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Every Star Wars Character Is Special, Like A Snowflake
With just a piece of white paper and some scissors, you can make your very own lovely, intricate Star Wars decorative snowflakes. ‘Tis the season, after all. These templates come to us from Anthony Herrera, who has made it oh-so easy to make a kickass snowflake shaped like Boba Fett, an AT-AT, or even a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 4, 2013 -
The Year In Video Games, In Just Under Two Minutes
What a year it has been. So much drama, so many exciting happenings, so many games. You’d need at least an hour just to cover it all… right? Well, maybe not. Malcolm Klock has put together this lovely tribute to the games of 2013 that runs just under two minutes. It’s really sorta just the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 4, 2013 -
Your Xbox One Responds To ‘Sexbox.’ The PS4? ‘Babe Station.’
To access the voice-control functionality on an Xbox One, you say, “Xbox.” To access it on PlayStation 4, you say, “PlayStation.” But those greetings aren’t very fun or sexy, are they? As Stephen found when he tested it out, the PlayStation 4 actually responds to some pretty casual language. You can say “A.C. Four” or…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 3, 2013 -
Why Everyone Still Talks About Dark Souls
Dark Souls, man. It’s always there, at the periphery of so many conversations about great games. This game is like Dark Souls, and that game wishes it were as good as Dark Souls, and hey, have you played Dark Souls? Just about two years ago, I republished the below essay by writer Chris Dahlen about…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 3, 2013 -
You Could Own Han Solo’s Blaster From The Empire Strikes Back
…if you’ve got a couple hundred grand laying around, that is. Yes, Han Solo’s blaster from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jediis up for auction, with an estimated price of $200,000 to $300,000. The full listing, courtesy Invaluable.com: Estimated Price: $200,000 – $300,000 Description: 379. Harrison Ford “Han Solo” non-firing DL-44 Blaster…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 3, 2013 -
1980s Luigi Actor Dies At 72
Canadian actor Danny Wells, best known among gamers as the man who played Luigi on the late-80s TV show The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, has died at age 72. According to his obituary in The Montreal Gazette, Wells, whose actual name is Jack Westelman, passed away last Thursday, November 28. In addition to his…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 3, 2013 -
Why It Matters That PS4 Games Are Higher-Resolution Than Xbox One
The graphics battle between the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 has been raging for months. Here at the start of December, with the consoles finally loose in the wild, one thing is certain: Several big games run at a higher resolution on PS4 than on Xbox One. And although it’s easy to downplay the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 3, 2013 -
Old People Don’t Really Understand The New Hunger Games Movie
Old folks might not be the target demographic for the new Hunger Games movie, but that doesn’t mean they can’t watch it and even enjoy it. Then again, they probably won’t all “get” it, as evidenced by this new video from The Fine Brothers I like the guy who thinks that anarchy is coming for…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 2, 2013 -
When Composers Make Music Out Of The Xbox One Startup Sound
Last week, I wrote an article about how the Xbox One startup sound is a little melody. I even made the Xbox One and Xbox 360 perform a little duet. Then, something awesome happened. Inspired by that article, the folks over at Disquiet made the Xbox One startup sound into a compositional challenge. How many…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 2, 2013 -
Tips & Guides
Two Things You Might Not Know How To Do In Assassin’s Creed IV
Maybe you spent the last weekend playing Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Maybe you recently picked got the game for a next-gen console, or for PC. Or maybe Thanksgiving weekend finally provided enough downtime to really dig in. Here are a couple of things you might not know how to do. Yes, I’ve already written…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 2, 2013 -
How To Share PS4 Screenshots Without Spamming Your Friends
The PlayStation 4 was built with sharing in mind. There’s even a “share” button on the controller, for crying out loud. But at the moment, it can be kind of difficult to access your shared stuff without spamming your friends on Facebook and Twitter. For now, you can only share videos you record to Facebook—Sony…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 2, 2013 -
For Thanksgiving, Let’s Take A Trip Down Last-Gen Memory Lane
Sure, the next generation of gaming is upon us. But not only are there still plenty of games coming to current- (or now, last-) gen consoles, there are also plenty of memories worth revisiting. We had a lot of fun with our month-long Last-Gen Heroes series, and I hope you’ll take some time today to…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 28, 2013 -
Culture
How You Can Make Assassin’s Creed IV More Immersive
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a beautiful-looking game. Or, well, it’s a beautiful-looking game when it isn’t covering the screen with blips, bleeps and blops of UI information and heads-up-display data. Is all that stuff really necessary? Nah. Longtime readers of Kotaku know that I’m an avid disliker of video-game mini-maps, and am always…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 27, 2013 -
Buggy Game Pulled From Steam, Funny Videos Remain
Yes, the following videos are from a game that is (or, was) available for purchase. Specifically, from Ashes Cricket 2013, which was released in a sad state and then unceremoniously pulled from Steam. Rock, Paper Shotgun‘s got the whole story, and also shared this video from Matt Whitehorn: I’m no Cricket expert, but I’m fairly…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 26, 2013 -
PS4 vs. Xbox One: The Comparison We Had To Make
Two new gaming consoles. Both very powerful. Both very ambitious. Both about to meet head to head… and do battle for your time, money and attention, as well as the fate of the universe! Two weeks ago we reviewed the PlayStation 4. Last week we reviewed the Xbox One. Now that we’ve had a decent…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 26, 2013 -
An Indie RPG That Does Not Look Like Most Indie RPGs
Behold, the recently-released Paper Sorcerer, a Kickstarted indie RPG with a look all its own. The game comes to us from Ultra Runaway Games, who last year exceeded their $5,000 Kickstarter ask for the game by quite a bit. Always nice to see a Kickstarter game finished and playable. You can see more of Paper…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 25, 2013 -
The Video Game “Lean” Continues Its Console Invasion
Say you’re coming up on a corner in a hallway. There might be some guys on the other side who. I don’t know want to shoot you. What do you do? Put your entire body around the corner really quick just to see what’s over there? Of course you don’t. You peek your head around…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 25, 2013
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