• Uncategorized

  NPD Instant Analysis: Things You Should Note

  Do not ignore the downloadables like Shadow Complex. Do not gloat about Activision’s rare misfortune. And do find a hope for Scribblenauts. Here’s some of my monthly instant analysis for all those NPD August hardware and software sales figures McWhertor just posted. Study them and then consider the following as viable talking points when you’re…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Madden Tops Charts Again, But Sales Plummet On PS2, Wii

  Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello had a right to be discouraged by sales of the latest Madden NFL football game from EA Sports. While it managed to be August’s bestselling game in the U.S., sales were definitely down. Madden NFL 10 leads the NPD Group‘s top ten with 928,000 units sold on the Xbox 360.…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  NPD: PS3 Sales Gain Ground On Price Drop, Nintendo DS Still Tops

  August video game hardware sales were, like most of 2009, down from the previous year. But at least PlayStation 3 sales were up considerably from the month prior, selling almost twice the amount thanks to a mid-month price drop. According to the NPD Group, Sony sold 210,000 PlayStation 3s in the U.S. last month. With…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  PlayStation Store Update: Turtles & Takei

  Ever since Sony got serious about adding PSone Classics to the North American PlayStation Store, the weekly updates to the service have been pretty solid. With Silent Hill and Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain hitting today, we’re issuing another “solid.” There’s a lot to play with this week, including the remake TMNT: Turtles in Time…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Pirate Bay Buyers Banned From Stock Exchange

  Swedish stock market AktieTorget has banned potential Pirate Bay purchasers Global Gaming Factory X from offering stock, after determining that the company misled investors regarding their ability to buy the popular torrent site. We’ve been following the Pirate Bay sale saga rather closely since the sale was announced this June, with Global Gaming Factory declaring…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Sony Looking Into PS3 Firmware “Concerns”

  PlayStation 3 firmware 3.0 brought with it many changes, some of them good and some of them being the Friends List update. Rarely can people universally agree on something, but it appears that everyone hates those Friends List changes. Fortunately, sounds like Sony’s listening to those complaints. Amidst the usual kvetching about cosmetic and functional…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  EA Boss Does Not Seem Pleased With Madden 10 Sales

  This year’s sales of Madden NFL football may not be living up to Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello’s expectations. He calls sales of Madden NFL 10 “discouraging,” indicating they’re down from the previous year’s. According to an internal communication intercepted by Bloomberg, Riccitiello appears disappointed that “one of our highest-rated and best-marketed ‘Madden’ titles in…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  The Misadventures Of P.B. Winterbottom Preview: Me, Myself And Pie

  It is fitting that we ran a post-mortem item on The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom in 2008, but now in 2009 are ready to run a preview for it. The game warps perception and might hurt your brain. What Is It? The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is an Xbox Live Arcade puzzle game originally created…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Will Be Playable At TGS

  Heading to this year’s Tokyo Game Show? Cool, then you’ll be able to play Kojima Productions‘ latest PSP effort, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker courtesy of a publicly playable demo. Oh, and bring your PSP if you’re coming. Because it looks like Konami will be offering demo kiosks for attendees as well as making the…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Deliberate Glitch Foils Arkham PC Pirates

  A deliberate glitch in the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum has pirates perplexed to the point of accidentally outing themselves on the official Eidos forums. Cheshirec_the_cat posted a thread on September 4th in the official Eidos forums for Batman: Arkham Asylum, requesting help with a peculiar problem with the PC version of the game.…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  The Secret World Revealed: Factions, Progression, And PVP

  At PAX 2009 this past weekend, Kotaku sat down with Funcom to delve into the secrets behind The Secret World, learning about the societies, Cabals, and PVP combat in the upcoming modern-day MMO. I met with Funcom creative director Ragnar Tørnquist and The Secret World’s lead designer Martin H Bruusgaard on Friday afternoon at the…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Another Riddler Clue?

  Kotaku reader Matt Shafeek spotted something in downtown Seattle that reminds him of Batman: Arkham Asylum but resisted adding it to his inventory screen.

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Activision: Courtney Love Signed Cobain Contract for Guitar Hero 5 UPDATE

  In the wake of Courtney Love’s bombastic vitriol over the appearance of her late husband in Guitar Hero 5, Activision tells Kotaku that she was the one who signed the agreement for the deal. “Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Is Frank West In Tatsunoko VS. Capcom?

  Some sloppy web design may have revealed the final four characters for the North American version of Capcom’s Tatsunoko VS. Capcom, and one of them has covered wars, ya know? Shoryuken forum poster Mumu was poking about the source code for the Tatsunoko VS. Capcom character site when he noticed something strange in the HTML.…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Washington Health Department Concerned But Not Tracking PAX Flu

  With the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 Swine Flu coming out of last week’s Penny Arcade Expo nearing 100, the Washington State Department of Health told Kotaku that they are concerned, but not actively tracking the cases. “We are always concerned, but we’re not tracking individual cases,” said Gordon MacCracken, with the health department’s…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  New PS3 Helps Gundam Rocket To Top Of Japanese Game Charts

  Thanks to a spike in Japanese PlayStation 3 sales, the platform claims the top spot in this week’s Media Create software sales chart with Mobile Suit Gundam Senki Record U.C. 0081, one of two new PS3 games to chart highly. The other is Sega’s 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de, a PS3 game we’re unlikely to…

  By Michael McWhertor Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Clash Of Ninja Revolution 3 Got Moves

  Naruto is all about the Jutsu, and Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 for the Wii has Jutsu to spare, to go along with the extremely long name. Here are the signature Jutsu for key characters Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, names I’ve become all too familiar with during my tenure at Kotaku. I’ve gone…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Halo 3: ODST Campaign Impressions: The Tension Bungie Built

  The Kotaku visit to Bungie headquarters last week wasn’t all about lobby tours and police imbroglios. It was an opportunity to finally play Halo 3: ODST’s campaign. Skip the money arguments for a moment. This one feels different. ODST is the dark Halo. Even though it puts players in the boots of a cast of…

  By Stephen Totilo Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Samurai Armor and Helmets To Invade Tokyo Game Show

  With the Tokyo Game Show kicking off in just two weeks, the organizers are starting to fill us in on some of the neat things that will be on display: Like ancient Japanese warlord armor. The Game Science Museum, which will exhibit game technologies, histories, and trends, will be set up this year in three…

  By Brian Crecente Published September 10, 2009
• Uncategorized

  Mad Catz Modern Warfare 2 Range In Pictures

  If you thought Mad Catz line of Modern Warfare 2 accessories sounded impressive in print, wait until you see them in pictures. Here we get our first look at the Mad Catz Modern Warfare 2 lineup. First announced last month, it consists of custom controllers for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, that lovely Cyborg…

  By Mike Fahey Published September 10, 2009