Mike Fahey

The New Star Trek Game Is Great at Fan Service, Bad At Being Fun

Weaving Star Trek characters from all different eras and realities into one galaxy-spanning game is a wonderful thing. Wrapping that concept around a twisted mass of free-to-play mechanics and bugs is not. In these days of Star Wars fever, I proudly identify as a Star Trek fan. I’ve watched every episode of each television series,…

The Director’s Commentary Is The Real Hero Of The Deadly Tower Of Monsters

I was going to record commentary for my play through of Ace Team’s action-packed love letter to terrible ‘70s science fiction movies, but The Deadly Tower of Monsters brought its own, and it makes the game. The newly-released hack-and-slash adventure is filtered through VHS artifacts and studded with the tropes that defined just about every…

Movement In Blade & Soul Is Extremely Cool

Martial arts MMORPG Blade & Soul launched in North America and Europe today, bringing with it one of the most gut-wrenchingly awesome movement systems I’ve ever experienced in the genre. Hold on to your stomachs, kids. You may have seen this before—Blade & Soul has been out in Asian countries since its 2012 launch in…

The Star Wars Game I’ve Played Every Day For Three Months Straight

This is Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. It’s a game I called “another f**king mobile Star Wars card game” when it was announced. A game I called “not bad . . . not great, either” at launch. A game that’s been part of my daily routine since mid-October. EA introduced Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes…

The Best Character Creation Tool, Now Available Without Its Game

Enough reading about Black Desert Online’s amazing character creation tool—it’s time to play with it. Ahead of next month’s second closed beta test, Daum Games has released a standalone version of its character creation tools you can download for free. PC gamers can just hit up the Black Desert Online character creation tool download page,…

Pop Works’ Salted Caramel & Fudge And Cookies & Cream Popcorn: The Snacktaku Review

A cornerstone of snack culture, popcorn is a light and fluffy snack that’s relatively harmless to eat by the handful. At least until a company like Pop Works & Co. starts putting delicious stuff all over it. Popcorn is a wondrous snack. It begins as a small kernel with a watertight outer shell and starchy…

The Week In Games: Now We’re Cooking, 2016

It’s nice to see a nice, beefy list of weekly releases again, even if most of it consists of Sony going crazy with the digital downloads. Sony went a bit overboard this week, making up for time lost over the holiday break with some 17 or so releases between its three active platforms. I’d shake…

Garden Warfare 2‘s Coolest New Addition Is The Bit Between Battles

The console beta for Popcap’s Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is live this weekend, giving players a tiny taste of the new maps and modes in next month’s shooter sequel. My favorite part so far? The free-roaming playground that’s replaced the first game’s menus. The original Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is pretty great.…

Fallout 4‘s Commonwealth Versus A 20,000 Strong Robot Army

Youtube’s Cosmic Contrarian spent upwards of 120 hours planning, recording and implementing this spectacular Fallout 4 battle, in which a 20,000 strong Synth/Assaultron robot army march on the Commonwealth. Then things blow up. A lot. The first four minutes of the epic 24 minute video are shots of robots marching, which would annoy me if…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: A Rift In Your Bank Account: Winners!

The $600 Oculus Rift is a pricey piece of equipment at launch, but it could be worse. Much, much worse, as our Photoshop-friendly community demonstrates in the winning entries from last week’s ‘shop contest. Good old Hundredgunner slapped a Rift on the head of former asshole pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli (clearly the name of a…

Sunday Comics: It’s Not Like Anyone’s Getting Hurt

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomicsl. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Guest comic published January 16. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published January 11. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry…

Supreme Court To Hear Microsoft’s Appeal Of Xbox 360 Disc Scratching Lawsuit

Way back in 2007 lawyers gathered together a group of gamers angry with Microsoft over scratched Xbox 360 discs to form a class action lawsuit. Nine years later the Supreme Court is preparing to hear Microsoft’s plea to have the case dismissed for a second time. Along with the infamous red ring of death, early…

Lightning isn’t the only gaming icon getting her fake fashion interview on. Well-played, VentureBeat.

Who’s Your Favorite Video Game Dragon?

According to theofficial calendar of shady holidays, today is Appreciate a Dragon Day, the one day a year when we can all stop, picture a dragon in our heads and nod appreciatively. Which video game dragon do you appreciate the most? I’ll never forget my first video game dragon. Sure, he looked a bit like…

Superman Might Be Just A Tiny Bit Racist

At least the version of Superman in this comedy short from Gasm Media, who needs to work on his victim identification skills. Sure people don’t generally get mugged outside of business parks with other people just meters away, but aside from that this is the sort of scene that plays out every day in the…

The Dramatic Opening Moments Of Blade & Soul

Wildly popular Korean fantasy MMOBlade & Soul finally launches in North America and Europe this Tuesday. Check out the thrilling opening sequence players in the early head start are experiencing over and over right now. Rather than speak over the action, I went ahead and recorded the opening sequence of the game without commentary, as…

TMNT: Mutants In Manhattan Screens Leak, Because Of Course They Do

Add cel=shaded screenshots to the Australian rating, achievements and cover art for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants In Manhattan. The still unannounced gamehas leaked so much I’m beginning to suspect Activision is trying out a new viral marketing technique. Perhaps last year’s pre-E3 leak of Transformers: Devastation worked out so well that somewhere behind-the-scenes there’s…

Iron Man Figure Is Actually Iron (Well, Close Enough)

Plastic Iron Man figures are all well and good, but its hard to maintain the illusion of metal armor when your toy is light as a feather. Weighing in at four pounds, Comicave’s Iron Man Mark XXXVIII Igor figure is pretty heavy metal. Courtesy of my friends at Bluefin Distribution, bringers of all things amazing…

Unravel Dev Shows Us How To Make Our Own Little Yarn Friend

One of the best moments of E3 2015 was watching Coldwood Interactive’s Martin Sahlin take the stage during EA’s presser, nervously gripping the hero ofUnravel. Now Sahlin’s released a video showing us how to make our very own Yarny. Its a simple process, really. All you need is some wire, some yarn, scissors, maybe a…

Louis Vuitton Interview With Final Fantasy‘s Lightning Should Be Canon

Many fans were surprised when Final Fantasy XIII’s pink-haired heroinetraded in her Firaga in favor of being a fashion model. In a completely made-up interview given exclusively to UK’s Telegraph, Lightning reveals how significantly pricey clothing has changed her life. Fans called Lightning modeling purses and other items designed by Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas…