Call of Duty’s Dog Gets The Action Figure He Deserves

2013 may have been The Year of Luigi, but it was also The Year of Riley, Call of Duty: Ghost’s canine companion giving the series its first awesome character in years. That’s a feat worth celebrating with a custom action figure. Made by sigsauerp226r, and shared by Infinity Ward, the presence of a Hesh figure…

In 2014, We Will Swordfight Like Gentlemen (On Acid)

Indie swordfighting game Nidhogg has been doing the rounds since 2011. It was supposed to be released in 2013, but never made it. Not to mind. It’s coming out later this month. January 13, to be precise. On Steam. Here’s a launch trailer. It’s like Highlander, if Highlander was trippin’ balls.

That’s Some Mouse Review, Amazon Customer Dude

Not being a real review doesn’t make it any less helpful. Helpful review of the Nexus Silent Wired Mouse SM-8500 [Super Punch]

The Year in Kotaku ‘Shop Contests

If you’re not following the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest, you’re missing on one of the longest-running features here, all of it created by readers. This week’s contest was an encore of 2013’s 10 best subjects, and multiple contest finalist Docherty submitted this outstanding montage capturing all of them (and more) together. If this was an animated…

Good news for those of you patiently waiting for A Bird Story, the follow-up to indie darling To The Moon: the developers, Freebird Games, have released free TTM DLC for you to play. It’s a quick, lighthearted minisode meant to celebrate the holidays a little, andyou can download it here.

Want To See New Games In Action? Check Out Watchlist.

If you aren’t familiar with Watchlist, it’s a place for all the videos that we have here on Kotaku. If you are familiar with it, you should know that it’s now going to be focused on showing off new and upcoming games. Of course you’ll find Leo’s videos there, and the various gameplay videos that…

Burn At Least Six Calories in 2014 With This One Weird Video Game

Exercise sucks. Exergaming sucks. If you’re a video gamer who has set a resolution to lose weight, you have a long, hard road ahead of you in 2014. Or, more likely, you have a very short one before you give up. I can’t tell you what my secret to fitness is because my secret to…

Everything Freezes In Batman: Arkham Origins‘ Story DLC

A giant diamond, some ice crystals, and an invitation to an awards gala at Wayne Manor? Sounds like Batman: Arkham Origins‘ upcoming story DLC is going to be one cool party. Does the Ice Man cometh? The Batman Arkham Twitter account promised a surprise for New Years’ Day, and this looks to have been it.…

The Promises Video Game Stars Should Make For 2014

2014?! Thank god. I was really getting tired of 2013. Hopefully 2014 will be rays of sunshine and progress and happiness to make up for the sludge that was 2013. Some prominent video game characters are with me on this. Let’s check in. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider Buy new outfits cause this one is getting…

Online Now: Takahide Hori (AKA YAMIKEN) has posted the full video of his short film, Junk Head 1, online. Hori has enlisted the aid of professional translator, Emily Balistrieri, for the full version’s English subtitles.

Read Up: Critical Distance compiles a weekly round-up of the best games writing around—and today they published a round-up of some the best games writing of the year.Definitely worth perusing: it’s been a fantastic year for games criticism. You might even find a new site or author worth following, to boot.

I Can’t Wait To Speed-Run This Dizzying Game

I stumbled onto a trailer for this game and thought it looked pretty interesting, so the developer sent me a “demo prototype” so I decided to check it out. Despite the unfinished state, it’s actually quite fun! Update: There’s a public demoavailable now! I’m definitely looking forward to playing the finished version of this game.…