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…

Crimefighting Babysitter Foils PS3 Robbery by Telling Suspect’s Mom

Oklahoma’s most idiotic robbery (this week) ended in the arrest of two teenagers who brandished a firearm at a babysitter and two children and stole a PlayStation 3 from their home. However, one of the suspects forgot to tuck in his bandana properly, helping Nancy Drew crack the case before the commercial break. Cops say…

A Love of Learning is the Guide to Life—and Video Games

Video games are not a complete and total waste of time. Assassin’s Creed teaches you world history. Metal Gear Solid teaches politics and philosophy. And Cooking Mama teaches you, well, cooking. Those are some of the nuggets of wisdom at “Real Things Video Games Teach You,” a tumblr that in two days has compiled nearly…

Diablo III’s real-money auction house, taken down for most of the week by an exploit that allowed players to duplicate their gold, is back online, says Blizzard.

Top Warcraft Guild Disbands, Blaming the Raiding Community

These past few weeks haven’t seen a lot of good news thrown World of Warcraft‘s way. The MMO shed more than a million users over the past year, a development Activision’s CEO called “troubling.” Before that, some of the game’s hardest-core players called it quits, too. Exodus, on April 26, said it was disbanding as…

Moneysaver One-Shot: Rockstar Weekend

Hey now, you’re a Rockstar, get on Amazon, go save. Looking for the current Moneysaver roundup? Click here You don’t have to go bowling ad nauseum with annoying NPC’s to enjoy these deals. Amazon’s gone and discounted quite a few Rockstar games for the weekend, so if these must-plays haven’t made their way into your…

EA Sports’ Boss Sells All of His EA Stock, but Isn’t Going Anywhere

Andrew Wilson, the man in charge of EA Sports and newly in command of Electronic Arts’ Origin digital distribution service, sold all of his shares in the company on Thursday, cashing out for about $687,000. It’s a curious move but it wouldn’t appear that Wilson is going anywhere, and indeed a statement from an EA…

This Week in the Business: A Second Chance to Make a Bad Impression

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “‘We realize that those negative impressions exist.”—Precursor Games CEO Paul Caporicci, explaining that the company, composed mostly of ex-Silicon Knights employees, will make better games than the critical and commercial dud X-Men: Destiny QUOTE | “The disappointing launch of the Wii…

The Best Of Kotaku, The Week of May 6th

Good morning, Kotaku! How’re you all this weekend? I’m fabulous because I’m in Austin visiting my brothers, and that is a very, very good thing. We had some previews this week, Zac Gorman returned with a funny comic, Evan checked out NYU’s No Quarter event where he talked to the creator of QWOP about his…

More Video Games With References To The Wire, Please

I’m tired of Aliens and Star Wars references in video games. But references to HBO’s great drama The Wire? I’ll take more. Above, a scene from the interesting upcoming game Watch Dogs, which enables you to hack into—and see through—security cameras in a modern Chicago. Below, the presumed inspiration: When I asked the game’s senior…