Kotaku: War

America's Most Lethal Sniper: "War Sucks"

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:30:00 EST

Sniping is a key part of gaming. Whether you're playing Call of Duty or Team Fortress, you're often either being sniped or doing the sniping. It's become such a common game feature that it's easy to forget real people are doing real sniping in the armed forces. Like Chris Kyle. More »

The Problem with War Video Games

Nina Huntemann, Ph.D. — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST

On Monday night I attended a Modern Warfare 3 launch party at a national video game retailer. I was particularly pleased with the diversity of the crowd. I was not the only lady in the house! I spoke with students, an investment banker, a librarian, a building manager, moms, dads, kids, etc. More »

Somewhere Between Predator Drones and Battlefield Have We Lost Sight of the Horrors of War?

Brian Crecente — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:40:00 EDT

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Predator drones and other high-tech weaponry are turning war into video games and making the use of military force a more, perhaps too, palatable option, an Aljazeera op-ed piece argues. More »

The Brutal, Beautiful Video Game Art of Bjorn Hurri

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:00:00 EDT

Bjorn Hurri is an artist who has been working on video games for years now, having lent his skills in some way or another to projects like Dead Space 2, Viking: Battle for Asgard and the last three entries in the Total War series. More »

The Man Behind Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive and Devil's Third Reveals His Favorite Retro Games

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:30:00 EDT

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The creative force previously behind Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series, now on the upcoming Devil's Third, Tomonobu Itagaki, says he has wanted to make games since he was a teenager. He just didn't want to make video games. More »

Osama’s Compound Now a Virtual Commando Training Ground

Spencer Ackerman — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:20:00 EDT

TAMPA, Fla. - To passersby, T.J., a fit 20-something, is running around a red felt carpet about half the size of a basketball court inside a convention center. In his mind, he's wearing a full set of body armor, his face obscured by a ski mask with a death's head silkscreened on it. And he's just dropped a terrorist inside Osama bin Laden's Abbotabad compound. More »

Games Help Soldiers Manage Combat Nightmares

Owen Good — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:30:00 EST

Research that last year suggested gamers had the ability to control their dreams - or fight back in nightmares - has been applied to soldiers who have seen combat duty, and finds that those who game have fewer and less intense nightmares about war. More »

Call Of Duty Is Nothing Like The Real Thing

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:30:00 EST

I've been a long-time advocate of somebody making a war game that plays like an actual war: one where you fight in real battles, not battles from a video game based on an action movie. This is what I mean. More »

A War Game Where Nothing Could Happen

Stephen Totilo — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:00:00 EST

Video game creator Sion Lenton had an idea for one level of his next war video game. The sequence would feature Marines, probably in near-future Tajikistan, on assignment, on patrol. They'd walk around, looking for bad guys. They'd find none. More »

Crisis In Korea Has A Video Game Echo

Stephen Totilo — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:00:00 EST

If war flares again on the Korean peninsula as it threatened to today, there will be far more dire things to worry about than a video game, but the upcoming Homefront will nevertheless feel different. More »

Microsoft: We Are Doubling Down on PC Games

Brian Crecente — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EDT

Exactly a year after rolling out Windows 7 with much fanfare, Microsoft seems to be finally remembering the gamers who help make their platform so popular. More »

Medal of Honor Maker Defends Taliban Renaming, Addresses Free Speech Concerns

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT

The 11th-hour renaming of the playable Taliban fighters as the "Opposing Force" in this month's forthcoming Medal of Honor game is upsetting some gamers who say publisher Electronic Arts isn't standing up for games or free speech. More »

Nazi Zombies, Auschwitz And Uwe Boll

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:00:00 EDT

Uwe Boll, the German filmmaker best known for his film versions of video games, is helming two movies about World War II. Both films were shot back-to-back. One is based on a video game and features zombie Nazis. The other? More »

"That's Not The Way You Play the Game"

Brian Crecente — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT

Long before there were video games about people shooting one another in war, there were wars with people shooting one another. More »

Inevitably, Someone's Mad That You Can Be The Taliban In Medal of Honor

Owen Good — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT

I must be inside the bubble, because the idea of playing as the Taliban in Medal of Honor multiplayer didn't hit me as particularly controversial. Fox News noticed. Though it did treat the subject reasonably, the woman they interviewed doesn't. More »

EA Tried To Make An Iraq War Game?

