Kirk Hamilton

How A Poster Of A Sexy Dude Helped One Game Developer Make A Point

An employee at Hawken developer Meteor Entertainment had only one real gripe about her job: Their office featured a poster of a scantily-clad lady mechanic, and it bugged her to death. She says her boss, Meteor CEO Mark Long, loved the poster. She did not. So what did she do? As she describes in a…

After getting booted from his team Evil Geniuses last week, pro StarCraft player Greg “IdrA” Fields went on Real Talk with host JP McDaniel to discuss his plans for the future. Sounds like he’s moving away from professional playing and getting into commentating. (Via PC Gamer)

The Most Complicated (Imaginary) Board Game Ever

If you’ve ever held a Board Game Night, you know that every group of board game players has…let’s call it a “limit.” There are games that are just too advanced for some, and the key to having fun is picking a game that’s complicated enough to be satisfying for veterans but simple enough for newcomers…

What Did You Think Of Last Night’s Game of Thrones?

The man himself, George R.R. Martin, wrote last night’s table-setting episode of Game of Thrones. What’d you think? We checked in with almost every character, though the episode didn’t feel as rushed as some of the stuff in the early goings did. Most likely that’s because each story has worked up a decent head of…

Metro: Last Light: The Kotaku Review

What will the world look like after the bombs fall? Can God exist in a place without hope? When man’s desire to survive overrides his morality, is the empire he constructs worth saving? Those are some of the questions raised by Metro: Last Light. The (cheery!) first-person shooter is Russian studio 4A Games’ follow-up to…

You might think that a good-looking game like BioShock Infinite would be perfect for a screenshot gallery at Dead End Thrills… and you’d be right! Duncan Harris has posted a bunch of great new high-res shots over at his site. Go check ’em out.

A Game That’s Part Tony Hawk, Part Spider-Man

Jamie Fristron has worked on a lot of games during his time in the video game industry, but he says that his most well-known creation was the web-slinging system in Spider-Man 2. Now, he’s making a new game called Energy Hook that combines Spidy-style rope-slinging with jetpacks and extreme sports. Okay then! The key to…

If you didn’t already buy it on GoG.com, now you can also get the classic PC game System Shock 2 on Steam. It’s even on sale for $6.99.

Stab Up Close And Personal With Dishonored On Oculus Rift

And so the onslaught of Oculus Rift game videos continues with another game that I’d love to play with the thing: Arkane’s excellent first-person stealth game Dishonored Here’s Vaecon walking through the first fifteen minutes of the game, all in ultra-immersive first-person. I sort of wish he’d moved it along to a more action-packed part…

These Sad Cats Are So Sad

They’re so sad, these cats. They might be the saddest cats ever. And thanks to Ze Frank‘s narration, “Sad Cat Diaries” can stand as a tribute to their melancholy. That’s pretty much all I got for tonight’s off-topic. Sad cats. Hey, not every night’s got to be a wandering discussion of saxophone ligatures, you know?…

What’s Your Least Favorite Game of 2013 So Far?

Yesterday, we talked about our favorite games of 2013. Now comes the hour of our discontent. It’s time to vent, to get mad, to talk about sadness and disappointment. Hooray? As we catch our breath during the comparatively slow month of May, it’s a good time to take stock. Now that you guys have articulated…

Now You Can Buy Your Very Own Official Replica Mass Effect Pistol

I always liked the sound the pistols in Mass Effect made. Plonk. Plonk. Plonk. And oh, how the robots and mercenaries would fall. BioWare has put this pretty nifty replica of an M-77 Paladin pistol up for sale on their site. For $400, you can get one; $200 now, $200 when they’re ready to ship.…

Blizzard says that the Diablo III auction house will be down for at least another 24 hours as they continue to conduct an audit following the discovery of an exploit in the 1.0.8 patch allowed players to duplicate gold. Obviously, this had disastrous implications for the in-game economy. Blizzard will be updating their progress on…

The Wonderful, Rare Sloppiness Of The Monaco Soundtrack

Of all the terms one could use to describe a video game soundtrack—exhilarating, emotional, sad, uplifting, lonesome, boisterous—the word “sloppy” almost never comes up. Seriously, pause for a minute and name a video game with a sloppy soundtrack. Unless you’re talking about a poorly-played Rock Band track or a bar pianist in Red Dead Redemption,…

An Incredible Solo On A Digital Saxophone

There are times when you think you’re pretty okay at music, and then you go and watch something like this video of saxophonist Michael Brecker playing “Song for Barry” on the Akai EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument). And you think, holy pants, this is another whole thing entirely. It was a circuitous route that ended up…

What’s Your Favorite Game Of 2013 So Far?

In the words of one Frances “Baby” Houseman, 2013 has been wild. Wild! Well not quite as wild as Patrick Swayze in the rain, but you know, there have been a lot of good games. We’re not quite to the halfway point yet, but we have entered the more relaxed May period, which at this…

Here’s our own Tina Amini making a guest appearance on the Game Trailers Side Mission Briefing Podcast, talking Borderlands 2, video game violence, and snowman murder.

Flee In Fear From The Open-World Survival Horror Game The Forest

Open-world horror isn’t the easiest thing to do right. Horror relies on timing, and open-world games put so much control in the hands of the player that the scares are usually the first thing to go. Enter The Forest, which looks to combine elements of Lost and The Descent with the gameplay of… well, of…

Act Fast, And You Can Own This Rare PaRappa The Rapper Toaster

Bread is all well and good, but you know what’s better than bread? Toasted bread. Oh yeah, buddy. And what’s even better than toasted bread? Toasted bread with video game characters on it, of course. A rare, collectable PaRappa the Rapper toaster is up for grabs on eBay. There’s about a day and a half…

Star Trek‘s Commander Riker Was Amazing At Sitting Down

You walk into a room. You’re standing up, feeling pretty good. You’re master of all you survey. But now it’s time to sit down. How to sit while maintaining ownership of the room? Try Commander Riker’s tried-and-true technique. It’s amazing. We all know I prefer to stand up, all things considered. But now that I’ve…