Kirk Hamilton

Kirk, Patricia and Stephen Talk About How Maddening Destiny Is

Destiny is a frequent topic of conversation around Kotaku‘s team chat. Some of us play the game religiously, others have barely played. All of us struggle to get our heads around how a game can be so simultaneously brilliant and maddening.

​How To Get A Lot Of Glimmer In Destiny

If you’re playing Destiny right now, there’s a good chance you’re feeling kind of broke. That’s because after the expansion, you’re going to need a ton of in-game cash (aka glimmer) to purchase new versions of your prized exotic gear, and even more to re-upgrade everything. There was a time when I never worried about…

​Destiny‘s Vault of Glass Needs A Patch ASAP

Destiny’s first expansion, The Dark Below, raises the game’s level cap and introduces a whole new tier of more powerful armor and weapons. It also introduces a difficult new six-player raid. Problem is, those new additions have undermined the best thing the game had going up to now:The original Vault of Glass raid. For the…

An ‘Honest’ Elite: Dangerous Trailer That’s Closer To The Actual Game

Nowhere is it written that a video game trailer must accurately depict the entirety of the game it’s advertising. Still, it’s funny to see trailers like the very exciting (!) and action-packed (!) new trailer for Elite: Dangerous, considering that the actual game is much more slow-paced. I definitely prefer this remixed, “honest” version of…

​How Many Times Did You Restart Dragon Age: Inquisition?

You know the drill: You start Dragon Age: Inquisition. You make a character. You play through the opening cutscene and realize that your character looks like a duck. You restart and try again. I have restarted Dragon Age: Inquisition… a lot of times. Like I advised in my tips post, I think it’s almost always…

Here’s a brief teaser for What Remains of Edith Finch, a mysterious, newly announced PS4 game from the makers of The Unfinished Swan. I wonder if Edith Finch knows Ethan Carter…

That newly-polished version of Grim Fandango is coming on January 27th for PS4, Vita, PC, Mac and Linux. Dang, it’ll be nice to see Manny again after all these years.

Rejoice: Suikoden II Is Finally Coming To PSN

Sony just announced that the classic JRPG Suikoden II is coming to PS3 and PlayStation Vita. Not only that, it’ll be available next week. I can already imagine the texts I’ll be getting from Jason about this. “Kirk have you started Suikoden II yet?” “Kirk, have you started it yet?” “No excuses. Time to play…

Shovel Knight Is Coming To PlayStation… With Kratos

Nice! The excellent action/platformer Shovel Knight is coming to PS4, PS3 and Vita. Also, it looks like a certain God of War will make a cameo appearance. We love Yacht Club Games’ retro-style action platformer for a bunch of reasons, and it’ll be nice to see it available on more systems. Bonus: the video Sony…

Sony just announced Kill Strain, an upcoming free-to-play multiplayer game for PS4. Details were scarce—it’s a top-down game with a 5 vs. 2 vs. 5 team structure, and will be playable on the floor at the PlayStation Experience this weekend.

​One Little Thing I Really Like About Far Cry 4 On PC

Far Cry 4‘s PC version looks nice and runs decently enough (well, depending), but one thing I really like about it is less easy to notice: The game supports on-screen prompts for both Xbox and PS4 controllers. Any controller-based game is going to have to put button-prompts on screen, whether for menu navigation, or QTEs,…

The people behind Dragon Age: Inquisition are giving a panel about how they approached storytelling in the game. You can watch a live-stream here; it’s starting right now. It’s hosted by the NYU Game Center and will feature creative director Mike Laidlaw, lead writer David Gaider, and actor Freddie Prinze Jr., who I’m hoping will…

BioWare Put A Lot Of Work Into Dragon Age‘s Trans Character

Dragon Age: Inquisition has a terrific cast. There are dwarves, elves, mages, and towering Qunari, all of whom are interesting people with diverse backgrounds. Awesomely enough, the game also includes one of mainstream video gaming’s best trans characters. The character is a trans man named Krem; he’s second in command of a mercenary company under…

​What Are You Playing This December?

It’s December, which means that there are five thousand new video games to choose from. What to do in the face of so many video games? Start playing, I guess. For my part, I’m playing… well, everything. Too many things. Lots of open world games; I’m making my way through Far Cry 4, which I…

​Phew, The New Game of Thrones Game Is Actually Good

“There will never be a good Game of Thrones video game.” For years, those words rang just as true as the Starks’ promise of winter. Finally, it feels as though that’s changed. Telltale’s new episodic Game of Thrones game gets its first of six episodes this week; it’ll be out Tuesday on PC and consoles,…

Bummer Dragon Age Bug Makes Your Party Quiet. Too Quiet.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is generally a good enough game to make up for its bugs and overall lack of technical polish. However, one new bug stands out from the rest: The Banter Bug. The Banter Bug has been identified by a number of players who noticed that their characters weren’t bantering with one another as…

​The Best Games For Every System

We’ll probably never run out of things to say about video games. Which games are interesting, which games are maddening, which games are provocative, which games are boring. That’s all well and good, but sometimes, you just want to know which games are best We hear you. That’s why several years ago, we created “The…

​How To Get Far Cry 4 Running More Smoothly on PC

Far Cry 4, Ubisoft’s new bird-attack simulator, is a very nice-looking game. Unfortunately, a lot of PC gamers are having issues getting it to run smoothly. The game is generally a lot of fun, but the PC version suffers from regular micro-stutter, an issue with which PC gamers are becoming all too familiar. If you’ve…

​Dragon Age Players, Show Us Your Heroes

The first act of Dragon Age: Inquisition doesn’t really take place on a snowy mountain; it takes place in the game’s character creator. Anyone who’s spent any amount of time playing role-playing video games knows how important it is to create a really cool-looking character. Hopefully you read my tips articleand took your time with…

Xbox One Review Update: One Year Later

Stop waiting. If you can afford it, it’s time to get a new-gen console, and the Xbox One is a worthwhile one to get. It’s been a year since the console’s launch, and Microsoft’s third home console finds itself in an interesting spot. On the one hand, many of its initial promises—to unite the devices…