Kirk Hamilton

The Sounds And Stylings Of Black Ops II‘s Kick-Ass Soundtrack

I haven’t played enough of Black Ops II to render a real verdict on how I feel about as a game, I can say for sure that I really enjoy the soundtrack. It’s a cut up from past games in the series, an exciting, diverse blend of whirling orchestral parts, ethnic instruments and atmospheric electronics.…

The Lead Designer Of Guild Wars 2 Is Answering Your Questions Right Now (Q&A Closed)

ArenaNet’s massively multiplayer Guild Wars 2 has been out for a few months now, and many of us here at Kotaku really like the game. Like any MMO, it’s already changed quite a bit since launch, and ArenaNet has begun regularly adding new content, quests, and gear to extend the game’s life well into the…

The Best (Worst) Grand Theft Auto V Trailer Comments, Immortalized

I’m excited about Grand Theft Auto V. You’re probably excited about Grand Theft Auto V. And with so many people excited about Grand Theft Auto V, pretty much everyone out there with a keyboard an functioning brain has taken to the internet to voice their opinion about the impressive second trailer that Rockstar released yesterday.…

At Least Black Ops II Doesn’t Lecture Me Every Time I Die

“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” It was General Douglas MacArthur who said that, and his words are as true now as they were in his time. The reason I know MacArthur said that is because…

This Game Doesn’t Need Guns Or Explosions To Make You Care. Just A House.

If you’ve played a game, you’ve probably encountered some form of environmental storytelling. In Left 4 Dead, safe rooms have notes scrawled on the wall from past apocalypse survivors, frantic missives to whomever comes along. In Fallout 3, a long-abandoned gas station reveals that its past occupant liked to play dominoes. And, perhaps most famously,…

Behold The Cosmic, Comic Beauty Of The World

I don’t quite know how to describe this alternately beautiful, sad, funny, stupid, and transcendant video, so I’ll just leave it here. Its author, Travis Green, prefaces it on Reddit thusly: “I made this after smoking 3.5 marijuanas. Don’t do drugs.” Yeah, pretty much. Go ahead and give it a watch, if you’re in the…

ArenaNet Adds ‘Ascended Gear’ To Guild Wars 2, Upset Players Grab Their Pitchforks

Oh, you like that Exotic weapon you’ve got? Yeah, but is it Ascended? That’s the name of the newest sort of gear in Guild Wars 2, another addition to extend the MMO’s endgame and give hardcore players more to do in the already gigantic game. In a new post at the ArenaNet website, ArenaNet’s Linsey…

The fifth and final episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead game comes out next week. There will likely be emotions.

This Company Will Make Real-Life Miniatures Out Of Your Minecraft World

If you’ve played Minecraft, chances are you’ve built something so cool that you wish you could immortalize it and put it on your mantle. Thankfully, there’s Figureprints, a company who in the past have recreated your Xbox 360 avatars and World of Warcraft characters. Now, you can export you favorite Minecraft creations and they’ll make…

Valve Blocks ‘Slenderman’ Game From Steam Due To Copyright Concerns

See here, the official teaser for Faceless, a game previously known as Slender: Source. It’s got a complicated lineage: inspired by another game which was in turn inspired by an internet meme Despite popularity on Valve’s new Steam “Greenlight” crowdsourced game initiative, Faceless can’t get itself onto Steam. Joystiq takes a look in a new…

This Dog Does Not Like Skyrim‘s Dragons

When I was growing up, my dog, like most dogs, didn’t like thunder. I bet she wouldn’t have liked the dragons in Skyrim, either. This image of “Maggie,” tweeted by Skyrim-makers Bethesda, shows a dog reacting quite viscerally to, we have to assume, a charging winged beast in Skyrim Now that I’ve bumped up the…

It Is Known, Khaleesi: Game of Thrones Returns For Season Three This March

According to the Game of Thrones twitter profile, the third season will premiere on March 31, 2013. There will be swords. A veritable storm of ’em.

The Best Street-Running, Person-Shoving Game On The Market

You may think that the pedestrian-shoving in Assassin’s Creed III is pretty good. And it is, to a point. But as much as you’ll spend that game running down the street shoving people, you won’t do it with nearly as much style as the new iOS game Shove Pro The game’s been on my radar…

The True, Hilarious Story Of The Most Horrifying Massage Ever

Have you ever been to get a professional massage? It can be pretty great. All of the jacked-up knots and blocks in your back get worked out by a trained professional, and you walk out with a spring in your step. Or, if you’re writer Pamela Ribon, you have the most disgusting, panic-inducing, and eventually…

The Ten Commandments Of Video Game Menus: Sinners And Saints

For lo, we did climb to the top of Video Game Mountain. We spoke with the burning GameCube, and we did return with The Ten Commandments of Video Game Menus. And they were good, even if the games weren’t always. But our work has only just begun. With these new commandments, we must now turn…

Borderlands 2 Gets A Mondo PC Patch

I’ve been a fan of the PC version of Borderlands 2, even though it hasn’t been without some issues Today, a whopper of a patch was released for the PC version, which fixes a ton of various bugs and repairs a grip of broken missions that I didn’t even realize were bugged. Here’s the full…

There Are More Than 800,000 People Playing Black Ops II On Xbox Live Right Now

Well then. There are a crapload of people playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II online right now. On Xbox Live alone, between Zombies mode and regular multiplayer, there are more then 800,000 playing: And bear in mind, that’s just Xbox Live. Factor in PlayStation Network and PC players, and you’ve got even more. That’s…

Too Many People Are Stealing This Terrible Call of Duty/Halo Joke

Boy, those young men sure do love video games, don’t they? And wouldn’t you know it, two of the biggest games of the year, Halo 4 and Black Ops II, just came out! Surely there is some pithy joke to be made here, some quick gibe about how men will be playing those games and…

Assassin’s Creed III Developers Defend Their Game

Here at Kotaku, we’re of two minds on Assassin’s Creed III. But whether we think the game is a success or a disappointment, we’re all interested in how it came to be the way it is. Over at Reddit, several of ACIII‘s developers are currently participating in a Reddit ask me anything thread. They’re defending…

Sleeping Dogs Is Getting A New Downloadable Island

Hopefully in the hustle and bustle of the big fall releases, everyone hasn’t lost sight of Sleeping Dogs, the little Hong Kong open-world crime game that could. At least, I still play the game off and on while rotating between others. Square Enix is hoping you haven’t forgotten, too, as they’re releasing yet another chunk…