​Photos From The Frontlines of DayZ

DayZ isn’t really a conventionally beautiful game, but it does have an austere quality that I find appealing. That quality is on full display in the latest shots from Duncan Harris at Dead End Thrills, who has been running the game in offline mode to capture the cleanest images. Call me crazy, but I’d love…

PC Mod Turns GTA IV Into GTA V, Sort Of

Not content to wait for Rockstar’s inevitable announcement of a PC version of Grand Theft Auto V, a group of ambitious modders are trying to transform GTA IV into Rockstar’s most recent GTA We’ve got a few shots to show you how it’s going. The idea is to convert the map of IV into that…

Attendees at Valve’s Steam Developer Days conference have been learning about virtual reality today. Seems Valve collaborated with Oculus on some of the new Crystal Cove headset’s tracking, while it’s also hoped that consumer-level VR headsets will be available within two years. There was also a VR demo from Valve that was meant to be…

Toy Story, As Told By Kittens

Maybe you’ve watched Pixar’s Toy Story before. Have you ever watched it reenacted by kittens, though? Probably not, is my guess. But if you’re curious, you should watch this cute video by The Pet Collective—not only do we have cat versions of Woody and Buzz, but the entire thing is narrated by a precious little…

Your Favorite Characters, Carved Into Crayons

Crayons aren’t just for coloring books, people. Crayons can be art, too. Just look at the handiwork of Hoang Tran, an artist who carves out all sorts of awesome characters and figures out of Crayola crayons—like so: After a few hours of sculpting with dentistry tools, Tran ends up with a beautiful crayon figure—like this…

​Why Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe Could Be Better Than Ever

We should know better by now, but Kotaku bossman Stephen Totilo and I are actually excited by the impending relaunch of a superhero comics universe. Crazy, huh? It’s been a long time. We shouldn’t have left you… without some geek talk to step to. But that’s all in the past now, as Stephen and I…

​Someone Has Given Out 12,355 Gifts Through Steam

Update: Apologies, but the gift count here is just for Team Fortress 2, not Steam. We apologize for the confusion. Sure, you’ve probably given a gift or two on Steam. Maybe you saw a game you really wanted your friend to play on sale, and you picked it up and gifted it. But unless you’ve…

What A Next-Gen Tetris Should Look Like

Today brings news that Assassin’s Creed and Rayman mega-publisher Ubisoft will be crafting a version of Tetris to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A next-gen Tetris needs some next-gen features, right? We ask you, the Kotaku reader, to suggest the best possible cutting-edge features from modern gaming that should be added to Tetris We…

​How To Enable “Retro Mode” In Broken Age

Double Fine’s Broken Age may be an “old-school adventure game,” but it’s decidedly new-school in a lot of ways. The most immediate of those is the game’s gorgeous, high-res art. Perhaps you’d like to play something a bit more… pixellated? Double Fine’s got you covered. The video above from The Phawx demonstrates how to activate…

Shreds Of Evidence That Pokémon X Is More Popular Than Pokémon Y

We here at Kotaku have been wondering which version of the latest Pokémon game was more popular. X or Y? Whenever we’ve asked Nintendo, they wouldn’t tell us. But perhaps there are other ways to tell? The challenge is that most of the outfits that talk about Pokémon X and Y‘s sales combine the two,…

New Humble Weekly, Game of Thrones, Titanfall Controller, 4KTV [Deals]

We’ve got another slew of great deals today, including a pre-order of Game of Thrones Season 3 for $40. As always on Amazon, you won’t be charged until the item ships, won’t pay tax depending on your state, and get pre-order price protection. We’ve got lots of games, PC parts, and more for you today,…

Dadliest Launch: Octodad, the silly octopus/dad simulator, is launching on Steam, Humble, and GOG on January 30th. It’ll also drop sometime later for the PS4. Here’s the (rather dramatic) launch trailer. Being an Octodad ain’t easy, kids!

​The Pinball Champ of New York Shows Us His Arcade

Pinball may be a bit of an underappreciated art, but that doesn’t mean it’s lost and forgotten. Even in the increasingly expensive New York, pinball enthusiasts have found a way to carve out a part of the city for themselves. The folks over at AnimalNY went and visited Modern Pinball NYC, a combination showroom and…

Oh, good. Surgeon Simulator is taking on dentistry for its next game, aimed for the iPad. Maybe now I’ll understand why it is that dentists seem to love to hack people’s mouths up. Watch the short and yet still horrifying teaser right here.

How To Announce A Sequel In 2014: Level With Fans, Offer Comfort Food

What is the best way to announce a big sequel? Do it through a Game Informer cover? Put it on stage at E3? How about this: publish an open letter to fans in the sleepy month of January. That’s what the Hitman people just did. What we’ve got today is an open letter (read it…

How To Score The Most Points In Resogun

Resogun is one of the best games for the PlayStation 4. But it can also be one of the toughest, especially if you’re aching to make those leaderboards. If you can follow the guidelines set by this video, you’ll be amongst the best of the best. It’s all about keeping a few solid rules in…

That Limited Edition Titanfall Controller Is Up For Pre-Order

Remember that sweet-looking custom Titanfall gamepad Owen told you about yesterday? You can lock yours up on Amazon right now for 65 bucks. [Amazon] This post is brought to you by the Commerce Team, a dedicated group of deal hunters and product enthusiasts. We operate independently of Editorial to bring you the best bargains every…

Here’s the latest from Kotaku‘s official reader-written blog, Talk Amongst Yourselves: Weird Theory: Has Mario been lying to all of us? – What The Banner Saga Reminded Me About Gaming – Games You’re Angry People Haven’t Played TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.