Stephen Totilo

Sonic: Lost World: The Kotaku Review x2

There are two new games called Sonic: Lost World coming this month. I’d like to refer them as “the good one” and “the bad one,” if you don’t mind. The good one is on the Nintendo 3DS and is co-developed, apparently, by Sonic Team and Dimps. It’s a mostly-3D, occasionally 2D Sonic game that slows…

Xbox One’s Free Dedicated Servers Should Improve Multiplayer Gaming

We knew that Microsoft was aggressively promoting its cloud-gaming services for the Xbox One. We knew that meant that games like Titanfall will benefit from everything from more on-screen computer-controlled characters and stabler connections because of it. Now comes news that those dedicated servers will be free to all developers. “One of the benefits of…

Xbox One Won’t Let You Use Your Real Name Online At Launch

Even though Microsoft appears to still be committed to the idea of letting Xbox Live users identify each other by their real names, if they so choose, that feature won’t be available when the Xbox One launches on November 22, a rep for the console confirmed to Kotaku That confirmation came after a demonstration of…

Motion Controls, The Most Popular And Most Broken Idea Gaming Ever Had

It was an idea so good that it vaulted Nintendo into first place last-gen with a console using last-last-gen technology. It was an idea so flawed that a Kotaku reader—the moment this series of best and worst features of the outgoing console generation was announced—shredded it. Motion controls… boy did they mostly suck. If you…

Lack of Pokémon X/Y Lefty Mode Set To Bum Out 10% of World Population

Pokémon X does not have a mode for the lefthanders among us, and I’m willing to bet that there’s no option for my long-suffering people in Pokémon Y, either. This minor travesty will make Super Training in Game Freak’s game a little tougher for the hand that painted Starry Night, invented Super Mario and won…

With Any Luck, Call of Duty Just Made Tea-Bagging Uncool

Nothing against tea-bagging in first-person shooters other than it being played out, stupid-looking and annoying. But I guess it’s also super-hilarious, hence this immortal awards show moment a couple of years ago. Uproarious! Now. Despite the good people at Microsoft’s Halo development team trying to re-dub “tea-bagging” as “victory-crouching“, the former is still a thing.…

The New Voice Of The Joker Killed It At Comic Con

Troy Baker, who has replaced Mark Hamill as the Joker in the next big Batman Arkham video game, and who has replaced Nolan North as the ubiquitous voice-actor who seems to star in every other major game, read some lines at New York Comic Con yesterday. And not just any lines. Some lines the great…

So, Uh, The Cities In SimCity‘s Futuristic Expansion Look Really Cool

Word is that SimCity plays better these days. But it’s safer to just wait for a sequel and not step back into early 2013’s messy metropolis-builder, right? (Well, “smallish-city-builder,” if we’re being accurate, but you get the idea.) I could/should wait it out and write off the current game quite easily if this forthcoming Cities…

One Of The Weirdest JRPGs We’ll See Next Year

Note: Today on Random Encounters, we’ve got a very special treat for you: a guest column by Kotaku bossman Stephen “JRPG Lover” Totilo. Be nice! —Jason. Thanks, Jason… can I start my column now? —Stephen. Some of us like video games that we might call “insane.” We mean this in the best of possible ways.…

Indie Developer Tried To Convince Valve and Nintendo To Work Together

Let history designate Martijn Reuvers and his team at Dutch indie studio Two Tribes as an ambitious lot. They recently tried to convince Nintendo and Valve to work together—specifically, to let their Wii U game talk to their Steam game. And that went… kind of okay? Sadly, not okay enough. But pretty well, Reuvers told…

No press allowed at the newly-announced Valve-hosted Steam Dev Days conference happening in Jan 15-16 in Seattle. For $95, game creators get to talk shop, check out Steam OS, prototype Steam Machines and more. But if they announce Half-Life 3 there (they won’t), how will anyone know? (Twitter, probably).

Final Fantasy VI Is Coming To iOS and Android, VII Could Follow

Square Enix will be releasing a modified version of the beloved Final Fantasy VI, originally released in North America in 1994 as Final Fantasy III, this winter for iOS and Android, long-time Square director and producer Takashi Tokita told Kotaku today. The game won’t be a straight port. “It is basically like a remake of…

Loved Those Walking Dead Games? Creators’ Next Series Debuts Friday.

The first new video game from the creators of the acclaimed Walking Dead games, the five-part download-only A Wolf Among Us, will be out on Xbox 360 and PC on October 11.It’ll hit PS3 a few days later, according to a rep for its studio, Telltale. The first episode is called Faith. The new series…

Obama Puts Shutdown In Terms Home-Owning Xbox Gamers Can Understand

In case you were confused about the Democrats’ position re: the ongoing U.S. government shutdown—namely that they think it’s dirty for Republicans to demand the defunding of Obamacare in order to pass a budget to keep the government open—Barack Obama dumbed it down a little in a press conference today. “You don’t get a chance…

Square Enix Gets Into Crowd-Funded Gaming, With a Tantalizing Twist

Square Enix, international conglomerate behind everything from Final Fantasy to Tomb Raider would like to help your best game ideas get some crowd-funding. Oh, and they might let your game star some of their characters. Whoa. Slow down there. Eidos characters. You ain’t going to be remaking Final Fantasy VII Consider this today’s least and…

Some of the best gaming stories from our overnight shift: Civilization‘s Crazy Ten-Year Game Is STILL GOING What Some Male Gamers Want Female Soldiers To Look Like Fine Art: Why You Should Always Wear Helmets In Battle The League Of Legends World Champs Looked Incredible

Assassin’s Creed IV Looks Good So Far. But Can It Save The Series?

In 22 days’ time, we’ll know what’s really up with the next Assassin’s Creed. We’ll know if all of those trailers and videos Ubisoft has been pumping out for AC IV: Black Flag—13 of them!—have been the oozing confidence of a team that knows they’ve made a great game or have been the sprayed misdirection…

The comedian and the journalist involved in an alleged incident of the former misgendering the latter at last week’s Eurogamer Expo have issued a joint statement clarifying the incident. Both parties have issued apologies. We’ve updated our account to reflect this.

The Internet’s 2001 Hate For One Of The Most Beautiful Video Games Ever

The average person over the age of 13 can no longer proudly stand by all the opinions they expressed 12 years ago. In time, a person simply decides that dirt no longer tastes good. Later, one regrets the pants they wore in middle school or, further into life, feels some shame when recalling the thing…

A team at Maxis is exploring the possibility of making an offline mode for the always-online SimCity, because you demanded it, according to an official update on the state of the game. (But they can’t offer bigger cities; hurts performance.) Previously, Maxis management had said that an offline mode was rejected as inconsistent with the…