That’s One Less Free-To-Play Game To Worry About

There once was a game called Hardware: Shipbreakers. Made by some ex-Relic developers, it was going to be a free-to-play game. Now that it’s got Gearbox money behind it, however, that won’t be necessary. Phew. Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford tweeted over the weekend: As pretty as it looked, the fact Shipbreakers was going to be…

The Week in Games: The Good Old Hockey Game

EA Sports’ 20th revival of the NHL franchise hits shelves on Tuesday. The HD remake of Ducktales arrives on Xbox 360 on Wednesday. Peter Molyneux’s Godus arrives Friday. Monday • The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North (Mac) Tuesday • The Sims 3 Movie Stuff (PC, Mac) • The Elder Scrolls Anthology (PC)…

Watch Some Hot Sexy Xbox One Dashboard Action, Right Now

[Update:] The video has since been removed. Someone with a copy of Ryse and, apparently, an Xbox One or hardware strong enough to run that game, released this video yesterday, showing less about the game and the new console and more about how the dashboard performs on it. Awesome. The Xbox One dashboard. That really…

Kickstarter Suspension Blows Up Crowdsourced Gaming’s Next Big Idea

Ouya’s “Free the Games Fund” promises to double a crowdfunded game’s money—if it releases exclusively for the Android console. The potential for abuse should be apparent to anyone with a brain. Two games are accused of backing themselves with fake funding to claim the prize, and one has been suspended by Kickstarter. The suspended game…

Football: The Kotaku Review

Today is opening day in the NFL, as good a time as any to remind you of one of the best-designed games in the world: Football. American Football. Tim Rogers gives it a Yes

Do Not Adjust Your Picture: Yep, the super awesome watch-a-shitload-of-the-NFL-for-free offer through Madden NFL 25‘s $100 Anniversary edition promo with DirecTV is experiencing technical difficulties as thousands log in to the service on opening day. Others are saying they can watch just fine, but YMMV.

The ‘Shop Is Closed: We’re taking a break from the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest because I won’t be around next weekend to round up the results and provide a new exploitable. We’ll return with a new challenge on Sept. 22.

Sunday Comics Needs New Strips. Go Find Me Some Pledges.

Well, alright. The tree of video game webcomic humor must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of … new video game webcomics. Or something. This is the only democratically elected feature on Kotaku, and I’m calling new elections. If you haven’t noticed, we’re down two strips from our normal 10. Brentalfloss folded…

Sunday Comics: Fan Service

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published Sept. 5. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Sept.…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Ultimate Exploitable: The Winners

My PAX 2013 summit with Warrior—no, really, that’s his name, legally changed—was plenty enough to get your creative minds cookin’ for our latest ‘shop contest. Our winners inside feature the usual gang of suspects, plus overall No. 1 ForeverWhatever! Brandon0151 Contrarianator ForeverWhatever GiantBoyDetective Ginger Snap halfbeast JB MrEshady Orion resdog sciteach Vorgier Wiisley64 To contact…

GTA‘s Latest Teaser Shows Tennis, Triathlon, and Other Vanity Sports

Another update to the Grand Theft Auto V site gives us a glimpse of the leisure activities in Los Santos—always a draw of this series—as well as a preview of some of the radio stations in the game, less than two weeks before release. “Fitness & Relaxation,” brought to you by the “Egochaser Energy Bar”…

There’s a Reason for Metal Gear‘s Sexy Sniper. What It Is, Who Knows.

First, Hideo Kojima wanted the mute female sniper of Metal Gear Solid V to appear “erotic.” That was either a poor choice of words, or poor translation, but he evidently wanted the art director to sex her up to encourage cosplay. Or figurine sales. Well, now Kojima is Tweeting, and says we have it all…

Nintendo’s Official Wii U Facebook Page Gets A Weird Name Change

Here’s an odd e-mail that those of us who “like” Nintendo’s official Wii U Facebook page received today. Are you thinking what I first thought when I got that? They couldn’t be thinking about…they wouldn’t change the name… no way, right? Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Kotaku just a couple of weeks ago…

Even the Making-Of Video for the Aliens Chestburster is Horrifying

The original Chestburster from Alien lacked arms. They were added by propmasters in the sequel, which surprised special effects artist Stephen Norrington, who narrates this video about the creation of the little bastard. “I’m amazed at how much emotion comes out of those little arms,” he says.

‘On a Path to Irrelevance’: Atari founding father Nolan Bushnell, who knows a thing or two about failed consoles,thinks Nintendo is pinched. The hardware it does well—handheld gaming-only devices—”don’t make sense” compared to tablets or mobile phones. And he thinks the Wii U’s target audience is limited.

Fan-Made TimeSplitters ‘Greatest Hits’ Remake is Coming to PS4

Crytek, custodian of the TimeSplitters franchise since the dissolution of its original studio, will support a fan-made “greatest-hits” style remake of the series that was announced earlier this week. Crytek’s blessing means the game will release on PlayStation 4 in addition to PC. TimeSplitters Rewind will be made absolutely free to everyone, as a condition…

PlayStation Intern, Ordered to Test Games for Free, Sues and Wins

Chris Jarvis, 25, thought he would be shadowing a staff developer as an unpaid intern last year at Sony Computer Entertainment’s Cambridge studio in the U.K. When he showed up, he says he was ordered to test games instead. Forgive me for finding that kind of servitude, well, Dickensian. Jarvis didn’t think it was funny,…

Hooray, Your Madden ‘Monopoly’ Check is in the Mail

Good news, Madden fans. The objection to a $27 million class action settlement in the case brought against the exclusive license held by the series has been dropped. Your money should be on the way soon. Rewind: Last year, Electronic Arts settled the now-five-year-old lawsuit brought by Geoffrey Pecover, alleging that EA Sports much-loathed exclusive…

This Week in the Business: Show, Don’t Tell

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Games are not about being told things. If you want to tell people things, write a book or make a movie.”—Game designer Warren Spector on the commandments of game design he developed for Deus Ex STAT | 1 million—Number of copies…

The Best of Kotaku, The Week of September 2

It’s officially September, which means Kotaku Selects is about to get overrun by Grand Theft Auto V articles, or at least that’s my prediction. So before that happens, go check out what else we have to say about games and other stuff. Can we still make 2DS jokes? It’s not too late, is it? I…