Now You Can Buy Your Very Own Official Replica Mass Effect Pistol

I always liked the sound the pistols in Mass Effect made. Plonk. Plonk. Plonk. And oh, how the robots and mercenaries would fall. BioWare has put this pretty nifty replica of an M-77 Paladin pistol up for sale on their site. For $400, you can get one; $200 now, $200 when they’re ready to ship.…

Want to own what could be the last physical PSP game released in the United States? The folks at Gaijinworks are taking pre-orders for Class of Heroes 2, and that’s the only way to get a physical copy. (Although if you want the game and don’t care about holding the disc, a digital copy will…

Blizzard says that the Diablo III auction house will be down for at least another 24 hours as they continue to conduct an audit following the discovery of an exploit in the 1.0.8 patch allowed players to duplicate gold. Obviously, this had disastrous implications for the in-game economy. Blizzard will be updating their progress on…

It’s Pokémon Red…As A Ballet Performance? What The Heck?

Well, I’m baffled that this exists—but it does. Pokémon. As ballet. Seriously. This performance doesn’t skimp out either: it goes through everything from the initial ‘chose your Pokemon’ part with professor Oak, to battles, to team Rocket, to visiting places like Lavender Town. I kind of lost my shit at the part where the Pokemon…

Final Fantasy X-2 Sure Looks Pretty In High Definition

I’ve always thought Final Fantasy X-2 was rather underrated by the Internet At Large. Square’s FFX sequel always got a bad rap because of the whole “pop group” thing, but the class-based combat system was actually kind of brilliant, and I dug revisiting the minigame-filled world of Spira to see how things had changed. Of…

The Wonderful, Rare Sloppiness Of The Monaco Soundtrack

Of all the terms one could use to describe a video game soundtrack—exhilarating, emotional, sad, uplifting, lonesome, boisterous—the word “sloppy” almost never comes up. Seriously, pause for a minute and name a video game with a sloppy soundtrack. Unless you’re talking about a poorly-played Rock Band track or a bar pianist in Red Dead Redemption,…

Super-Serious Sci-Fi Eye Contact Is My Favorite Comics Panel This Week

In the near-future of Brian Vaughan and Marcos Martin’s The Private Eye, there’s been a meltdown of social networking. Imagine anyone anywhere being able to see everyone else’s addresses, banking information or browser history. People zealously hide their real faces and personal details after this cataclysmic breakdown of virtual privacy. You would, too. So, when…

See The Legend of Korra Come to Life in This Gorgeous New Art Book

Fans of the next chapter of the Airbender saga got a look at the series’ next printed installment earlier this year. Now, you can take a look inside the upcoming Legend of Korra art book coming from Dark Horse Comics and see how the characters’ designs and world changed during the creative process. THE LEGEND…

Rockstar’s Most Notorious Game (No, Not That One) Hits PSN Next Week

Rockstar North’s decade-old Manhunt game—the game that made their Grand Theft Auto series seem tame—will be downloadable on the PS3’s PlayStation Network for $10, according to the Rockstar Newswire In this game, you’re a death row inmate who is being cajoled to kill people in the most grisly ways possible. Sounds a bit much, yeah?…

Watch our own Kirk Hamilton chat about Tomb Raider (expect tons of spoilers) and Lara Croft with Revision 3’s Adam Sessler and Tara Long.

Only One Batman Movie Can Surpass Nolan. Here’s The First Clip.

What’s LEGO Batman: The Movie – DC Superheroes Unite got that Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight triology doesn’t? How about the entire DC Universe? See how many character you can spot in this all-too-brief clip of May 21 direct-to-video feature. Then scroll down for some fresh screens!

Behold, The Horrible Apocalypse of Next-Gen Game Consoles!

What if our worst fears about the coming wave of video game hardware come true? What if it means the death of gaming as we know it?! Never fear, this newest strip by artist Zac Gorman delivers unto us a hero—nay, a savior—who will warn us of the fearful future that’s around the corner. Don’t…

The Moneysaver: Hitman, Sleeping Dogs, iTunes Credit, Churros

‘Tis better to have bought and saved than never to have bought at all. Update: Amazon is undercutting their own low prices. Hitman: Absolution is now $5, Pro. Edition is $9. Today’s PC, 360, and PC sections are filled with great deals on some of the biggest releases of the past two years, including Hitman:…

The New Way to Play Chess Is Insane

It seems like the ideal game of chess is supposed to take hours, right? I seem to remember hearing stories of matches between grandmasters taking days. But indie game designer Bennett Foddy—best known the fun, impossible-to-play running simulator QWOP—doesn’t have time for all of that. His video game remix of the quintessential strategy game finishes…

The Studio Behind Aliens: Colonial Marines Just Laid Off Its Staff

TimeGate, best known for developing Section 8 and Aliens: Colonial Marines, may be no more. Kotaku has learned from two sources that the troubled studio laid off its staff today. Everyone was sent home early, according to one source. TimeGate had been facing financial issues for quite some time now. The company filed for bankruptcy…

You Probably Wouldn’t Be Able To Afford Hyrule Castle In Real Life

Let’s say you were in the market for something grandiose and fictional—like maybe The Legend of Zelda’s Hyrule Castle. How much money, hypothetically speaking, would you have to drop for a pad like that? Real estate blog Movoto took the time to calculate how much a property like Hyrule castle would cost if it were…

Sexy Professor Layton Is Always Right, Never Wrong

When you get puzzles right in Level-5’s brain teaser series, you get a short animation of Professor Layton thinking as a little reward. But, if the game really wanted make you feel victorious, it’d give you these flashes of the Prof’s beefcake alter ego. You all remember him from this year’s PAX East, right? This…

Here’s How Assassin’s Creed IV Looks On The PS4

Developers for the next installment of Ubisoft’s hit historical adventure series talk about what Sony’s upcoming console lets them accomplish. The question that they don’t answer, of course, are when we’ll be able to hold all this next-gen excellence in our hands. Assassin’s Creed 4 on PS4: Conversations with Creators [Official PlayStation Blog]

Super Mario World: The Kotaku Review

Super Mario World, which is a game about a plumber riding a dinosaur, is filled with rules that make absolutely no sense. For example, if you—and by “you” I mean the character you inhabit, Mario the plumber—jump on something dangerous, it will kill you, unless you are big, or wearing a costume, or riding a…

It Only Took A Legendary Developer To Make Strategic Air Battles Fun

When I’m in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft, the last thing I want to do is slow down — I certainly don’t want to wait my turn. I need a joystick in my hand, a first-person view and buttons for machine guns and/or missiles. I was pretty sure Sid Meier of Civilization and Pirates!…