Evan Narcisse

​The Xbox One Improves a Little Bit More Next Month

Microsoft’s newest console just got a significant update a few weeks ago, changing a whole bunch of stuff in the process. Next month’s update won’t be quite as wide-ranging but it still adds tweaks that people have been asking for. April’s Xbox One update gets detailed on the console’s news site, bringing news about improved…

Walmart’s Finally Doing a Pre-Owned Game Trade-In Program

Next week, you’ll be able to take your old games to Walmart and trade them in. You’ll get credit for them—good for buying socks, giant liters of soda or cat food—but you won’t be getting cash. 3,100 stores across the U.S. will be kicking off the new trade-in program, Walmart announced in a conference call…

Why New Video Games Still Cost $60

Call of Duty vs. Battlefield. Disney Infinity vs. Skylanders. Every year, intense marketing battles happen over which games will dominate certain categories. Why don’t publishers like EA or Activision do what marketplace competitors do in other areas do and simply undercut the price? The long answer is complicated and a little bit shady. The short…

Former THQ Boss Dishes On The Games They Left Behind

The company that used to publish the blockbuster Company of Heroes and Metro franchises imploded in rapid and spectacular fashion in late 2012, getting its assets sold off in early 2013. Some of its holdings, like the WWE and Saints Row games, found homes. But the fate of other members of the former THQ family…

Trippy game gets trippy, interactive trailer. Metrico—which charmed the heck out of me when I saw it at PAX Prime last year—offers a small glimpse at the gameplay and design sensibilities inside its infographic, puzzle-heavy world. There’s a bit more about the upcoming Vita release at the official PlayStation blog

You want a game set in a New York City analogue to be made by actual New Yorkers, don’t you? Then go lend your efforts to the final few hours of the Kickstarter campaign for Treachery in Beatdown City. The latest development video captures a bit of how Shawn Alexander Allen and his colleagues are…

Hyper Light Drifter Is the Latest Stylish Indie Heading to PS4 and Vita

It’s getting so that you can’t keep track of them all. Fez, Galak-Z, Pavilion… those are just a few of the buzzed-about games (or proven successes in the case of Fez) that are announced as coming to PlayStation platforms over the few months. Now, Hyper Light Drifter—the sharp-looking action RPG being made by Heart Machine—joins…

​Life in Grand Theft Auto Sure Is Hell for NPCs

You live in a big, crazy metropolis. You’re going down the street for groceries or to meet some friends for a drink. Then a dude runs down the street, yanks an old lady out of her car and starts shooting stuff up. This keeps happening. All the time. What the hell?! One character in a…

Leaked Images Show What Could Be Amazon’s Video Game Controller

The rumors about Amazon’s entry into the game console/set-top box gained a ton of credibility this morning, as shots of a gamepad bearing the online giant’s logo hit the web. Seen on The Verge, the images come from Anatel, a regulatory division of the Brazilian government analogous to the FCC in the U.S. With a…

​New Crazy Taxi Game Doesn’t Seem Nearly Crazy Enough

Sega’s just announced a new Crazy Taxi game. For mobile. Now what do you think that’s going to look like? If you guessed something that looks a whole lot like an infinite runner, then congratulations. This ride’s on us. Crazy Taxi: City Rush will be hitting the App Store and Google Play later this year…

The Guy Looking To Expose Online Gaming’s Worst Jerks

The guy recording racist and sexist crap in online multiplayer matches know he’s going to stop doing it soon. “I really only play one game these days; [Call of Duty:]Ghosts on Xbox Live,” he says. “I am a pretty nasty FIFA player but I really don’t want to invest any more money or time into…

Thralled—the chilling indie game about a runaway slave who’s also a mother—has found a home on Ouya. Lead developer Miguel Oliveira tells Kotaku that Thralled will be an exclusive in exchange for the console company’s support and that he expects a release later this year.

The HD upgrade for Mirror of Fate—which originally came out for the 3DS— will be getting an upcoming Steam release later this month. The second game in Castlevania‘s Lords of Shadow offshoot precedes for the just released Lords of Shadow 2

​Let Nintendo Characters Show You What’s Cool About the Wii U

It’s been a struggle for Nintendo to sell the Wii U. People got confused about it early on. And there’s been some difficulty communicating just what’s cool about Nintendo’s latest console to the average consumer. So why not have Mario show the nice people what Wii U can do? The Wii U doesn’t have the…

How Weird is Your Video Game Store? Not This Weird.

Most times, when you go to a game store, it’s likely to the blandest of interactions. Jingle that doorbell, chat up the people working there, trade some stuff in and make a purchase. But, all in all, you might not know the people in the store really well. After watching this indie film, you might…

You want a whole pirate kingdom on your phone, don’t you? Seabeard—a new sailing/action/strategy game from the folks who made Rolando and Okabu—is going to give you just that. Let’s hope that funky music is in the final game!

​Smash Bros Comes Back to the World’s Biggest Fighting Game Tournament

A while back, Nintendo’s homegrown fighting franchise wasn’t showing up on the list of games that would be featured at Evo 2014, this year’s edition of the world-renown fighting game tournament. Wasn’t on the rolls for Major League Gaming’s Anaheim championship event, either. But, now, months after fans protested the absence of Mario, Star Fox…

​Meet The Assholes Ruining Online Gaming

You can hear terrible prejudices bubble up when you’re playing a Killzone, Call of Duty or Halo match online. This stuff is bad when you’re in the heat of a tense deathmatch showdown, trying to just have fun and win. It’s even worse away from the game. The Bigot Gamer collects all sorts of overheated…

Wacky Titanfall News Report Has Halo, Call of Duty Shooting Each Other

Look, we can’t say that Next Media Animation’s segment on today’s hot release actually, y’know, makes sense, as far what the moving images signify. But it’s fun to watch. And, hey, it’s Francis! Think he knows he’s in this? The best part of NMA’s take on Titanfall has to be its terrible approximation of the…

Looking good, Fastest Man Alive. After the quickest of glimpses more than two weeks ago, here’s a better look at the Flash suit that Grant Gustin will be wearing in the upcoming TV show. It definitely reads as more superhero than most of the outfits on Arrow.