One thing we need to own up to with all these video game icons coming up on 15, 20 and 25 year anniversaries is that we're getting older, too. Just yesterday, Crecente was talking about all the trouble he has peeing lately. Poor guy.
With that aging comes memory loss, so you might need a refresher on how Sega's spiky blue mascot came to be. Or, maybe the young'uns amongst you need to learn it for the first time ever. This video in support of Sonic Generations rounds up the folks who where the creators and decision makers behind Sonic's debut and explains how the speedy icon came into the world. Blast processing!
You can contact Evan Narcisse, the author of this post, at evan@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
In today's romantic episode of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Aikage isn't feeling the love and wants you all to share yours instead. We're guessing they mean love with another person, but who can be sure?
Feeling kind of cynical about relationships today.
Spruce things up with some video game love stories! Have at them. Let me hear it.
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 a forum on Kotaku called Speak Up. That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best Speak Up posts we can find and highlight it here.
What if you had one and sold it, chucked or simply don't know whether it's behind your Ab Roller, in a box next to the Ark of the Covenant or otherwise lost?
You need to fix that. Get yourself a Wii. Am I saying that, if you don't have a Nintendo console that new Zelda is worth $170? No. But $130, yeah.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an excellent single-player adventure with an enjoyable, surprising quest that lasts some 40 hours. It's also an encapsulation of two eras of Nintendo game design: a product of the company's 1980's and 1990's expertise in making satisfying, single-player jungle gyms of interactivity as well as a result of the company's recent adventures making motion-controlled games. It mostly, successful utilizes the best of both eras, making this game not just excellent but historically interesting and important.
To temper the hyperbole, I'm not saying the game is perfect nor even my favorite Zelda, but rather that it is excellent in interesting ways. The game structure is formulaic Zelda well-refined, offering adventure, exploration, problem-solving and combat through zone after zone of well-constructed landscape that's enjoyably puzzling to play through.
The game's controls use motion in mostly good ways, primarily to allow the player to slash Link's sword in one of eight specific directions, to fly aerial vehicles as if they were toy planes and—best of all—to present the best, most-responsive inventory system I've seen in a modern game, one that allows the player to select items from radial menus with directional flicks of the wrist without ever pausing the game. That last feature is surprisingly fast, while giving players access to far more items at once then they could toggle with the buttons of any standard non-keyboard game controller.
As good as Skyward Sword sounds to you, however, it might not sound like a game with buying a machine for. Beyond asking you to trust me that it is, let's walk through some pricing.
If you have access to a loaner Wii (just ask grandma for hers… she won't mind!), then all you need to make sure you have is the game and a MotionPlus-enabled Wii Remote. If the loaner Wii has the proper controller, then all you need is the game. That's $50 for the game. If the loaner has neither the MotionPlus peripheral nor a Wii Remote Plus that has that MotionPlus tech baked inside, then all you need to go for is the $70 version of Skyward Sword, which includes a gold-colored Wii Remote Plus.
If you would have to buy a Wii, you can get a pre-owned one for $100 at GameStop. It won't include the MotionPlus tech which costs $25. Don't buy that. You'd best go for the $70 special edition of Skyward Sword, which includes the Wii Remote that you need (you'll also need the standard Nunchuk add-on that comes with the Wii). Go with that $100 Wii option and GameStop can eventually buy your Wii back. They'll take it off your hands for $40. Full outlay, console trade-in included: $130 plus tax. You'll end up with the game but not the system and can decide in 2012 whether or not to get the Wii-compatible Wii U to play Skyward Sword more on that machine or whether to kiss all this Nintendo console stuff goodbye.
I know many people never jumped on board the whole Wii thing and that others, especially so-called hardcore gamers, always found the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 more to their liking. Those who skipped the Wii missed everything from Wii Sports and the superb Super Mario Galaxy games to the more "hardcore" and wonderful Metroid Prime 3 and Red Steel 2. There are many great gems for the system, from Zack & Wiki to Little King's Story. But this past year has been slow, so slow that even I, a person who could even name terrific games on the maligned WiiWare service, has barely touched the system. Lost in Shadow and Kirby's Return to Dreamland may be the only Wii games this year I've even had anything nice to say about.
