Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better 
Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review 
Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending We just returned from SCEA’s Pre-E3 Judge’s Day, an event that gave us hands-on time with highly anticipated titles like Killzone 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet. So why am I writing about PixelJunk Eden first? Probably for the same reason that, at the end of the day, while Killzone 2 demo stations were available with no waiting, the wait to get hands on a DualShock to play more PixelJunk Eden was a good 15 minutes. We’re not trying to downplay Killzone 2, mind you, as it’s a fine game. But Eden? I’m already having withdrawals.
The thing about PixelJunk Eden is that its appealing and addictive qualities might not come across well in screen shots or trailers. Q-Games Dylan Cuthbert showed a trailer for the previous build of Eden at GDC, likening it to “an organic Mario.” It’s accurate, in some sense, as the game is a platformer at heart, but one that oozes style and originality.
Here’s how you play PixelJunk Eden.
Someone hold me.
It’s just been announced that Bungie’s Frankie O’Connor will be leaving the company and heading for greener pastures. Which makes today a sad day for Bungie fans and Bungie employees alike. But not Halo fans! In his parting letter to the company’s fanbase, O’Connor writes that he’s “off to work more closely with Microsoft on the Halo franchise”, which can only be good news for everybody involved. Best of luck at Microsoft, Frankie. The letter’s in full after the jump if you’re interested.
A heated debate has erupted between the Entertainment Software Association and the Game Critics’ Awards over the eligibility of games in this year’s E3 Media and Business Summit. The dispute was prompted by Activision and Vivendi’s recent departure from the ESA and, simultaneously, from the show.
The association assumed that the departed companies’ games would no longer be eligible for any of the annual “Best of E3″ awards, given out by an independent group of Game Critics’ Awards judges at each year’s show.
But Geoff Keighley, GameTrailers executive producer and co-chairman of the Awards, said that decision hasn’t been made yet. The critics’ group, of which Kotaku managing editor Brian Crecente is also a member, still needs to meet to discuss the issue and decide how exactly to define which games are and are not eligible.
“The fact that Activision is not a registered exhibitor for E3 has brought to light the issue of how to determine the eligibility of games,” Keighley said.
newVideoPlayer("hotshots516.flv", 480, 290,""); Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee was one of the games I played the most during the early days of the PSP, so I am definitely looking forward to the sequel, coming out the June. The new version features online tournaments for up to 16 players, 12 challenging courses, and 24 different golfers with insane customisation options, which I really missed in the PlayStation 3 Hot Shots title. If you need more facts, hit the jump for a fact sheet, and help a little document fulfil its purpose in life.
New York City’s Centre For an Urban Future released an in-depth report on the state of the city’s game industry, with the aim of encouraging city government to become more involved. Given the overall health of the industry, NYC joins a number of cities around the world looking for ways to attract game development; recently, we reported on a 20 percent tax credit granted to developers who create their projects there.
The report found that the city has more incentive to focus on the game industry than it’s been given credit for: According to local industry experts, the number of game development companies in New York City could be counted on one hand as recently as five years ago. But today, the city is home to more than 30 game development companies and another 55 firms involved in some aspect of games, from sound effects to distribution. Only a handful of other cities in North America have as many gaming firms.
newVideoPlayer("orderup_kotaku.flv", 480, 380,""); Finally, the hardcore Tactical Restaurant Action gameplay you’ve all been waiting for. This is Order Up!, where you don’t merely cook the dishes, but you run the whole restaurant, too, which means you’ve gotta make several different plates up and manage the restaurant’s menu, inventory and customers.
You’ve also got to hire and fire your own kitchen staff to improve efficiency, wow restaurant critics and avoid the health inspector. Zoo Games is bringing the title to Wii on July 22nd.
This reminds me of those Chef Ramsay kitchen shows where he browbeats and berates young, incompetent chefs or overhauls people’s horrible, dangerous restaurants. I love those shows, especially if food gets burned and dishes get broken and people storm out.
