Jason Schreier

Yes, Technical Details Are Important In Video Games

In the world of video game enthusiasts, there are a significant number of people who care a great deal about graphics and resolutions. This group sometimes comes across as obsessive, almost rabid about their hobby, to the point where a couple of vague tweets and rumors can trigger a scandal, or a -Gate. Take ResolutionGate,…

The Elder Scrolls Online Has A Sick Cast

Bethesda is going all-out for this one: they just revealed the voice cast for The Elder Scrolls Online, and it’s packed with acting talent from the likes of John Cleese, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Alfred Molina, and more. You can watch the video above to hear from the voice actors that will be…

Eight Minutes Of Orc Assassination In The Newest LOTR Game

If you woke up craving new footage from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the newest game in Tolkien’s iconic fantasy world, then you crave weird things. But also, you’re in luck: via GameSpot, here’s eight new minutes of footage from Shadow of Mordor, filled with orc-stomping and orc-slashing and orc-murdering. We don’t know when this one’s…

IndieStatik founder Josh Mattingly has stepped down from his position “for the immediate future” following his apology earlier this week for sending crude sexual comments to a female game developer

Watch The First Three Minutes Of The Last of Us: Left Behind

Hope you haven’t unhooked your PS3 yet; 2013’s Kotaku Game of the Year is getting a new story on February 14, and you can watch the cinematic intro here. (Don’t worry—it’s not as traumatizing as the first few minutes of The Last of Us.) I am totally ready to dive back into the world of…

Tracking Down The Odd Rumors About Nintendo’s Next Console

Here at Kotaku, we love insider info. We like getting information both from random tipsters and our own sources. And because of those people—to whom we grant anonymity in our reporting—we’re able to tell you storiesyou might not otherwise know about, and give you all the details about games like Titanfalland Alien: Isolation before they’re…

Sketchy Xbox One YouTube Promo Plan Now Requires Full Disclosure [UPDATE]

Yesterday, video network Machinima took a whole lot of heat for a cash-for-coverage plan that allowed their members to make extra money in exchange for making videos about the Xbox One. YouTubers picked to participate in the promotion could make an extra $3 per 1,000 views on every video covering Microsoft’s newest console. A few…

‘Pregnant Sims Can No Longer Brawl’ And Other Amazing Sims Patch Notes

If you are not yet familiar with the world of Sims patch notes, please allow us to make your day. Over the past few years, EA’s ridiculous simulation game has been chock full of ridiculous bugs, and rather than ruin them by paraphrasing, I’ve rounded up the best ones right here, all taken verbatim from…

StarCraft II‘s Custom Maps Are Now Totally Free For Everyone

StarCraft II just took one large step closer to free-to-play. Patch 2.1, the latest update for Blizzard’s real-time strategy game, expands StarCraft II‘s free Starter Edition to three races and opens up all custom games to absolutely anyone. So if someone uses StarCraft II‘s map editor to make the next DOTA—which itself was originally a…

Sony Says They’re Looking Into Save-Erasing PS4 Error

Sony says they’re investigating a glitch that seems to be deleting save files on PlayStation 4s, although it’s unclear just how widespread the error is. The “ce-34878-0” bug, which players have been reporting on the European PlayStation forums for the past couple of months, appears to be one of the really bad ones—players are saying…

The New Donkey Kong Country Sure Looks Delightful

The folks at Retro Studios might not yet be making the Metroid game everyone wants them to make, but their next release sure looks great. This new batch of videos from the folks at GameXplain shows off some of the new levels, easter eggs, and characters—Rambi!—from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which is out on…

Reporter Apologizes For Crude Sexual Comments To Female Game Developer

Reporter Josh Mattingly has apologized for making “inappropriate” comments to a female game developer after they were made public earlier today, saying he was drunk. Earlier this afternoon, game designer Laralyn McWilliams posted a blurred Facebook conversation from January 18 in which a male reporter asked a female game developer—a friend of McWilliams—about an unannounced…

Sketchy Promo Plan Pays YouTubers For Positive Xbox One Coverage

A new Machinima promotion offers YouTubers cash in exchange for positive coverage of the Xbox One, opening up a whole host of questions about journalistic ethics in the world of YouTube personalities. It started on Saturday, when word leaked on NeoGAF that the video group Machinima had sent out e-mails to their clients offering cash…

13 GB Dead Rising 3 Patch Raises Questions About Gaming’s Future

There’s a 13-gigabyte update live for Dead Rising 3 today, and if you think that seems kind of big, well, that’s because it’s kind of big. This is one of the biggest patches in video game history—our previous definition of “big patch” usually clocked in at 500mb or a gigabyte—and it’s designed to both fix…

Major Glitch Makes Final Fantasy VI Unbeatable On Android

The Android version of Final Fantasy VI isn’t just ugly—it’s got a massive, game-breaking glitch, too. Warning: This post contains spoilers. Yes, this is a 20-year-old game, but hey, we’re trying to be nice. The glitch occurs about halfway through the game, during the fight between Kefka and General Leo in Thamasa. Kefka is supposed…

Fan Writes 400-Page Blueprint To ‘Fix’ Mass Effect 3

Some Mass Effect fans protested the trilogy’s conclusion with cupcakes; others used Internet petitions. Gerry Pugliese was a little more ambitious. The self-proclaimed “huge Mass Effect fan” wrote a 400-page script that he calls “a fan revision, and blueprint, for fixing Mass Effect 3.” Called Mass Effect 3: Vindication, the script is full of new…

Things We Do In Games That Are Creepy As Hell In Real Life

Our friends at Buzzfeed made this funny video about the ridiculous things we do in games, and you should watch it. Not that there’s anything really wrong with sneaking around in a box and listening to your friends’ conversations. It just sounds worse than it actually is. Right? Right?

The One Series Square Enix Really Needs To Revive

If you asked a bunch of RPG fans what franchises they’d like to see come back from the dead, you’d get a lot of answers, because there’s nothing RPG fans like more than making lists of games they enjoyed when they were younger. Granted, there are also a lot of dead RPGs. Gaming’s past is…

Nintendo 3DS Was Top-Selling System Of 2013, Because It Is Awesome

With 11.5 million units sold, the Nintendo 3DS came in as top-selling video game system of 2013 in the United States, which is awesome, because it is awesome. Back in February, I wrote that the 3DS had swooped in out of nowhere to become the best gaming device you can buy. And thanks to a…

Why You Could Have To Pay More For Online Gaming Soon

Live in the United States? Enjoy being able to stream and browse the Internet to your cold little heart’s content? Don’t want your Internet costs to go up? It’s time to start thinking about what could be one of this generation’s biggest issues for gamers: net neutrality. Forget microtransactions and DLC nonsense: thanks to a…