The Desert Is Swiftly Swallowing Darth Vader’s Old House

From ground level, it’seasy to see how old “houses” used in the filming of Star Wars can quickly turn into forgotten ruins. But when you look at the bigger picture, you get a more interesting story. A run-down old set from Star Wars Episode I has found itself the centre of an important scientific study.…

Russian Gas Truck Explodes, Caught On “First-Person” Camera

Russia, your people’s love of putting cameras on their car dashboards has won the day again. Only a few months after the craze let the world see an insaneevent it might otherwise have missed, this time we get to see a freway bumper-to-bumper become a fireball, a truck carrying gas cannisters exploding on contact and…

Think I’m ready to try out for the New England Patriots yet?

I’d also accept “auditioning for a role in Step Out” or “auditioning for a role in Step Out 2” or “auditioning for a role in Step Out 3: The Streets, 2”. One of my favorite features of Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the QR Reader that you unlock after talking to Sable (the sewing hedgehog…

Homeworld Games Getting HD Remakes

Surprising absolutely nobody – I’ve got money on these being the only releases the series’ new owners ever bother with – Gearbox announced over the weekend it will be releasing HD upgrades to both Homeworld and Homeworld 2. If you only want to play the originals – and you might, because time has been very…

If You Know What the Hell is Going on in This XCOM Video, Let Us Know

I can tell you what the hell’s going to happen after this video. Little Kevin is going to get vaporized by aliens. Seriously, I can’t figure out why the clown is in hot water with the G-Man. Or why it’d be prudent to close down a kid’s show this way. The video is part of…

Animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series Gets a Game in October

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will get a second game this year, one based on the Nickelodeon TV show, Activision said yesterday. It’s going to be for a younger audience, so that probably means Michelangelo won’t be kicking bad guys in the jewels. Simply called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the game will be released Oct.…

EA Sports Didn’t Need the NCAA’s Logo, and Maybe It Didn’t Want It

If you want to see a relic of sports history, dust off a copy of College Football USA ’96. In its final season, the old Southwest Conference appeared for the first and only time in a video game. The next year, four members split to form the Big XII. This game is one of the…

The Week in Games: The Smurfs? The Smurfs.

Well alright then. The Smurfs 2 it is this week, a movie adaptation doing every single platform like it’s still 2008 or something. Not much else to discuss. Monday • RuneScape 3 (Online) Tuesday • The Smurfs 2 (360, PS3, Wii U, Wii, DS) • The Raven – Legacy of a Master Thief Deluxe Edition…

Avengers Alliance Is About To Get Three Times Cooler

At yesterday’s Marvel Games panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, Playdom revealed exciting plans for its social/mobile hit Avengers Alliance, though none quit as exciting as these three upcoming purchasable heroes — Squirrel Girl, Moon Knight and Doctor Voodoo. Season Two of Avengers Alliance is hitting the Facebook version of the game soon, bringing with…

Wasteland 2 Got Too Big For Its Own Good, and Is Now Delayed

Wasteland 2, like Double Fine’s adventure game, is one of Kickstarter’s greatest video game project successes. And, like Double Fine’s adventure game, it’s also run into a snag because, well, y’all just gave it too darn much money. The game is six weeks behind schedule, says developers inXile entertainment, and the reason is the “increased…

Moneysaver: Steam Summer Sale Encore (3 Hours Remain)

Dealterdämmerung About the Moneysaver The Steam Summer Sale is without a doubt the year’s most well-known series of discounts on games, but at Kotaku we know you want gaming deals every day. Brought to you by the Commerce Team, the Kotaku Moneysaver posts every day at 2:15pm ET*, bringing you the best, most complete, and…

Following a last-minute delay that pushed the launch from June to July, today Nvidia confirmed with Kotaku that the Shield handheld is officially launching on July 31.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Comic-Con Cosplay Extravaganza

As has been the tradition for the past three or so years, when we go to Comic-Con, we come back with cosplay, and then we turn that cosplay into your ‘Shop Contest. So that’s where we’re headed with this week’s challenge, brought to you in part by our friends at io9. Fahey was kinda busy,…

All the Memories of an Unforgettable EVO 2013 Are in This Superb Video

It’s been a week since EVO 2013 , and while you can revisit any of the Grand Finals, or an anthology of the best combos, sometimes it takes a video like this to unify the themes of a chaotic, energetic eSports spectacle that crowns nine champions. Edited and uploaded by evo2kvids yesterday, it’s as good…

Sunday Comics: Barter Economy

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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published July 15. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published July…

Now That’s Just Cheating, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

Because depicting the Hulk, Rhino, Kingpin, the Blob and Colossus as regulation LEGO minifigs looks silly, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes uses LEGO Big Figures. Hmph. I suppose it’s one way to do it, but they do lose some of that LEGO charm when they go large. Alas, the Hulk Big Figure made his debut last…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Grand Theft A-Hole: The Winners

GTA V‘s moment of sibling discord provided the grist for us in an otherwise quiet week for timely exploitables. The result was a number of entries I haven’t seen in two years. The 20 finalists you see inside really earned their way into this edition, most especially overall No. 1 Homeless_Zombie! arniejolt billysan BlackRainbowFT Brandon0151…

Here’s the Way the Ball Bounces in NBA Live 14

Revealed a month ago at E3, NBA Live 14 is the series’ next-gen only re-entry into the market, and will rely on something called “BounceTek” to distinguish its gameplay as truer to life. BounceTek got a nice hype reel in Los Angeles, but now we can see a little more clearly what it means in…

After 30 Years, Donkey Kong Gets a Proper Port to the Atari 2600

Drawn to the Atari Age forums this week by Princess Rescue—the port of Super Mario Bros. to the Atari VCS—I stumbled across something even better: Donkey Kong VCS, a proper, great-looking and, most importantly, fun port of Donkey Kong for the 2600, after all these years. The original was none of these. You’re at least…

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Could Use a Tune-Up, Says Producer [Update]

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was, on the whole, considered a better balanced edition than regular-old Marvel vs. Capcom 3. That’s not to say it couldn’t use some tuning, and Capcom’s top fighting game producer says a balancing patch could be coming. This despite rumors that the game no longer has a development team, and…