Saturday, August 16, 2008
Anyone For A $US 300 Diablo III Statue?
3:30PM Luke Plunkett |
What Kind of Games Are You Good At?
3:00PM Brian Ashcraft | It’s Friday! Time for, that’s right, TELL US DAMMIT. here’s how it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn’t some marketing survey or whatever. It’s an emotional investment in you. Yes, we’re interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know fucktons about us — more than you even want to, we’re sure. But, hey, we’d like to know about you. That way you won’t be some faceless blob — and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your arse. Or not, because really we’re incapable of human emotion. Not sure! There are many different game genres. We don’t want to know which is your favourite, but rather: Question: Which game genre is easiest for you or which one do you excel at? More »
We (’We’ Being ‘Not Japan’) Get Valkyria Chronicles In November
2:30PM Luke Plunkett | Ah, Valkyria Chronicles. Like World War II, if history’s bloodies conflict had instead been played out through a children’s colouring book. Japan’s already enjoying it, but when can we expect a Western release? November. That’s when. Specifically, it’ll be out on November 11 in the US, while Sega have confirmed with us it’ll be out in Europe sometime in November as well. As a token of your gratitude for waiting, while the game has been faithfully localised, you’ll have the option of playing through with the Japanese language track, should that be more your kind of thing. Valkyria Chronicles comes out in November with voiceover options [Siliconera] More »
News
Capcom Still Has ‘Ace Up Its Sleeve’ For Bionic Commando
2:00PM Brian Ashcraft | And not any ace, says Bionic Commando producer Ben Judd in his ear wax shirt, but a “fucking ace”. At a small event for the launch of Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Judd said that the downloadable title was doing way better than it had been targeted. “There were people at Capcom who told me not to make this game”, Judd said. While BC:R is doing well, Judd says that it won’t do nearly as well as the upcoming 3D version, which has apparently gotten a recent control tweak to make the game less frustrating. “Store retail games always do better than downloadable games”, he added. As Judd goes off to Sweden to oversee developer GRIN’s finishing of Bionic Commando, he stated: We still have a fucking ace up our sleeve. It’s an ace, a fucking ace… At TGS (Tokyo Game Show), the Capcom booth stage is going to make people’s balls pucker up. It’s going to be big. When questioned further, Judd would not reveal what this ace was. Wonder what Capcom still has left to announce for Bionic Commando… Thanks Jon for the iPhone pic! More »
News
Jonathan Blow Says He Spent $US 180,000 On Braid
1:40PM Luke Plunkett | You like Braid? We like Braid. Loads of people like Braid, in fact, as it’s doing all kinds of excellent things to the Xbox Live Arcade sales charts at the moment. Yet creator Jonathan Blow isn’t busting out the high-fives and popped corks just yet: he said earlier in the week the game still had some selling to do to get him out of the red. Seemed an odd thing to say at the time, but now we know why: Braid’s told the Wall Street Journal that he sunk an estimated $US 180,000 of his own money – over a three year period – into the project, which if true makes it surely not just one of the most expensive indie projects of all time, but one of the ballsiest. Time Out of Mind [WSJ, via GameSetWatch] More »
News
Harmonix: Exclusive Artist Deals ‘Not Good For Anyone’
1:20PM Luke Plunkett | Activision think they know how to “win” the music game arms race. They think signing big artists to “exclusivity” deals – where they can appear only in Guitar Hero games – will help tip the balance in their favour. They can think what they want, it’s rubbish, as all it does is piss the people off who already bought the “other” music game. Plus it makes Activision look really mean. Refreshingly, that’s a sentiment shared by Harmonix’s Eric Brosious, who told IGN: We prefer not to sign exclusive deals with artists because while it seems like the competitive “business” thing to do, in the long run, it’s really not good for anyone. We think we should be working to get more music out to more people. Our hat is tipped to you, sir. Rock Band 2: Behind the Music [IGN] More »A Week In Comments
1:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Does Brain Age Actually Work? No, Apparently. Comment by Kuraudo Nominated by geekgrrl This is why there’s no class division in high school between the intelligent and the sporty. The Cake Goes to Portal’s Commentary Comment by BolognaFire Nominated by sethmad Imagine: BABIES – Commentary “A big issue we had with starting off development was deciding who our target audience would be.”
I Am 8-Bit And So Is The Rest of Hollywood
12:40PM Michael McWhertor | The fourth annual I Am 8-Bit art show debuted in Hollywood last night, taking over the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard, attracting hundreds of video game-loving, art-appreciating Californians. Everything about the show — from the venue, the crowd, the artwork on hand, the massive queue of patient fans — was bigger than last year. It was even stuffier, more humid and hotter, seemingly in an attempt to outdo every aspect the 2007 edition of I Am 8-Bit. Arriving well after the suggested time — and half an hour after the show had officially opened to the public — we were met with an insurmountable crush of people. It wouldn’t have been a surprise to learn that those who showed up when we did, sans press access, faced a two-hour wait to get in. And when they did, the vast majority of artwork on hand had already been sold to a collector. Our favourite piece from the show, a moody Link versus Ganon painting, shown after the jump, was fortunately priced out of our range, so that particular sell-out didn’t phase us. More »
No PS3 Price Cut At Leipzig
12:20PM Luke Plunkett | Hoping for a PS3 price cut at Leipzig next week? Foolish optimist. There’ll be no such thing, with SCEE’s Nick Caplin telling Reuters “It’s not going to happen. If you’re coming for that you’ll be disappointed”. Might be disappointing, but not unexpected, as it fits with Sony’s plan to reduce the cost of the machine on their end (so they can make some money back), not the cost of the machine on your end. Sony plans no PS3 price cuts at Leipzig games fair [Reuters] More »
