This Is What Video Games Are: A Dispatch From a Crowded Gaming Expo

“Sometimes I’m tempted to just, like, lie,” laughs a colleague across a table from me. We’re talking about preview coverage: The unusual condition of being slotted in front of a monitor in a noisy expo hall, shoulder to shoulder with fans waiting their turn, a well-used headset shifted off one ear so you can hear…

Square Enix’s Next Dragon-Flying Game Is Headed West Next Year

Good news for people who like dragons and dragon flying and dragon fanfiction: Square Enix just announced that they’re bringing the action-RPG Drakengard 3 to North America and Europe next year for PS3. It’ll be $50. Drakengard 3 isn’t out in Japan just yet, but a western release was probably inevitable, as both previous Drakengard…

Next-Gen Thief Is Looking Pretty Great, Hesitations Aside

Folks aren’t sure if the new Thief game is going to recapture the past glories of the old-school larceny franchise or burn down any affection associated with the series’ name. Well, now you can look at this gameplay footage and decide for yourself.

Intense Portal Short Film Will Give You Chills, For Science

Considering the fact that it’s a fan-made short put together for under $500, Portal: Survive has some truly incredible moments. Creators Colin and Connor McGuire shot the short film at the Los Angeles Youtube Space, a specialized production facility created for exactly this sort of thing. Based on both the game and its tie-in comic,…

Square Enix just released new screenshots for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII You can catch a glimpse of Vanille, the battle screen and some insane costumes. Lightning’s shoes and dimension gate-looking shield, for example, are just mad stylish. Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the prettiest, funniest game-related screenshots…

XCOM Has Changed. See For Yourself.

Strategy games have a tendency to straddle an area between slow, decisive moves and the chaos of action happening seemingly out of your hands and all around you. Some strategy games are slower-paced than others. As tense as things can get in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it’s more or less leaned towards the ease of turn-based…

The Best Hangover Cure is Sprite, Say Chinese Researchers

Researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou in China analyzed 57 different drinks, looking for the best hangover cure. They claim they found it: Sprite. Sprite might not erase hangovers all together, but the fizzy drink could shorten those icky feelings you get from getting hammered and help your body breakdown the booze. After drinking…

League of Legends‘ Newest Champion Got A Catchy Music Video

Jinx, the next addition to the League of Legends roster, looks more like some villain from the DC Universe than one of Riot’s champions. And her explosive introductory music video, performed by Agnete from a band called Djerv, further intensifies this. I like the way how they mixed 2D and 3D animations to create the…

Arrested for Selling Fake iPhones Made of…Clay

I’m pretty sure this isn’t a real iPhone. Call it a hunch. Japan’s News24 reports that in South Korea, three men were arrested for selling nearly 300 iPhone boxes filled with clay to a Chinese merchant for the equivalent of rough US$150,000. The clay filled boxes were sealed in plastic and weighed as much as…

Glitch Turns GTA V Into An Accidental Bloodbath

In this dramatic Grand Theft Auto V cutscene, Michael and his friend Trevor have a heated conversation. A stupid-AI bug makes it even more so. Warning: This clip might contain spoilers, blood. The bug has police officers firing on both characters as they talk at Michael’s house. If only the cops could’ve given a fuck…

Report: They’re Making a New Pokémon Game Starring Pikachu

Pikachu, I choose you! For a starring role in the next Pokémon game, that is. Later this month, Japanese broadcaster NHK is airing a profile on Pokémon Company honcho Tsunekazu Ishihara. The profile will feature, of course, interviews with Ishihara as well as provide an exclusive look at the company. But there’s more: According to…

I Cannot Bear This Video

I really can’t. Which is just me baring my feelings. And while I’ve barely seen it once, bear with me as I share it with you and the rest of the internet. Top Secret Title [SgtScrubbleBubbles@YouTube] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft

The Man Who Photographed All The Video Game Consoles

You know those awesome pictures of video game hardware that Wikipedia is full of? They don’t just appear out of nowhere. Someone has to own the hardware, and someone has to take the picture. One of the most important of those people is Evan Amos, a veteran Wikipedia contributor who has just launched a Kickstarter…

Civilization’s Crazy Ten-Year Game Is STILL GOING

Redditor Lycerius made headlines last year when he showed off a Civilization II save game that had been bombing the same map into the dust for ten years. Status update: despite the attention, and the fact the game’s war wasn’t really going anywhere, he’s still at it. And so are a legion of “fans”. Ars…

If You Think Thief 4 Looks Crap, Try This

The Dark Mod has long been one of the most famous PC mods around. Using Doom 3 as a base, the idea was to transform id’s shooter into an old-fashioned game inspired by the old-fashioned Thief games. It was great. Now it’s even better, because it doesn’t need Doom 3 anymore. Version 2.0 of TDM…

Why You Should Always Wear Helmets In Battle

Wenjun Lin is a Chinese concept artist who, like every other artist on the planet, has most recently done some cards for Applibot’s mobile juggernaut, Legend of the Cryptids. You can see more of his work at his personal site, blog and CGHub page. To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if…

Maybe The Best Arnold Schwarzenegger Impersonation Of All Time

Close your eyes and it’s terrifying

Developer Had No Idea His Game Was Appearing On Steam

For most smaller developers, getting a game on Steam is an important milestone. Often the most important. So a lot of weird stuff has to happen for a guy to not even know people are buying his game. Yet that’s exactly what’s happened to Georgy Beloglazo, who in 2010 released a game called Phobos 1953.…

The League Of Legends World Champs Looked Incredible

The League of Legends Season 3 world finals went down in Los Angeles over the weekend. It was a big deal. You may not have known that from simply following online, but if you’d been at the Staples Center, like all these people were, you would have got a taste. Sequenced: Season 3 World Finals…

How Game Of Thrones Characters Are Like…Video Game Consoles

You see this kind of crap all the time on sponsored links at the bottom of expensive websites. “How [thing] is actually like [other thing]!” But this one, by Giant Bomb user Gold_Skulltulla, this one’s different. This one’s genius. Sure, it starts obviously enough. Joffrey as the Wii, Eddard as (SPOILERS) Dreamcast, but once you…