And you can watch it right here.
It's missing characters like Beorn, and entire sections of the story like the trolls, but you can still catch the gist. Well, sort of. If you speak Russian.
The project was unlicensed by Tolkien's estate, and its full name in English was "The Fairytale Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit".
The Hobbit (1985 television film) [Tolkien Gateway, via Laughing Squid]
The images you're about to see are the work of Bruno Gauthier Leblanc, an Ubisoft artist who we've previously featured for his contributions on Splinter Cell: Conviction.
Today, though, we're looking at things a little more tropical in nature. Namely, his work on Far Cry 3.
As you can see, many of these designs made it through to the final game with nary an alteration. And in case you missed it during the game, you can also get a good look at Jason Brody's face. Just in case you didn't think he was smarmy enough already.
You can see more of Bruno's work at his personal site (thanks CAW!)
Despite the ease of Steam and the comfort of my couch, I still own physical copies of both Vice City and San Andreas on PC. Why? Because of the maps.
It's long been a tradition with Rockstar's open world games, right through to GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption, to include physical maps of the game world, something older gamers appreciate in an era of on-disc manuals and guides.
Recognising, though, that in 2012 a lot of people are getting their games digitally, and thus missing out on that stuff, Rockstar has made available image files for the three PS2-era GTA games, complete with their fake ads.
Sadly, they're one-sided, meaning you're missing out on the amazing Vice City poster you got on the reverse, but hey, they're free, try not to complain.
Download High Res Maps for GTA Trilogy Titles [Rockstar]
This isn't an exquisite 3D render of Corvo's mask from Dishonored. It's an actual mask, put together by the team at Technically Magic Effects.
Sadly, it's not available to buy—it's a one-off made for a competition—but that only makes it that much more of alluring.
The accuracy is a result of the source material: developers Arkane shared the actual 3D models used for the mask in the game, meaning that, technically, this is no different to Corvo's actual mask.
Except you can actually touch this one.
Corvo, DISHONORED [Technically Magic Effects, via The Omega Nerd]
It's not just those who have worked at Blizzard for 5, 10 or 20 years that get awesome presents. A lot of other people do as well.
The statue you see was the company's "2012 Holiday Employee Gift", something only those on Blizzard's payroll were eligible to receive. Sculpted by Blizzard's Brian Fay, the same man behind Sideshow's impressive Diablo statue, it depicts one of Diablo III's treasure goblins.
While the statue itself is terrific (this is the original for the mould), it's the base that should get Fay an extra round of applause, because he had to do it the hard way. Made to resemble a mountain of coins, this base sculpt is actually made of over 1300 metal rings that had to be stuck together then, to complete the effect, filled in. Individually. By hand.
[thanks Nathan!]
The internet-famous Nintendo 64 kid is about as perfect a summary of Christmas morning excitement you can get. For a more contemporary take, though, here's AJ opening his Wii U yesterday morning.
What he lacks in blood-curdling terror he makes up for with heart-warming affection. Seriously, that's maybe the longest hug I've ever seen.
Wii U Causes NERVOUS BREAKDOWN!!! [YouTube, thanks GiantBoyDetective!]
For years it slumbered in darkness, deep within the earth. An Old God, maybe even the First God, its hibernation marked by rattling breaths reverberating in the deep like cinderblocks dragged across wet asphalt. Sleeping… resting. One day to wake.
And in the year 2012, the day of awakening arrived, and the great PC Gaming God rose from the depths and wreaked terrible destruction across the world of console gaming.
Yes, 2012 was likely the year we'll think back on as The Year The PC Returned. While of course, PC gaming never "went anywhere," not really, there was a definite sense that it got backburnered for a few years there. No longer.
It's possible to put together a good gaming PC for cheaper than ever. Indie developers have fled the restrictive clutches of consoles and found a welcome home on Steam. The modding scene has created game after game after fascinating, fun game. Classic games have gotten easier to play than ever, thanks to services like GOG.com, and the sorts of PC adventure and role-playing games we grew up with have been granted a second wind thanks to Kickstarter. Steam has become living-room friendly, and most developers have cottoned to the fact that they can do well by creating superior PC versions of their games. Kotaku launched a regular series called "PC Gaming Lives," which eventually began to feel unnecessary, since PC gaming wasn't just alive, it was thriving. I started playing an MMO, and actually enjoyed myself.
And so in the sprit of the year that was, let's look back at the many stories that shaped the re-ascension of PC Gaming.