The system is indeed in its twilight. It is almost the past, but it isn't yet. Today, it's the present and the platform for one of the best games of the year.
Get yourself a Wii, and enjoy it for at least another 40 hours.
It's Game of the Year season. You know what that means. All the AAA games that you've been waiting for are jockeying to break into your saving account. It also means that various commentators and outlets on the video game medium—Kotaku, included—are stumbling over themselves to add even more hype to games like Arkham City, Skyrim and Uncharted 3.
Coming one on top of the other, all those hot-blooded accolades blend into one another. It makes you a little dizzy, to be honest. But, Insult Swordfighting's got a hilarious quiz that'll help you match a snippet of breathy praise to the game it's lauding.
Take this fragment, for example:
"...jumps from one extraordinary set piece to the next, pushing the way a videogame narrative can be presented. Equal parts exhilarating and emotional, I can't say I have ever played a more perfectly paced game."
Is that Rage the writer's talking about? Portal 2? Gears of War 3? All of above? Head on over to Insult Swordfighting and find out.
You can contact Evan Narcisse, the author of this post, at evan@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
Happy Friday Kotaku! There's a lovely weekend just off the horizon, so full steam ahead through our last work or school day for the week.
How's Skyrim treating you folks? I'm sure there are a lot of sleep deprived people out there today. Last night I downloaded and installed the game on my PC, stared at the launcher, and then promptly went to sleep. It was the hardest thing to do, being responsible is no fun! If you're enjoying Skyrim, or playing something else, tell us below and talk amongst yourselves!
I would like to thank dummysystem for today's quality TAYpic. Well done! Keep the entries coming, everyone!
Take a crack at being featured atop TAY some time this month simply by making a hilarious Photoshop or some other manipulation of the month's image. Pull a clean version from this thread. Make sure your image is 16x9 and funny. That will improve the odds of your image getting picked. Submit the image to the #TAYpics thread. Good luck!
You've heard the buzz, read the reviews, and consulted the stars; all signs point to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim being the second coming of Oblivion, only bigger, better, and bolder than its beloved predecessor. And for the most part it is, but there are some definite flaws on this shiny dragon-clutched diamond.
Now keep in mind I'm not trying to rain on Bethesda's parade or minimize the accomplishment of Skyrim in any way. It's a game deserving of praise (which I'll get to eventually), and these five flaws, while annoying, for the most part don't affect the overall experience. This is just a small selection of agonizing issues that I need to get off my chest before I get back to my Dragonborn.
The Animation
One of the most criticized elements of the previous two entries in The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda has certainly improved character animation a great deal for Skyrim, to the point where third-person play is a viable option, as long as you don't make any sudden moves or attempt to climb down the side of a mountain. In fact, unless you're running in a straight line or fighting (meaning too busy to notice), that old familiar jerkiness rears its ugly head. And forget about climbing; there are no animations for such actions, and simply walking down the side of a mountain half sunk into the rock doesn't do a lot for immersion.
Possible Solution: Let's motion capture some people! Call up Rockstar, see if they know anybody.
The Hair
My least favorite part of playing any open-world Bethesda game is selecting my hair. As demonstrated in my character creation video for Skyrim, this is not an area that Bethesda has shown gobs of improvement in with this latest title. It's getting better, and the higher-quality faces certainly help, but faced with the decision of wearing the hideous polygon hair and a skullcap textured to look like hair, the skullcap wins every time.
Of course you wind up with a helmet before too long. In fact, the Dovahkiin image that's been circulating since the early announcement days encourages players to wear a helmet, so Bethesda is likely aware of the issue.
Possible Solution: Lose the hair selector and just have everyone select a helmet at character creation, or require all prisoners' heads be shaved before transport and incarceration. Yes, even the kitty people.
