Soul Sacrifice: The Kotaku Review

Soul Sacrifice feels like a game designed by somebody in a bad mood. This exclusive for Sony’s handheld is all about using your own pain—or the agony of others—for power. Grim? Sure. But, it’s also the best reason I’ve had in months to keep my Vita charged and in my bag. So, the bad mood…

Wolfenstein Game Publisher Bravely Adopts Anti-Nazi Stance

At the bottom of the official press release introducing the gaming world to Machine Games’ Wolfenstein: The New Order, publisher Bethesda Softworks clarified its position on the Nazi regime’s attempted genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. In a business driven by sales, estranging yourself from even the smallest demographic is a tough decision. I…

Guy Almost Breaks Monitor Using The Oculus Rift As Roller Coaster Sim

We’ve been enjoying quite a few Oculus Rift reactions/shenaniganries on Kotaku lately, but this guy jolting and bobbing around while on a virtual roller coaster is quite fun on its own, too. Imagine what it must feel like, standing up in a regular ol’ living room but totally believing like you’re dropping down from a…

Familiar Names Get Paid in MLB 2K13‘s Perfect Game Contest

A contestant accused of cheating in last year’s scandal-plagued MLB 2K Million Dollar Challenge pocketed $25,000 in this year’s contest, staged under a new format—and with the exploits patched out. William Haff, of Owatonna, Minn., is not a finalist for a $250,000 grand prize in this year’s contest, but he still did better than in…

Thought Experiment: A Console Without First-Person Shooters

American gamers love first-person shooters, but imagine a game console that didn’t have any. Imagine one with no Call of Duty and no Battlefield. No Metro Last Light. No Wolfenstein. No big new FPS from Bungie. No big FPS from Respawn. No Killzone. No Halo. No Counter-Strike. No BioShock. No Borderlands This shouldn’t be that…

Pay What You Want For A Buncha Double Fine Games (Broken Age Is Extra)

The folks at Humble Bundle have teamed up with Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions to launch a Double Fine-themed bundle, where you can pay what you want and get DRM-free cross-platform copies of Costume Quest, Psychonauts, Stacking, and if you hit the right price, Brütal Legend and a preorder of Broken Age You can pay…

The Moneysaver: Beyond: Two Souls, Free Mass Effect 3, Pizza

Pre-orders, free stuff, and a Pizza Compass. Newegg is the MVR (most valuable retailer) of the day with discounts and pre-orders galore. Grab upcoming Playstation 3 exclusive Beyond: Two Souls for $8 off with code EMCXRXN226, and Shin Megami Tensei IV for the 3DS for the same discount with EMCXRXN225. A couple other Newegg highlights:…

This video shows how Resident Evil: Revelations will work on the Wii U’s two screens. It’s interesting to see it in action, since the game was initially released as a (very good) 3DS game before being up-scaled to set-top consoles. So, you’ll be able to play the Wii U version of the game much the…

Ray Harryhausen, the Artist Who Released the Kraken, is Dead at 92

The man responsible for the fantastical elements and chilling creatures of film classics like Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans passed away today. The official Facebook page for the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation has a detailed obituary that details highlights from the master artist’s biography and credits. With simple clay and…

Assassin’s Creed Designer Patrice Desilets Says Ubisoft Fired Him [UPDATE]

Patrice Desilets left Ubisoft. They snagged him back. And now he’s gone again, Kotaku has learned. Ubisoft confirmed news of the departure in a statement to Kotaku today, and when contacted later, Desilets said he was fired and plans to “fight Ubisoft vigorously.” The designer best known for designing the first two Assassin’s Creed games…

The Entire Intro To Star Wars, Remade In Minecraft

If the original Star Wars movie was shot in Minecraft, a) we’d be living in an era of time travel (please let us know when Half-Life 3‘s coming out. Thanks.) and b) it’d look like the video above. One out of two ain’t bad. Check out the start of A New Hope, Minecraft-style. The short…

It’s Like Pokemon, Only With Cats and Baked Goods

I do not understand why I am playing this, so here’s a kitten with a steamed bun on its head. Bread Kittens is one of those free games I don’t remember downloading but suddenly find myself playing more than I probably should. Set in the world of Catlandia, an evil pet food corporation is brainwashing…

Princess Peach Will Kill You In Precisely Seven Levels

The Ring girl crossed with Princess Peach is a terrifying thought. Consider your childhood memories—and every console connected to a screen—forever ruined. Or at least ruined for the next seven days, after which you realize you were being ridiculous. C’mon, guys, seriously. The Ring girl isn’t real! …Right? Um, I’ll be in my bunker for…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: A pair of reader reviews covers recent downloadable titles. Contributor Zarynx pens a rather touching piece about how the young children in her family interact with video games and each other. And PocoGrandes opens up a spot for folks to talk about the TV shows…

Moneysaver One-Shot: The Headphones You Should Own And Can Afford

Hear the savings. Looking for the current Moneysaver roundup? Click here A quick search will reveal that reviewers, audiophiles, and consumers all rain praise on the Audio Technica ATH-M50 Headphones. At $102 today, they’re sitting at their lowest price ever. Our friends at Lifehacker put them in their Five Best Headphones write-up, while The Wirecutter…

How My Game Cuts Down On Online Gamer Obnoxiousness

Playing online games often exposes one to the worst of humanity. Within this den of scum and villainy you’ll find twelve year olds who act like four year olds, dudes that would be the worst drinking buddies, and silent, useless teammates that clearly have no f***ing idea how to play this damn game. Of course,…

That’s One Way Of Interpreting Supreme Executive Power, Saints Row IV

Yes, that’s the President of the United States of America, kicking a guy in the nuts and punching an innocent-seeming woman into a car. Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for him. Coming to the Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 on August 20, Saints Row IV weaves together two completely ridiculous storylines into one.…

The Kingdom Hearts ‘Remix’ Hits PS3 On September 10

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 will be out on September 10, the folks at Square Enix said today. The PS3 exclusive features an HD remake of the original Kingdom Hearts and the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. It’s also got cinematic scenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and extra content from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.…

The Nazis Won World War II in Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The New Order by MachineGames, will arrive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC at the end of the year, Bethesda just announced over at GameSpot. (Versions for next-gen consoles are also coming.) That’s the debut trailer. The game is set in 1960 but, yes, Nazis will still be the bad guys. That’s…

The Skyrim Version of Iron Man Doesn’t Need Any Stinkin’ Technology

You’d think that a high-tech superhero concept like Iron Man wouldn’t work in Skyrim. You’d be wrong. Machinima user Tyrannicon dropped Iron Man into Skyrim and the results are funny and inventive. The Skyrim version of Tony Stark does all right for himself, even though he’s limited to a forge and magic spells (and Fus…