Kirk Hamilton

Watch An Hour Of State of Decay‘s Upcoming Expansion

Today Microsoft streamed an hour of State of Decay‘s military-themed Lifeline expansion running on Xbox 360. I love State of Decay and think the expansion sounds cool, so I’ll be playing this on PC as soon as it comes out. (Which happens in June.)

Final Fantasy XIV‘s Coolest Feature Fits In Your Hands

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a lovely game, but few would call it “innovative.” I’ve been playing the game on both PS4 and PC for the past several weeks and have been having a blast. But even a relative MMO lightweight like me can tell that the game isn’t breaking much new ground.…

The Elder Scrolls Online‘s Backstory, Explained In One Minute

I haven’t played The Elder Scrolls Online, but as an avid enjoyer of Elder Scrolls games, I’ve been curious where in the series’ timeline it takes place. Now, thanks to the fast-talking folks at Lore, I know.

​An Important Reminder That Wind Waker Had Really Good Music

I mean I don’t think that you forgot, really. It’s just that it’s never a bad thing to be reminded. Here’s Smooth “Smooth” McGroove with his latest a cappella video game rendition, this time of the castanet-flavored Dragon Roost Island theme from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Between the whistles and the snaps…

​The Argument That Dark Souls II Is Terrible

Most people agree that Dark Souls II is pretty good. There are some open questions about whether it improves upon its predecessor, or whether it’s as good as was expected, but for the most part: Pretty darn good. That’s most people. Some don’t agree. One notable dissenter is Michael Thomsen, who, writing for Forbes, posits…

​Dark Souls II PC Isn’t Working For Some People [Update]

For the most part, the PC version of Dark Souls II is a marked improvement over the PC version of the first game, Dark Souls. The sequel looks great, runs smoothly, and isn’t hindered by Games for Windows Live. Unfortunately, some new PC players are having a hard time getting it to run at all.…

Why is Vanquish a brilliant game? Glad you asked. Canabalt and Gravity Hook creator Adam Saltsman has your answer in the form of a lengthy exegesis on Shinji Mikami’s polarizing shooter, making a strong case for the merits of the game’s intricately balanced design. Annnnnd now I’m feeling the urge to replay Vanquish…

“Brotaku: The Bro’s Guide.” As spotted by Wilfrid d’Anjou in Infamous: Second Son‘s Paper Trail DLC. It’s an in-game ad for the fictional MMO Heaven’s Hellfire, which is also enthusiastically endorsed by Brotaku sister site Snarftaku:

Dark Souls really did know how to troll early players. How? Why, the same way Dark Souls deals with a lot of things: By killing people. Here’s Lore with three enjoyable Fast Facts about the game that gave us Anor Londo.

Which TV Shows Are You Watching?

Sure, we spend most of our time here at Kotaku talking about video games…that is, when we’re not talking about snack foods, anime, music, movies, dating, or toys. But I have a feeling that a lot of you are pretty active TV-watchers, and I’m curious just what TV shows most of you watch. So, I…

​Bad Lip Reading Makes Twilight So Much Better

“Hey you know what? I have jeggings for my pelican.” When he’s not taking on Game of Thrones or shooting a Russian Unicorn, the mad genius behind Bad Lip Reading is usually taking bad movies like Twilight and making them much better. Today, he’s shared his latest, which takes clips from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse…

​Octodad: Dadliest Catch: The Kotaku Review

Poor Octodad. He’s just trying to do his best. He wants to be a good father to his kids and a loving husband to his wife. He wants to grill hamburgers and mow the lawn, to weed the garden and go to the grocery store and do all the other things ordinary dads do. But…

The Hearthstone Soundtrack Is So Good

The first thing that struck me about Hearthstone wasn’t the lovely art or the goofy writing; it was the music. That killer music. I’d been waiting to play the game until it came out on iPad, and finally dove in last weekend. The more I played, the more I liked playing. (To the point where,…

Real PS4 Screenshots Justify All That ‘Next-Gen’ Hype

Back when the PS4 and Xbox One were announced, “next-gen” meant a lot of things to a lot of people. Smarter games, bigger games, different games, more ways to play with your friends. But it also meant that games would look a whole lot better. It could sometimes be hard to tell just what that…

Yep, Infamous: Second Son looks really nice. Last week when Sucker Punch released that super cool Photo Mode for their game, I had a feeling videos like this one would start turning up. And lo and behold, here we are. This video comes to us from Epic Rabbit via Pixelated Cody. When I talked about…

​The PlayStation Gold Wireless Headset: Not Bad For A Hundred Bucks

The PlayStation Gold Wireless Headset is not actually made of gold, nor does it feature any gold branding or gold paint. There’s no gold anywhere, in fact. The headset, which Sony is selling for $99, is mostly black, with a stylin’ blue streak around the inside of the headband. It works with both the PS3…

​Video Games Sure Can Be Beautiful

Yesterday, I spent an inordinate amount of time messing around with the nifty new photo mode in Infamous: Second Son It’s surprisingly rare that we get that kind of opportunity to slow way down and really appreciate how beautiful video games can be. As I tried my hand at in-game photography, I was regularly reminded…

Finally, a comic that gets sex right. If you read comics, you probably know writer Matt Fraction. He’s widely (and rightly) considered one of the best writers in the business, from Casanova to Hawkeye to other great stuff. Wired‘s got a really cool new profile of him, all about his latest comic Sex Criminals. A…

​How Many Gaming Systems Do You Use?

Earlier this week, we asked you guys which gaming system you use the most. The results were interesting, so I thought I’d continue the line of thought by asking the logical follow-up. Today’s poll is about how many gaming systems you own and use. Before you vote, some clarification of what we’re talking about: A…

Surprise! Octodad: Dadliest Catch will arrive on PS4 this coming Tuesday, April 22. The PS4 version will be more or less the same goofy trip as the PC version, though some of the back half has been re-tuned to be less annoying. (The PC version’s been patched, too.) I’ve been playing a bit on PS4…