First Look at Hayao Miyazaki’s New Manga

While famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki retired from feature films earlier this fall, he’s still hard at work drawing manga. And damn, his current work looks great. Miyazaki is known for famed anime like My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service, among many others. This week’s episode of NHK series The Professional featured Hayao Miyazaki.…

Shadowrun‘s Berlin Expansion Lands in January, Adds… Quicksaves?!

Well it’s about damn time Yep, a save-anywhere function will be patched into indie RPG Shadowrun Returns around the time its newly-revealed, so-far-only-teased expansion lands, as perthe latest announcement on the game’s Kickstarter. We were fairly annoyed at the game for not having a quicksave feature, so of course, this is excellent news. Look at…

The Worst Black Belts Are the Best Black Belts

To get a black belt, you must train. You must focus. You also must flail like a goof ball. But, be sure to do it quickly. Black Belt Test SFII Edition [Dominic Moschitti@YouTube via ネタりか] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft Kotaku East is your…

Nintendo Marching Band Routine Blows Trumpets (Also, Socks Off)

Ohio State University’s marching band did a killer Nintendo performancelast yearduring a halftime show. This year, Clemson responds.

Why Many Launch Games Get Crummy Reviews

It’s a rare thing to find a console launch title that isn’t either “meh” or “ungh”. There are a number of reasons for this, which you or I could speculate about all day long, but why don’t we see what a guy who works for Ubisoft has to say instead. In an interview with GI.biz,…

A Game About Actually Being A Gamer

It’s funny, games like to get introspective and meta all the time, but only about other games. RetroWorldis a game about actually being a kid who plays games, and it looks just wonderful. With a visual style that makes it look like 80’s Lucasarts played to much Earthbound, the game promises to take you through…

Call of Duty: Ghosts Compared on Xbox One and Xbox 360

Last time we saw a Call of Duty comparison,it was between every console except for the Xbox One.That’s not very useful for those of you that are curious about the Xbox One! Thankfully, VideoGamerTV has a graphics comparison here—it’s between the 360 and the Xbox One. As you might expect, the Xbox One version has…

All The Nintendo Consoles In Pokémon Games Over The Years

Lots of elements reappear in Pokémon games across generations—but one of the very first things we experience in every Pokémon game has to be going up to our television and finding a game system hooked up. It’s always a Nintendo system—typically whatever was new at the time. Pokemon X & Y, for example, puts a…

​Well, At Least The Racing Looks Good in the New Need for Speed Movie

Look, it’s pretty clear that the Need for Speed movie is trying to draft off the success of the Fast & Furious films. But the upcoming Dreamworks feature needs, like, 1000% more crazy. Aaron Paul certainly looks wounded in the clip for the upcoming car-stravaganza—which comes just days after the debut of the latest NFS…

Three Nintendo Systems Share a Birthday Today

Though plenty of attention this week is on the PlayStation 4’s launch last Friday, and the Xbox One arriving on the next, at the midpoint—today—is a rather significant date in video gaming history: Three Nintendo systems all released in North America on Nov. 18. The Wii U, of course, is most recent, launching last year…

Track: Alarm | Album: id | Artist: Wise Blood Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

No The Multiplayer Column Today: Sorry folks, I (Patricia) was caught up in Crimson Dragon/Xbox One stuff this weekend, leaving me little time for today’s column. But feel free to talk about anything multiplayer related here—we’ll be back next week!

Man Shot Dead Over PlayStation 4 Sale

Saturday brought news of the first robbery of a PlayStation 4; today brings news of the first killing associated with one. Police in Orlando, Fla. say two men were shot, one fatally, in the aftermath of a PS4 sale gone wrong Sunday afternoon. Authorities say Emmanuel Johnson, 25, had agreed to meet an unidentified 23-year-old…

11,000-Kid Study Finds That Video Games Aren’t That Bad After All

Any time a high-profile act of violence happens, some media pundits are quick to blame video games for influencing the perpetrators’ actions. But results of a UK study says that such a link may not exist. Recent research from the University of Glasgow —aiming to chart just how consumption of video games and television changes…