Loading and Lag
One day there will be an Elder Scrolls game in which I don't have to sit through a loading screen every time I enter a building; I recognize that this is a matter of time and computing power and if I just wait for it it will eventually arrive. It always flummoxes me when I'm exploring a vast open world that stretches for miles in every direction, every inch explorable, yet to enter a thatched roof cottage we've got to kick things into high gear. More of an expectation than a real disappointment, at least Bethesda made some excellent interactive loading screens to help pass the time.
Lag, on the other hand, could probably be avoided. Playing through the Xbox 360 version my travels have been intermittently interrupted by brief pauses, during which I assume the next part of the world is trying to load behind-the-scenes, but fails. A brief pause now and then while travelling isn't incredibly bothersome, but coupled with the lag I've been experiencing opening up the game's nifty new cross menu — enough to make me worry the game might have locked up on me — then yes, I'm somewhat disappointed. The problem doesn't happen all the time — I suspect it's tied to caching — but it's there.
Possible Solution: The magical consoles of the future, pixel grease.
The Combat
Here lies my biggest Skyrim disappointment. I'm given a vast, gorgeous realm to explore, decked out in realistically designed armor and weapons, and pitted against lifelike creatures from mundane to horrific. What happens next should be the ringing of steel, the crumpling of armor under powerful blows; a deadly dance performed by the deadliest of foes. What actually happens is a great deal of flailing. One button controls the item or spell in your left hand, another handles the right. This works fine for spell casters, but for melee players? Not so much.
As advanced and gorgeous as Bethesda's game engine is, it's not a miracle worker. Building a truly satisfying first-person melee and magic battle system is a monumental task. If the game were purely a PC monster it would be one thing; a mouse does wonders for directional sword strikes.
Then again, both consoles playing host to Skyrim have devices capable of adding extra depth to combat. I can't fault Bethesda for not supporting technology that wasn't around when they started developing the game, but maybe next time?
Possible Solution: Skyrim Special Kinect Edition; Dragonborn Heroes on the Move
The Dragons
Massive. Threatening. The darkness spreading across Skyrim is the shadows cast by dragon wings. These vile creatures are at the very heart of the game's conflict, and provide the greatest challenge ever faced in the history of The Elder Scrolls.
Unless you hide behind a rock. They hate that. It confuses them so much that once they're done breathing fire they'll sit, bewildered, giving you the opening you need to attack.
Now I've only fought a handful of dragons in the game so far, but those I have faced were only impressive graphically. I should have been terrified for my life. I should have gotten the impression that I was facing insurmountable odds, but I do not. It's the nature of the beast, you see. Thanks to the combat system (see above) there really isn't any way to make a fight with a dragon as dynamic and entertaining as it should be. It reduces what could have been some truly epic encounters into rounds of 'Can I thwack it yet? Okay, I thwack it now.' Attacking the flying dragon with magic and arrows makes me feel as if I were fighting more dynamically, but really I'm just speeding up the process a little.
My lovely domestic partner put the whole dragon thing into perspective after watching me play for several hours. She observed that while fighting a dragon, I was calm and reserved. When facing off against the Snowy Saber Cat in the clip here, I screamed, ran, and nearly peed myself.
Possible Solution: The Elder Scrolls VI: Snowy Saber Catborn
Now before we start with the "Hey, he's hating on Skyrim! Burn him!", this isn't about hate. It's just a means of pointing out that as good as this game is, the next one could be even better. Can you imagine?
You can contact Michael Fahey, the author of this post, at fahey@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
I'll never forget the only time I hit one out of the park, a 1-0 fastball that arrived letters high on a March afternoon in 1991, my senior year of high school. At the time all my efforts were directed at two objectives: Hitting a home run and consolidating my position with a junior cheerleader named Brandi.
