Oh God. FreeCiv, the open source “tribute” to the classic strategy series, now runs on HTML5. Meaning it can run in browsers. And on your phone. Play here. Thanks PC Gamer

Borderlands 2 PC Case Mod Is Just Absolutely Perfect

Inspired by the weapon and ammo caches in the game, CrazyLefty has turned his PC into something the wastelands of Pandora could be proud of. The colour scheme is spot-on, but it’s the cel-shading effect that really sells it. Not sure how well it’d word with obsessive-compulsive fans though. I can see people needing to…

Play The Monster In A Horror Movie, Scare The Crap Out Of Your Pals

Damned sounds like every second horror movie you’ve ever seen. Only instead of helplessly watching the four people trapped in the haunted house get eaten/torn/slashed to death, you can take control and try and get them out. Or take control of the monster trying to kill them. Either or! The developers call it a “randomized…

An Elegant Nintendo 64 For A More Civilized Age

Reader James’ modded Nintendo 64 is not a machine for the 1990s. Its modern touches make it a damn fine retro gaming solution for the discerning modern gamer. Preserving the main case, he’s heavily modified the console’s functionality. Gone are the switches, replaced with remote-controlled power operation. Gone are the four ports at the front,…

Looks like Android phones and tablets are getting their own version of Apple’s Game Center, according tothis report on Android Police

The Week in Games: Metrospecial

THQ’s bankruptcy couldn’t kill it. Now, Metro: Last Light finally arrives for the big three—PC, PS3 and 360. Manhunt resurfaces on PSN and Zen Studios’ awesome pinball simulator debuts on Steam. The Week in Games is brought to you by Dealzon Tuesday • Metro: Last Light (360, PS3, PC) • Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton…

It Seems Easy, But Tiger’s Greatest Feat is Damn Hard in a Video Game

In no rec league could I ever throw a no-hitter. Alone on a basketball court I’d need half an hour to score 69 points—and a trampoline to dunk. But I can do all of those things in my living room. If video games give us the conceit of doing the impossible, only now has one…

Tim Schafertells Game Informer that his studio, Double Fine, still is trying to buy back the rights to Stacking and Costume Quest from the dissolved THQ, and also Brütal Legend from EA and Iron Brigade (formerly Trenched) from Microsoft. “We can still make more of those games,” he says.

An enterprising Grand Theft Auto IV modder just added the Millennium Falcon to the—wait … wait … Oh, my! What have you done? Oh my! It’s BACKWARDS! You flea-bitten furball! Only an overgrown mop-head like you …

Moneysaver Recap: Best Deals Of The Week

It’s dangerous to pay full price, read this. We’re experimenting today with a sort of “best of” from this week in deals. We’ll be pulling from all the Moneysaver roundups and One-shots from the past seven days, as well as Dealzmodo and Deals.Kinja What did you buy this week? What were your favorite deals? Tech…

EA Sports’ former executive producer on NCAA Football testified that the game “generally tried to make the players perform as their real life counterparts, short of their name and likeness.” EA and the NCAA are defendants in a potential class-action suit over the unauthorized use of college players’ likenesses.

Real-Money Profit from Diablo‘s Fake-Money Exploit Going to Charity

The illicit, real-money profits made from a gold-duplicating bug in Diablo III have been confiscated and will be given to charity, the game’s publisher said yesterday. Blizzard says that just 415 players—all of whom have been sanctioned—used the exploit in this way. Earlier this week, a glitch in Diablo III‘s latest patch update allowed players…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Ridiculous Rift

Well, the big idea I had was already grabbed up midweek. That would be the mashup of Electronic Arts and Star Wars. So I’ve got to pull the ripcord on Plan B: People looking ridiculous while being guillotined in or riding a roller coaster with the Oculus Rift. The two exploitables I have to offer…

Moneysaver: What Do You Want To See?

Would you kindly leave some feedback? Looking for the current Moneysaver roundup? Click here. We’re coming up on two months since rebooting the Moneysaver, and we want to take a moment and dedicate a post to suggestions and requests. Today is your opportunity to give feedback, ask questions, tear things apart, etc. We want to…

Watch a Dishonored Designer Explain His Job to His Proud Mom

We hope your mother has enjoyed her Mother’s Day so far, and if you’re a mother, that you have as well. In the spirit of the day, Bethesda offers this video of one of Dishonored‘s developers explaining to his mom what he does for a living. No, no, this isn’t uncomfortable like, say, a porno…

Sunday Comics: Tama-Gotcha

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. Nerd Rage by Andy Kluthe. Published May 10. Read more of Nerd Rage Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published May…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Rasta Banana: The Winners

Yes, that’s a banana in his pocket and no, Henry Gribbohm is not happy to see you. He drained his life savings, all $2,600 of it, in his vain pursuit of an Xbox 360 grand prize at a carnival game. He did take home this swell dreadlocked banana, the source of our latest ‘Shop Contest,…

If “Ranger Mode” is the way Metro: Last Light is “meant to be played,” why is it a preorder bonus and not in the main edition? “Offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail,” the game’s publisher told PC Gamer Ranger Mode is $5 to non-preorderers because that’s the minimum they…

The Awesome, 100% Accurate Planetary Orbits of Blast Corps‘ Map Screen

Blast Corps, for the Nintendo 64, didn’t give much of a damn for accurate physics. You could drive on gas-giant Neptune, and it had the lowest gravity of any of the game’s extraterrestrial levels (it should be the highest). But as GameXplain marvelously demonstrates, the map menu is jaw-droppingly true to life. The orbital periods…

Highest Bidder Backs Out as Ultra-Rare Console Fails to Find a Buyer

About a month ago, renewed interest in the “Sega Pluto”—a prototype console that was more or less an online-enabled Sega Saturn—led one guy to rummage through his closet and find he was in possession of one of two surviving units. He put it up for bid, but a second auction has ended without his reserve…