All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#xbox360 For a week in June, Team Kotaku played Microsoft's hands-free control system Kinect, standing up. Kinect has problems with seated players, we reported. Yesterday, I tried doing a push-up in front of it. More »

#iphone The huge list of video games depicting the opening battle from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back gains another entry with Fluffy Logic's Star Wars: Battle for Hoth for the iPhone and iPod Touch. More »

With the release of the newly redesigned Xbox 360, we're sure more than a few Xbox gamers have been considering an upgrade. With that upgrade comes a very important question: How do you get your data off the old Xbox and onto the new Xbox? To answer this question, we decided to put together a helpful how-to video. The video covers two methods of transfer: USB drives and the official Microsoft data transfer cable.

Of course, this is a very important subject for Xbox owners, so rather than shoot the video ourselves, we farmed it out to a real production studio to give it that professional touch. We think the results speak for themselves.

Casual game leader's latest social adaptation launching next month; multi-platinum selling marble-matcher will offer competitive, cooperative fun with friends.

#doublefine Tim Schafer's Double Fine, the team behind Psychonauts and Brutal Legend (and Bespin regrets!), has forever been working on just one game at a time. Hasn't worked too well, that, so time for a change! More »

You off-roading home away from home.

Nexon America introduces new Auction Hall and beach wear avatars to the land of Arad with Act II: The Great Emporium update.

Mini-sized Thor? Yes. Mini-sized game? No chance in “Hel.”

Today we’re showing off the final trailer for Young Thor, which will be launching next week for minis on PSP and PS3. Our team has had a ton of fun creating titles for minis like Zombie Tycoon and the recent Widgets Odyssey, but Young Thor represents a completely new milestone in our efforts. Built entirely for minis from the ground up to look great when played on either system, we wanted to deliver a truly epic action title that pushes the boundaries for what a minis title can become, and it’s anything but tiny. Check out the official launch trailer below!

A fresh take on iconic Norse Mythology, the game has been inspired by some of the best action-platformers and beat-em up brawlers around. You’ll need to pummel your way through Midgard, the world of men, and Asgard, the world of the gods, with over a dozen different attacks and special powers if you should ever hope to save the world tree Yggdrasil. While I don’t want to spoil anything, we also have a mountain of 50 different in-game achievables to unlock throughout Thor’s epic journey. On top of that, there is an addictive leveling and experience system that will let you strengthen your stats to level 99, and there are plenty of divine items that will help you bring the hammer down on Hel, daughter of Loki!

We’ve had all hands-on deck for Young Thor since the beginning, and we’re happy to also share a look at some of the artwork that went into the game’s visual style. You can even get a look at some of the comics we’ve made, which also showcase the more light-hearted humor from our take on the mythology.

The release of Young Thor has been a long time coming, and we’re happy that this PSP Mini title will also be playable on the PS3 when it hits the PlayStation Store on July 20th for just $4.99. In truth, we feel there is more to this minis title than anything else before this, and we could go on for ages if Odin would let us. Instead, I’ll be fielding some questions from you guys in the thread below, and I’m happy to answer as much as I can about the game!

Who pays $60 for a new game? Not you, because you know about deals like the one Amazon has on Raven Software's time-twisting shooter, Singularity. The PlayStation 3 version is currently on sale for $40.

Sega seems to think that if you're underwhelmed by the use of Kinect in Sonic Free Riders (as seen at E3), you shouldn't give up hope yet. The publisher has had less than a year to work on these new motion-controlled titles, Sega's Mike Hayes told CVG, and hopes to improve efforts as the Kinect dev kits mature. "We've got one good idea and hopefully something will be out the back end of next year, perhaps early 2012, which we think will use the aspects of Kinect a lot more originally and in a more sophisticated way," he said.

What won't we see from Sega in the near future? XBLA and PSN ports of Saturn games, Hayes said. "No," he admitted plainly, "we're going to focus on Dreamcast; there's a significant catalogue there. Once we're done with that we'll see." Sega's Yosuke Okunari made a similar point recently -- in putting the emphasis on the Dreamcast lineup first -- though expressed a more optimistic viewpoint when he said Sega was already "thinking" about Saturn ports.

