (And Everyone Else) [UPDATE] [The Arkh Project]

Nick Vannucci — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST

There's been article after article about how gaming culture (and perhaps all of nerd culture) is typically and fundamentally a straight, white, cis-male dominated scene. However you look at it, it's hard to deny the fact that the character landscape in video games is a little monochromatic. More »

Don’t Worry, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Won’t Shoot Away All the Story [Video]

Evan Narcisse — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:30:00 EST

In the previous developer diary about Alan Wake's American Nightmare, the creative triumvirate of the Remedy dev studio said that they're making this new Xbox Live game with more of an action focus in mind. But they're back again to assuage any fears you might have about the minimization of the moody narrative that won so many fans for Alan Wake in the first place. The comments in the video above shed some light on where American Nightmare fits in Wake continuity and also shout out other influences that will be coming to the fore in the downloadable title. Me, I'm just glad for more Night Springs. That show-that-doesn't-actually-exist rocks. More »

The Makers of Rock Band Just Rickroll'd Us All [Rock Band]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST

We're no strangers… More »

Star Trek Video Game Beams Down to the Surface in Early 2013 [Star Trek]

Evan Narcisse — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:30:00 EST

That shiny new Star Trek game based off of J.J. Abrams' reboot of the sci-fi classic will be finally going into warp drive next year. Today it was announced that Namco Bandai—best known for Pac-Man, SoulCalibur and Tekken games—will be publishing the action/adventure game and that it'll be out in the first quarter of 2013, ahead of the expected release of Star Trek 2 film. More »

Valve: It's 'Probable' That Hackers Obtained Old Steam Transaction Data [Steam]

Jason Schreier — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:08:00 EST

Valve CEO Gabe Newell said today in a statement to Steam users that as a result of a hack last November, it is "probable" that hackers have obtained a backup file with information on Steam transactions performed between 2004 and 2008. The compromised material includes user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses, and encrypted credit card information. It does not include Steam passwords. More »

New Unofficial Call of Duty Elite Slogan is Just an Activision Joke [UPDATE] [Video]

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg jokingly announced a new slogan for Call of Duty: Elite today: More »

Kickstarter Stands To Make A Lot Of Money Off Double Fine's Success [Blip]

Jason Schreier — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:45:00 EST

Crowdfunding website Kickstarter takes a 5% cut on successfully funded projects, which is a nice chunk of change on Tim Schafer's point-and-click adventure game. The project has made almost $1.4 million so far, putting $70,000 in Kickstarter's pocket. [Kickstarter] More »

Concept Artist Behind Fallout 3, Skyrim Has Died [Video]

Kate Cox — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:30:00 EST

I played something like 130 hours of Fallout 3. I adored many things about it — and, admittedly, hated a few others — but my absolute favorite part was exploring the world. The entire history of this never-quite-was version of Washington, DC could be read in its architecture, its artifacts, and its people. The game turned the city where I actually live into a wrecked, raygun-gothic husk of itself... and I loved it. More »

Why Won’t My Parents Play Video Games With Me? [Guest Editorial]

Brittany Vincent — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST

Why won't my father game with me? More »

This Konami Building Seems To Be On Fire [UPDATE] [Konami]

Jason Schreier — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:45:00 EST

Multiple Japanese Twitter users have posted pictures of what appears to be a fire in a Konami office. More »

Syndicate Does Dark and Terrible Things to Poor Rosario Dawson [Syndicate]

Mike Fahey — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:30:00 EST

On the left we have Rosario Dawson, in my opinion one of the most attractive actors working today. On the right, a soulless husk with eyes that have seen such horrors... such horrors. A creepy vessel used to transport Dawson's voice into EA's Syndicate. She looks worse than Cox. More »

Get Your First Look at Mass Effect's New Female Shepard in Action [Video]

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

In this new trailer for the fast-approaching Mass Effect 3, we get to see a lot of old scenes played out by a very new face. More »

Watch the Precious (?) Enhancements of Street Fighter x Tekken's Gem System [Video]

Elyas Gorogo-Baker — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:30:00 EST

Street Fighter x Tekken's Gem System has been quite a controversy in the fighting game community. There are those who feel it makes the game too easy, that it will, in fact, break the game itself. After playing through SFxT's tutorial and pumping in a couple of hours into versus mode, I think that Capcom has managed to pull it off. The Gems allow for some interesting strategy and have a risk/reward element that will make for one exciting game. More »

Which Controller Do True Fighting Game Fans Prefer? [Speak Up On Kotaku]

Mike Fahey — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:00:00 EST

Commenter Zyker loves his fighting games, but hates the Xbox 360 controller. He wants to know the weapon of choice of true fighting game fans, so we're asking you folks. Speak Up on Kotaku Round One, Fight! More »

Super Mario Bros. Can Enhance Your Morning Commute [Video]

Jason Schreier — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:40:00 EST

While New York's subway is only slightly less scary than the pipes under the Mushroom Kingdom, both underground tunnels are much improved by the addition of Super Mario Bros. composer Koji Kondo's infectious beats. More »