A month ago, Freddie Wong gave us a look at aimbots (and bunny hops) in live action. In another clever short film, Wong gives us the allegorical real-life birth of the leetest tactical innovation - the rocket jump.
Don't try this at home, kids. Rocket jumps hurt if they're poorly timed. And they're all poorly timed. So put that bazooka down.
The Rocket Jump [freddiew on YouTube]
Today in Speak-Up on Kotaku, M0squ1t0, Ameenshake, Joecapps1127, and Acebuckeye13 have something to say about a sexy Samus shirt, headset shopping, Will Ferrell's The Other Guys, and the lovely GT500, asit appears in Burnout Paradise.
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About Speak-Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have that little box on the front page of Kotaku. You know, the one with "Got something to say?" written in it? That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Just make sure to include #speakup in your comment so we can find it. Every Wednesday or so we'll pull the best #speakup posts we can find and highlight them here.
Tell Us How You Really Feel
Acebuckeye13 seems to have a slight problem with Burnout Paradise's GT500.
I'm playing Burnout Paradise, and all I have to say is this:
Fuck the GT500. Fuck every single person on the Criterion design team that was involved with it, fuck ever person who was involved with its Burning Route, and just for the hell of it, fuck Atomica. That is all.
The Other Grand Theft Auto Reference
Ameenshake completely spoils a joke in Will Ferrell's The Other Guys for everyone.
Did you guys watch The Other Guys starring Will Ferrell and the other dude (the main dude in the Max Payne movie)? Towards the end, when Ferrell is in a car chase, he goes all crazy driving. When the other dude asks Ferrell about where he learned to drive like that, Ferrell responds by saying from GTA. This made me lol.
You Kotakuians should make an article about what influence driving influences these game have in real life.
Heading To The Headset Store
Joecapps1127 needs your help figuring out which gaming headset to purchase. We've featured headsets like the Astro Gaming A30, which works with consoles and PC, but he wants to know what you folks think.
I'm considering buying an expensive headset. I mostly play Xbox, but with Crysis 2, Civ 5 and Portal 2 coming out soon I think I will be playing PC just as often. I don't know if I should buy a headset for 360 or PC.
Over the next 6+ months I will be playing mostly:
360 - Halo: Reach, AC: Brotherhood and Black Ops (maybe even NFS: Hot Pursuit)
PC - Crysis 2, Portal 2, Civilization 5 (and if you wanna count CS:S)
I will most likely be getting a Tritton because they have been getting great reviews.
Any suggestions on whether I should get an Xbox or PC headset?
Surprise!
M0squ1t0 sends us a link to this t-shirt, in honor of Metroid Other M's sweet, sweet release. Hope we didn't spoil that for anyone.
Star Wars game developer LucasArts has confirmed to Kotaku that it's making cutbacks at its internal studios today. Word from those affected by LucasArts layoffs indicating deep cuts.
One former LucasArts developer, let go from the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II team, called today's round of layoffs a "massacre," with an estimated 60 people let go from development and 25 from external production and QA getting the employment vibro-ax. The Force Unleashed II was said to have "gone gold" last Friday in time for its mid-September release date.
LucasArts wouldn't specify current headcount at the studio or how many developers were let go today, but did offer confirmation on the reduction.
"LucasArts is reorganizing its teams to better address the needs of the internal studio. Unfortunately, this means adjusting staffing," reads a statement from the company. "LucasArts continues to be committed to creating a first-class internal studio – and to fostering relationships with trusted external partners – in order to deliver quality games that amaze and inspire fans."
Today's layoffs at LucasArts aren't much of a surprise. Word from the studio indicated weeks ago that new LucasArts president Paul Meegan was making serious cuts to projects and people. One of the projects rumored to have been cut was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed III.
Have more details? Get in touch.
Whether you're seriously low on ammo or just want to make someone's life completely miserable, there's nothing quite like bringing a hammer, crowbar, or chainsaw to a gun fight. Here are some of our favorite gun alternatives.
Over the years, melee weapons in first-person shooters have transformed. They started off as a way to add an element of tension to the early, single-player shooters, giving players something else to worry about than the enemy. You didn't want to take on the hordes of hell with only your fist...well, not at first.
With the rise of multiplayer, the melee weapon slowly changed from an instrument of desperation into a tool of humiliation. There's nothing quite as humbling as having your killing spree ended by a guy sneaking up behind you with a knife. The pain comes not only from the blade, but also from knowing that someone got the drop on you, and your mad skills didn't save you.
Here are several of our favorite humiliation tools, in no particular order.
Okay, I lied about the no particular order bit, at least in this one case. The crowbar is almost as much the star of the Half Life franchise as Gordon Freeman himself. In a way it's a reflection of Freeman. Both have applications that have nothing to do with combat and therefore should, technically, have no place on a battlefield. Yet again and again they show up together. It just goes to show that the right man and tool in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.
Riddick wasn't a big fan of guns in the two live-action movies that inspired the two video games from Starbreeze Studios, so once you get your hands on his signature weapon, the cruelly-curved ulaks, it's as if everything suddenly comes together. So central are these weapons to Riddick's universe that finding them unlocks an achievement in the Xbox 360 version of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
I actually own a pair of these in real-life, and can attest to the fact that they feel incredibly nice in your hands.
You've got to love multi-purpose tools. The impact hammer is a pneumatic mining device. It can be an extremely deadly weapon. It can deflect incoming projectiles. It can make you jump higher. I'm sure if the inhabitants of the Unreal universe took some time away from killing each other to do a little research, they'd find it adds two to three inches to the penis.
Team Fortress 2 contains a plethora of lovely melee weapons, from the Engineer's wrench to the Medic's bone saw. There's just something supremely satisfying about running about hitting other people in the head with a baseball bat. Maybe it's that satisfying metal clunking noise, or the fact that most of us have at one point or another held a baseball bat in our hands, and can relate to how it feels.
Or maybe we're just being completely arbitrary.
The Lancer's chainsaw attachment nearly didn't make the list, mainly because it's attached to a gun. Then I spent an hour watching videos of Doom's chainsaw compared to the Lancer's chainsaw, and decided that the main reason I liked it was because it's attached to a gun. It's a chainsaw, on a gun.
And then I remembered I was compiling this list mostly on my own, and the only guidelines I really had to follow were my own, so the Lancer's chainsaw stays in the picture.
Fists are generally the weakest possible melee weapon in a first-person shooter. Doom 3 changed all of that by making the berserker-powered fist capable of smashing through all but the toughest enemies with a single punch. And if you feel like pointing out other games that have featured powered-up punches, note that none of them were accompanied by an ear-piercing infernal screaming that actually made you want to punch things as hard and fast as humanly possible.
Blah, blah, blah Energy Sword. Yes the Energy Sword is impressive and powerful, but can it knock a rocket back at the person firing it like a baseball? Can it propel a Mongoose all the way across a multiplayer map? Can it make you believe a fully-armored boy can fly?
No, it can't. That's why the Gravity Hammer is our great Halo melee love. Stop - hammer time.
It's a lightsaber.
You need more?
It's a lightsaber you can throw, and it comes back to you. Luke Plunkett informs me that with a cheat, it lops off limbs in the process. I'd pay $60 for a game that only featured that particular game mechanic.
And there's our list. Now it's time for you to tell us what we missed, even though we specified that this is a list of some of our favorite first-person shooter melee weapons.
Go on and hit us with your best shot.
This past April, film critic Roger Ebert wrote a post called "Video games can never be art" that carried dogmatic statements like this:
"Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form".
Alex Garland, author of the book The Beach and screenwriter of 28 Days Later, has taken the famed film critic to task, saying his comments were "insane".
"It's an incredibly stupid thing to say, though I say that without knowing anything about what he said beyond what you've just told me," Garland tells Edge. "How could you anticipate where games would be in 30 years? How could you possibly do that?"
"There's so many reasons why he's wrong," Garland added. "What he's talking about is an artform at a very, very early point in its life... It's just bullshit. It's a stupid, ill-informed thing to say."
Garland wrote a draft of the Halo film that was never made. He also wrote upcoming video game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.
Ebert later admitted that he was a "fool" for mentioning video games in the first place. What I was saying is that video games could not in principle be Art. That was a foolish position to take, particularly as it seemed to apply to the entire unseen future of games. This was pointed out to me maybe hundreds of times. How could I disagree? It is quite possible a game could someday be great Art."
Ebert still said he believes video games can never be Art. "But I should never have said so," he adds. "Some opinions are best kept to yourself."
News: Ebert games-bashing is 'bullsh*t', says author [CVG]
Some gamers may not consider Apple's iPhone and iPod touch platform a viable video game device, but the company's CEO sure does, calling it "the number one portable game player" on the market, just before introducing the iPod's latest iteration.
CEO Steve Jobs claims the Apple device has "50%+ the marketshare for portable game players in the U.S. and worldwide," touting 1.5 billion downloads of games and entertainment titles for the device via iTunes.
