Let’s get ready to Batman. Batman: Arkham Origins hits stores on Friday, leaving us enough time for several hundred preparatory views of the official launch trailer. Going to Batman so hard this weekend. How about you?

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: DocSeuss shoots Red Dead Redemption full of holes, calling Rockstar’s Western game a Last-gen Zero. GiantBoyDetective wants to know what your top five games of all time are. And KODA89 offres up the Katawa Shoujo game as a Last-Gen Hero, saying it has “the most…

In Kingdom Hearts III, Keyblades Can Transform Into So Many Things

Check out them guns on Sora. The D23 Expo Japan 2013 was an event last week at the Tokyo Disney Resort that celebrated both the 90th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company and the 30th anniversary of the Tokyo Disney Resort itself. Nomura was there with Japanese cast members to show the latest Kingdom Hearts…

It’s Like The iPhone 5c Was Meant To Be Pokémon

The problem with the Apple 5c isn’t the plastic — it’s actually quite lovely. The problem is committing to one of its five vibrant colors. The brilliant George Michael Brower makes the decision easy, with a free Pokémon twist. It’s no longer a choice of colors. Now it’s a choice of Pokémon allegiance. In considering…

New Wii U Bundle Includes Mario and Luigi Pack-In, Not Nintendo Land

When the Wii U launched, Nintendo Land was the game that came with the system’s Deluxe Set configuration. The collection of themed games seemed like the best bet to recapture the masses who latched onto Wii Sports with Nintendo’s last-gen Wii system. But now Nintendo’s hoping that Mario & Luigi will do the trick in…

Just How Different Is the PS4 Controller from PS3’s

A new console means a new controller, the DualShock 4. We know it looks different. But let’s see how the thumbsticks and D-pad buttons stack up when compared to the DualShock 3. Via Venture Beat, here are photos of the DualShock 4’s thumbsticks, compared with the DualShock 3’s. Also, check out the D-pads. The PlayStation…

Super Mario 3D World Continues To Look Amazing

Yeah, the name could have been snappier, but if you’re in need of a new Wii U game to look out for, they don’t get more promising than this. What you’re seeing up top is a refreshingly exhaustive (it’s six minutes long!) look at gameplay from the upcoming Super Mario 3D World, courtesy of Nintendo…

According to an unconfirmed Famitsu leak, Kingdom Hearts III will give Sora a Keyblade that transforms, changing how it’s used. Kotaku will confirm this once the magazine is released in Japan.

A Game That Might Actually Make Karaoke Fun For Everyone

Karaoke is fun for some. For many, though, even with booze involved, it tends to be an exercise in fear and awkwardness. So hopefully this new card game can help. Karaokards is actually two games in one. Here’s the pitch: So when you support Karaokards you’re getting two different games: Karaokards Classic to play during…

Army Robot Fires Machine-Gun, Internet Watches In Horror

Military games that feature robotic combat drones are normally labelled as “futuristic”, or “near future”. Might need to change that to “contemporary” real soon. This video shows demonstrations by a number of companies, who were recently presenting their combat robots in front of the US military. Yes, that is a robot firing an MG-240 machine…

Somebody Is Actually Combining X-Wing And Homeworld

It’s a dream combination, I know, so it’s weird it’s taken this long to do it. But hey, Enemy Starfighter is just that: a space combat game with the art style (and some ship design influence) from the Homeworld series. It’s due for Windows, Mac and Linux, and along with space combat also promises some…

Something Else Cool About The Xbox One’s New Achievements

Remember, the Xbox One’s new achievement display does more than just look fresher. It also lets multiple people earn separate achievements from within the same game, even logged onto the same console, and display that as its own colour-coded pop-up. Here’s an example, taken from around the 11:15 mark in this video You’ll notice at…

Yes, Even NFL Players Can Be Pokémon Nerds

Looks like Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin Jr. got himself a steal. Teammate and All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman knows the score. [thanks Kevin!]