Grand Theft Auto V: The Kotaku Review

Rockstar Games has scaled a mountain with Grand Theft Auto V, creating the best-looking, best-sounding and, most importantly, best-playing version of gaming’s most notorious franchise. Scaling one peak, however, reveals another—their cloud-piercing ambition to create a great ensemble video game drama, an epic of intersecting, interactive lives. Rockstar doesn’t summit that new peak as impressively…

Grand Theft Auto V’s iPhone App Is Like a Gangsta Nintendogs

It’s all the rage for AAA console games to have smartphone apps that hook into the main console game. So, yeah, GTA V has one, too. But, at least Rockstar Games isn’t taking theirs too seriously. Here’s how iFruit is described on the Apple App Store: “How would we survive without apps? Apps can transform…

If Any Game Needs A Remake, It’s Mutant League Football

For a game that spawned a cartoon spin-off, a comic book and an action figure line, there’s been no activity at all on the Mutant League Football front since the game was released on the Sega Genesis back in 1993. Do you want to bring it back? That’s what game creator Michael Mendheim would like…

Can you name all the League of Legends champions above? Turned into 8-bit characters by digital artist Reversesquats, this roster-demake rather resembles Mega Man or Final Fantasy characters from the NES-era than a current-day MOBA. Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the prettiest,funniest game-related screenshots and art that we…

NetEase’s New League of Legends Clone Is Disappointingly Uninspired

A Three Kingdoms-based multiplayer online battle arena has long been over due. However, NetEase’s attempt at creating a Three Kingdoms MOBA with Heroes of Kingdoms leaves much to be desired. Ever since I started playing China’s various League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients clones, I’ve been expecting a Three Kingdoms-skinned version of it.…

The Lighter Side Of China’s Compulsory Military Training

It’s September again, and that means the start of a brand new school year. In China, the new school year for college freshmen means more than just moving out of house and partying; it means compulsory military training. But it seems there is some fun to be had despite the training’s harsh nature. Attending university…

Looks Like We’re Getting A Sweet New Documentary About Retro Gaming

Above is the five-minute official trailer for Man vs Snake, which tells the story of Tim McVey, the first person ever to reach more than one billion points in an arcade game—on a single quarter, of course. The film’s creators launched a Kickstarter campaign last month which, fortunately, managed to reach its goal, meaning that…

Naked Man Meditates in Busy Chinese Street

Yesterday, a Russian student at a university in Hainan, China began meditating in the middle of a busy thoroughfare. Chinese people and other foreigners stopped to see if the man was alright. He wasn’t. The man continued to remove articles of clothing while he was meditating, until he ended up completely naked. The man apparently…

CGI Makes Ninja Dancing Better

I didn’t know ninja dancing was a thing, let alone ninja dancing CGI. This is Enra, a Tokyo-based dance troupe that mixes dance rhythms, martial-arts influenced acrobatics, and computer graphics. The group is spearheaded by Nobuyuki Hanabusa, who made a career of creating computer graphics for Japanese television shows and commercials. The performers have impressive…

The Story of How Grand Theft Auto Almost Didn’t Happen

Early, discarded concepts and unplayable builds line the arduous history of the first top-down GTA game. This video, from The Guardian, invites us to take a break from waiting for GTA V, grab a cup of tea, and listen to the story of how this legendary series got started. Have a look at the clip…

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Brings Awful Tasting Game-Based Cakes

Later this week, millions of ethnically Chinese people will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by getting together and having large family meals. Fast forward to the following week, millions upon millions of gifted “moon cakes” will be rotting away in the trash. Even the ridiculously cute and ornate ones. Traditionally the Mid-Autumn Festival, a harvest- and…

One of Japan’s Most Amazing Buildings

Japan is filled with buildings—many of them are impressive. One Osaka building, however, stands apart. It’s not because it’s particularly tall or even that beautiful. It has a highway passing through it. This is the TKP Gate Tower Building, and it’s a structure that blew my mind well over a decade ago when I saw…

It’s Almost Like Baldur’s Gate and Wizardry Had A Turn-Based Baby

Spanish indie group Numantian Games is crowdfunding an old-school 2D isometric RPG (with first-person, turn-based battles)—it’s called Lords of Xulima, and it’s well on its way to release. It just needs a little bit of polishing first. Yep, this campaign’s one of those “our game is just about ready but we’d like money for some…

The PS Vita Screen Comparison to End all Vita Screen Comparisons

Previously, Kotaku posted a comparison between the original PS Vita and the new, slimmer PS Vita. You might have seen it. But that was just a photo and didn’t move. Now, there’s a video. It moves. In the video, the original Vita is stacked on top of the new revamped Vita. Stick around to 2:50…

Apple Customers Escape Japanese Typhoon in Apple Store

Today a powerful typhoon bringing heavy winds and torrential rains hit Japan. Flash flood warnings hit parts of the country and in certain areas, people were ordered to evacuate. This was serious stuff. So, how the hell are you supposed to wait for a new iPhone? Since mid-last week, Apple fans have been lining up…

Pikachu (And Friends) with No Ears

You’ve seen a Pikachu numerous times, but have you ever seen the character without ears? Online in Japan recently, a thread on 2ch, the country’s largest forum, popped up with people contributing altered photos of iconic characters sans ears. Like this. And here’s the Miffy we all know and love. Here’s Miffy without ears. Rilakkuma,…

Terraria 1.2 Is Still Coming, Guys, Honestly

It was meant to be out in July. We’re obviously well past that, but Terraria’s big 1.2 update on the PC now has a release date, and that date is October 1.

Kim & Kanye Must Be Destroyed, At All Costs

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s union, and subsequent procreation, is the subject of this video game, in which the pair have taken to space, and you have to shoot their faces until the world is saved. This is not games as art. It is games as catharsis. Kimye Invaders [Play]

I Like How These Video Game Cars Break

Bugbear are the team behind the Flatout series, which were games built around the idea of smashing cars into scrap. So of course their next project has a great tech demo showing how the video game cars of tomorrow can be smashed into nothingness. It starts slow, but stick with it. Things get progressively destructive…

Thanks For A Fun Weekend! Crabtree Out.

Thanks for hanging out this weekend, Kotaku! It’s been real. And a big thanks to the other Kotaku editors who faithfully make this thing happen every week and still took the time to help me out. Them’s good apples. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter @DanRCrabtree anytime. I have so much more to…