All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#oddities In Japan, Rie Tanaka (Phantasy Star Portable, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3) is such a popular voice actress that last year she got her own trading cards. This year, she's getting her own hug pillow cover. Progress! More »

#ds In the six months leading up to September 30, 2009, Nintendo sold 11.7 million DS units worldwide. In the six months leading up to September 30, 2010, that figure has dropped by nearly half, to 6.69 million. More »

Series reaches 4 million shipped in total.

Retailer exclusive pre-order items detailed.

#addiction When Jodie Sweetin was 13, Full House was canceled. The actress, who played Stephanie Tanner, grew up, got married and started doing meth. But her second husband, she says, was a gaming junkie. More »

With My Baby in a corporate custody battle, SouthPeak will try to tap the eager-to-learn demographic with a new line of educational products -- the first of which will be the biblically-inspired Tap and Teach: The Story of Noah's Ark for DS. Setting sail, er, floating through retail waters this November, the game is, according to SouthPeak CEO Melanie Mrox, part of a strategic initiative "designed to capture share of the rapidly expanding educational gaming sector."

SouthPeak's Noah's Ark -- not to be confused with Noah's Arc or Super 3D Noah's Ark -- is an interactive storybook designed to help kids ages 3-6 with their reading skills. The Tap and Teach franchise is marketed as "wholesome fun" -- the kind that parents can "trust." Rest assured, any minigame about "the birds and the bees" will be strictly about birds and bees.

#pc We are all over PC gaming this week, but what do we know about PC gaming? Each day, one Kotaku editor will reveal their PC gaming knowledge and share some memories. Yesterday you read about Ashcraft's experiences, now it's my turn. More »

#review Super Meat Boy is described as "tough as nails" by its developers. And boy, they aren't kidding. Ready to be put through the grinder? More »

Determined to get the most out of his appearance in DJ Hero 2, Tiesto has cut a music video for his track "Speed Rail" using only footage from the game. Well, background footage, anyways. The video doesn't show the player desperately trying to keep up with Tiesto's high-speed crossfading antics.

#sony This week is the tenth anniversary of the PlayStation 2's launch in North America, and as part of the celebrations Sony rounded up a bunch of big-name developers and asked them what their favourite PS2 games were. More »

Way of the Samurai 3's North American release was handled in an unorthodox manner, with Agetec publishing on PS3 and UFO Interactive publishing on Xbox 360. That may not be an issue with the newly-announced fourth entry in Acquire's free-roaming samurai action series, because it's been revealed as a PS3 exclusive. Of course, the Xbox 360 port followed the PS3 version in Japan by four months, so Xbox players may still see the way.

According to Siliconera, the exclusivity was announced in a Famitsu article, which also offered some details about gameplay. You'll be able to choose your samurai's age, and then, through actions, choose to align them with one of three feuding groups. You'll also have more available actions within event scenes. Of course, during the gameplay scenes you'll always have the "slash" action.

If you’re going to a Halloween party with all kinds of gaming friends, this idea for a Pachter costume could be a hit. I think going with something Wii HD related might make more sense, though.

PlayStation Network will undergo maintenance tomorrow, October 28. Maintenance is expected to start at just after 7:00 am Pacific and will last for several hours, until approximately 3:30 pm Pacific. During this time, users won’t be able to access the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home or Account Management, and may encounter difficulty while signing in to PSN.

Please stay tuned to the PlayStation Twitter feed for a notice when PSN is fully back online.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Major League Gaming was recently made aware of allegations of match fixing on the part of Pro Super Smash Bros. Brawl players Mew2King and ADHD at the recent MLG D.C. Pro Circuit Competition. The Official MLG Rules clearly state that no players may engage in “intentional Forfeiting or conspiring to manipulate Rankings or Brackets,” with [...]

Remember all those pervy storylines you created for your Sims back in the day? Well, consider that all approved by Electronic Arts Corporate now, as this trailer for Sims 3: Late Night shows the digital dolls' plunge into debauchery.