#xbox360 Just as we suspected, Microsoft confirmed today that there will be no third season for their Xbox 360 version of 1 Vs. 100 and that the game won't be returning. More »

#activision It's been awhile since I've played a decent helicopter combat game, and there's no telling whether this will be decent, but Apache: Air Assault will most definitely be all about helicopters shooting it up. More »

Red Dead Redemption developer Rockstar San Diego has let about 40 employees go, according to a statement given to IGN. "As Rockstar San Diego transitions from the launch of Red Dead Redemption onto future projects," studio manager Steve Martin said in the statement, "we are realigning our resources in order to continue to develop games as effectively as possible." The remaining team members are " hard at work on the development of downloadable content for the game."

It's common for development teams to grow during the creation of a game and shrink following that game's completion, a tendency that Martin himself notes. Regardless, we wish the best to all of those who find themselves riding into the sunset.

#xbox360 The Xbox 360 dashboard, the user interface for Microsoft's gaming console, looks like it will be getting a slight polish in November when the company launches their Xbox Live Gold Family plan. More »

#wii Wii game No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle was released this past January in North America. The game is *finally* coming out in Japan in October. Wait, shouldn't that be backwards? More »

After releasing only two games over its first ten years of existence, Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions is heading in a slightly different direction and working on four smaller projects, each with a different producer.

Speaking at a keynote presentation at the Develop Conference this morning, Schafer didn't reveal many details about the new game projects. He did, however, mention who was heading up each one. They are:

• Lee Petty, art director on Brütal Legend, is leading a game Schafer described as "sort of retro but also really new."
• Nathan Marts, lead programmer on Brütal Legend, is working on a game that's "quite cutting edge."
• Brad Muir, who designed a lot of the combat and multiplayer on Brütal Legend, is working on a game that "focuses on gameplay mechanics."
• Tasha Harris, lead animator on Brütal Legend (and former senior animator at Pixar) is heading up a fourth game.

Schafer didn't say what systems or formats the games would target, but did mention that some would be available as downloads while others would be retail products. He off-handedly mentioned that the quick development process meant some of these projects would be coming out this year, but quickly caught himself. "I didn't announce that," he said. "I see you writing that down. ... That was not a ship date."

Schafer said the transition to multiple smaller projects happened in the wake of the unexpected cancellation of a planned Brütal Legend sequel. "Apparently when they said it was a done deal, they meant there was no deal, and we're done," he said.

Molyneux demos new levelling system.

#timschafer Game designer Tim Schafer called Activision honcho Robert Kotick a "total prick" yesterday. Activision then replied to his claim that Kotick was a "total prick". Schafer now says calling Kotick "a total prick" was an "accident". More »

Plenty of PSP Essentials to get stuck into.

Smaller games in pipeline from Schafer's company.

Smaller games in pipeline from Schafer's company.

Smaller games in pipeline from Schafer's company.

#art Reader Bill emailed us earlier this week, asking if we would like to post some of his drawings. "Sure would", we replied, because they're great. More »

#screengrab As seen on a local Swedish newspaper by Spell of Play. More »

#ds For such a revered game, Okami shipped on PS2 and Wii with little fanfare. There was no "Legendary Edition" shipping with a set of paintbrushes and an authentic wolf's skin. Okamiden is looking to make amends! More »

New technology could mean better lap times, more headshots.

Comical RPG from the creator of Monkey Island is this week's PSN Store pick.

#gallery At this year's Tokyo Toy Show, Square Enix showed off...toys. There are loads of Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts figures and knick-knacks. More »

Smaller games in pipeline from Schafer's company.

#thesims Morgan Freeman's "Through the Wormhole" show on the Science Channel had an interesting guest a few weeks back: Sims creator Will Wright, who was there to talk about video game games, and gods. More »