Jason Schreier

Phoenix Wright DLC Lets You Defend A Whale Charged With Murder

Okay, yes, Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies isn’t even out in the West yet, so it’s a bit early to talk about DLC, but I mean, a WHALE. Charged with MURDER. Come on. Announced today in Japan, this first downloadable chapter for Dual Destinies tells the story of Phoenix’s first case as an attorney since (spoilers)…

So Call of Duty: Ghosts IS Coming To Wii U

Our long national nightmare is over: the next Call of Duty game is indeed, after all, actually coming to Wii U, despite the debate over whether it may maybe may or may not actually have been coming It’ll be out on November 5. To quote Activision’s bold-filled press release: Call of Duty: Ghosts — Featuring…

One Fan’s Quest To Remake Final Fantasy VII… In 2D

Forget the HD remake: what Final Fantasy VII really needs is a 2D remake. Just ask Lucas Brown, an Australian web developer who is building his very own two-dimensional slice of Square’s classic role-playing game, one sprite at a time. Although he doesn’t plan to re-create every scene in FFVII, Brown says he’s remade the…

Microsoft Shoots Down Rumors Of Kinect-Free Xbox One Bundle

Microsoft has denied rumors that they intend to release an Xbox One bundle without Kinect, telling Kotaku they have “no plans” to do so. Yesterday, the website Inside Gaming Daily reported that Microsoft plans to release a Kinect-free Xbox One bundle next summer, citing “an anonymous source familiar with the matter.” Inside Gaming Daily writes:…

Curious how Earthbound made it to U.S. shores so long ago? In honor of last week’s Wii U re-release, Wired has published an interview with Marcus Lindblom, the guy who helped localize it. Fun fact: Happy Happyists have snowballs on their hats because they looked too much like KKK members.

This Is What It Looks Like When Celebrities Play Wii U

Celebrities: They’re just like us! They have bad hair days. They hate waiting in line at the DMV. And just like us, they stand around looking uncomfortable when they play Wii U at conventions. Nintendo today sent over a bunch of celeb photos from the San Diego Comic Con last weekend, and some of them…

Ex-Eidos Boss Slams Square Enix

Ex-Eidos Montreal boss Stephane D’Astous, who left the studio last Friday, has come out firing shots at his former parent company. Eidos Montreal is the development studio behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the upcoming Thief reboot. Their parent company, Square Enix, develops games both in Japan and in the west under their Eidos branch.…

Final Fantasy IV‘s Most Touching Moment, Re-Created With Beads

On first glance, this photo just looks like a printed image or something. Not too impressive. Then you realize it’s made entirely out of beads, and you’re like, “Holy crap.” Created by the folks at VGPerlers, who craft all sorts of works like this and sell them online, this bead-by-bead recreation of Palom and Porom’s…

This Unofficial Final Fantasy VII Web Series Sure Is Ballsy

You may remember the mock-up trailer that circulated last fall, promising an unofficial Final Fantasy VII fan film. At the time, director Gionata Medeot told me he wasn’t worried about Square Enix’s lawyers stepping in and trying to take it down. Well, today the team launched a Kickstarter to raise $400,000 for the project, which…

Playing Earthbound For The First Time? Tell Us What You Think.

Earthbound is officially out on the Wii U’s virtual console as of last Thursday, and now a whole new generation of gamers gets to experience Nintendo’s quirky role-playing game for the first time. Are you one of those gamers? Are you playing Earthbound for the first time? Post your thoughts, opinions, questions, etc. (Free tip:…

This LEGO Nintendo Could Almost Pass For The Real Thing

We’ve featured LEGO recreations of Nintendo hardware on Kotaku before, but I’ve never seen anything quite this authentic. Built by Flickr user weltall1028, this baby is the splitting image of a real Nintendo Entertainment System, right on down to the little man inside your console who tells the games where to go. More pics below:

If You Liked Pacific Rim, This Is The Video Game For You

Both Pacific Rim games are terrible, by all accounts, which is totally unsurprising yet disappointing nonetheless. You’d think someone would be able to make a decent video game out of giant robots fighting aliens. Don’t worry, though—if you’re into Jaegers and mech and all that jazz, there’s a video game that’s well worth your time:…

The next game from Halfbrick, makers of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja, looks pretty fun! Trailer right here.

The Game of Thrones-Arrested Development Mashup You Have To Watch

A Ron Howard imitator and some clever wordplay just make the horrific events of Game of Thrones season 3 so… entertaining. Well done, Cracked Video below. It contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 3.

The Year In JRPGs So Far (Part One)

2013 sure has been something, huh? From the wonder of Ni no Kuni to the rejuvenation of Final Fantasy, this has been a pretty solid year so far for JRPG fans. To celebrate, I’ve invited Kotaku‘s Kirk Hamilton to have a lengthy chat about this year’s slate of JRPGs. This is part one. Expect part…

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Tries To Subtly Tell Us What To Do

Seen last night in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (which is out August 11 for 3DS)—this toad trying to influence my thoughts. I know your tricks, Nintendo. They don’t work on me.

Trey Parker On DLC: ‘F— That’

The co-creator of South Park has some strong words for anyone who wants him to turn cut content into downloadable content. Trey Parker, speaking last night at a Comic Con panel (as reported by Polygon), said that, inspired by Skyrim, he and partner Matt Stone wrote some 850 pages worth of material for the upcoming…

It’s Just Like Your Town, Except Monsters Attack Every Friday

Here’s the trailer for Attack of the Friday Monsters, a new game that came out for the 3DS eShop today. It looks kind of amazing—a visual novel set in a sleepy Japanese village where monsters attack once a week. I will certainly be checking this one out.

A Brief Look At One Of The PS4’s Most Peaceful Games

Hohokum is strange, and serene, and kind of fascinating. It’ll be out for PS3, PS4, and Vita at some point in 2014. Watch me play it right here.

Yep, I’m Still Excited For Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

There’s a little voice inside my head. “Jason!” it sometimes screams at me. “Why are you excited for Lightning Returns? You disliked the first two! Square Enix is exploiting a character that nobody really cares about! You’re just going to be disappointed!” Well, voice, I don’t care what you say. This game looks cool. New…