Kotaku Australia

Nolan North, The Man In Every Video Game Ever Made, Is Now In Star Trek

Mark Serrels — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:15:45 +1000

I can’t remember the last time I played a game that didn’t feature Nolan North’s ‘everyman’ tones. With his invasion of video games complete, he’s now moving on to blockbuster movies, featuring in JJ Abram’s Star Trek 2. Apparently Abrams and his son are massive fans of Uncharted, and that’s why he got the part. “I just worked on Star ...

While You Were Sleeping

Mark Serrels — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:00:51 +1000

Argh, I forgot my contact lenses today! I’m blind as well as tired! I guess I’ll be typing up your video game news five inches from the screen for nine hours today. Hurray! Oh, breaking news! Remember that time we told everyone that Bungie’s new game was called Destiny, and everyone called us big stupid fat liars? Man, well that evidence continues to accumulate. New info gleaned ...

Talk Amongst Yourselves

Mark Serrels — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:30:31 +1000

This is where Kotaku readers go to talk about the stuff we’re not already posting about. Think of it as the official unofficial Kotaku community forum. ...

Help Me Kotaku! You’re My Only Hope

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:00:09 +1000

Remember that Xbox competition? The one where Microsoft is sending someone overseas to cover E3? It’s called the ‘Xbox Insider’ competition and, believe it or not, one of our regular Kotaku commenters — Hermes and Thoth — is in the running! He’s made it to the final five and I thought, ‘why not help the guy out by posting his entry on the site, and encoura ...

JB Hi-Fi Comments On Its Decision To Sell Imported Games In-Store

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:30:05 +1000

Recently JB Hi-Fi has decided to bypass local distributors and sell a selected range of imported video games in-store at reduced prices. We spoke to Scott Browning, Marketing Director at JB about the decision, who confirmed that JB Hi-Fi has gone down the parallel imports route, and explained some of the reasons why. “I can confirm that JB Hi-Fi has recently began to source some titles direc ...

ScribbleTaku

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:00:48 +1000

Yes, you guys are ridiculous. Friday’s ScribbleTaku was Horace Goes Skiing. Well done to everyone that got it. Today’s might be a bit more challenging, mostly because this is easily the worst drawing I’ve done so far… I’m so sorry. I tried to extend myself, but drawing this in 30 seconds was near impossible… Good luck everyone! ScribbleTaku is Kotak ...

Community Review: Diablo III

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:00:20 +1000

This week’s Community Review couldn’t really have been anything else, could it? Well, I guess it could have been Max Payne 3, but nah… not when there’s been so much drama and controversy with Diablo III and the game’s multiple server issues. By this time I’m hoping most of you guys have gotten a chance to play — early thoughts? I’ve spent mo ...

This Week In Games

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:00:50 +1000

This week in games… in can’t hope to top last week in games, given that Diablo III and Max Payne 3 were released but, you know what? It has a fairly decent crack at it, especially considering we’re in May, not November! Dragon’s Dogma might end up being a real surprise for RPG dwellers and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier — it’s a new entry into a heavyweigh ...

CD Projekt Red: DRM ‘Absolutely Does Not Work’

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:45:39 +1000

Each and every time someone at CD Projekt Red discusses piracy, it seems as though they talk sense. After experimenting with DRM and other methods, CD Projeckt Red has completely abandoned use of DRM in any form. Now, speaking to Forbes, they’ve reiterated their stance: DRM “absolutely does not work”. First of all let me dispel the myth about DRM protecting anything. The truth is ...

JB Hi-Fi Now Selling Parallel Imports In Store

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:15:56 +1000

Plenty of major retailers have sold parallel imports in-store: GameTraders did it to get a headstart on local release dates, EB have sold imported games, and troubled retailer GAME has also sold imported games as ‘pre-owned’. Now JB Hi-Fi is getting involved, but its scheme is a little different… Not only is JB Hi-Fi selling imported games in-store, unlike other retailers, itR ...

