Cuba Actually Had Arcades. Today They Were All Shut Down.

Cuba has formally cracked down on its nascent arcade businesses, specifically forbidding their operation after they had opened and operated in a gray area uncovered by the law there for the past three years. Arcades and movie theaters are banned—”immediately”—Cuba’s government said on Saturday, according to the CBC. These establishments are not among the 200…

Charity Gaming Marathon Site Taken Down by Hackers [Update: It’s Back]

Earlier in the day, Extra Life, an annual fund raiser held by Sarcastic Gamer was down for more than an hour because of a DDoS attack, organizers said. The site returned around 5:15 p.m. Extra Life benefits the Children’s Miracle Network, and has been held annually since 2008, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars since…

Twitch.tv announced streaming support for Minecraft on PC and Mac, at Minecon 2013, being held this weekend in Florida. This means Minecraft players will be able to stream to the service directly from the game itself. The feature will be live “soon,” says Twitch.

Megan Fox Stars in the Latest Call of Duty: Ghosts Live-Action Trailer

You’re gonna live ’til you die in Call of Duty: Ghosts which, for millions on Tuesday, will be about 16 seconds after spawning. A bombed-out, bro’d out Vegas stars alongside Megan Fox (Bad Boys II, as “Stars-and-Stripes Bikini Kid Dancing Under Waterfall”) in the live-action launch trailer Activision just pushed out for its megabazillion-dollar franchise.…

Meet the Specialists of Call of Duty‘s Extinction Mode

Extinction, the horde mode replacing (or so it seems) zombies for Call of Duty: Ghosts will feature four classes specific to the mode, according to this post yesterday afternoon from the game’s developer. The classes are rather meat-and-potatoes: Weapon Specialist, Tank, Engineer and Medic. The first two are your offensive classes, the second two are…

Peggle 2 will be out “a few weeks later in December” and not on the day Xbox One launches (Nov. 22), PopCap said. An earlier listing by Microsoft called it a launch-day title. The game is a timed exclusive to Xbox One.

This Week in the Business: ‘The Wrong Product for Consumers’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “We think the Wii U is the wrong product for consumers.”—Analyst Michael Pachter, on why he thinks it’s unlikely Nintendo will sell 8.5 million Wii Us between now and March 30 to meet its projections STAT | $236.2 million—Amount of money…

A Game Where You Are The Terrifying Alien That Soldiers Want To Kill

I’ve killed a lot of aliens in my time. You probably have, too. It’s not often that we get to be the mysterious extraterrestrial that all the humans are terrified of, though. Paradise Lost: First Contact is a game where you get to play as an alien plant thing that comes to Earth via a…

Zombie Game Creator Defends Allowing Players To Kill Undead Children

If you see a kid in a game, chances are it’s one of the few things that is magically immortal—and the reason why is probably obvious. Child murder in games controversial…but that doesn’t mean all developers consider it off-limits. Granted, in this case, we’re not just talking about any children—we’re talking about zombie children. No…

​Play This New Zelda Song Backwards. Trust Me.

If you’re like me, you probably heard the music in the new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, enjoyed it, and left it at that. Ah, but there’s a secret hidden within. Listen to the music in the trailer backward, as captured by WiiC24, and you’ll hear the Hyrule Castle Theme…

Of Course NASA Has The Most Badass Pumpkin-Carving Contests

Because who else but actual rocket scientists would make pumpkins that shoot laser beams and smoke? Happy post-Halloween festivities. Try not to eat too much candy.

A Time Travel Adventure For Smart Gamers

I’m not sure who entrusted a mere child with time traveling goggles, but I’m glad somebody did because Lilly Looking Through is an enchanting experience about switching between time. This kickstarted point & click adventure game from Geeta Games is more akin to Machinarium, than the old inventory and dialogue-based adventures from the likes of…

Every Generation of X-Men, In One Massive Picture

The X-Men have been around for a long while now—long enough that there have been dozens and dozens of mutants included in Marvel’s beloved franchise. In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the X-Men, artist Leigh Wortley made an infographic for We Love Fine featuring all the generations of X-Men since the franchise’s inception.…

Sexy Spies, Kids Trained to Kill and Other Kinds of Comic-Book Love

When’s the right time for a kid to learn how to shoot a sniper rifle? What’s your kid up to when you’re not looking? Is the spy agency’s secretary really just a secretary? Comic books can answer these questions. Thank God. The answers for the queries posed above come inside Zero #2, Saga #15 and…

Track: Cold War | Album: The Archandroid | Artist: Janelle Monae Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

​See If You Can Name All These GTA V Movie References

Grand Theft Auto V frequently captures the look, vibe and vehicles of the best California-based crime fiction. If you so desire, it’s not too difficult to hop into a CHiPs motorcycle or a Joy Ride truck and recreate your favorite cinematic scenes. Can you name all the references in this new video from CinemaSins? I…