Scrap Metal Micro-Review: There’s a Difference Between Mindless and Pointless

All it took was seeing one demolition derby to hook me on car combat, but in video games we haven’t seen much in the way of this for awhile. Scrap Metal‘s here, and running unopposed. Is it still a winner? Loved Variety Car-crashin’ Land: In single-player, you get a campaign of eight tracks and more…

Studios Dial Up Dollars From Smartphone Games

There is one bright spot in the flailing videogame industry, and Hollywood already has started taking notice. Last year, while videogame sales were down 11 percent, U.S. mobile game publishers took in about $539 million in sales — up 9.3 percent, according to research firm SNL Kagan. Even more impressive, annual customer spending is likely…

Gears Of War 3 Dated For April 2011 By Edge, Not Epic

Gears Of War developer Epic Games hasn’t dated (or even confirmed) the third game in the stop and pop shooter series, but someone else has, pegging the third entry for an April release in 2011. Now, Edge may not be in an official position to schedule Gears Of War 3, but according to “a trusted…

Wii-Exclusive Samurai Warriors 3 Journeys To America

Tecmo Koei’s Wii-exclusive third entry in the Samurai Warriors series is coming to North America this fall, with Nintendo of America signing on to handle publishing and distribution duties. Nintendo apparently sees something special in the third entry in the Samurai Warriors series, a spinoff of the storied Dynasty Warriors franchise. The game was released…

GDC Imbues Cocksure Codemonkey With False Sense of Coolness

It’s been two days since Jake’s plane from sunny SFO landed in flat OKC, but his friends think the real Jake is still somewhere hiding deep within the halls of the San Francisco Moscone Center. This new Jake is new. He’s lively. He’s cocksure. Like a man after having sex or bowling a turkey, Jake…

Play the Best Bracket this March

Play the SoBe Lifewater™ Zero Inhibitions Bracket Challenge and you could win up to $10,000,000. You could even win a chance to ball with former NBA point guard and current TNT basketball analyst, Kenny “The Jet” Smith. Or perhaps a pillow-fighting with Kendra Wilkinson is more your style? Either way, this is the college basketball…

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Screenshots

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Snoozes Its Way To America

Square Enix is bringing the PSP prequel to its incredibly popular Kingdom Hearts series to North American shores, unsurprisingly, applying a vague “summer” release date to Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. The fifth entry in the Disney-Square Enix crossover series, Birth By Sleep will be armed with a few new additions in its North American…

In This Life-Saving Minesweeper Game, The Mines Are Real

Every year upwards of 20,000 lives are lost in war-torn countries due to unexploded ordinance such as land mines. Can a video game educate children about land mine avoidance where traditional methods have failed? That’s the hope of Corey Bohil, a visiting assistant professor at Michigan State University’s Department of Telecommunication and project lead on…

95% Of What You Knew About The Grinder Is Wrong [Updated With Exclusive Screenshots]

When a Wii-exclusive first-person shooter turns into an Xbox 360 game, it changes. What was first-person and four-player co-op was a top-down four-player shooter on the 360, when Kotaku played it at Game Developer’s Conference last week. The transformation, from “weird Western” FPS to “weird Western” Gauntlet-style game was motivated by development studio High Voltage…

Where’s My F-ing God of War III?

As seen at a Best Buy God of War III midnight launch. Imagur [via Reddit, thanks Yargh]

Sam Fisher Tweets His Quest For Vengeance

With the NSA’s Third Echelon taking the hunt for Sam Fisher to Facebook, the protagonist of Splinter Cell: Conviction turns to the only people he can trust – millions of Twitter users. Yesterday the Third Echelon commandeered a Facebook page, using it to warn the general populace of one Sam Fisher, an armed and dangerous…

Dante’s Inferno: Trials of St. Lucia Preview: Mod of War

In April, you can re-shape hell, or fly through it as a lady. And you can play through it with a friend, as co-op comes to this year’s biggest God of War competitor. A couple of weeks ago, Kotaku got a look at the upcoming downloadable content for Dante’s Inferno, the Trials of St. Lucia.…

How Do You Name Your Pokémon?

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver hit the streets Sunday, and the widespread capture and training of those adorable little fighting machines began anew. With so many Pokémon to capture, how do you tell them apart? By assigning clever nicknames, that’s how. When I played the original Pokémon Red, way back when I was still technically too…

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Shows Its “Spirited Green” Side

The best way to sell a PSP in North America these days may be to anchor it to a game like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, as Sony is doing with the latest PSP “entertainment pack.” Sony and Konami are going co-op on the limited edition Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker PSP Entertainment Pack, featuring…

The Fitness Controllers Are White, Because Black Looked Heavy

Here at Kotaku, we like to ask the tough questions. But sometimes we also like to ask an absurd one. Or maybe it isn’t absurd to ask the producer of EA Sports Active 2.0 why the peripherals for a PlayStation 3 game are white. Because, you know, the PS3 is black. Taarnie Williams, executive producer,…

The Video Game Hero That Makes Chuck Norris Look Lame

Atlus’ “ultimate love letter to retro gamers” 3D Dot Games Heroes features a main character so powerful that dragons consider him a boss fight. Funny, he just looks like a pile of blocks to me. Of course what the hero of 3D Dot Game Heroes looks like is completely up to you. You can either…

Brother In Arms 2 Micro-Review: Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?

From the Pacific jungles to the streets of Europe, Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front battles it out on the iPhone. But that’s not where the real fight is in the game. Brother in Arms 2: Global Front is truly a global title and takes players through the different theaters of World War II, from…

Split/Second Delivers Millions of Ways to Drive and Die

My biggest concern with over-the-top racer Split/Second isn’t with its explosive premise or arcade controls, it’s with how long the game can maintain my interest. I love the idea. In Split/Second your racing takes place as part of a fictional television show, the enormous sound-stage tracks are all rigged with explosives and stunts thmat you…

Tiger Woods Returns With The Masters

A Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 release without an active star is no longer a going concern, with the golfer’s return to active duty at the Masters Tournament next month. Scandalized golfer Tiger Woods got his start at the Masters Tournament in 1997, and that’s where he’ll make his return next month. The legendary golfer,…