Nintendo’s big VGX surprise is… Cranky Kong. The old gorilla is playable in the upcoming Wii U game Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which will be out on February 21.

Tomb Raider Gets A Next-Gen Facelift

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition will come to PS4 and Xbox One by the end of January, updating this year’s Tomb Raider reboot for the next-gen platforms. A specific date was not announced. [Update: Here’s the trailer!] Camilla Luddington, the voice of Lara Croft and Scott Amos of developer Crystal Dynamics introduced the game at the…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: I Love a Parade: The Winners

Here’s an aerial disaster only slightly less hideous than the Hindenburg. It’s Lady Gaga’s kawaii-face, which all-star ‘shopper sciteach stuck on a Sonic the Hedgehog balloon from last Thursday’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He leads the march of a baker’s dozen finalists inside! For the record, I was partial to Brand Sliven’s Trevor-balloon, but the…

“Kabam Field”—Game Company Sponsorship Gives Stadium a Ridiculous Name

The good news is the University of California, Berkeley is getting $18 million, plus some scholarships, donations to its library and other stuff universities like to get from successful alumni donors. The bad news is they have to go around calling their football stadium “Kabam Field” for the next 15 years. This isn’t just some…

NBA 2K14 Keeps Crashing, but 2K Sports Says It Knows What’s Wrong

A recently released patch for the Xbox One version of NBA 2K14 appears to have done little to solve the repeated crashes occurring in the game’s MyCareer mode. While 2K Sports says it knows what the problem is, it has no timetable on when a solution may arrive. Server problems have bothered NBA 2K14 players…

Sheriff Offers Xbox One as Reward to Catch BB Gun Vandals

A shrewd lawman in a town outside of New Orleans has a novel approach to putting a stop to a recent wave of pellet-gun vandalism: Offer an Xbox One as a reward. Maybe that’ll get someone to fink on these twerps. Sheriff Greg Champagne of St. Charles Parish, La. offered up the bounty on Thursday.…

This Week in the Business: Worth the Paper It’s Printed On

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “I have to tell you—it doesn’t affect what we do … 100,000 signatures doesn’t mean 100,000 sales.”—Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, on fan petitions and campaigns trying to get certain games made QUOTE | “I don’t know why Iwata is…

That ‘Fallout 4 Teaser Website’ Was A Hoax

Looks like it’s official: the Fallout 4 teaser website “TheSurvivor2299.com” was a hoax. Sorry, folks. A new Fallout game might be—is likely—in the works, but it’s not connected to that site, despite how deep their ARG-ish rabbit hole went. Don’t count on any announcements at the Spike VGX this weekend, either—Bethesda said yesterday they don’t…

An emoticon future: check out this thought-provoking video by PBSoffbook, where they look at the history of the emoticon and where they are going. I for one want the future of language to be with ebooks and bots, but, y’know. Off-Topic is our nightly open thread where we show you something interesting beyond the world…

If Dota Were A Fighting Game…

…then it might work a little like this video by Chris Le The footage isn’t of an actual game, though, unlike the 2D League of Legends fighting game—not that that makes it any less cool! Obviously, you can see some Street Fighter influences in here, as well as Marvel vs Capcom. Neat. The video is…

Riot Changes Its Mind, Will Let League Pros Stream Rival Games

Riot Games has done an about-face on their policy blocking contracted players in their League of Legends Championship Series from streaming rival games. As came to light earlier this week, Riot’s existing Championship Series contract bars players from streaming any of a number of other games during the extent of the contract. Included games include…

​What’s Your Game Streaming Channel?

Now that the PS4 (and soon, the Xbox One) offer built-in streaming capability, the world of online video-game streaming got a big injection of new users. Maybe you’re one of them? I was playing Assassin’s Creed IV this past weekend and decided to start streaming… and a couple button presses later, there the game was,…

You did good, PA Report. Penny Arcade’s editorial operation, the Penny Arcade Report, is shutting down after a two-year run. Led by Ben Kuchera, the crew there worked hard to do quality reporting and writing about video games and pop culture. Their successes are numerous, and the outlet will be missed. Good luck to all…

Let’s Solve A Murder In Broken Sword 5

It always ends up with murder in Broken Sword It’s been a long time since we’ve had a Broken Sword sequel, but thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign we can now all gently point & click our way through a spate of horrible murders in Broken Sword 5: Serpent’s Curse. It’s obvious this sequel takes…

It’s Time For Star Citizen To Get Organized

A massive number of space sim fans have generated nearly $34 million in crowdfunding for Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen. Now they’re all just milling about, waiting for the game to be finished. Soon they’ll be able to mill about in large groups, thanks to the impending launch of the game’s Organization System. Organizations are just…

Disney Buys Indiana Jones

Mickey Mouse now owns both Han Solo and his whip-bearing twin Indy—Disney has purchased the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise from Paramount, the film group that distributed the first four films in the beloved action/adventure series. Variety’s got the scoop. Disney can now produce and distribute new Indy movies. Get ready for Indiana Jones…