China Lifts Their Console Ban… But with Strings Attached

You’ve probably heard that China has a video game console ban. Over the last year, there have been rumors that the 13 year-old ban would be lifted—and last Friday evening, a sneaky online posting by the Chinese government seems to have confirmed that the ban has indeed been lifted. This past July, the State Council…

China’s Transformers Are Junk in Disguise

There’s more than meets the eye with these Transformers. You are actually looking at scrap—discarded car, motorcycle, and machine parts—that has been lovely sculpted into the iconic robots. Thank Chinese Transformers fans for that. Twenty-three Chinese diehards created Transformers robots like Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Bumblebee from junk. As ChinaNews (via ShanghaiIst) explains, some of…

Do You Love Breaking Bad Enough To Build A LEGO Mosaic?

Well, this guy does. Breaking Bad protagonist Walter White is looking quite brooding and mysterious on his LEGO portrait, done by Andy Bauch of HippoBricks.com. Bauch says constructing the portrait took 10 hours and required 2000 LEGO pieces, with the end result, a thirty by thirty inch mosaic mounted on a one-inch wooden frame, weighing…

Oculus Rift Makes Virtual Idol Handshakes Possible

The future! It’s here, and it’s brought virtual reality handshakes with Hatsune Miku. Aren’t you happy to be alive in 2013? YouTube user Netkick recently showed off a Oculus Rift tech demo which uses the Novint Falcon pistol peripheral and a rubber hand. As shown in the video below, you can shake hands with virtual…

SNL Korea Serves Up GTA V Parody Set in Old Korea

How about a Grand Theft Auto V set during the Joseon Period? SNL Korea recently did a Grand Theft Auto V parody. Have a look. When the mom shows up (and starts pounding her kid), she says, “This is why you are turning violent.” SNL KOREA 시즌4 – Ep.30 : GTA조선 [YouTube Thanks, Sang!] To contact…

Why Is It So Hard To Keep Playing Video Games?

How did I do it? When my Super Nintendo arrived I remember playing it during the Christmas holiday. Nine hours a day. Every day. For two weeks. I had no reason to stop, no responsibilities. My Mum once rattled my bedroom door making a big fuss about how I should go outside and play and…

Ten Indie PC Games You Must Keep An Eye On

There are so many small teams out there working on so many promising PC games that it’s often impossible keeping tabs on them. You read about them, you like the looks of them, then the world keeps spinning and you forget all about something you may otherwise have loved. That’s a shame. So we’re going…

The Mouse Of The Future Might Be This Weird Little Thing

This is the iMotion, a controller concept by Intellect Motion. It’s a mouse, that you hold in the air, which doubles as a motion-sensor, and triples as a means of getting haptic feedback. All of which sounds awfully ambitious, not to mention tiring (holding the thing in the air for prolonged use doesn’t look ideal),…

Orbitor, a very pretty game we’ve looked at previously, has been signed to a console publishing deal. So expect to see it…everywhere.

1.26 Billion Facebook Profiles, All In The One Place

Artist Natalia Rojas, who calls herself a “creative technologist”, has devised a way for a single webpage to host all 1.26 billion Facebook user profiles. What’s more, it’s interactive, meaning you can actually find yourself amongst this sea of humanity. It’s a staggering image. Organised by the date a user joined, you can track people…

Let’s Appreciate Grand Theft Auto V’s Panoramas For A Second

Using GTA V’s in-game Snapmatic app – and a very steady hand on the right thumbstick – reader Timothy made some panoramic shots of Los Santos by stitching photos together in Photoshop. They’re great! Grand Theft Auto 5 Panoramas [Flickr]

Adventures In Skyrim Co-op (Cosplay)

Skyrim’s fun, but Skyrim five-player co-op sounds better. That ensemble is joined this week by some fantastic Sailor Moon, a terrifyingly realistic GlaDOS and, awesomely, some Magic: The Gathering cosplay. To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the “expand”…

Terrifying Robot Can Solve Rubik’s Cube In Less Than One Second

As soon as it gets bored with the cubes, we are all going to die Don’t Blink: Robot Solves Rubik’s Cube in a Second [Bloomberg]

You Can Play Star Fox Multiplayer On Steam, Via Team Fortress 2

Star Fortress is only in pre-alpha, the devs kicking the tyres to see how stuff works, but already it looks incredible. If only because it’s Star Fox. Running as a multiplayer game. On the PC. As a Team Fortress 2 mod [TF2] Star Fortress [Gray Mann Gaming]

How To Get A Job With Nintendo

They’re the godfathers of modern video games. Creators of some of the most beloved games of all time. For many, it would be a dream working for Nintendo, but seeing as the company runs pretty much everything out of its Japanese offices, that’s impossible, right? Well…not quite Programmer Anditto Heristyo recently applied for a job…

The Week in Games: It’s Fannnn-tastic

The week’s big console launches are NBA 2K14, also arriving for PC, on Tuesday followed by the physical HD release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on Wii U on Friday. Tuesday • NBA 2K14 (360, PS3, PC) • Flashback (PC) • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Trilogy Edition (360) • Assassin’s Creed Ezio…

‘I’m an RPG-Kind-of-Girl’ Says Newly Crowned Miss World

Megan Young enjoys Assassin’s Creed, Fable, and especially Pokémon—her favorite is Blastoise (a “basic Pokémon with a lot of strength and spunk.”) Last night she was crowned Miss World 2013. If we’re ever in a beauty pageant with aliens from other galaxies, folks, this is the woman we want representing humankind. Young was crowned Miss…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: No-Stick

Look, I’m not saying it’s the best exploitable—but it certainly is the most timely. Valve’s Steam controllermade its debut to the public on Friday and people are trying to wrap their heads around gaming without twin analog joysticks. Let’s explore even greater possibilities in this week’s ‘Shop Contest. Simple, yet open-ended task. Take that image,…

Xbox One Presenter Humiliated Me on Stage, Says Transgender Journalist [UPDATE: Some allegations recanted.]

A journalist says she was “completely dehumanised” on stage during an Xbox One Event at Eurogamer Expo 2013, by a comedian who made degrading jokes about her gender. Eurogamer Expo says it is investigating the matter. Laura Kate Dale, who is a transgender woman, says she was called “he,” “it,” “thing” and “this one,” by…

Sunday Comics: Inferior Decoration

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by you, our readership. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Sept. 23. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Sept. 23. Read more of Penny Arcade Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published Sept.…