Stephen Totilo

The Best of Kotaku, The Week of May 12

What were the best stories Kotaku ran this week? Maybe these? Yeah, read our highlights at selects.kotaku.com. And let’s hope Tina doesn’t notice that I posted this round-up a few hours late. Shhhh. Top image is from this week’s new batch of screenshots from The Witness, which sure looks nice, huh? Looking at it makes…

In NYC? Free Saturday night around 6-8:30pm? Kotaku will be co-hosting a talk about the future of games with our friends at Gizmodo as part of Giz’s big Home of the Future event. Details here. Register to attend at this link. See you there?

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Equal Opportunity Psychopaths • This Isn’t Final Fantasy •Balancing Hype and Realistic Expectations • Word of the Day: Acquiesce TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.

Watch Dogs Stunt Essentially Shows The Game With Photorealistic Graphics

What would Ubisoft’s late-May open-world hacking game look like in real life? This Watch Dogs video shows you. It’s in the vein of other real-world super-power stunt videos that’ll have you wondering if this is a genuine hoax (oxymoron!) using real people as patsies…or if everyone involved is an actor. Either way, the game’s fantasy…

PS4 Killzone Is Getting Four-Player Online Co-Op

Launch PS4 game Killzone: Shadow Fall will get a four-player online co-op mode called Killzone Intercept later this year, launching for free for the game’s season pass holders in June and as a standalone release later in 2014. The new mode puts players in the role of VSA assault, marksmen, medics and tacticians against computer-controlled…

These Are The 10 Studios Making Assassin’s Creed Unity

Some people roll their eyes (or grunt or sigh) when they’re reminded of how many studios Ubisoft uses to make their massive Assassin’s Creed games, but as someone who likes each year’s installment, I just find it interesting. Ubisoft Montreal normally leads development, though they clearly juggle teams, giving each major AC Montreal team at…

PSA: Mario Kart 8 is the 10th 11th Mario Kart Just in case you were counting. In related news, Mario Kart 64 was not actually the 64th Mario Kart. Also: the new Mario Kart is pretty good UPDATE: A third arcade Mario Kart game has been released, making this month’s 8 actually the 11th game.…

Ubisoft has confirmed the rumored delay for the attractive co-op shooter Tom Clancy’s The Division. The game will now come out some time in 2015, Ubi CEO Yves Guillemot told investors in a conference call today.

Try a Game That’s Basically The Barrel Parts of Donkey Kong Country

No running. No jumping. No minecarts. Some developers in Uruguay have been making a game called Bullet Boy that seems to be exclusively based on the barrel levels of Donkey Kong Country (perhaps the most fun parts of those games?). Don’t settle for a trailer. You can play a short demo in your web browser.…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Review:Mobile Suit Gundam AGE •Did I Just Get Killed By A Phone Booth in Awesomenauts? • On Charities and Video Games • Word of the Day: Obfuscate TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.

Hey, it’s a trailer for SpyParty! We’re big fans of the long-in-development two-player game SpyParty, but we’ve never been able to show you a trailer, because there hasn’t been a trailer. Now there is. Enjoy. And/or go play the in-development game now for $15. No release date for the finished thing yet.

Kinect Cut Could Lead To Two Interesting Xbox One Developments

The Xbox One might eventually allow system-level voice commands through headsets and even offer more horsepower to game developers, both as a result of Microsoft’s big decision to start selling their new console, optionally, without the Kinect sensor. Neither of those next-level changes is happening just yet, though both appear to at least be on…

Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata has some thoughts about Nintendo’s next hardware—and what it needs to before it moves on. This is from Iwata’s most recent Q&A with shareholders and is in light of Nintendo’s struggle to make its Wii U console a hit. Photo by Koji Sasahara, AP Images.

Microsoft Announces Xbox One Without Kinect, Shipping June 9

Microsoft will start selling its new console, the Xbox One, without the Kinect sensor, eliminating one of the biggest criticisms of the new machine and allowing for a significantly lower cost of entry. The new Kinect-free Xbox One will retail for $399. The console launched last November for $500, $100 more than the rival PlayStation…

Thank Goodness Someone Is Making A New First-Person Swimming Game

One of the more odd delights on Nintendo’s Wii console was a two-game series called Endless Ocean. The peaceful games let players virtually scuba dive and take pictures of the wildlife below the surface of the sea. Enter World of Diving, a new game about pretty much the same thing, except it’s first-person, you can…

A Strategy Game About Space Junk

Have you noticed all the small-scale sci-fi strategy games these days? No complaints here, given how good the spaceship-survival game FTL is and how well the minimalist space-station-building Rymdkapsel turned out. There’s Double Fine’s Spacebase DF9, too. Next? Habitat, a game about making space stations from space junk. The video above shows you plenty about…

The Making Of A Very Different Kind of War Video Game

“The pattern is always the same,” video game designer Pawel Miechowski told me recently. “People struggle for food, soap and medicine. They trade liquor or any alcohol for bullets or any weapons. That’s what happened in Sarajevo.” That’s what happens in cities wracked by war. That’s what will happen in Pawel Miechowski’s most unusual war…

The Undertaker’s Outfit Looks Awfully Familiar

Sign that I might be too obsessed with WWE and Assassin’s Creed: I think the Undertaker is cosplaying as an Assassin’s Creed character these days. Seriously, how did I not notice this before? Or am I just imagining things now? Assassin’s Creed Undertaker Assassin’s Creed Undertaker Assassin’s Creed Undertaker I know. It’s not 1:1, not…

How The Batmobile Works In Arkham Knight

I really wish Warner Bros. had released footage of their next Batman game, Arkham Knight, because I’d like you all to see what they’re doing with the Batmobile. It’s not quite what you’d expect, I don’t think. You can drive it, of course, which is a first for the Arkham series, screaming down the streets…

Okay. Maybe The Wii U’s Selling Point Will Be Graphics.

Behold new screenshots of Mario Kart 8, the best-looking screenshots I’ve seen from Nintendo in a long time. They’re an 11-image argument that, okay, maybe seeing classic Nintendo franchises with HD graphics is worth the price of admission for Nintendo’s newish Wii U console. UPDATE: Trailer added. It’s not that Nintendo hasn’t made great-looking games…