Kotaku boss Stephen Totilo returned to his PC gaming roots after a long absence, and chronicled the reasons for his return. More »
Mike reminisced about his first gaming PC in a story that resonated with more than a couple of us. More »
Was Windows 8 a threat to PC gaming? Lots of game-makers seemed to think so back in March. More »
Several months later, after using it for a bit, Kate Cox agreed: No thanks, Windows 8. More »
2012 was also the year that Skyrim modding hit its stride, and I became a bit obsessed with making the game look as good as computationally possible.More »
...Though not as obsessed as THIS guy, who, months later, got the game looking better than ever. My god, that grass. I want to go roll around in it. More »
Legend of Grimrock was another standout PC-only game, and a welcome throwback to the dungeon-crawlers of yore. More »
Two PC versions of console games showed two different ways to do things. Thankfully, Sleeping Dogs' great PC version became the standard for the year, while Darksiders II's shoddy port was something of an anomaly. More »
Defense of the Ancients was certainly one of the biggest deals in PC gaming in 2012. Jason went to the Dota 2international tournament in Seattle and reported back. More »
FTL was another standout PC game of 2012. Have you played FTL yet? Play FTL. More »
Kate discussed how if you play your cards right, a PC is actually an inexpensive way to play games. More »
ArenaNet's lovely MMO Guild Wars 2 was one of the notable big-budget success stories on the PC this year. More »
Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Old Republic sat somewhere further down the scale, lacking that revolutionary spark to make it a must-play and eventually going free-to play. More »
Meanwhile, funcom's The Secret World sat somewhere in the middle, an odd duck of a game that charmed with its Lovecraftian story but could be overly obtuse and perplexing, too. It didn't find huge success, but it's hard not to be glad it exists. More »
Evan loved Thomas Was Alone, the kind of weird indie thing that only turns up on PC. More »
Somewhat unexpectedly, Valve launched a new "Big Picture Mode" for Steam, which was one of those things we didn't know we wanted until we had it. It also gave rise to a lot of speculation about Valve taking on living-room consoles more directly. More »
After everyone spent the better part of the year speculating about Valve's possible involvement in making living-room hardware (née the "Steam Box"), Gabe Newell confirmed to Jason that Valve will indeed be exploring hardware to put into living rooms around the world. More »
Played in 1080p on an HDTV, the PC version of Borderlands 2 feels like playing a game on the console of the future. More »
Of course, DayZ was perhaps the most exciting PC phenomenon of the year. But of all the stories that came out of the game, this one, a live-tweet of an abduction, was perhaps the most indicative of just how different DayZ was. More »
Rather than link to every mod individually here, I'll just link to Luke's recent "Best Mods of 2012" roundup post, and say you should check those out. More »
Both of Ubisoft's big fall games were better on PC, particularly Far Cry 3. But their Steam-alike platform Uplay is kind of a disaster. More »
It seems appropriate to end on this one: After a few months of getting into the swing of things, Stephen's ready to say it: His PC is his next-gen console. More »
This Wednesday edition of Kotaku's The Moneysaver catches all the offers, promotions and bargains that can't wait until the weekend. The Midweek Moneysaver is brought to you by Dealzon.
• This week Toys 'R' Us has a "Buy 1, Get 1 40% Off" sale on 349 games for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, and Wii U. The sale includes about 16 Wii U titles. [Dealzon]
Amazon continues their Digital Holiday Deals with more strong titles like Battlefield 3 Premium Edition, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and several giant Sega collection bundles. All titles below get you a $5 credit for 2012 Editor's Choice games, redeemable in January 2013. Here are the individual titles.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is $47.99. Digital Deluxe Edition is $63.99
• Battlefield 3 Premium Edition is $29.99 (list price is $60)
• Mass Effect Trilogy is $29.99 (list $60)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is $29.99 (list $60)
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted is $19.99 (list $49.99)
• Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is $17.99 (list $40)
• Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War Platinum is $14.99 (list $30)
• Saints Row: The Third is $9.99 (list $40)
• LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is $7.49 (next best $20)
• LEGO Lord of the Rings is $7.49 (next best $15)
• Batman Arkham City Game of the Year Edition is $7.50 (next best $30)
• Scribblenauts Unlimited is $7.49 (next best $30)
• Blades of Time is $6.24 (next best $7, normally $30)
• Dead Island Game of the Year Edition is $5.99 (next best $20)
• F.E.A.R. 3 is $4.99 (next best $6)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 is $4.99 (next best $23)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is $4.99 (list $20)
• Batman Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition is $4.99 (next best $20)
• LEGO Batman is $4.99 (list $20)
• The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is $4.99 (next best $10)
• Bastion is $3.74 (list $15)
• F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin is $3.74 (list $15)
• Starvoid is $2.49 (next best $5)
• Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection is $2.49 (next best $5)
• F.E.A.R Ultimate Shooter Edition is $2.49 (list $10)
• Dynasty of Dusk is $1.99 (list $3)
Amazon digital bundles:
• Sonic Action Pack is $24.76 (separately $115)
• Total War Bundle + Viking + TW Battles is $21.73 (separately $145)
• Dungeon Siege Bundle is $19.99 (separately $90)
• Sega Action Only Pack is $19.93 (separately $96)
• The Harry Batman Pack is $13.99 (normally $17)
• Sega Arcade Collection is $13.78 (separately $60)
• WB Combat Bundle is $9.99 (separately $50)
• F.E.A.R Ultimate Bundle is $9.99 (separately $45)
• Spore Ultimate Digital Collection: Spore, Spore Galactic Adventures and Spore Creepy and Cute Parts Expansion Pack is $7.49 (separately $30)
• AirMech Starter Pack is $4.99 (normally $10)
• Dreamcast Pack is $4.99 (separately $46)
• SEGA Genesis Classic Game Pack is $4.87 (separately $38)
Green Man Gaming has a 30% off coupon GMG30-DPLIM-DN831 which stacks with some games with instant savings discounts. Many of the titles below lowest ever prices.
