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Skullgirls Makers Say Konami Asked PSN, Xbox Live to Remove the Game

Lab Zero, the makers of the fighting game Skullgirls, says Konami, which published the game to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network in 2012, has asked Microsoft and Sony to take the game off the services. The administrator of the official forums for Skullgirls updated the community on the news, saying that Lab Zero found out…

Gamers Care More About the VGX Than the Show Did. That’s the Problem.

The morning after the VGX, it’s striking to see gamers once again arguing, ruminating, caring so much about a spectacle that seems to care so little about them. Or, if last night was an indication, itself. Ripping the Video Game Awards—which got a format and name change to “the VGX” this year, no explanation what…

Today in Unexpected Headlines: Gamer Saves Old Man from Burning Home

Alright. Every time games get blamed, tangentially, for some idiot criminal’s behavior, everyone makes the rhetorical argument the local news never calls out the tangential gaming interests of a good samaritan. Well, rub your eyes and stand corrected: A gamer is being called a hero for saving an old man from a burning home. And…

The Week in Games: Peggle For Your Thoughts

The year still has a few delights in store for us, beginning tomorrow with Peggle 2 on Xbox One. Doki-Doki Universe lands on Tuesday for all PlayStation platforms that access PlayStation Network. Angry Birds, inevitably, gets its kart racer on Wednesday. Here’s the week in games. Monday, Dec. 9 Peggle 2 (Xbox One) Tuesday, Dec.…

Here Are Your VGX Award Winners

Spike dumped the theater format for a more whatever-that-was in last night’s re-christened VGX, increasing the show’s length to three hours but still, as ever, seeming to minimize its purpose: Recognize the best games of the year. Twenty-three awards were given out; here are all of them. (Above: Irrational Games’ charming acceptance speech for Best…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: A Picture Worth $735

This guy paid $735 for that picture—not only that, it looks like a picture from an inkjet printer using only its magenta cartridge. eBay has ordered the hoaxer who sold the image to return the money. Meantime, our friend above could use some cheering up. That’s where you guys come in. You need suggestions? Look,…

A Retired NFL Pro Skips the Autograph Line for a Call of Duty Lobby

Seven years ago, Hunter Hillenmeyer was signing autographs in a Jewel-Osco supermarket up in Fox Lake, Ill., the kind of ham-and-egg gig that any Chicago Bear could expect at some point in his career if he was any good. It wasn’t anyone’s idea of stressful work. Smile, pretend to be famous, collect your couple-three thousand…

Sunday Comics: Airplane Mode

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published Dec. 2. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Dec. 2. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

Meet Two Of Titanfall‘s Titan Classes [Update]

Hammond Robotics is the fictious contractor building those ballbreaking mechs in Titanfall, and they’d like to pat themselves on the back for the success of their latest project, the Ogre, which we saw for the first time at tonight’s VGX. [Update] And after a 20-minute musical guest and some conspicuous time filling, the VGX came…

The Witcher 3 Delivers Another Badass Trailer

“No man who meets The Hunt returns to this world.” Well. I guess we can just go ahead and call off The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt then, right? No? Oh, well, then, feast your eyes on this premiere trailer for the game at the VGX. Go here to see much more about the 2013 Spike…

Wow. No Man’s Sky Just Stole the Show at the VGX

This is No Man’s Sky by Hello Games, which brought us Joe Danger. This is something completely different, a sprawling space adventure, as its insane premiere trailer shows. The game is entirely procedural in all of the environments it creates, promising unique planetary environments, all of them unexplored. Sean Murray of Hello Games said he…

Ubisoft Shows Off The Division‘s Next-Gen Engine

This is the “Snowdrop Engine” powering The Division, which spent about three minutes at the Spike VGX boasting of the detail it will deliver to “a chaotic and decayed New York City.” Not much in the way of gameplay, but If volumetric lighting, dynamic particle system and dynamic material shaders make you drool, then you’ll…

Bungie’s Destiny Gets Another Gorgeous Trailer

Fresh off its big cover in Game Informer this week, Bungie’s next space opera, Destiny, got this closeup premiere video at tonight’s Spike VGX. The game arrives Sept. 9, 2014. Go here to see much more about the 2013 Spike VGX, including all the award categories and their nominees.

A Closer Look At Xbox One Exclusive Quantum Break

Time stands still and stutters after an experiment gone wrong in Quantum Break, the first next-gen title from Remedy, the makers of Alan Wake. The studio showed off the game with a trailer at tonight’s VGX. Here it is. First shown off at E3, Remedy treated us to a deeper look, with gameplay, at tonight’s…

Tomb Raider Gets A Next-Gen Facelift

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition will come to PS4 and Xbox One by the end of January, updating this year’s Tomb Raider reboot for the next-gen platforms. A specific date was not announced. [Update: Here’s the trailer!] Camilla Luddington, the voice of Lara Croft and Scott Amos of developer Crystal Dynamics introduced the game at the…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: I Love a Parade: The Winners

Here’s an aerial disaster only slightly less hideous than the Hindenburg. It’s Lady Gaga’s kawaii-face, which all-star ‘shopper sciteach stuck on a Sonic the Hedgehog balloon from last Thursday’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He leads the march of a baker’s dozen finalists inside! For the record, I was partial to Brand Sliven’s Trevor-balloon, but the…

“Kabam Field”—Game Company Sponsorship Gives Stadium a Ridiculous Name

The good news is the University of California, Berkeley is getting $18 million, plus some scholarships, donations to its library and other stuff universities like to get from successful alumni donors. The bad news is they have to go around calling their football stadium “Kabam Field” for the next 15 years. This isn’t just some…

NBA 2K14 Keeps Crashing, but 2K Sports Says It Knows What’s Wrong

A recently released patch for the Xbox One version of NBA 2K14 appears to have done little to solve the repeated crashes occurring in the game’s MyCareer mode. While 2K Sports says it knows what the problem is, it has no timetable on when a solution may arrive. Server problems have bothered NBA 2K14 players…

Sheriff Offers Xbox One as Reward to Catch BB Gun Vandals

A shrewd lawman in a town outside of New Orleans has a novel approach to putting a stop to a recent wave of pellet-gun vandalism: Offer an Xbox One as a reward. Maybe that’ll get someone to fink on these twerps. Sheriff Greg Champagne of St. Charles Parish, La. offered up the bounty on Thursday.…

Reports of Tails’ Demise Are Erroneous: Christopher Evan Welch, the veteran actor who died on Monday, did not voice Sonic the Hedgehog’s sidekick in a mid-1990s animated series, Welch’s agency said today. We mistakenly reported he played the role.