The 2014 Saxxy Award winners were announced today. Here’s one of my favorite action shorts, uploaded by Callegos Yavolitak, though you can take a look at the finalists for the machinima competition held by Valve (and overall winner) here.

Don’t Kill Orcs, Brew Beer For Them

We’ve been slaying lots of orcs lately around the Kotaku office/converted anti-orc nemesis death fortress lately—lots and lots, all thanks to Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. But not all orcs want to kill or even fight. Some just want to drink. Orcish Inn‘s Animal Crossing-esque antics are for them. See now? Wasn’t that nice? Why…

A strange, beautiful sci-fi game about creating your own story. You might remember Elegy for a Dead World, which Evan took a look at not too long ago. It’s got a sort of alien beauty about it, and its goal is to let anybody feel like they can dream up cool stories—about dead worlds, no…

Dad Bowser Is The Father Figure The Mushroom Kingdom Needs

Have you seen the latest 3DS commercial, which is chock full cuteness? More importantly, it features Bowser Dad. If you haven’t, you should. Not only is it good, it is also inspiring awesome fan-art—like the picture above, which was drawn by Rico But out of all the Nintendo characters featured in the commercial, it’s Bowser…

​What Are You Playing This Month?

It’s October! A time of turning leaves and too much candy, when the crisp fall air makes it easier to stay in and play video games, and the flood of new games means there’s always something to play. What are you playing this October? We’re just beginning the real deluge, and I’m curious which games…

People Are Claiming To Be Popular YouTubers To Get Free Games

When Wastelands Interactive head Leszek Lisowski found a Steam key he thought he’d given to a successful YouTuber on a resale site, he knew something was wrong. Lisowski, whose company recently brought Worlds of Magic to Steam Early Access, wrote on Gamasutra about being ripped off by people claiming to be popular YouTubers. Under normal…

The SteelSeries Siberia Headset Line Is All-New, Relatively Different

SteelSeries launched its Siberia v2 gaming headset back in 2009, and for five years I’ve not been able to attend a gaming function without seeing them everywhere. Now the peripheral maker has announced a four model family of next-gen Siberias, ready to proliferate supernaturally this holiday season. First we have the beating heart of the…

Someone Made A VR Game Out Of A Night At The Roxbury

Ah the Roxbury Guys sketch! It’s one of the most memorable sketches (and lesser movies) to come out of SNL in the mid-90s. Now you can experience it in stunning virtual reality! Live the syncopated motion of Chris Kattan’s neck with this free-to-play Oculus rhythm game. A Night at the Roculus simulates the head-bopping motion…

Shadow Of Mordor: Like Pro Wrestling, Only With More Orcs

Something I kept thinking about when playing Shadow of Mordor to review was that the orcs in the game reminded me of professional wrestlers. At least, my conception of pro-wrestlers. I mean this as the warmest of possible compliments. I was reminded of this yesterday when revisiting some footage and came across this very WWE-esque…

A Sims Fan Theory That Gets Pretty Dark

One of the most iconic families in The Sims 4 has a history that the game doesn’t tell you about. If you’ve played previous Sims games, perhaps you’re aware of it. Part of the story behind the Goths is obvious even in The Sims 4: they’re a wealthy, gloomy and somewhat snobby family. But there’s…

On Kissing Orcs

“We don’t kiss our loved ones in the same way we kill our enemies“. It’s true. We also don’t open our doors the way we use our computers, or drive our cars the way we walk down the street. These contradictions have all managed to fit into our controller, so why not include kissing? In…

Who Is Kevin Smith Playing In LEGO Batman 3? Hint: It’s Kevin Smith.

In what I feel is a horrible example of miscasting, film director and rabid Batman fan Kevin Smith has been tapped to voice film director and rabid Batman fan Kevin Smith in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. I probably would have gone with someone younger, maybe mixed things up and had him voiced by the…

DriveClub and Spelunky Head to PlayStation Plus in October

DriveClub finally leaves the starting line in October, with the PlayStation Plus Edition of the game joining Spelunky, Dust: An Elysian Tail, and several other additions to the lineup. Check out the video above, list below, or PlayStation.Blog to see the full roster. PlayStation 4 Dust: An Elysian Tail Spelunky DriveClub PlayStation Plus Edition Pix…

Destiny’s baffling Engram system is finally fixed. Patch 1.0.2, which just went live, makes it so Legendary Engrams will now only give you Legendary Items.It also adds more rewards to strikes and daily/weekly missions in Bungie’s MMO-shooter. Full patch notes here