"The iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony's portable game players combined," Jobs boasted. "It's been amazing."
iPods with game playing capabilities still have a way to go before they outsell the PSP and Nintendo DS on a lifetime sales basis, however. Jobs says the company has sold more than 275 million iPods, with 120 million of those being iOS devices. Nintendo reports it has sold more than 132 million units of its Nintendo DS since launch with Sony claiming to have sold more than 60 million PSPs over its lifetime.
Jobs unveiled the latest and thinnest version of the iPod touch at an Apple event in San Francisco today. The new iPod touch features many of the improvements and additions originally found in the iPhone 4, including a higher resolution display, a new Apple A4 processor and HD video recording.
It's expected to ship next week with Apple's new Game Center software.
We played Killzone 3's multiplayer at Gamescom. Now's your chance, as Guerrilla Games and Sony hold the first public hands-on with the game's online component at PAX in Seattle this weekend.
Sony's booth at PAX is sure to be a crowded spot, with eight-on-either matches of Killzone 2 multiplayer running from the time the show floor opens until they kick you out, all three days of the convention. I'd suggest getting there early on Friday to snag one of the sixteen multiplayer pods running the game, as the line will be long, and the other players' hands nice and sweaty.
There'll also be seven single-player pods available for those that would rather play alone, three of which will be running the game in 3D.
Even if you can't get a spot to play, you'll want to stop by the booth to pick up a collectible art card featuring the image above, which will have instructions on how to win a spot in the game's beta test.
Stay tuned to Kotaku for more from PAX as we make our annual Seattle pilgrimage.
Fan favorite characters fight in the shadows in a trailer for the new Mortal Kombat so dark and moody they had to play Disturbed's new song "Another Way to Die" to lighten things up.
"Another Way to Die" is a track off Disturbed's Asylum album, and it's a perfect fit for a teaser of the brand new Mortal Kombat, due out sometime next year from Warner Bros. Games and NetherRealm Studios.
The trailer itself doesn't seem to have any point besides showing us how cool Mortal Kombat is, which we already knew.
The Playstation Move brings Playstation 3 owners into the world of motion gaming with a high-definition bang. Are you ready?
Here's a run down of everything we know about the hardware, about the games, about the technology.
This round-up includes more than a baker's dozen game reviews and impressions, more than 20 original videos showing off the technology, hardware and games in action and plenty of opinion.
This page will be updated throughout the month as we lead toward the launch of the Move on Sept. 15 in Europe, Sept. 19 in North America and Oct. 21 in Japan.
What We Loved, What We Hated About the Playstation Move
Playstation Move Review: The Motion Controller Wars Start Now
It's A Move! Beauty Shots Of Our Newest PS3 Controller And Its Older Brothers
Move Sports Champions Review: A Cut, A Spike, A Toss Above the Rest
Kung Fu Rider Review: Tony Hawk Suggestive Jam
Tumble Review: Barebone Blocks
Start The Party Review: Reality Improved, Ridiculously
Racquet Sports For Move Is PS3 Sports Tennis
High Velocity Bowling Is the Worst of the Move Bunch
Beat Sketcher, The Best PlayStation Move Game You Weren't Expecting
How Echochrome II Works, Besides Wonderfully
TV SuperStars, The Move's First Fake Gameshow
I Did An Obi-Wan With The PlayStation 3's First Move Light Gun Game
Jason, Jason, Jason, PlayStation Move, Jason
Move Is A Great Addition To Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
Even Move Can't Salvage The EyePet
Championing Sports Champions
How To Mount That PlayStation Eye Camera With Minimal Fuss
Eyes Deep In the Magical Playstation Move Dox
PlayStation Move Stress Tests, Using Lighting Changes And Human Distraction
The Ultimate Guide To The PlayStation Move
The creators of the Unreal Engine and the games that run on it have brought their tech to the iPhone. Epic Games is now letting iPhone owners see how well their engine works with a free demo, Epic Citadel.
Epic Citadel is not the newly announced iPhone and iPad game from Epic Games. The creators of Gears of War and Unreal Tournament will release their first iPhone-based game, Project Sword, an "all-new action role-playing adventure game exclusively for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch," later this year.
Epic Citadel is a tech demo app. It's free, letting iPad, iPhone and iPod touch owners explore a castle realm with a multi-touch interface. It was developed in eight weeks, its creators say, by a small team of Epic Games programmers.
It's got all the candies: bump offset mapping, normal mapped architecture, global illumination, real-time reflections, dynamic specular lighting with texture masks —enough bullet points to make your head spin.
See how good it looks here or for yourself by downloading from iTunes. It's for iPhones 3GS or better, iPod touch 3rd gen or later, as well as the iPad, and requires iOS 3.1.
