Xbox Live Survey: Three Percent of Users Don’t Approve of Free Games?

When it was announced back at E3, the free-games-for-paid-subscribers deal called Games With Gold was supposed to last only until the Xbox One’s launch. Well, now it is officially continued as an “ongoing benefit.” That’s not what caught my eye about the announcement, however. “According to recent surveys, 97 percent of participating members have given…

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Super Smash Bros., just posted this image to the game’s Miiverse feed; it was then published to its official page. Those antlers belong to Xerneas, The 16-point Pokébuck who debuted in Pokémon X (and on its cover) last week, so look for him to appear in the game in some…

Grading NBA Live‘s Trailer, in the Shadow of NBA 2K14‘s

Maybe people aren’t cooing over it the way they are the NBA 2K14 hype reel released Thursday, but NBA Live 14‘s gameplay trailer does have its virtues. To reiterate, no video game genre more than sports suffers from the over-promises of a next console generation and the point of diminishing returns we’re reaching in recreating…

L.A. Suburb Forced to Sell $100,000 Arcade Game Collection

Among the assets owned by the city of Glendale, Calif. is a collection of classic arcade cabinets once valued at $100,000. However, the city is being forced to sell them all off and give all of the proceeds back to the state of California. How Glendale got into the arcade game collection business and why…

This Week in the Business: The Hardware is the Hard Part

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week …. QUOTE | “I think people might not grasp how hard that is, to develop a game at the same time as the hardware.”—Patrick Bach of EA DICE, on developing Battlefield 4 to launch with next-gen consoles QUOTE | “The right way to be…

The Best of Kotaku, The Week of October 14

Happy weekend, Kotaku! Did you know we debuted a new feature this week? It’s called Last-Gen Heroes (and Zeroes) where, as we approach a new generation, the whole team looks back at the winners and losers of the last generation in gaming. We (and lots of you readers!) have already contributed a ton of good…

Marvel Heroes Is The Best Game Ever, Because Squirrel Girl

Ladies and gentlemen, Squirrel Girl is now live in Gazillion Entertainment’s free-to-play MMO, Marvel Heroes. As LEGO Marvel Super Heroes doesn’t come out until Tuesday and Super Hero Squad doesn’t count, Marvel Heroes is the first, and therefor best. Disclaimer: There’s probably something wrong with Fahey.

Looks Like Target Is Canceling PS4 Preorder Bundles For Delayed Games [UPDATE]

Watch Dogs and Driveclub, two high-profile games planned for release alongside the PS4 and Xbox One, have both seen fairly last-minute delays into next year. However, both of those games had been included in next-gen console preorder bundles. Two readers inform us that today, Target canceled not just their game preorder, but their console preorder…

Just What You Always Wanted, A Mountain Dew-Themed Xbox One

Do you feel that the Xbox One’s bold, clean design is just a little bit too austere? Ever wish it could be livened up by some shiny green soft-drink branding? Well then! The above photo was tweeted by the media rep for Hendrick Motorsports, who field Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. She describes it as…

Metal Gear Solid Glitches Take Snake To Nightmaretown

Colonel! These nanomachines have me tripping! Heh, this Metal Gear Solid compilation of corruptions and glitches by Vinnie from Vinesauce had me rolling while watching—even though, yes, some of ’em could be something out of a nightmare. Seems like it would be hard to go stealth while playing this way, too…but then again, Snake seems…

Google Is Using Minecraft To Find The Computer Geniuses Of Tomorrow

If you want to find the computer geniuses of tomorrow, you could do worse than to check out which kids are playing Minecraft. That’s what Google’s thinking, anyway, with a new Minecraft mod that adds quantum behaviors to the game. In a new Google post, the Google Quantum A.I. Lab Team says that they’ve released…

What An Xbox One Achievement Looks Like

We knew that the way achievements work has changed…but did you know that they’ve also changed in terms of how they look? Here’s what getting an achievement on the Xbox One looks like in motion; GIF courtesy of Gearnuke. Microsoft has confirmed to Kotaku that these are in fact the new achievements. Here’s some slightly-obscured…

Next-Gen Football Looks Like This

I’m not really sure what to make of this new next-gen Madden 25 footage, released by EA today. It looks OK, but this isn’t exactly how I imagined “next-gen” gameplay would look. And it’s not nearly as mind-blowing as next-gen NBA 2k14. Doesn’t help that they’re just focusing on linemen, and we can’t actually see…

Your 6 Nominations For Best Gaming Keyboard

500 comments and more than 50 different keyboard nominations later, we have our contenders. In a surprising twist, there was a tie for 5th place, so we actually have six nominees rather than the usual five going into the voting round. Rules are pretty simple: read about each keyboard if you like, and then cast…

Punching Bears And Devil Dice In One Hell Of A Week In Gaming Apps

Any week where you can punch a couple hundred bears in the face is a good week. Add the return of one of the greatest puzzle games of the original PlayStation generation, and you’ve got one slightly late Week in Gaming Apps. I have to say, this is one of the best Week in Gaming…

Battlefield 4‘s Beta Ends, Glitchy GIFs Emerge

The Battlefield 4 beta is officially over, and DICE says the game is ready to launch on October 29. This limited period of time was more than enough for those who participated to capture hilarious moments and glitches and share them with us. Let’s take a look. 64 people can do a lot more than…

Anna Anthropy, designer behind Dys4ia and Triad, and author of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters, just released a Halloweeny digital choose your own adventure book. It’s really charming—you can go between telling jokes to skeletons to finding a Crystal City. Purchasable here.(Update: full disclosure…Anthropy was housemates with me and a mutual friend in the summer…

I Refuse To Let The Stanley Parable Tell Me What To Do

I think just about everyone had told me to play the original 2011 mod The Stanley Parable, but I never did because I’m really quite stubborn. All I knew was it was meant to be rather funny, little did I know before playing the new retail version that it could end so tragically. Up in…

Track: The Look | Album: The Engish Riviera | Artist: Metronomy Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

A Plea To All Pokémon X & Y Players Out There

Hey. How’s it going? Are you having a fun time catching monsters and being the very best? Yeah? I’m glad. Listen. We need to talk. No, don’t worry, I’m not taking you off my Passerby list on the X & Y games. You’re good, you’re good. Well, almost. I’ve got a problem. It’s just that…