Freedom Planet Is Basically A Classic Sonic Game, Except When It’s Not

If Freedom Planet were sitting at a bar with its back turned to you, you’d almost certainly mistake it for your old pal Sonic The Hedgehog. And I mean old. Classic, 2D, pudgier than today’s model, who inspires body image issues in hedgehogs the world over. This is a love letter to classic Sonic, except…

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Stars… Gollum

Why is Gollum in Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor? WE SHALL SEE. Meanwhile, here’s a new story trailer for the upcoming action game, which is out on September 30 for 360, PS3, PS4, and XB1, and on October 2 for PC.

‘The Last Of Us: Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture’

Produced by filmmaker Sam Raimi. Written by The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann. Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) possibly in talks to be Ellie. (But don’t count on that one until it’s actually finalized.) More when we know it. [Poster via Sony]

Let’s Talk About Final Fantasy VI

Welcome to the Summer of Old JRPGs, where we’re playing classic role-playing games and talking about them every week. Check out the full schedule here Are you playing Final Fantasy VI this month? Does it hold up well? Do you still get emotional over the adventures of Celes and Kefka? I’m planning a big ol’…

​A Lovely Look Back at America’s Biggest Fighting Game Tournament

EVO 2014 is gone but not forgotten. And it was filled with amazing happenings like Louffy’s improbable winstreak with Rose and Justin Wong’s insane Marvel vs. Capcom comeback. Here’s how it looked to the people who were lucky enough to go to see the best duke it out in Las Vegas. For the last few…

Crytek UK Has Finally Been Paid, Sources Say

After months of missed paychecks and walk-outs, the staff of Homefront developer Crytek UK were finally paid this week, according to two people familiar with the company. It’s a welcome bit of news for employees who were worried they might never see what they were owed in full. This comes in the wake of a…

Video Game Lets You Drive From Miami To L.A. In 40 Minutes, Seamlessly

We’ve seen games that let you run from one end of a huge, real city to another. But Ubisoft’s The Crew promises an altogether more impressive spectacle: one smooth drive from Miami Beach to the beaches of Los Angeles. Take a look. The footage above was captured and uploaded by YouTube user Birds AT (and…

Deals: Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix, Marvel Cinematic Universe, PS+

Announced yesterday, the Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix Limited Edition features an exclusive pin, and your preorder gets you the limited edition at no additional cost. [Kingdom Hearts 2.5] Six films and a Tesseract. $130 today. [Marvel Cinematic Universe] 75 years of Batman, one hardcover book. $24 [Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years] .gif via…

​Destiny Glitch Lets You Grab As Much Loot as You Can Carry

Been feeling broke in the beta for Bungie’s new game? Don’t worry. There’s a glitch that lets you access loads of Glimmer, as long as you’re willing to do a lot of running back and forth. PS4 player Jason Betthauser figured a ‘loot looping’ exploit on the Forgotten Shores part of the game. The glitch…

A Salute To The Rock, The Most Wonderfully Absurd Actor In Hollywood

Dwayne Johnson. Better known as The Rock. Dwayne, “The Rock,” Johnson. Need I say more? I know: I don’t. The Rock speaks for himself, often in the third person. But I’m going to anyway. Because Hercules is finally upon us. I don’t even need to see the whole movie to tell you it’s going to…

Plastic Man Will Probably Be My Favorite Thing About Lego Batman 3

Let’s be real here: including Plastic Man in any Lego video game should break the whole damn thing. He’s Plastic Man! He can transform into almost anything! Even Lego bricks! I already knew that Plastic Man was coming in the new outer-space-themed Lego Batman game. But seeing him transform into a plane in the new…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: (Not So) Back in The TAY Review: Towerfall Ascension • Silent Protagonists: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Pt. 1 • Does Anime Need Feminism? TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.

Gaming archives online?

Friend just emailed me this: Hey man — I was wondering: is there a repository somewhere online that contains game features (in interactive or design document form) that were ultimately removed from the final shipped game? Figured you might know about something like this. I’ve never heard of such a thing, but it sounds like…

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will be out a bit earlier than expected—the upcoming action game just got bumped up a week to September 30 (PS4, PS3, 360, Xbox One) and October 2 (PC). Between this, Dragon Age, and Battlefield, it’s like everyone’s trying to avoid October!