Kirk Hamilton

Tips For Playing Dragon Age: Inquisition

Starting a new role-playing game is never easy. Which class should you choose? Which race? What kind of party should you make? Which gear should you buy, and what’s the best way to earn some early XP? Dragon Age: Inquisition is no different. It’s a really good game, and also a really big one. There’s…

​Dragon Age: Inquisition: The Kotaku Review

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a fantasy game. That word—fantasy—is a sort of shorthand, with a bunch of connotations. The word suggests to us that this game has dragons, and elves, and magic. There will be knights, monsters, and probably an evil witch or two. But “fantasy,” the word, means so much more than that. I…

Destiny‘s Iron Banner multiplayer event returns this week. The limited-time competitive shindig kicks off tomorrow, and will run through the 24th. More info here

Yes, You Should Play The New Version Of GTA V

This week, Rockstar is re-releasing Grand Theft Auto V on PS4 and Xbox One. The new version, which also comes to PC in January, has better graphics, new music, and a new first-person mode. You can now play the the bulk of the game—shooting, driving, skydiving, sexing—in first-person. It is bananas. I figured first-person mode…

​A Beginner’s Guide To All Things Dragon Age

Good news: Dragon Age: Inquisition is pretty great. Less-good news: Being a story-heavy role-playing game, it relies heavily on a familiarity with the Dragon Age series’ dense lore. Newcomers might be a bit lost at times. I get the sense that a lot of people who missed the first two games are going to give…

​Assassin’s Creed Unity Just Doesn’t Run Very Well On PS4 Or Xbox One

We’ve been seeing complaints all day about Assassin’s Creed Unity‘s performance on consoles. Here’s what we know from our own experience, and from what others are reporting around the internet. I’ve played a fair bit of the game on Xbox One, and have found the frame-rate to be a real bummer. To my eye, it…

​Destiny‘s Loot Showers Are Tiny, Yet Sadly Still Exciting

It says something about the effect Destiny‘s stinginess has had on my brain that I watched this video of someone getting three loot engrams at once and thought, “Oh hell yes, I want that to happen to me!” Here’s the clip, sent in by reader Peter J.: I mean… it’s two green engrams and a…

​11 Things You Should Know About Dragon Age: Inquisition

Yesterday, I finished Dragon Age: Inquisition. By “finished,” I mean that I played the final story mission and watched the credits roll. Getting to that point took me 85 hours, but I still don’t really feel done with the game. First things first: If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering if Dragon Age: Inquisition is…

Blizzard has shared some new info on Diablo III‘s upcoming Season 2. New conquests, new legendaries, and more.

Hearthstone‘s First Expansion Is ‘Goblins vs. Gnomes’

Today at Blizzcon, Blizzard announced the first expansion for their popular card game Hearthstone. It’ll be called Goblins vs. Gnomes and will be out next month – it’ll include 120 new cards, including an explosive sheep. Because, of course. The game has already gotten one sorta-expansion called Curse of Naxxramas, though that was billed as…

Elite: Dangerous will be out on December 16. Sure, lots of people (like me) have been playing the online space sim’s ongoing beta for a while, but Elite will get a ‘real’ release in just a few weeks.

​That Elite: Dangerous Space Captain May Be Someone’s Lost Loved One

Now this is a beautiful way to use a Kickstarter reward. Like a lot of PC games these days, the super-cool PC space sim Elite: Dangerous was made possible by a Kickstarter campaign. As one of Frontier Games’ Kickstarter rewards, backers were allowed to add their names to the game’s pilot database, which would mean…

Elite: Dangerous Just Got A Ton Of New Stuff

Today, Frontier Developments launched the third beta phase of their open-ended PC space sim Elite: Dangerous. The Beta 3 update adds a bunch of welcome new features, and likely gives an even better sense of what the final game will be like. The Beta 3 comes pretty close on the heels of the sizable Beta…

One Cheapo Accessory Made My PS4 Controller Way Better

I really like Sony’s DualShock 4 controller. I use it a lot, both for playing games on PS4 and also, lately, for PC games. But there is one aspect I’m not wild about: Those slippery thumbsticks. I like how the thumbsticks respond—they’re nice and springy, and are a good height. But I don’t love the…

Is that you, Mr. Skellington? Today’s Destiny update doesn’t just add a few small tweaks to the game; it also delivers each player a handful of consumable pumpkin-head masks. Each mask lasts 30 minutes, which is more than enough time to beat a strike while looking stylin’.

The PS4’s Standby Mode is no more. It’s now called “Rest Mode.” There’s even a new little graphic that displays when the PS4 is going to sleep. So peaceful!

Felicia Day And Gamergate: This Is What Happens Now

Earlier this week, Felicia Day wrotea blog post. In it, the well-known actor eloquently expressed something that a great number of people in the video game scene have been feeling lately: She said she was afraid. Shortly after publishing, some people posting in her comments section, one under the name “Gaimerg8,” doxxed her, sharing what…

​Why Destiny Needs A Screenshot Tool

Among the many tweaks and changes we think would make Destiny a better game, a HUD-free screenshot tool features prominently. Destiny is a gorgeous game, but it’s very difficult to show that off without a huge gun or some HUD-clutter getting in the way. Case in point: These fantastic screenshots captured by redditor TwilightGap, who…

​Titanfall Is Adding A Co-Op Horde Mode

Titanfall is a lot of fun, but there’s no denying that it feels a little… thin. The game’s exclusive focus on player-vs.-player combat left many of us wishing for a bit more variety. Good news: The game’s latest update will add a cooperative mode to the game, and it looks pretty cool. The mode is…

Alien: Isolation‘s first DLC is out next Tuesday, October 28. It’ll add three new maps to the game’s currently thin survivor mode, and will tell the story of a new playable character, a Seegson employee named Ransome. More info here; read our review of Isolation here.