• Football Manager 2013 is $14 (next best $40).
• ArmA 2: Combined Operations is $12.60 (next best $18).
• The Book of Unwritten Tales is $7 (list $20)
• NiGHTS into Dreams HD is $7 (next best $10)
• Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is $6.30 (list $15)
• Alan Wake Collector's Edition is $6.12 (next best $17)
• Worms Revolution is $5.25 (list $15)
• Devil May Cry 4 is $4.76 (list $20)
• Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD is $3.50 (next best $5)
• War of the Human Tanks is $3.50 (list $10)
• The First Templar is $3.50 (next best $8)
• InMomentum is $3.48 (next best $10)
• Saints Row 2 is $3.15 (next best $7)
• Super Meat Boy is $2.63 (list $15)
• Anna is $1.75 (next best $9)
• Tiny & Big: Grandpa's Leftovers is $1.75 (list $10)
Best Buy has several recently released top console games at $39.99 with free shipping (or free store pick-up if your local Best Buy has them in stock). Most titles match their previous lowest prices.
• Halo 4 (360) is $39.99 (next best $50)
• Madden NFL 13 (PS3, 360) is $39.99 (next best $50)
• Hitman: Absolution (PS3, 360) is $39.99 (next best $53)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (360, PS3) is $39.99 (next best $55)
• Mass Effect Trilogy (360, PS3) is $39.99 (next best $59)
• Assassin's Creed 3 (PS3, 360) is $39.99 (next best $50)
Gamefly has a Year End Sale on used video games. There is a giant list of titles across multiple platforms, some of the best listed below. The sale ends January 3, 2013.
• Dirt Showdown (360) is $19.99 (next best $40)
• London 2012 (PS3) is $17.99 (next best $51)
• NBA Baller Beats (360 Kinect) Pre-owned is $14.99 (next best $40)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360) is $12.99 (next best $27)
• Blades of Time (PS3) is $9.99 (next best $19)
• Heavy Fire: Afghanistan (PS3) is $9.99 (next best $20)
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PS3) is $9.99 (next best $20)
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (360) is $8.99 (next best $38)
• Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor (360) is $7.99 (next best $20)
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS) is $19.99 (next best $40)
• Heroes of Ruin (3DS) is $14.99 (next best $30)
• Dishonored (360, PS3) is $39.99, from GameStop. Amazon is price matching at $40 but elsewhere $48 and up. [Dealzon]
• Rocksmith Guitar and Bass (360, PS3) with 1/4" Instrument Cable is $39.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $59. [Dealzon]
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360 Download Card) is $27.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $53. [Dealzon]
• Prototype 2 (360, PS3) is $17.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $38. [Dealzon]
• SSX (360) is $14.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]
• Binary Domain (360) is $14.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $22. [Dealzon]
• Halo: Reach (360 Download Card) is $12.95 from Amazon. Next best is $28. [Dealzon]
• Red Dead Redemption (PS3) is $9.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]
• WWE '12 (360, PS3) is $9.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $28. [Dealzon]
• Dragon Age 2 (360) is $9.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]
• Nintendo Land (Wii U) is $39.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $50. [Dealzon]
• Family Game Night 4: The Game Show (Wii) is $14.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $37. [Dealzon]
• Fortune Street (Wii) is $12.79 from Amazon. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]
• Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS) is $14.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $28. [Dealzon]
• Brave: The Video Game (DS) is $7.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]
• Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken (PC download) is $2.37 from GamersGate. Next best is $5. [Dealzon]
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Augmented Edition (PC download) is $9.99 from GameStop. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC) is $7.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $22. [Dealzon]
• The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition (PC download) is $7.12 from GamersGate. Next best is $12. [Dealzon]