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EDT

So, EA made a game about the war in Afghanistan. Did you know they also tried to make one about the war in Iraq? More »

Chimpanzees Take Us Beyond Good And Evil

Mike Fahey — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:20:00 EDT

Annexing territory, sending out scouting groups, beating enemies to death, and eating babies. It may sound like a plot to a particularly violent video game, but it's really just chimpanzees, giving us some serious insight into human nature. More »

Shogun 2 Total War: The Difference A Decade Makes

Mike Fahey — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:30:00 EDT

Artists from The Creative Assembly have spent more than a year learning ancient Japanese ink brush and wood block techniques, just to create transition art for Shogun 2: Total War. Imagine the work going into the actual game. More »

Prepare Your Questions About Autobots and Decepticons

Stephen Totilo — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:30:00 EDT

Start rehearsing your nerdiest Transformer questions, because we've got a bona fide Transformers game developer sitting in the guest chair live on Wednesday's Kotaku Talk Radio. Call in and ask them. I'll have mine ready, for sure. More »

Dolphins Answer The Call of Duty In Marine Warfare

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:00:00 EDT

Gamers who fight in the virtual wars of Call of Dutys and Battlefields have piloted multi-million dollar aircraft and tanks, but is there a new opportunity to put them in control of real-world warriors like Viper or Iceman, military-trained dolphins? More »

Why Modern Video Game Armies Lack Female Troops

Stephen Totilo — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:00:11 EST

Women have been serving admirably in warzones for the U.S. military for years. But they're absent from the ranks of modern video game armies. A game developer offered Kotaku a justification of why we virtually fight as men. More »

Games Ban Might Encourage Somali Teens to Shoot Real Guns

Owen Good — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST

Somalia has a ton of problems, but at least it does have cybercafes where kids can enjoy playing games. But a fun-killing Islamist group has ordered them shut down in a ban on games in territories under its control. More »

When Darksiders' Hero Goes Off The Juice (Or A Little War Never Hurt Anyone)

Brian Crecente — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST

War's prop sword from Darksiders, as found in a box mailed to my house and promptly wielded (sorta) by Tristan. Later to be given away at Kotaku's annual fundraiser. More »

Medal of Honor Soldier Evokes Real Afghanistan Warrior

Owen Good — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:00:00 EST

As many have noticed, the title man for the newly announced Medal of Honor is reminiscent of another Afghanistan fighter, the amply bearded "Cowboy" photographed by LIFE in 2002. More »

International Relations And Video Games — An Almost-Interview

AJ Glasser — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:30:00 EDT

For four years, I studied everything about East Asian security dilemmas and conflicts in post-Soviet Russia. What good is my international relations major if I can't inflict it on a game developer? More »

Ride Ruin at Darksiders' PAX Booth This Weekend

Brian Crecente — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EDT

Not content to have gamers just play their game, THQ is bringing a mechanical horse to Penny Arcade Expo to give gamers a chance to experience being one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse. More »

NPR Takes On Six Days In Fallujah

Mike Fahey — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:20:00 EDT

NPR revisits the controversy behind Atomic Games' Six Days in Fallujah once again, presenting a strong argument in favor of the release of the "game-amentary." More »

E3 2009 Preview: These Are The Big Action-Adventures, We Believe

Stephen Totilo — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:10:00 EDT

In just a couple of days, E3 will reveal just about every major game you will be able to play in the next year. For action-adventure (and RPG) fans, these are the big ones expected at the big show: More »

Microsoft's E3 Promises, One Year Later

Stephen Totilo — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:00:11 EDT

Join us in reliving the hype of last year's Microsoft E3 press conference with the know-it-all hindsight of what did and didn't come true. Sorry, Microsoft, but you were not perfect in predicting the future... More »

