Kotaku

Sunday Comics: Dead Island [Funnies]

Owen Good — Sun, 27 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week's best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. More »

Shoppin' Cats and Dogs: The Winners [Kotaku 'shop Contest]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 19:00:00 EDT

Pancake, the Borderlands 2 loot dog, and a cat dressed in Journey cosplay, were the brave animal subjects of our mad photoshop laboratory last week. No doggies or kitties were hurt during this production, but we sure did have a lot of fun putting them in weird poses. We've got 20 winners inside, including Pan_1da7! More »

Shitbird Comes Home to Roost After Blip Fest's First Day [Video]

Matt Hawkins — Sat, 26 May 2012 18:00:00 EDT

Blip Fest 2K12 is officially in effect. As previously noted, we'll have a nice and meaty rundown once the dust has settled. But for those who have not purchased their tickets yet, or simply cannot attend for whatever reason, here's a small sampling of how night one shaped up. More »

See a Sleek Sly Cooper Slink Around on the PS Vita [Video]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 17:00:00 EDT

Last week, Sanzaru Games, the maker of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time said the game would also release on the PlayStation Vita at the same time it arrives for the PS3. This video from the PlayStation Blog sheds more light on what that will mean. More »

Square Enix's American Boss Calls Activision "Crazy" for Dumping True Crime: Hong Kong [Sleeping Dogs]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:00:00 EDT

Publishing executives say complimentary stuff about their upcoming games all of the time. So what. But there's an unusual history with Sleeping Dogs, which Square Enix will release Aug. 14—it was formerly known as True Crime: Hong Kong until Activision washed its hands of the franchise in the Feb. 2011 bloodbath that killed off Guitar Hero. More »

From Those Who Brought You the MineCon Proposal, Here's the Minecraft Wedding [Video]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 15:00:00 EDT

Remember the Minecraft-playing couple who got engaged at MineCon back in November? Well, yes, they have now been lawfully wed and kissed and no man put asunder and all that goes along with the big day—including an outstanding Minecraft-themed throwdown for the reception. Chickens, sheep, a creeper, everything. More »

This Hitman Racing Suit is Either the Most Ridiculous or the Most Brilliant Thing I've Seen [Hitman]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 14:00:00 EDT

We've featured Joey Logano, the driver who races the No. 20 GameStop Toyota in NASCAR's Nationwide Series, several times before. He's had some awesome car wraps before, hoods dedicated to Bioshock 2 or Red Dead Redemption—things that still look a little strange turning left at 120 mph. More »

Bogus Canabalt HD Hits App Store Just In Time to Scam Off Indie Mega-Sale [Ifraud]

Evan Narcisse — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:22:47 EDT

You may have heard that Canabalt's on sale this weekend as part of the Because We May sale. But if you see something called Canabalt HD on the App Store, don't buy it. It's a fake. More »

The Wii U will Get the Best-Looking Version of Aliens: Colonial Marines, Says Gearbox [Wii U]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:00:00 EDT

Nintendo has yet to release the official hardware specifications for the Wii U, and it's something Gearbox's Brian Burleson, senior producer on Aliens: Colonial Marines, won't discuss directly. But, he said to Eurogamer, the Wii U will get the best-looking version of the game because it has "more modern tech." More »

The Best Videos of the Week [Video]

Matt Toder — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:30:00 EDT

Have you heard that video is a big thing over at Gawker Media? It's true, we watch and post a lot of videos each week. Here are some of the best videos of week, culled from an array of Gawker Media sites.
More »

This is What a 'Supernatural Assassin' Does in Dishonored [Dishonored]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:00:00 EDT

If you're not up to speed on what Bethesda's Dishonored is all about, two things should fill you in nicely. One is Stephen Totilo's "18 Things You Should Know About Dishonored." And the other is that image at right, of a guy leaping off a rooftop and stabbing a dude in the neck. More »

This Week in the Business: 'The Reputation Activision has Acquired is Unfair' [GamesIndustry International]

Steve Peterson — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT

What's happened in the business of video games this past week ... More »

Memorial Deals [The Moneysaver]

