Another Chance To Pre-Order the Playstation 4 And Xbox One [Today]

Walmart has announced that this Saturday August 24th they’ll have a second wave of next-gen stock available for pre-order. These units will be available for day one pick-up, and the Xbox One on offer is in fact the Day One Edition. Caveats include the fact that you’ll have to go to a physical store to…

The Horror: If Super Mario Bros. 3 Were Made For Smartphones

There are things in the world that should never happen. Game designer Ethan Levy’s “evil” Candy Crush-ized remake of Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of them. He was just kidding when he explained how he’d re-make it. Hopefully Levy was one of three game designers who was recently challenged to create an “evil” version…

Assassin’s Creed IV Has A Live-Action Teaser Now. Does it Measure Up?

Assassin’s Creed Lineage, the live-action companion series to the second game, was pretty damn good. Recognizing that, last year, Ubisoft released a live-action trailer for ACIII. And now, they’ve got one for the newest entry in their free-roaming neck-stabbing series. How is it? Let’s take a look. It’s dark, evidently. I mean, you can’t really…

The Monsters From Doom, Reimagined

Digital artist Eric Ridgeway has added a few more pixels to the classic monsters from Doom and Doom II, making them all the more horrifying. Here’s the Cacodemon, Pinky, The Cyberdemon and The Mancubus below. What a nice little party. Head over to Mr. Ridgeway’s site to see the missing monsters (well, except John Romero’s…

Crowd Control Is A Real MMO Problem. WildStar Has The Solution.

Maybe there is something to this whole WildStar being subscription-based MMO thing. Every time I turn around, the folks at Carbine Studios are rolling out some incredibly fresh idea, like a “Disarm” skill that makes you have to run after your weapon. It’s sorcery! Let’s see how the game handles other annoying forms of crowd…

No that’s not Call of Duty: Ghosts, even if the image is full of dogs. It’s just someone on Reddit messing around in ArmA III‘s editor. Good to see so many breeds in-game, but I’d also like to see the frame rate when so many creatures are on screen at the same time. Dayshot is…

Rain has a release date: IGN reports that Sony’s PS3-exclusive downloadable adventure arrives on the first of October in the US, the second in Europe, and the third in Japan Rain will cost $15, and comes with an extra music montage, an avatar pack, and a dynamic theme for those who preorder.

A Look Into The Homes Of China’s “Ant Tribe”

China churns out more and more college graduates every year. This year alone, close to 7 million Chinese students graduated from university. Many of these students will find decent, well-paying jobs, and many of them will not. Those who do not find “good” jobs and have no money end up in what is called the…

The Most Mean-Spirited Anime I Have Ever Watched

This past week, I told you about the five anime you should be watching this summer. To prepare, I asked Kotaku readers to vote on their picks. The winner by a landslide was Watamote. I am dumbfounded by this. Watamote is, quite simply, the most mean-spirited anime I have ever watched. Watamote – No Matter…

The Best Pokémon Reenactment of the Summer

Some Pokémon characters are fairly easy to bring to life. Other characters are quite difficult and certainly no day at the beach. That is, unless you are already at the beach. The above image is a recreation of Dugtrio, a Mole Pokémon, facing off with Machamp, the multi-armed macho Superpower Pokémon. The reenacted version isn’t…

Combining Precision Platforming, Cubes, and Gratuitous Cleavage

That’s gratuitous cleavage or kittens. Take your pick. On Steam’s Greenlight, currently trying to collect votes is Team Shuriken’s Xbox 360-exclusive Uncraft Me!, a Super Meat Boy-esque platformer with visuals (and a name) seemingly inspired by Minecraft. Also, there’s backgrounds featuring large-breasted anime women. But have no fear! Should you be too distracted by the…

Diablo III Gets Its First Expansion Pack

Reaper of Souls is the first expansion for Diablo III. Blizzard revealed a whole new act, a new hero called The Crusader and the act boss: Malthael. What has been revealed so far, behind closed doors [Updated]: The expansion is called Reaper of Souls The new, playable, mid-range melee class is The Crusader. Focuses on…

No, This Final Fantasy Character Didn’t Say “F**kball”

Well, I don’t think he did. This new trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is a little over two minutes. But the last several seconds are what might raise eyebrows. Skip to around 1:50 to see, er, hear what I’m talking about. While it sounds like Sazh is saying “blasted fuckball,” I believe he’s…

Can’t wait for the next-gen version of Call of Duty: Ghosts? Activision’s got your back. If you buy the game’s PS3 version, you’ll be able to upgrade to the PS4 version as soon as it releases ten days later, at a price of 10$ (or €10, or £10). In the US, Amazon and Gamestop will…

Japan’s Stupidest Photo Trend: Climbing into Things

Many Japanese photo trends have been cool. Really cool! They’ve gone viral and spread beyond the country’s borders for good reason. This one, though, is anything but cool. It’s stupid. In the past month or so, select members of the country’s youth have been photographing themselves after they’ve climbed into things, usually electrical appliances. It…

You’ll Pay A Monthly Fee To Play The Elder Scrolls Online

Putting an end to speculation that the massively multiplayer entry in Bethesda’s award-winning role-playing franchise would be free-to-play, Zenimax Online’s Matt Firor has confirmed The Elder Scrolls Online will follow a subscription-based business model. The general manager of Zenimax online confirmed monthly subscriptions for the eagerly-anticipated game during a pre-Gamescom interview with German site Gamestar.…

So Many Pokémon Cheaters Entered Online Tournament

Last month, an official Pokémon wi-fi tournament allowed Pocket Monster players from all over the world a chance to compete. For a large number, it was a chance to cheat. According to The Pokémon Company, the 2013 Global Showdown saw a whopping 1,558 cheaters. These players didn’t use regular in-game Pokémon or special rare Pokémon…

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Gets Its First Major Expansion This Fall

Just when you thought you were out… they pull you back in! Into another war against an invading alien menace, that is. This November, Firaxis’ fantastic (andKotaku Game of the Year-winning) strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown is getting its first major expansion, titled XCOM: Enemy Within. Here’s a teaser, featuring everybody’s favorite faceless guy in…

Not All New Skylanders Split In Half. Some Are Sabertooth Turtles.

More of a sabertooth turtle dinosaur, I suppose. This is Slobber Tooth, and he’s one of the latest non-splitting Skylanders champions, joining the fray when Swap Force hits October 13. The whole Swap Force mechanic is nice and all, but I’m a sucker for a well-designed one piece with a focus on function. I had…

EVE Online‘s Stunning Oculus Rift Demo Becomes A Real Game

Members of the press at E3 2013 and fans at this year’s CCP Fanfest wouldn’t shut up about how cool the Oculus Rift-powered EVE VR demo was, so CCP is making EVE: Valkyrie, a multiplayer space dogfighting game set in the EVE universe. I hope you’re all happy. I know I am. There can never…