Making A Game Out Of Today's War

Mike Fahey — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:00:00 EDT

The video game industry was about to get its first major game based on a current military action, only to have publisher Konami pull the plug. What's wrong with releasing a realistic war video game? More »

New Gears 2 Content Striking Retail On All Fronts

Mike Fahey — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Microsoft and Epic Games deliver seven new multiplayer maps to Gears of Wars 2 in July's retail release of the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection, finally answering the question "what is Dark Corners?" More »

Jaffe: Gears of War 2 Versus God of War 3, PS3 Versus Wii

Brian Crecente — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST

Famed Playstation developer David Jaffe may seem like an odd choice for guest developer for our in-game podcast about the Xbox 360's Gears of War 2. More »

Gaza Strife Reflected Poorly In Raid Gaza Flash Game

Mike Fahey — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:40:00 EST

A new flash game up at and flash website Newgrounds might be taking its tongue-in-cheek look at the Israeli-Palestinian fighting along the Gaza Strip a bit too far. More »

Warhammer Online Erects Statues Of Great Players

Stuart Houghton — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST

When asked how he would like to be remembered after his death, comedian Emo Phillips replied "Just by a small family gathering, once a year.. on Emo Phillips Day." More »

Warhammer Online Does Not Heart Gold Farmers

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:30:00 EDT

Mark Jacobs, co-founder of Mythic Entertainment, does not like gold farmers. He will not tolerate them in his game, Warhammer Online. Posting on his blog, Jacobs writes: More »

WoW is a Dirty Word

Maggie Greene — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Most of the Rock, Paper, Shotgun guys recently posted their thoughts on the Warhammer Online closed beta; they were descended upon by WAR supporters (some rabid, some a little more even-tempered) for drawing more comparisons between WoW and WAR. After this little display of MMO chest thumping, Alec Meer put up a thoughtful piece on why it is that WoW has become a dirty word, both in and out of the industry, and why people are so quick to leap to vociferous defense of their games: More »

The Future of Real-Time Strategy Games

Maggie Greene — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:30:35 EST

Gamasutra has an interesting little essay up on the potential future of RTS games - one focused less on total annihilation of the enemy and more on the subtle complexities that are the mark of war in the real world. Unlike a lot of pie-in-the-sky game design articles, this one simply mentions a few aspects that could be tweaked and modified in years to come, with the hopes of providing a more satisfying gaming experience: More »

Fun For Our Troops Sends Gaming Relief

Mike Fahey — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:20:59 EST

While a lot of us are safe at home playing Call of Duty 4 on our game consoles, a sizable portion of the US military is overseas right now living it - but that doesn't mean they aren't gamers. There are tons of video game addicts in the military, and now there's an organization dedicated to getting them their fix. Created by military wife Stephanie Doctor Shea, whose own husband was just redeployed to Iraq, Games For Fun is an organization that plans on raising money to supply our troops with video game goodness. She and partner Dana Blackman Brady believe that the comfort of video games will do our forces a world of good.

"What they really appreciate over there is the true comforts of home," Blackman Brady said. "The stress relief and the escapism involved in these games, we really think could be beneficial."

World In Conflict's Cold War

Mike Fahey — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:00:06 EDT

World In Conflict developers Massive Entertainment is creating a series of behind the scenes vignettes about the upcoming PC RTS game that Crecente and I recently got a chance to suck at. This first one details the setting, which is of course an alternate timeline where instead of the cold war ending, it got hot. Really hot. We're talking Red Dawn hot. The video is worth it for the closing scene alone, which features Seattle being enveloped in a mushroom cloud while Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World plays in the background. Classy! More »

Empire at War Gold Pack Hits Shelves

Mark Wilson — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:40:58 EDT

INTERGALACTIC SAVINGS!! Star Wars: Empire at War is now bundled in a Gold Pack along with the Forces of Corruption expansion! That's two great games, one great box! But that's not all! Because customers who call in the next 5 minutes will also receive the Prima Games hint book ABSOLUTELY FREE!! That's a, I dunno, like ~~$60~~ $600 value!! More »