Never would I meet a baseball with more force or a smoother swing. I timed the pitch perfectly and it exploded off my bat. There was no rattle, no painful sting in my hands, just a pure transfer of energy, with zero resistance. The shot arced majestically, like a fireworks volley, high over the helplessly backpedaling center fielder. It cleared a rope boundary and rattled around in the metal football grandstands beyond. And it was, according to a ground rule, a double.
Forgive my nostalgic ramblings, but the home run is, like high school sex was, undiscovered country to me, marked by crotch-aching near misses and hat-throwing technical disqualifications. And that's how I feel at the end of this tease of an experience called Flick Home Run, available now on iOS devices.
Like my misadventures with Brandi, I have absolutely no clue what the hell is required of me here. Ostensibly, this is a contest to drive a fat pitch over the wall. Even if I was capable of doing that every time with a casual swipe of my finger, I doubt the game would open up before me like a dewy flower. Even how many swings I get and what constitutes ultimate failure eludes me.
Perfect example, the game I literally just played. I hit eight balls completely out of the park, one for a total distance of 884 feet, my most prolific showing since Fahey, damn him, suggested I pick up this title. None of that was good enough to advance past "Step Four." Somehow, in other mindless pursuits, I've managed to get to Step Five. Want to make it out of the minors? You need to hit Step Fifteen. That's to get past stage one of your career.
A home run derby is about hitting home runs, and hitting one should keep the game going, period.
How I get there, I have no idea. The instructions read like they were translated from Chinese. As near as I can tell, you get some BS meter across the top of the screen that either fills or drains depending on the quality of your hit. Longer hits replenish the meter more. Strikeouts drain it. Run the meter out completely and you're done. Sounds fair enough.
Yet there's not enough of a bonus for hitting home runs. I've hit a dozen monster drives in a single session and crapped out by "Step Three." I've also kept the meter steady by whacking warning track flies. I've pounded 800 foot home runs over apartment buildings and parking lots and seen my life meter fill less than a 290-foot line out. Most egregiously, on my supposed final pitch (marked by a drum roll) I've twice whacked balls for a 600-foot bombs that cleared the scoreboard and still saw the game end. I don't know what the hell this is, but a home run derby is about hitting home runs, and hitting one should keep the game going, period.
You can advance your power or contact ratings at any time if you're willing to cough up the buck to whomever coded this ripoff, but the whole thing is so inscrutably opaque I no longer care. Flick Home Run seems, like my abortive attempts to derive the meaning of Brandi's panties, an exercise in getting me to spend money I don't have. And like my non-home run 20 years ago, it's also a game played by secret rules that undermine all sense of accomplishment.
Brandi, I'm still available. You can reach me at owen@kotaku.com or on Twitter, or check it out, I even have a Facebook fan page! Or you can call my Mom and Dad, they still have the same phone number. I'll be home around Thanksgiving.
When you think about it, there's always been a rhythm to stealth video games. The start-stop-start of hiding, moving and hiding again. Darting in and out enemies' fields of vision. If you move out of time, then the whole sequence gets messed up, just like playing a song. Or a music game.
The smart lads at Simogo probably realized this, and have melded the stealth and rhythm genres together for their next iOS game, Beat Sneak Bandit. I really enjoyed their last iDevice title Bumpy Road for its jazzy, heartfelt cuteness. Beat Sneak Bandit looks like it's trading in cute for mischievous and that sounds like a swap I can live with. You'll be able to tap your way into thievery early next year.
You can contact Evan Narcisse, the author of this post, at evan@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
More than 6.5 million people bought copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in North America and the United Kingdom in the first 24 hours of its release pulling in more than $400 million, Activision said today.
That makes it one of the largest entertainment launch in history, with sales of more than $400 million. That's an impressively big number, one that approaches the biggest opening weekend for a movie of all time. That record is held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Its reported $483 million take includes the entire world and two days, not just one, so there's a very good chance that Modern Warfare 3's worldwide end up breaking that record too.