#crime A 22 year-old woman from Jacksonsville, Florida has pleaded guilty to killing her baby son over a game of...Farmville. More »

Nintendo and "official" game score authority Twin Galaxies have named a winner in their Sin & Punishment: Star Successor contest. "Andrew F." from Milwaukee, Wis. claimed the title with his 68,126,154-point score in Level 3 of Treasure's Wii rail shooter -- on hard mode, of course. And using the Wiimote and Nunchuk, of course.

For his feat, Mr. F. wil be awarded two black Wiimotes, two black Classic Controller Pros, two Zappers and a plaque. His achievement will also be submitted for consideration in the Guinness World Records 2011 Edition. In addition, he received a commemorative Joystiq post for his achievement. This has been Joystiq Post About Andrew F.'s High Sin and Punishment 2 Score 2010, In Honor of Andrew F.

Seriously, though, that's an awesome score.Star player earns success in Sin & Punishment contest

A portion of a Nintendo Life review… It’s not going to set the world alight but if you have even a passing interest in exploring the stars, and have always been frustrated by light pollution and cheap telescopes, this is well worth a shot.

#onlyinjapan Developer Alchemist's creepy schoolgirl shoot 'em up Gal Gun is not the type of thing you'd be proud to play. Thankfully, the developer of the Xbox 360 game knows this, letting players keep their fetishistic arcade action a secret. More »

Although its sequel broke down a boarded-up door and burst onto Steam for Mac back on October 5, the original Left 4 Dead was expected sometime before Halloween. Well, that "sometime" equals "today" and it's on sale for $9.99. (Or, be a savvy survivor, and opt for the $14.99 L4D plus L4D2 pack!)

I've got ten codes for the excellent Dogfighter to give away. Want one? I'll be handing them out over Twitter real soon. More »

Bit.Trip Fate just hit WiiWare and developer Gaijin Games still has another, unannounced Bit.Trip title to complete -- but that doesn't mean company CEO Alex Neuse isn't already looking even further into the future. In an interview with Extra Guy, Neuse teased, "After the Bit.Trip series is complete, you're going to see something totally different from us."

Rather than detail the studio's 3DS ambitions, Neuse chose to give an idea of what type of games Gaijin could work on next. "We definitely aren't a retro studio -- we don't only make retro games; we don't only make rhythm/music games. It just so happens that's the first thing we did."

Other than that, though, Neuse kept coy, only offering, "We're going to try to branch out a little bit and flex our creative and business muscle a little bit, and do something a little bit more ambitious than the stuff we've done so far." So, we're going to see Commander Video enter a fully-realized 3D urban sandbox crime drama, you know, with hookers? Is that what he's saying?

In these first screens, Cloud seemingly echoes Square Enix's sentiment in naming its upcoming fighter, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy -- remember, we're to pronounce "012" as "duodecim." Why the incomprehensible game title? "We felt like it" is perhaps the best answer. It's gets kookier past the break.

#valve Mac owners can start "grabbin' peels" today with the arrival of the original Left 4 Dead, which Valve has released via Steam. To celebrate the latest Windows-to-Mac port, Left 4 Dead is now 50% off. But wait, there's more! More »

Runic Games' first release, Torchlight, came out on PC a year ago today, and the company is celebrating the anniversary with a sale. Starting today, and ending October 29 at 8AM PT, the PC version of Torchlight will be offered for half off on the official game site. That's $10 for all the dungeon crawling you can stand -- or mod, using the game's included editing tools.

Unfortunately, the Mac version remains $20, as Runic doesn't sell that version directly. The Mac version is only offered via Steam, and Runic informs Joystiq that Steam isn't participating in this particular sale. But don't lose heart, would-be Mac players, as Runic assures that a cross-platform sale will be held later this year (in case you missed the discounted Mac version the first time around). And don't forget: Torchlight will hopefully be out on consoles, too, before the year is out.