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 (PC) is $6.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $14. [Dealzon]
• Titan Quest Gold Edition (PC download) is $4.74 from GamersGate. List price is $20. [Dealzon]
• Commander: Conquest of the Americas (PC download) is $1.19 from GamersGate. Next best is $4. [Dealzon]
• Apple iTunes $50 Gift Card is $40, free shipping on eBay Deals. [Dealzon]
• Wii U Console 8GB Basic Set with Nintendo Land is $299.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Separately $340. [Dealzon]
• Turtle Beach Ear Force XP300 Wireless Gaming Headset is $99.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $150. [Dealzon]
• Sennheiser X320 Xbox 360 Gaming Headset is $89.95, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $142. [Dealzon]
• Turtle Beach Ear Force X42 Gaming Headset (Refurbished) is $79.99 with $4.99 shipping from 1SaleADay. Cheapest ever by $33. Next best is $110. [Dealzon]
• Turtle Beach Ear Force DPX21 Gaming Headset is $79.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Cheapest ever by $20. Next best is $115. [Dealzon]
• Turtle Beach Ear Force DP11 Gaming Headset is $59.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $83. [Dealzon]
• Logitech G35 Surround Sound Gaming Headset (Refurbished) is $59.99, free shipping from NewEgg. New low by $5. Next best is $95. [Dealzon]
• Lenovo Multimedia Remote Keyboard (compatible with 360, PS3) is $29.99, free shipping from Lenovo. Next best is $49. [Dealzon]
• EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card is $79.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $100. [Dealzon]
• Asus 23-inch VS238H-P 2ms LED Monitor is $119.99 after rebate, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $140. [Dealzon]
• Intel 180GB 520 Series SSD is $129.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Cheapest ever by $35. Next best is $180. [Dealzon]
• Samsung 120GB 840 Series SSD is $93.99, free shipping from Mac Mall. New low by $6. Next best is $100. [Dealzon]
• Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 Ivy Bridge 15.6-inch laptop with Core i7-3630QM, 8GB RAM, GeForce GTX660M, 1080p Full HD, Blu-ray, Windows 8 is $899, free shipping from Lenovo. List price is $1,299.
• Dell Inspiron 660 Ivy Bridge desktop with Core i5-3330s, GeForce GT 620, 2TB HDD, 8GB RAM, Windows 8 is $449.99, free shipping from Dell Home. Normally $650.
As always, smart gamers can find values any day of the week, so if you've run across a deal, share it with us in the comments.
Meet Tweeria. It's one of those web 2.0 social games where your real-world actions translate to in-game stuff. As the name implies, the game takes information from Twitter. Any retweets, favs, even Tweet number and follower count affect things in the game. You're playing it right now if you have a Twitter account, actually. The game barely requires any user-input.
Hence why Tweeria calls itself the 'Laziest MMORPG ever,"
Everytime you tweet, your alter ego finds adventures, kills monsters or gets items. Every tweet you post can change his life. At the time you tweet "Good morning" your character finds a new sword.
So far, pretty eye-roll worthy—people who are 'good at' the game are really just 'good at' Twitter, and the game follows the sleazy trend where companies try to gamify everything and everything.
The Verge has a write-up that further details how you 'play' the game if you're curious. But it's an MMO where you can go on raids with your friends and everything based on Twitter-actions, to give you a general overview.
Mike Sacco, creative developer with the World of Warcraft trading card game, told me that Tweeria is guilty of heavily stealing artwork from the trading card game/World of Warcraft. See the following images, where you can compare what the art for the trading card game and Tweeria look like. Left is TCG, right is Tweeria.
Of his own volition, Sacco decided to email the reps and summarized their response to me:
In response to me pointing out that a lot of their art was stolen, the Tweeria reps told me that since this is a "for-fun" project, they didn't need to worry about anything legally. Later on they posted this blog entry. They've now disabled all user art uploading—at least for "art pieces", but they still allow it for items and spells. Worth noting that the offending images below were uploaded by Tweeria staff, not users.