Owen Good — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT

While generally not a big week for new releases, Memorial Day in the United States is a sales holiday for video games as much as it is for mattresses, hardware, refrigerators and everything else. There are more than 75 savings, discounts and bonuses below. Grab a beer and a hot dog and take a look! More »

The Best of Kotaku, This Week [Kotaku Round-up]

Tina Amini — Sat, 26 May 2012 06:00:00 EDT

I've featured deviantART user wazzy88 here on Kotaku before. But, being a huge fan of Wall-E, I couldn't help but feature his Pokéball work again. Wazzy88 has plenty of other half Pokémon, half other nerdy things that I also enjoy up on his deviantART page that you should check out. More »

I Don't Know What the Hell is Going on With These Guys, But I Like it [Fine Art]

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 26 May 2012 02:00:00 EDT

Chinese artist Xi Zhang works for online gaming powerhouse Tencent. He's been in the video game business for nearly ten years now. More »

Choose Your Own (Goofy) Max Payne Video Adventure [Video]

Kirk Hamilton — Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Max Payne 3 does a lot of things right—from the relentless, blood-soaked gunplay to HEALTH's astonishing soundtrack. More »

Here's a New Gameplay Trailer for the New Tomb Raider [Tomb Raider]

Evan Narcisse — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:15:00 EDT

It's only a teaser for a full trailer but this video on Game Trailers TV offers a glimpse of what Crystal Dynamics' reboot of Tomb Raider is going to look like. More »

There's a Long Weekend Coming Up. What Are You Gonna Play? [Open Thread]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:00 EDT

Hey there, Kotaku. I don't know if you're as excited about the long weekend as I am, but if you are, you must be really excited. More »

Get Out of Our Real World, Video Game Characters, You Look Too Good [Art]

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 25 May 2012 22:00:00 EDT

Artist Jamie Sneddon's 8-bitscapes is a collection of prints showing video game characters let loose in the real world, taking over locations like Cologne, Hong Kong and Manhattan. More »

Even If No One Listens, Let the Review Bombs Fall [Something Negative]

Owen Good — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:00:00 EDT

It's easy to sit back and scoff at "review bombing," as we saw last week when Blizzard released a broken Diablo III. Flooding Amazon to give zero stars to something others have called a perfect 10, sure, that's not a legitimate review. And people staging a sit-in aren't there to legitimately patronize a public accommodation, either. But a sit-in is a legitimate form of protest. And I think a review bomb is, too. More »

Curt Schilling's Big Huge 38 Studios Debacle [Guest Editorial]

Kevin Dent — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:30:00 EDT

For me, this week was great. The iOS title I am working on, Foodie Truck, is coming along great. The FPS that I am working on, ReKoil—Sorry, Adam—is also looking really amazing; both teams are killing it. More »

Microsoft Responds to Xbox Live "Jacking" Report [Update]

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:00:00 EDT

Microsoft has responded to our earlier report of Xbox Live accounts being "jacked" via the "social engineering" of support staff. Head to the bottom of the original report to get up to speed. More »

Touch-Screen Graffiti Controls Come With Jet Set Radio PS Vita Release [Jet Set Radio]

Owen Good — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:30:00 EDT

Jet Set Radio is also returning on the PlayStation Vita, Sega said today, bringing touch-screen controls and camera integration to to the beloved Dreamcast hit that's also releasing for the PS3, 360 and the PC. More »

It's Almost Time to Preorder This Amazing $400 Mass Effect 3 M-3 Predator Pistol Replica [Mass Effect]

Mike Fahey — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:00:00 EDT

Triforce, the creators of many fine video game replica weapons, are getting ready to arm 600 lucky customers with scale replicas of the M-3 Predator Pistol from Mass Effect 3. More »

Blizzard Celebrates Diablo III's Success With An Insane Amount of Champagne [Blizzard]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:30:00 EDT

Less than two weeks from its launch, Blizzard's Diablo III is already a financial success (despite the fact that they might not be totally clear on how to measure it). More »

If He Doesn't Win Re-Election, President Obama Can Always Coach the Dallas Mavericks [Nba 2k]

Owen Good — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:00:00 EDT

Or the Chicago Bulls. Or Golden State Warriors. Or any team in NBA 2K12's Association or My Player modes, as Reddit user soadfan09 discovered today. More »

Assembling the LEGO Avengers [Avengers]

