Stephen Totilo

Watch Dogs: Bad Blood: The Kotaku Review

I was very, very close to advising you not to bother with Watch Dogs‘ big downloadable episode Bad Blood I was in a weird predicament, because, up until a couple of weeks ago, I’d barely played any of Watch Dogs, even though it came out last spring. I’d heard about (and read) some pretty negative…

The Combat In Shadow Of Mordor Sure Feels Familiar (In A Good Way)

The enjoyable fighting system in the superb Warner Bros.-published Lord of the Rings game Shadow of Mordor is clearly inspired by the enjoyable fighting system in the superb Warner Bros.-published Batman Arkham games. Let’s compare, shall we? I captured a battle in Shadow of Mordor off of my PS4 earlier this week. Take a look:…

Hackers Charged With Stealing From Valve, Microsoft And More

Two hackers, one from the United States and one from Canada, have plead guilty to U.S. federal charges regarding an elaborate international scheme involving the infiltration of gaming companies Valve, Epic, and Zombie Studios as well as attempted sales of counterfeit Xbox One development kits well before the console was released to the public. The…

October’s Xbox One Changes Make Microsoft’s Console A Whole Lot Better

Microsoft’s monthly tinkering with the Xbox One’s system software will produce something special in October, as the console will at long last offer the kind of distinct, smartly-designed system-wide functionality that could make rival console-makers jealous. The console’s October update doesn’t perfect the Xbox One. But, 11 months into the machine’s existence, it finally sees…

Shadow of Mordor isn’t just a surprisingly good game. It also has the most romantic stealth-game tutorial of all time. We couldn’t help but share this image from the beginning of the game. (Disregard the bottom line of text—that’s just a subtitle.)

Forget horse armor. The first DLC for the Zelda spin-off Hyrule Warriors will include a horse weapon. That horse weapon is Epona, Link’s steed from The Ocarina of Time. On Nintendo’s Miiverse service, Zelda honcho Eiji Aonuma explained today how Epona will work as a “weapon” in the game as part of Hyrule Warriors‘ first…

A good, new five-minute Assassin’s Creed: Unity video shows how the November sequel’s new role-playing-game-like character customization system works. It also helpfully shows how the game’s 2/3/4-player co-op works. Lots of gameplay footage!

Hyrule Warriors: The Kotaku Review

Hyrule Warriors is the opposite of a Zelda game. Zelda games are tidy and elegant. They may be grand adventures, but the best of them feel carefully-pruned. They’re about one hero, Link, saving the world. They’re role-playing games, of a sort, with minimal dialogue, a few stats, and a small number of inventory slots. They…

A Mildly Satanic New Video Game That You Can Only Play Online With Money

The first thing that threw me about Jason Rohrer‘s new multiplayer video game was that he told me I could only play it with money on the line. Real money. MY money. Then he said the game would mail me a check if I won. It was all legal, he assured me. The game in…

Major Knights Of The Old Republic Character Making Big Return, It Seems

An interesting teaser for fans of Knights of the Old Republic, for sure, presumably whetting appetites for The Old Republic MMO’s next big update. UPDATE: Apologies for any confusion, but Revan’s been in The Old Republic before. He appears in a Flashpoint mission. The “big return” we’re referring to is that the teaser suggests he’ll…

Bomb Threat Targeted Anita Sarkeesian, Gaming Awards Last March

An anonymous e-mailer threatened to blow up a bomb at the Game Developers Choice Awards this past March unless the hosts rescinded an award recognizing feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian, the organizers of the event have confirmed to Kotaku “We can confirm that approximately 25 of GDC’s organizers received an anonymous email early in the morning…

Critic Argues That Game Culture Is For Guys

A cultural criticwho regularly critiques modern feminists is weighing in on the ongoing debate about women in games in a new video, arguing that hardcore gaming is mostly a guy thing and saying that those criticizing women’s portrayal in mainstream games might as well be knocking women-targeted shows like The View or magazines such as…

My End-of-Game Thoughts On Infamous: Second Son For PS4

Well-played, Google.

New-Gen GTA V Dog Is Looking Good

Didn’t Grand Theft Auto V already look pretty good on Xbox 360 and PS3? Yes. But it appears to look better—as it should—in the latest trailer for the November-dated PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release. Our own Gergo Vas made some GIFs to compare. The GIFs labeled “new” were pulled from the trailer, which Rockstar…

New-Gen Grand Theft Auto V Will Be Out In November, With More Stuff

The improved version of Grand Theft Auto V for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will be out on November 18, according to the game’s developer, Rockstar. The PC version will follow on January 27, 2015. The company says the new edition of the massively popular game will contain new weapons, vehicles, activities, wildlife, and other…

Some fool was talking about Minecraft and Microsoft on the PBS Newshour last night. You can watch the segment or read a transcript here. No news. Just me explaining to the PBS crowd what Minecraft is and why it matters.

Nintendo Releasing GameStop-Only NES Version Of 3DS [CORRECTION]

Straight from Nintendo’s presentation at this week’s GameStop conference, the company just showed off a NES-styled 3DS XL. Out October 10. Our tipster says it’ll be a GameStop exclusive. Update: Nintendo confirms. And here’s the inside: Nintendo is also releasing a purple Persona-themed 3DS XL as a GameStop exclusive. It will be bundled with Persona.…

October Xbox One Update Will Make Gamerscore A Bigger Deal

The October system software update for Microsoft’s frequently-evolving Xbox One console will add a Gamerscore leaderboard that will rank Xbox One owners and their friends by the amount of Gamerscore they’ve attained in the last 30 days. Microsoft showed the new Gamerscore ranking system last night in a video highlighting several October firmware system software…

Batman: Arkham Knight Will Be Out On June 2

The new-gen-only Batman game Arkham Knight will be released on June 2, 2105 after having been delayed out of a fall 2014 release, according to a source privy to announcements being made at a GameStop conference today. The game’s publisherjust confirmed on Twitter, too. Batman Arkham Knight is meant to be development studio Rocksteady’s final…