Jason Schreier

A neat-looking puzzle game called Germinator is out on PS3 and Vita today.

Valve Will Give Out Prototype Steam Boxes Within The Next Few Months, Gabe Newell Says

At least a few lucky customers will get their hands on prototypes the Steam Box within the next few months, Valve boss Gabe Newell says. Speaking to the BBC at the BAFTA awards show in the UK today, Newell said the company is still trying to figure out just how quickly they can crank out…

This year’s PAX East schedule is up! Are you going?

Playing Video Games Makes Old People Happier, New Study Says

If you are old, you should probably play video games. Really, everyone should play video games. But especially if you’re old. Proof: a new study from the North Carolina State University (as reported by Medical Xpress) that examined 140 people aged 63+ and found that the ones who played video games were generally happier than…

Thief Reboot Coming To PC And Next-Gen Consoles In 2014 [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Game Informer‘s next cover is Thief, a reboot for the series by Eidos Montreal that will be out next year for PC, PS4, and whatever the next Xbox is called. The game is no longer called Thief 4 The April issue of Game Informer has more details on the new stealth game, which looks…

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate: The Kotaku Review

Castlevania has a serious identity crisis. Ever since we first watched Simon Belmont whip Dracula and whip him good back in the NES days, our adventures into Castlevania‘s gloomy world have been strange and inconsistent. Some Castlevania games are linear action-platformers. Others are open, item-centric RPGs. Some helped form a whole new genre Castlevania: Lords…

Unofficial Mock-Up Shows What Wind Waker Could Look Like On The Wii U

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is coming to the Wii U this fall, but some people just can’t wait that long. The folks at cubed3tv have devised this mock-up to show how the cartoony Zelda game could play on the Wii U GamePad. The real version is a total graphical remake, so it…

Respawn Entertainment has confirmed that, as we reported yesterday, Jason West has left the studio for family issues

Holy Crap, The Zerg Are Attacking France

Watch out, France. There are mutalisks in your cities. Either this is a fake video created by Blizzard to help build up hype for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (out March 12 for PC (and, hey, is that Day9?)) or France had seriously better get their stim packs ready.

First-Graders Are Learning How To Write Video Game Reviews Now

My friend John found this hanging in a first-grade classroom here in NYC. It’s for the kids’ writing workshop. I think we’re going to start using it as the Official Kotaku Review Guide from now on. The best part? No mention of review scores.

At Least One Gamer Is Pissed At Sony For A Small, But Misleading Vita Description

Earlier this year, Kotaku reader Lewis bought a PlayStation Vita. He bought two 32 GB memory cards: one for games and applications, and the other for music. “I figured I could use it as an mp3 player as well as a gaming console,” Lewis told us. “Unfortunately, that is not the case.” As Lewis soon…

Call of Duty Co-Creator Jason West Has Left His New Studio [UPDATE]

Jason West, a co-creator of Call of Duty and co-founder of video game studio Respawn Entertainment, has left the company he helped found, two sources have informed Kotaku. The departure was amicable. West, who left because of family issues, has been gone since last May, according to one reliable source who asked not to be…

Assassin’s Creed IV Is Out October 29, According To This Leaked Trailer [UPDATE: Trailer Removed]

Via GamesRadar, this is the leaked first trailer for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag In the trailer, a grizzled pirate describes Captain (and assassin) Edward Kenway. “There was a time I thought myself the deadliest scourge of these seas,” the pirate says. “But this man…” We then see Kenway hacking, slashing, and doing his assassin…

Anonymous sources tell GameSpot that IGN has cancelled this year’s IPL6 tournament

This Is About As Close To The Original Final Fantasy As You Can Get Today

When I was a young whelp, back when my writing career involved pictures of dragons and a black-and-white spiral notebook, I spent a lot of time playing the first Final Fantasy It was one of the toughest games I owned, and I loved it not just because it was pretty, and engrossing, and creative, but…

A Fascinating Point-And-Click Adventure Bogged Down By Crap

Cognition is a frustrating game to play. Not just because the fundamentals are frustrating—and they are frustrating—but because there’s so much good stuff buried underneath them. I love the tone, the music, the characters. I just can’t get past how clunky it all feels. Let’s start from the beginning: Cognition is a point-and-click episodic adventure…

After A Tease Like This, Square Enix Had Sure As Hell Better Release Bravely Default In The West

Japanese developer/publisher/dream-ruiner Square Enix has become rather infamous for launching teasers and countdown clocks that get fans’ hopes wayyy up, only to crush them later. Social games without music. Mobile games that only exist to take your money. That sort of thing. So when I saw this message on the official Twitter account for Bravely…

If You Think Good Graphics Make Characters Worth Caring About, You’re Probably Insane

Last week, when the folks behind Killzone went on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show to talk PS4, they said something that stuck with me. In response to Fallon’s question about what the PS4’s impressive memory could do for developers, Guerilla Games boss Herman Hulst answered with a great deal of enthusiasm. He said it allows…

Telltale Promises That Season 2 Of The Walking Dead Will Be Less Buggy

Telltale’s Walking Dead adventure games tell a really great story. They also tell an awfully glitchy story. Save-game-erasing glitches almost ruined my experience with the game a few months ago, and I’m not the only one. Lots of people have asked for their money back So here’s a bit of good news. In an interview…

This browser game, made by College Humor’s Caldwell Tanner, might be the easiest video game of all time. Also the best?