Modern Warfare 3's impressive sales topples last year's record-breaking release of Call of Duty: Black Ops, which managed to sell 5.6 million copies the day it went on sale. That means Black Ops sold $360 million worth of copies in its first 24 hours of release in North America and the U.K. That compared to the $310 million that Modern Warfare 2 pulled in two years ago by selling 4.7 million copies.
"We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. "Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings," two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time."
Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing added, "Call of Duty is more than a game. It's become a major part of the pop cultural landscape. It is a game that core enthusiasts love, but that also consistently draws new people into the medium. It is the most intense, adrenaline pumping entertainment experience anywhere. I would like to thank our incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games for making a brilliant game. But most of all, I would like to thank our millions of passionate fans worldwide. We made this game for you."
Activision also announced today that they donated $3 million to their Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit, public benefit corporation that seeks to provide job placement and training for veterans. This latest donation will be added to the $2 million that Activision has already donated to the Endowment, which has provided more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships to veterans' organizations across the country since it was conceived by Bobby Kotick in November of 2009.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the Madden of this generation, a video game that manages to soak up so much money, attention and time that it transcends the medium.
But just because everyone else is buying Infinity Ward's latest military shooter doesn't mean you should, right? More »
Among many of those who like to label themselves as a "gamer", there is no franchise more reviled than Call of Duty. The merest mention of its name sends people flying to post anonymous comments blasting the game as the very model of everything that's wrong with video games today.
Take a look at... More »
You can contact Brian Crecente, the author of this post, at brian@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
Today Valve told us that their cloud-based Steam service has been compromised, and that users' personal information and credit card information could be at risk.
Here are some common questions we've been getting, and the best answers we can provide given what we know. More »
A message sent just now from Valve Corporation head Gabe Newell says credit card numbers and other personal information were inside a database compromised during a defacement attack on the Steam forums this Sunday.
Valve is advising all of its Steam customers to keep close eye on their credit card... More »
While the scope of the Steam Hack remains to be seen, for millions of gamers its early developments-indeed, even Valve's early statements-match those of this spring's notorious PlayStation Network outage, which may provide a guidepost for what is to come.
Earlier today, Valve confirmed... More »
We already know there are a lot of things to eat in Skyrim. Also, we know that there are a lot of different characters. People in inns, in castles, in shops…
You can put food in barrels. More »
Among many of those who like to label themselves as a "gamer", there is no franchise more reviled than Call of Duty. The merest mention of its name sends people flying to post anonymous comments blasting the game as the very model of everything that's wrong with video games today.
Take a look at... More »
There is a new Zelda game out for the Wii, a massive adventure for Link that begins in a village suspended in the clouds. The Wii is getting old and the Zelda series is even older. More »
Earlier this year, Obsidian and Square Enix released Dungeon Siege III. The game had a big reveal trailer involving a raven flying towards the camera then exploding into a bunch of other ravens.
Fast forward to November, and the debut trailer for the new Snow White movie is shown. More »
Last month, a surprisingly large-scale hacking attack went down on Xbox Live, all centred around EA Sports' FIFA 11 and FIFA 12. Microsoft today acknowledged the intrusions, but is adamant they weren't the result of hacks.
Microsoft's online safety director Doug Park has told Eurogamer "It's not a... More »
The PS Vita does not use UMDs. Instead, it uses cartridges and digital downloads. The UMD is going extinct, putting current PSP owners in a bind should they want to play their PSP titles on the Vita. More »
Like its predecessor, Black Ops, don't assume that because Modern Warfare 3 is a game starring explosions and ruined buildings that it doesn't have gorgeous concept art.
Because like its predecessor, its art is moody, vibrant and, most surprising of all, colourful.
These images are all the work of... More »
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It's Game of the Year season. You know what that means. All the AAA games that you've been waiting for are jockeying to break into your saving account. It also means that various commentators and outlets on the video game medium—Kotaku, included—are stumbling over themselves to add even more hype to games like Arkham City, Skyrim and Uncharted 3.
Happy Friday Kotaku! There's a lovely weekend just off the horizon, so full steam ahead through our last work or school day for the week.
