Kirk Hamilton

How To Compose A Great Town Theme Song In Animal Crossing: New Leaf

I am head over heels for the Animal Crossing: New Leaf soundtrack. Kazumi Totaka’s music is so graceful and sparse, relying as much on suggestion and space as it does on melody. But one of the best musical aspects of the game is the one you can compose for yourself. Early in the game, you’ll…

The Last of Us Ended Perfectly, And It Doesn’t Need A Sequel

As the old saying goes, “Video games beget more video games.” Successful video games beget sequels. And The Last of Us seems by any available measure to be a successful video game. That being said, I hope it doesn’t get a sequel. WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR THE LAST OF US. The spoiler train is…

Our Favorite Onion Gaming Articles

Earlier this week, we were having a laugh around the Kotaku campfire at The Onion‘s latest video-game sendup: ‘Fully Leveled-Up Video Game Character Marvels At How Far He’s Come.’ These guys are pretty damned good at poking fun at video games, and they’ve been at it for ages. Why not pull together our favorite stories…

What 17 Million Pounds Of Weed Looks Like

17 million pounds. Of weed. As reported by the Center for Investigative Reporting, that’s the amount of weed seized on the U.S.-Mexico border from 2005-2011. So, a lot of weed. The video above was made by the CIR, who in a more detailed report their site get fantastically nerdy about just how much weed we’re…

Gamasutra has posted Dragon Age head writer David Gaider’s terrific GDC talk about sexism and sexuality in video games. It was a really interesting talk, and part of the overarching trend toward inclusivity at this year’s Game Developers Conference.

A New Custom Controller To Help Disabled Kids Play Video Games

Gaming, even with the help of a well-designed controller, can be a physically demanding task. It requires coordination, skill, and hand-strength, even for the simplest first-person games. Not everyone has that strength. Video games can be particularly difficult for those with physical disabilities. Thankfully, industrious makers are always coming up with new ways to help…

Nintendo’s E3 Presentation, Now Shorter And With Way More Jokes

Nintendo may not have given an “official” E3 press conference, but that doesn’t mean they skipped the show entirely. If you didn’t get up early enough to watch their Nintendo Direct and its accompanying announcements (or if the lousy feed crapped out), you may be wondering just what they showed. Maybe you’d like to watch…

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition Pulled From App Store, BGII On Hold [Update]

Well, this is a drag. Citing contractual issues, the people who made Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition have removed it from sale on their site and the Apple App store. The game won’t be getting an upcoming patch, and the Android version has been put on hold, as has the planned enhanced edition of Baldur’s Gate…

Francis Is Freaking The Hell Out About Microsoft’s Xbox One About-Face

You knew he was gonna have an opinion about Microsoft’s flip-flop on Xbox One DRM. And lo, Francis, one of the most excitable video-game personalities on the Internet, has obliged.

Today, Microsoft Did The Right Thing And Everybody Won

I have to admit, it was exciting. It was a kick watching “evil” Microsoft get their ass handed to them by gamer-loving “good guys” Sony. Sure, that was a gross oversimplification: It was really just two profit-minded corporations duking it out. But last week’s E3 provided the sort of dramatic, good-vs-evil narrative that we rarely…

The Last of Us Soundtrack Is Two Parts Guitar, Three Parts Emotions

Just a quick reminder that you’ve got a ton of different options to listen to Gustavo Santaolalla’s exceptional soundtrack for The Last of Us. You can listen for free on Spotify can also get it on iTunes, or listen to samples on Soundcloud, which we’ve embedded below. There’s also a cool feature from a bit…

This LEGO Star Wars Trench-Run Is One In A Million

While I’m impressed by the attention to detail in this re-creation of Star Wars‘ iconic last ditch torpedo-shot (as displayed at the Brickworld LEGO convention and photographed by Peter Mowry), I’m almost more impressed with how effectively it captures the mess of grey junk that covers the exterior of the Death Star. The full LEGO…

A Fresh Look At Gravity Ghost, The Little Indie Mario Galaxy That Could

It’s been a full year since we last checked in with Gravity Ghost, developer Erin Robinson‘s 2D take on gravitation-influenced platforming and Mario Galaxy-like star-collecting. We caught up with Robinson again at E3 2013 to see how the game is shaping up. Short version: It’s looking great. Before we shot the video above, I played…

State of Decay Still En Route To PC, Though Who Knows When

I first watched Chris playing the enjoyable-looking (and hugely popular) Xbox 360 zombie survival game State of Decay, I’ve wanted to dive in and play it. But I’ve also wanted to wait for it to come to PC. Good news, then: The game is certainly going to arrive on Steam, though it’s still not clear…

Nintendo Wants To Re-Convince You The Wii U Gamepad Is Cool

Nintendo has been having a bit of a tough time communicating just what the Wii U is all about. In particular, the company still seems unable to clearly articulate just why the Wii U’s gamepad—a combination game-controller and touchscreen—makes their system worth buying. Perhaps, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata suggests, it’s time for some new ideas.…

Gunpoint Has Been A Crashing, Near-Instant Success

Tom Francis’ outstanding stealth/hacking/spy-comedy game hasn’t just been a critical success. It’s selling like hotcakes In a celebratory post at his workblog, Francis (in his usual low-key manner) shares that the game recouped its development costs in 64 seconds. Not hugely surprising, since as he points out, the entire development cost of the game consisted…

This lovely illustration of Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us by the one and only Olly Moss. Am I the only one who gets freaked out and moves the pallet reeeeally slowly whenever Ellie’s on it? No? Cool, glad it’s not just me.

Hooray: Skulls of the Shogun Is Escaping The Clutches Of Windows 8

To the disappointment of many, the PC version of 17-BIT’s weird and enjoyable RTS Skulls of the Shogun was tethered to Windows 8 upon release. If you wanted to play it on PC, you’d have to upgrade your OS. No one wanted to do that. Thankfully, the game’s finally breaking free. Starting next month, SOTS…

What Did You Think Of This Season Of Game of Thrones?

I know, I know. The season ended last week. But seeing as how we were knee-deep in E3, I didn’t get a chance to watch the finale until much later in the week. So, I thought I’d do our normal post-GoT off-topic a week late. What did you guys think of this season? My thoughts,…

At Least Two Sex Hotlines Survived The Last Of Us‘ Apocalypse

There are a good number of enjoyable easter eggs hidden in The Last of Us, but this one takes the grand prize. At one point in the game, Joel will come across a couple of phone numbers for “pest control.” But they’re not actually numbers for pest control hotlines… they’re phone sex hotlines. When tipster…