Tweeria's statement in said blog post:
Tweeria was planned as a small, private, non-commercial and mostly experimental project of twitter-based RPG. Frankly speaking, we did not expect the popularity that we experience now. No wonder, there are some questions on the copyright to artworks we use in the game. Please be assured that we do not want to violate copyright and we greatly respect any kind of art.
The bottom of Tweeria's homepage has the following 'copyright notice:'
Based on World of Warcraft image files and texts. Artworks by Blizzard, Sony Online Entertaiment, Kerem Beyit, Brandon Kitkouski, Tyler Walpole, Derk Venneman, Hee Won Lee.
All rights belong to their authors.
Any legal action would have to go through Blizzard, who is the copyright holder for the World of Warcraft trading card game art.
Studios may close, servers may crash, projects may be canceled and bankruptcies filed, but these are the given in the video games industry. No matter how regrettable, they still won't be the No. 1 heated controversies in any given year for video games.
Here's a look back at the scandals, outrages, foofaraws and kerfuffles that made the past year in games both unlike any other and yet still, somehow, completely typical of the culture we celebrate when it's all said and done.
Dorito-gate involves a gaming show host doing interviews while seated between bags of Doritos and bottles of Mountain Dew; a column about journalists making promotional Tweets to win a free console; an apparent legal threat tied to that column; the columnist quitting over the removal of a quote, and from there, an avalanche of complaints and suspicion about the coziness of the gaming press with the public relations wing of the companies whose games they cover. More »
Anita Sarkeesian wanted to make a web series about how women are portrayed in video games. She asked the world for $6,000. Some of the people who thought that was interesting and worth doing have given her just shy of $159,000.
Some of the people who thought it was not worth doing, have defaced her Wikipedia page, written vile things to her on YouTube and ... well, that's what she already told us about in mid-June. But, wait, there's more. More »
We should have known the conclusion would be trouble. Ending a game like Mass Effect 3 poses a special set of problems, because a central attraction of Western RPGs is that their systems respond to player choice. Mass Effect and its like are the classic case of games that generate stories through collaboration between designer and player. Drawing things to a close, however, requires the hand of the developer to show, often in ways that seem unattractive. More »
After its December release, fans came out criticizing this zombie survival game for misleading advertising, suspicious microtransactions, and forum censorship. Steam removed the game from its marketplace and opened an investigation into the bannings. In the end, it's hardly a surprise The War Z's creator was the lead programmer on Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, commonly regarded as one of the worst video games of all time.More »
The director of upcoming stealth game Hitman: Absolution says the team didn't mean to cause controversy with their most recent trailer, which features protagonist Agent 47 slaughtering his way through a squad of scantily-dressed nuns. In fact, he says the ensuing Internet firestorm caught them all off-guard. More »
Call of Duty has spent four years solidifying its image as a crass chickenhawk brand thanks to some particularly dumb marketing initiatives. But hiring Lt. Col. Oliver North as a spokesman for Black Ops II represents a new low. More »
Jessica Nigri, hired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to portray the protagonist in Lollipop Chainsaw at PAX East, was asked by expo staff to either dress more modestly or keep her movements out of sight of the young kids touring the show floor. It was the first visible test of PAX's "No Booth Babe" policy, developed in consultation with the Penny Arcade community. More »
Phil Fish, the creator of indie hit Fez is known for being Phil Fish. During a Q&A session, a Japanese game developer noted that so many indie games seemed inspired by old Japanese games and asked Fish for an opinion on the country's modern games. According to website Develop, Fish replied, "Your games just suck". More »
At E3, the executive producer of Tomb Raider said Lara Croft's assailants "try to rape her" in one scene, a remark the studio's head later disowned in followup comments to Kotaku. "Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme that we cover in this game," he said. That seemed only to be a starting point for the blowback, not its end. More »
In November, GameSpot pulled a review of Natural Selection 2, citing "several inaccuracies" and apologizing to readers. The review, scored 60/100 and written by a freelancer named Eric Neigher, had been eviscerated by readers and commenters who pointed out a number of mistakes GameSpot ran a re-review by a new writer, who scored the game an 80. But the original review is still on Metacritic. More »
During a promotional TV series for the fighting games Street Fighter and Tekken, competitive fighting gamer Aris Bakhtanians made remarks that said sexism was integral to the culture of the fighting games community, and later asked "What is unacceptable?" about shouting things like "Rape that bitch!" at a match. More »
Back in August, Electronic Arts removed links to gun manufacturers' websites from its Medal of Honor website, where they had been listed in a distasteful promotion for Project Honor, a charity supporting Special Operations veterans and their families. The company also ended a promotion for a special $75 "tomahawk" knife that featured "an extended cutting head." More »
