Halo‘s Half-Assed ‘Mister Chief’ Immortalized as an Xbox Live Avatar

Mister Chief came to us nearly 10 years ago, filling in for a Halo 2 promotional poster on the good ol’ Bungie Weekly Update. “A terrible idea that snowballed out of control,” says his creator. Now Mister Chief’s perpetually constipated, teeth-gritting expression finds its way to an Xbox Live avatar costume. Mister C. is the…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: YourMotherIsAClassyLady pours some Last-Gen Zeroes hate on Square Enix. Kbabz writes up a playthrough of the entire Mass Effect trilogy. And DamsonRhee enshrines the Borderlands games as Last-Gen Heroes And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY…

Damn, First-Person Pokémon Is Brutal

“Super-effective?” Well, that doesn’t sound like it hurts very much. Overall, the attacks in the Pokémon games haven’t ever really felt dangerous. You’ll re-think that after watching this video. This Pikachu vs. Bulbasaur video comes via Filipe Costa, who’s given Mario the same treatment. Watching Pikachu dodge attacks adds a tension to that the typical…

The good news is there’s going to be a lot of extra stuff in WWE 2K14 The bad news is they want you to buy a $20 season pass for it. Three packs contain extra wrestlers—including the NWO—and others will have customization options and loads of extra wrestling moves. Details here and in this video.

A Look Back at Eighteen Years of PlayStation (to Make You Feel Old)

Sony Europe released this tribute video today, a stylized look at 18 years of gaming with PlayStation consoles on that continent. Wait a minute, this dude has lived in the same room for 18 years? Kidding; this isn’t meant to be taken literally, it’s just an amalgamation of all the things you might remember about…

Garchomp, use Plunge to Your Death! As Redditor Krshaw18 points out, Pokemon bridge logic falls short. Funny, everything else made so much sense. Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the prettiest,funniest game-related screenshots and art that we can find. Send us suggestions if you’ve got them.

A Teenage Chairman Mao Gets His Own Animated Film

This December will mark the 120 anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birthday. To celebrate and honor the birth of The Chairman, China is putting out an animated feature film detailing Mao’s younger years. This new “anime” will be the first of it’s kind to detail Mao’s youth. This project has received government approval. Titled, Shaoshan Youths:…

Korean Counter-Strike Players Can Win a Pig. Like, A Real Pig.

In my time, I’ve seen some pretty interesting swag. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen any swine, er, swag, like this. According to the Counter-Strike Online 2 website (via tipster Sang), the game recently got a new game mode called “Pig Mode.” It consists of adding pink and blue piggies. Counter-Strike Online 2 is…

Kingdom Hearts χ Is More Than I Expected from a Browser Game

After seeing the Kingdom Hearts III gameplay trailer last week, I was reminded that there was still one Kingdom Hearts title I had yet to play: the browser game Kingdom Hearts χ. I was wary going in but, surprisingly, it managed to exceed my (admittedly low) expectations. Kingdom Hearts χ is built on the same…

Rhythm Master Is a Peek into Chinese Pop

While games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band might be going to the way of last gen, rhythm music games are ever popular in Asia, especially when the games are made for mobile. Tencent’s Rhythm Master game is especially popular in China, where the game has been consistently topping the charts in app rankings since…

It’s officially over. The Wii is no longer in production. Nintendo’s Japanese website for the Wii reads “生産終了” (“seisan shuuryou”) or “production ended.” Thanks for the memories and the waggles, Nintendo Wii!

Attack on Titan‘s Opening Recreated with Cats (Yes, Cats!)

The opening credits of popular anime Attack on Titan has been reworked with feline friends. Courtesy of IT Media, this is madness. Purrfectly wonderful madness. Compare with the anime’s original opening credits. 進撃のねこ OPパロディ [jamuomii@YouTube via IT Media] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft Kotaku…

Terrifying Soldiers Look Like Comic Book Villains

Ballistic facemasks aren’t new. We’ve seen them in movies, comic books, video games like Army of Two. And we’ve seen them in real life, where they are utterly intimidating. Recently, website site DDN Japan and Tumblr site You’re Not Bulletproof pointed to these photos of Taiwanese Special Forces troops. The pics are from a military…

Track: Dawn Rising | Album: Whales And Leeches | Artist: Red Fang Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

LEGO Optimus Prime Lights Our Darkest Hour

One of the great crimes of the modern era is that Kre-o has the license for Transformers “building block” toys, and not LEGO. Never mind. We’ve always got fans stepping in where companies fail, and in this case, it’s Alex Jones, who’s made an Optimus Prime so good that it doesn’t even really look like…