I’ve spent the weekend mainlining Runic’s Torchlight II. As of this writing, my level 39 engineer has killed 8,800 monsters, collected 161,207 gold, imbibed 535 potions, broken 771 crates and urns, and caught 9 fish. This game is much more of a beast than its predecessor; in terms of scale and ambition, it’s right up…
We’ve all heard a lot of weird things over Xbox Live, and by “weird things” I mean “new and creative horizons in racism and homophobia.” But sometimes, just sometimes, we get to hear something truly amazing. This is one of those times. In the video above, beatboxer PinturaEFX (whose real name is Joshua Miranda) goes…
Black Mesa: Source, the long-in-development mod/remake of the original Half-Life, is now available to play. For free. I’m really liking it. Much more than I was expecting to, in fact. It plays like a loving, alt-universe version of Half-Life, which is the best possible approach they could’ve taken. Rather than attempting to pull off a…
What if Obama and Romney were video game characters, and the national conventions were where they did battle? And what if it wasn’t just any video game, but a super catchy music game, where the candidates crooned and harmonized as they amassed a high score of hope-mentions and implications of faith? Well, I’d probably watch,…
I’m on the record saying that I’ve been disappointed by AMC’s treatment of The Walking Dead. The books are better. The video game is much, much better That said, I’m more optimistic about the upcoming season than the past ones, largely because it will recreate my favorite storyline from the books and introduce Michonne, my…
Obsidian’s “Project Eternity” RPG Kickstarter has already raised $630,000—halfway to its goal in less than a day.
The mega-ambitious, long-in-development Half-Life remake/tribute Black Mesa is finished, and you can download it from Gamefront right now and give it a whirl. You’ll have to follow the instructions on the Gamefront page, as Black Mesa requires that you install the 2007 Source software development kit. In the video above, you can see a comparison…
Remember when EA sued Zynga? Well, the FarmVille makers aren’t just going to lie down and take it. They’re back in the ring and swinging like never before. EA’s aggressive, incendiary lawsuit claimed that Zynga’s The Ville ripped off EA’s own The Sims Social. Zynga has filed three documents in response: A motion to strike,…
You’re crouched in the dark. You can hear two guards talking; they’re just around the corner. If they spot you, you’re as good as dead. Best to remain in the shadows, unseen. You creep up to the corner, slowly. You’ll need to get a glimpse of your enemies to best plan a way around them.…
On Wednesday, Apple announced the iPhone 5. I’ll be ordering one today, even though I’ve had an Android for two years. I’m not making the switch because of the phone’s (kinda) hot new tech. I’m making the switch because I miss my friends. Apple’s whole press conference was a touch anticlimactic, if only because the…
Yeah, being an adult kind of sucks sometimes. It’s certainly not as much fun as being an 80’s action figure! This funny (and kinda dark) fake trailer asks the question: “What if adulthood had its own toy commercials?” My thinking is that a lot more people probably wouldn’t buy adulthood, but that’s just me. If…
As we sit here waiting for the launch of Borderlands 2, it’s easy to forget that a lot of people thought that the first game was going to be a huge flop. It was a new idea amid a flood of sequels, and a totally untested quantity—did we really need another first-person shooter? Why would…
Now is the time on Kotaku Melodic where we talk about a music thing that’s not really games-related. Y’all have been warned. Okay, here we go! It’s an old story: Famous, beloved musician raises a crapload of tour money on Kickstarter. Said musician writes an enthusiastic blog post asking for volunteers to play with her…
Well, that didn’t take long. I’ve been playing FarmVille 2 for just over a week, and I am 100% ready to light the theme music on fire. Listen to it. It’s up top. Now imagine that music plays every single time you load up the game. Every. Single. Time. FarmVille 2 isn’t really a game…
You may recall that a while back, we held a vote to help the London Philharmonic determine which music they’d include on their follow-up to their first “Greatest Video Game Music” album. Many a vote was cast, and in the end, Mass Effect 3 won. Which was a lit-tle bit awkward, since IGN also held…
At Nintendo’s press event today, Jason took a look at the new “Boost Rush Mode” for New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U. Here, you can see the mode in action—it involves pushing the screen to scroll faster by hitting boost blocks. Also, check out the nifty secret Luigi finds near the end.
I’ve always gotten the sense that a lot of men and women in the United States Armed Forces enjoy a good game of Call of Duty—the fast-paced first-person shooter is a good way to blow off steam. But not all soldiers love fast-paced video games—a good number of them like something a bit more strategic.…
It somehow feels like it’s been a long week, but we’re only halfway to the weekend. Why not kick back and watch this crazy gorgeous time-lapse video of the Pacific Northwest? The video is by Portland photographer John Eklund, who has a whole blog of amazing time-lapse footage called The Art of the Time Lapse…
If you’re looking for something truly different to do with a few minutes of your time tonight, look no further than Adam Dickinson’s weird tape in the mail, a text-adventure that combines crude drawings, paranoid story, and weirdo Lynchian touches into something wretched, strange, and surprisingly compelling. According to Dickinson, weird tape in the mail…
Look I mean hey, I always wanted to watch my little guy get down to business and pull some wool. Thanks to the coming update to Minecraft for Xbox 360, gamers finally can. Via Mojang, here are some screenshots:
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