Kirk Hamilton

Far Cry 3‘s Story Still Looks Kinda Dumb; I Still Want To Play It

Today Ubisoft sent out the latest “story trailer” for Far Cry 3. That term, these days, has come to mean a trailer that will tell us about the story of the game—as opposed to a “Multiplayer trailer” and a “Gameplay trailer.” I like that video games are so complicated that they require multiple trailer-genres just…

DayZ Developers Not Pleased About Real-Money Mod

The stakes almost always feel high in the zombie-survival game DayZ. Your life can end at any moment, and from any of a huge number of causes, and if you die, you’ll lose all your precious gear and have to start over. But what if the stakes were raised, what if you were actually losing…

Flee A Single-Minded Monster In This Dangerous Island Survival Game

You’re creeping through the bushes on a jungle island, a map in one hand, an eye out ahead of you. There’s something creeping through the underbrush behind you, a beast you’d best avoid. You look down at your map, desperate for the best way out of this canyon. Carefully, you head to the left, and…

This iPhone Game Promises To Help You Get Into Mensa

I used to work with a guy who was in Mensa, the “High IQ Society.” He had a plaque over his desk and everything. It was super impressive. I remember always thinking, “Man, I wish I was in Mensa.” Now, thanks to Square Enix’s Mensa Academy, I can work towards attaining that goal. The game,…

The Critically-Panned Movies That Everyone Loves Now

Whew! It’s been a long and dramatic day, at least here in the U.S. of A. Let’s kick back with an off-topic that has nothing to do with politics. It’s great fun looking back at movies that everyone hated at the time, but which critics have come to embrace. And that’s just what Calum Marsh…

Show Us Your Favorite Terrible Quicktime Events

This past weekend, the video up top made the Twitter-rounds. It’s of a failed quicktime event from 2007’s Spiderman 3, and it is hilarious Watching it over and over, while laughing, got me thinking: There are so many terrible quicktime events in gaming, it’d be fun to put together a huge list of them. And…

From Wind Waker To Sonic, The London Philharmonic’s Got Ya Covered

The London Philharmonic’s latest foray into video game music launched today, and it’s pretty good stuff. I haven’t found any tracks that quite rival the Tetris theme from the first album, but there are some standouts. I like track three, the Dragon Roost Island theme from Wind Waker, in particular. You can hear above. Excellent.…

Kotaku‘s Election Night Open Thread

Whether you’re just back from the voting station or you’ve been playing Halo 4 all day, tonight you’ll find out who will be president for the next four years. We thought we’d give you all a place to come together and watch the returns come in, talk, argue, fret, hold hands, and stress out together.…

You can listen to the entire Halo 4 soundtrack on Spotify right now. Check it out, it’s really good.

You’d Be Surprised How Fun A Text-Based Multiplayer Shooter Can Be

When I think of fast-paced multiplayer shooters, I think of first-person games like Halo and Call of Duty. I don’t generally think of text-based games. Little did I know that a text-based multiplayer shooter, specifically Eigen Lenk’s Text-Based Multiplayer Shooter, could be so much fun. (Jason tells me that Aliens vs. Predator: MUD was similar,…

Fox News Says Halo 4 May Keep Gamers From Voting

Never one to back away from humorously uninformed hogwash, Fox News has run a new article suggesting that young voters might skip the polls to spend time playing the newly released Xbox 360 game Halo 4 How have they arrived at this provocative conclusion? Because they talked to some people! Um, experts! A PR guy!…

Behold, A Man Constructing A Teeny Tiny Fast-Food Meal

It’s been a week without off-topic posts, and I’ve missed sharing random, cool, randomly cool things with you guys. Here now, an oldie but a goodie—a man assembles a tiny, adorable, oddly sad little fast food meal. I’m sure our friends at Kotaku East would have more to add to this video, but I’ll just…

Return To New Vegas: The Absolute Weirdest Way To Play Fallout: New Vegas

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been returning to Fallout: New Vegas, using the game to patch up downtime between the big releases of the fall. I’ve got a bunch of mods installed, but nothing particularly crazy. But if you DO want crazy, you could always follow Youpi’s lead and make the game well…

The Sad (Funny) Story Of One Side-Scrolling Man’s Quest To Meet His Lady Friend

It’s a tale as old as time. A man needs to go meet his lady. He sets off, usually to the right. There’s a monster in the way. He jumps on it! What happens next, at least in Marius Fietzek, Benedikt Hummel and Irina Gross’ The Visit, will surprise you. And probably, make you laugh.…

Listen To The London Philharmonic Perform An Emotional Mass Effect 3 Theme

Tomorrow, the London Philharmonic will release their second album of video game music, creatively titled “The Greatest Video Game Music 2.” I really dug the first album, and so the folks working on the record asked if we at Kotaku would like to have a reader poll to pick one of the songs that would…

The Many Ways Halo 4 Changes The Series’ Competitive Multiplayer

By now, a whole lot of folks have reviewed Halo 4. Our own Tina Amini played it, and liked it quite a bit Most every review has focused on the single player and multiplayer in more or less equal measure. But so, so many people play Halo only for the multiplayer. Surely there’s a review…

Claptrap Takes Us Behind The Scenes Of His Goofy Borderlands 2 Documentary

Here’s Borderlands 2‘s most annoying/funny/funnoying robot, taking you through the first part of a behind-the-scenes documentary showcasing his efforts to “direct” Borderlands 2. Aw, he works so hard. Also: Tiny Tina’s Teaparty of Blood? Yeah, I’d play it.

Look Out, It’s A Kung-Fu Dragon Baby

Look Out, It’s a … Kung-Fu Dragon Baby?

Making An Open-Ended Game For A Linear Audience

The Hitman series has long been about choice-bald-headed 47 was set loose inside a semi-sandbox with a target or two, and players could come up with any of a number of ways to do away with them. That style of play is becoming increasingly uncommon, at least in mainstream AAA console games, at least in…

It’s Hitman On Hitman In This Hitman Short Film

This Hitman short film by David ‘dwyz’ Wayman has got a lot of Hitman in it. It starts with someone playing Hitman! And then, it has a lot of hits, man. It’s neat, and twisty, and bloody. Check it out. (Via Joystiq)