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Rumor: GameStop Stops PS2 Trade-Ins in June

According to this poster, beginning June 1, GameStop will no longer accept any PlayStation 2, nor any PS2 game, nor its accessories. We’ve reached out to GameStop for official confirmation, but this does not seem so farfetched. I traded in a Slim about three weeks ago and got about $12 for it in store credit,…

What the Washington Redskins Could Learn from a Game Named Starcoon

If I learned anything this past week, it’s that some people will find any context in which an ethnic slur is not an ethnic slur, or will find some justification for its use, from the name of a video game to that of a football team. Really, the reactions were almost swappable. In Washington, rumblings…

This Guy Made a Working Dead Space Plasma Cutter

By “working,” let’s be clear: This laser is not powerful enough to sever a necromorph’s limbs—not unless it is heavily sedated, if not already not-undead. It’ll still burn wood and, well, I wouldn’t stare directly at it. More than just five lasers in a swell housing, this plasma cutter, built by Patrick Priebe of Laser-Gadgets,…

Candy Box: A Game That’s Simple, Sweet, and Strangely Compelling

When I got the link from a friend on Twitter, I thought Candy Box was some kind of a test or a joke. Candies started accumulating, and the only button I could click was “eat all the candies.” Gulp. Glump. OK. If eating sweets was a management sim, this would be the game. But I…

GTFO, the documentary about the relentless abuse female gamers suffer in online multiplayer, reached its funding target of $20,000. Shannon Sun-Higginson is the film’s director.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Rasta Banana

Let’s spare a word of charity for Henry Gribbohm, who redefined “booby prize” when he spent his life’s savings trying to win an Xbox 360 at a carnival game and instead walked away with an enormous dreadlocked banana, at the effective price of $2,600. That fairly calls for ‘Shop Contest immortality, wouldn’t you say? So…

A Real Man Knows How to Turn on the N64 and Push Its Buttons (NSFW)

Well, now. This .gif series gets a big ole George Takei “Oh my …” It’s just someone doing suggestive things to a Nintendo 64 controller, is that NSFW? Well, yeah, because I’d probably get arrested for showing it to a minor. Update: The .gifs were ripped from this video, “Hardcore Gamer,” uploaded in February by…

Sunday Comics: Canon Fodder

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published May 2. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published April…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Pot-Man: The Winners

Last week, Luis Tyler beat all you ever saw, gettin’ in trouble with the law with 55 pounds of marijuana packed into a Pac-Man cabinet. This was a grand time to introduce him to the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest, and it resulted in a first! The first ever tag-team overall No. 1, thanks to all-stars Sciteach…

Thanks to the efficiencies afforded by Linux, “we skipped Valve time,” jokes Valve, and the Left 4 Dead 2 Linux beta is available right now. Access to authoring tools and a beta dedicated server come with it, if you own the game already.

Call of Duty Blamed as Boy Admits Killing Mom with Birthday-Gift Rifle

It’s been a cheerful day for video game crime news, hasn’t it? First was the teenage father who sawed a former friend’s neck down to the trachea over some Xbox Live name-calling. Now an Iowa boy says he killed and attempted to rape his mother after she took away Call of Duty. That’s according to…

Madden NFL continues to teach Europeans how to play football.

Celebrate Star Wars Day with a Livestream of Battlefront III [Update]

This just popped up on Twitch.tv, it’s a livestream of pre-alpha gameplay of the long-lamentedStar Wars: Battlefront III, by Past to Present Online Though reports suggested the game was “99 percent done” when LucasArts scrapped it, obviously you’re seeing something in a pre-alpha state here. Word is that this version, by Free Radical, came eight…

Meme Creator: Wouldn’t You Be Sued for Using Scribblenauts‘ Copyright?

People howled when word spread that the creators of Nyan Cat and Keyboard Cat were suing Scribblenauts over the unauthorized use of those memes in the series’ latest game. Frivolous lawsuit! Bullshit! Well, think of it this way: Big Video Game is finally getting sued by the little guy—for copyright infringement. That is how Christopher…

Injustice yesterday copped to adding in Batgirl as a DLC character, so that’s one down, two to go on that rumor (the others are believed to be General Zod and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.) There will be gameplay video of her “next week,” but no specific release date was given.

Throat-Slashing Blamed on a Gears of War Relationship Gone Bad

A 14-year-old admitted to slashing a 13-year-old’s throat in an assault Scottish authorities blamed on a soured online friendship developed over Gears of War. Of course the game itself is blamed but when the 14-year-old already is a father, you’re not talking about someone with good decision-making and impulse control. The Daily Mail is all…

What’s that you say? Today is Free Comic Book Day? Why yes, I’ll have that copy of Tales to Astonish #27 then. Oh, so some are free, but that one isn’t. OK. Well, then why don’t you call it “Free Comic Book Other Than Tales to Astonish #27 Day”? (Find your nearest participating store.)

NCAA Football 14 will include a longtime player request—new playing camera angles, including the “all-22” view of an offensive or a defensive coordinator. The cameras will be available in all modes, including the “Road to Glory” career mode.

Space Raccoon Game Changes Its Unfortunate Eyebrow-Raising Name

The, uh, not-so-great name a Dutch development team chose for their upcoming browser-based platformer has been cast off in favor of one less cringe-inducing, unintentionally or not. Everyone, say hi to Curio’s Starquest Formerly, this was known as Starcoon and if, like me, some of your best friends are black, you can recognize how that…

‘LEGO Breaking Bad’ is Good Enough to be Worth a Hellacious Spoiler

If you’re not current through Season Four of Breaking Bad, it kills me to give you a spoiler alert, because this thing is fan–tastic. I’m dillydallying around with LEGO City Undercover right now, but if made, I would 100 percent this mofo tomorrow. The work of one Brian Anderson on YouTube, it memorializes what was,…