Eight Of The Best Oculus Rift Games I’ve Played

Of the 41 launch-window games for Oculus Rift – 30 of which will be out on launch day – I reckon I’ve played slightly over half of them, including 10 in one day on Monday. Some of the stuff I’ve seen recently is so much more exciting and impressive than VR games were a few…

Nintendo Just Made A Maddening Change To Mario Maker‘s P-Switch

When Nintendo updated Super Mario Maker last week, it secretly tweaked the way P-Switches work in the game. It’s causing headaches for everyone. Traditionally, the P-Switch is used to swap solid blocks into coins and vice versa. But more complicated stages have found uses familiar to anyone who’s ventured into kaizo-style levels or the expert…

I Think My Minecraft Character Had A Dream The Other Night

Over the weekend, after months of pressure from my children, I started playing Minecraft on my iPhone. The children play it on the iPad, in creative mode, trundling around in unlimited diamond armor. Being an adult, I settled into survival mode: spawned onto the savanna, got slaughtered by monsters of the night for a while,…

Pokémon Designer Killed In Freak Accident

Veteran Pokémon artist and designer Eric Medalle died Sunday in Seattle when a massive tree collapsed onto his car. He was 42. As reported by KING 5 News in Seattle, Medalle had been driving with one of his two daughters near a park called Lost Lake Trail. A significant windstorm knocked over several trees in…

Here’s Oculus Rift’s Full Launch Lineup

Oculus Rift comes out March 28, and with it comes a slate of VR-friendly games both new and old including Elite Dangerous, Adrift, and Lucky’s Tale Via Oculus, here’s the full list of titles, which the company says will range in price from $5 to $60. And a sizzle reel: Exciting times for VR fans.…

Ron Paul Cops Rainbow Six Image For Anti-FBI Article

See the scary-looking image on top of the new article published on the website of libertarian politician Ron Paul? It’s not a real picture, nor is it based on a real picture: He got it from a Ubisoft game. The article, “America’s Gestapo: The FBI’s Reign of Terror,” was posted on Paul’s website and Facebook…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Pokken In The UFC

Apparently I wanted to see Pokken Tournament and UFC 2 mashed together so badly that I couldn’t stop with just one image. Perhaps you nice people can help. Update 3/16: We’re halfway there, and the entries so far have been exquisite. You’ve got three more days, make them count! Two fighting games arrive this week,…

Hitman NPC Walks It Off Like A Champ

These are no ordinary guards Agent 47 has to face in Hitman As Terry Pratchett once wrote: “Give a man a fire and he’s warm for a day, but set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.” The NPC then accepts his fate after a few seconds of burning. Seems…

Terra and co. entering the coal mining town of Narshe for the first time. Orioto’s fan-art captures the moment from Final Fantasy VI’s intro perfectly and brings back some good memories. Dayshot is an image-based feature showcasing some of the prettiest, funniest game-related screenshots and art we can find. Send us suggestions if you’ve got…

Splatoon Gets Inevitable Real-World Water Gun

You had an inkling this was going to happen, didn’t you? Famitsu reports that an official Splatoon Splattershot water gun is going on sale for 2,700 yen (US$24). It will be available this summer via HMV, starting July 18. Top image: HMV To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him…

Forget Apple Watch, You Want Bento Watch

A watch filled with little food is way more impressive than a watch that lets you check Facebook. Too bad the Bento Watch isn’t for sale! To show off its agriculture skills, Kyoto-based Takii Seeds created this clip (read: publicity stunt), roping in a master watch craftsman to design the timepiece, a plastic surgeon to…

Ten of the Best One-Night Games

Whether it’s an RPG that tells a story over dozens of hours, or a strategy game that takes months to master, games are often a considerable time investment. For many people this is central to gaming’s appeal: nowhere else in art can you find such complete worlds to lose yourself in or such stern challenges…

Reminder: Pokémon Is Incredibly Popular in Japan 

Don’t ever forget this. In Japan, people really, really like Pokémon. So today, when the newest Pokémon Center opened in Kyoto, there were massive lines to get into the store. Yesterday, when I visited the shop to check out its limited goods, I kind of thought, hey, people will come tomorrow. Did they ever. As…

Chrono Trigger’s Excellent Battle System Returns

Recently, Square-Enix released its new RPG I Am Setsuna in Japan. Its most interesting feature? The return of Chrono Trigger’s excellent battle system—only with a few nifty upgrades. The active-time battle system has long been a staple of Square RPGs—Chrono Trigger and I Am Setsuna included. The system works like this: The characters have individual…

Resident Evil Is Getting a Musical

Like singing? Dancing? Resident Evil? The survival horror series is getting an official stage version this fall in Japan. The musical, which is currently titled Musical Resident Evil (heh), will star Reon Yuzuki, who has made a career of playing male characters while at the all-female Takarazuka Revue. Previously, Takarazuka Revue has done wonderful stage…

Obsidian Announces Brand New RPG Tyranny

Tonight at GDC, independent developer Obsidian announced Tyranny, a brand new isometric role-playing game coming later this year for PC, Mac, and Linux. It’ll be published by Paradox, who also helped get Pillars of Eternity out the door. Details are scarce, but Obsidian says the game is set in a world where there was a…