While You Were Sleeping

Mark Serrels — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:00:41 +1000

Bloody hell, I was all snug in my bed this morning when the fire alarm in my building went off! While I was sleeping some punk kids thought it would be funny to make everyone have to stand outside in the freezing cold in their boxer shorts. Anyway, video game stuff, let’s get to it! Probably the biggest news of the weekend was this: the leaked pics of the updated Wii U controller. To be perf ...

Quality Counts: Why Getting The Gaming Media’s Attention Is Only Half The Battle

Logan Booker — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:30:09 +1000

It’s great and all getting the games media to pay attention to your indie title, enough so they’ll dedicate a couple of kilobytes of database data to pass the news to their readers, but I feel that’s only part of the journey. Someone’s writing about your game, that’s awesome, but what if the readers don’t engage with that news? Is it the writer’s fault? Is ...

Developer Leaks Photo Of Updated Wii U Controller. Check Out Them Sticks!

Logan Booker — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:30:56 +1000

The image here, which popped up on Twitter not long ago but has now — unsurprisingly — vanished from the internet, shows what looks like, at first glance, a tablet controller for Nintendo’s Wii U. Except it’s not quite the same as the promo shots and preview devices we’ve seen. For one thing, it has real-proper analogue thumb sticks, instead of the flat, nub-like ones ...

This Is How You Make Retro Video Game Characters Even More Retro

Logan Booker — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:30:44 +1000

Time for your yearly dose of video game art from feudal Japan. What, you’ve never seen Megaman, Link and Samus drawn as woodblock prints? Well, let’s do something about that. These neat pieces were crafted by artist Jed Henry, for no particular reason other than to show off (among other things) Metroid‘s Samus in samurai armour. Megaman looks like some sort of robot mon ...

Community Kudos

Mark Serrels — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:00:33 +1000

It’s been a rough ol’ week for Markie (yes, I’m talking in the third person now…). I’ve been sick as a dog, so I’m looking forward to resting up over the weekend. But before that I have one more honour to bestow upon a single person in our glorious little group of Kotaku buddies! Welcome to Community Kudos! Kotaku buddies? You guys like that? Cute right! We̵ ...

Aussie Nintendo Store: Origins in Dream Land

Daniel Vuckovic — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:00:41 +1000

Well there’s no sign of VVVVVV yet on the eShop even though the game got classified the day it was meant to come out. So let’s move passed that and get onto the games that we do actually have this week. Some of them are good, one of them is a demo. That means freebies! 3DS Virtual Console Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (Game Boy, Nintendo, $6.00AU) The Kirby’s Dream Land titles are b ...

ScribbleTaku

Mark Serrels — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:00:48 +1000

So yesterday’s ScribbleTaku — a little more difficult than Randy Pitchford’s effort, but still totally gettable. Yes, you were all correct — it was Bubble Bobble! Today’s? Well I’m doing my first ScribbleTaku for a while, and I’ve tried to make it a little more difficult… ScribbleTaku is Kotaku’s newest lunchtime game. We give ourselves 30 seco ...

What Are You Playing This Weekend

Mark Serrels — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:00:12 +1000

Hey everyone! Where my Trials peeps at? (*Crickets*) Ah you’re all playing Diablo III and/or Max Payne 3… It’s understandable, I get it. Actually, I’ll probably be trying to blast through some of Max Payne 3 myself, having played the first couple of hours and thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve seen/played. The writing is pretty solid, I love the way the game moves fluidly b ...

Max Payne 3: The Australian Reviews

Mark Serrels — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:45:09 +1000

How ye goin’ cobber? I reckon since the bloody yanks have their own collection of reviews, it’s only fair dinkum that we do a wrap up of Australian reviews? You reckon? Okay. Enough of that. Writing like an Aussie is exhausting. Point being every time we have a big release, I’m going to collect some of the Australian reviews for you guys to check out. We’re going to kick th ...

Yep, I’m Excited About Halo 4 Again

Mark Serrels — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:15:37 +1000

Well, it took a while, but I think I’m finally ready to be excited about Halo again. Don’t get wrong, I’ve loved every single installment of the game with an unhealthy fervour, but their was something about Halo 4 that just didn’t um, ‘float my boat’… whatever that means. This video — from Walmart’s Game Center of all places — has finally ...