Mike Fahey — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:00:00 EDT

With the phenomenal success of the Avengers still vibrating in the world's collective consciousness, the folks at LEGO sent a set of Avengers-themed LEGO Marvel Super Heroes bricks my way. So I spent several hours putting together a stop-motion video of the assembly of Earth's mightiest minifigs. More »

Get a Whole Bunch of Classics for Cheap in the Big Honkin’ Mother of All Indie Game Sales [Video]

Evan Narcisse — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:30:00 EDT

Indie game developers get it: people don't have a lot of money these days. And while they'd love to sell their creations at full price, it's given that a lower-priced offering will get people to try games like Canabalt or World of Goo out and come back to try out even more titles. More »

Who Knew That a Halo Beatdown Could Be So Danceable? [Video]

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:00:00 EDT

"Video game remixes" are becoming quite the thing these days—not to be confused with video game soundtrack remixes, video game remixes are when a musician takes the sound effects of a game and combines them into something musical. More »

For One Night Only, a Game You Need to Get Drunk to Play [Video]

Evan Narcisse — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:30:00 EDT

Video games took over New York University last week and a whole bunch of people got drunk to celebrate. Well, that's not entirely accurate. NYU's Game Center held its third annual No Quarter exhibition last week, a yearly event where they showcase work that they commission from inventive game designers. More »

Gears, Gods, And Giant Robots: A Look Back At One Of The Best RPGs Ever [Random Encounters]

Jason Schreier — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:00 EDT

The other day on Twitter, fellow Kotaku writer Kate Cox mentioned she had just finished Xenogears, Square's classic PlayStation role-playing game. Since Xenogears is one of my favorite games, a classic up there with the best RPGs ever, I bugged her roughly 19283493849284924 times to come chat about her experiences for Random Encounters. Eventually she said yes. More »

Taking Comment of the Week Submissions [Comment Of The Week]

Tina Amini — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:30:00 EDT

Well I bet you weren't expecting this one, were you? Last week I made a bold attempt at simplifying the comment of the week submissions for Best of Kotaku. It was a great idea, spurred by you guys. More »

GameStop Says They Won't Mess With Your Game Informer Subscription After All [UPDATE 3] [Game Informer]

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:00:00 EDT

Earlier this week a person claiming to work for mega gaming chain GameStop posted a warning on Reddit to all prospective shoppers: if you sign up for a Game Informer subscription while you're at the shop, you will be signed up for a digital subscription, not for the print magazine—unless you ask. More »

Demon’s Souls Servers Will Stay Alive Indefinitely [Blip]

Evan Narcisse — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:45:00 EDT

It looked like next week was going to be the last hurrah for the online component of Demon's Souls. But publisher Atlus has announced that they're going to be keeping the servers online for their hit PS3 hit for as long as they can. More »

My PC Dropped Dead, but at Least I Rescued My Mass Effect Saves [PC]

Kate Cox — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:00 EDT

I love my desktop PC. I'm a PC gamer through and through, and my current computer, which is the machine I also use every day for work, is one I built for myself in 2010. I dust it out regularly, am careful with my file management, and have mastered the art of putting the mouse away at night so the cat can't chew through its wire again. More »

Plant Fruits, Vegetables, and Rows of the Undead on Your Zombie Farm [Video]

Kate Cox — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:04 EDT

By sheer chance, one of my best friends and I were booked for the same flight from DC to Boston just before PAX East. We met up in the airport and had a while to relax over coffee before boarding. She couldn't stop playing with her iPad. More »

People Are Playing Diablo III In All Sorts Of Places Now [Video]

Tina Amini — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:01 EDT

In your basement, cuddled up next to your cat, on a mountain, and now on a tablet. More »

Friday Watch This, Play This [Watch This Play This]

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:00 EDT

Watch This: People Are Playing Diablo III In All Sorts Of Places Now

Play This: Plant Fruits, Vegetables, and Rows of the Undead on Your Zombie Farm

Don't be a Sparkly Vampire, be a Badass Vampire Instead [Video]

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:30:00 EDT

You don't often see vampires reduced to using submachine guns, but then, that appears to be the premise - at least in this trailer - for Dark, a shooter due on PC and 360 next year. More »