Oh Great, Skylanders Happy Meals. Just What I Needed.

You know you’ve made it as a children’s entertainment property when Mike Fahey’s car is filled with empty McDonald’s Happy Meal boxes. Peek inside my 96 Nissan Pathfinder between April 12 and May 2 and that’s exactly what you’ll find, as I spend a month trying to gather all nine of the Skylanders Happy Meal…

It Was The Sidekicks, Not The Hero, That Made Me Love Mass Effect

Tali was the one who made me realize that my world had changed. Tali—never even my favorite—who had become suddenly beloved and made me stop and think hard about what mattered to me most. And it all began when I got her killed. [Spoilers for all three Mass Effect games follow.] Two days before Mass…

Watch Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Recut Into a Really Long Feature Film

Andy Gilleandnears completion of his planto recut every main Assassin’s Creed gameas a full-length movie. Now he works his magic with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, weaving together cutscenes and gameplay into a three hour epic that someone with no Assassin’s Creed experience could understand. That just leaves Assassin’s Creed III, at least until Black Flag comes…

Ubisoft has confirmed that the upcoming stealth-em-up Splinter Cell: Blacklist is coming to the Wii U. This version will have special Wii U Gamepad-exclusive features, which allow players to “operate innovative gadgets, take out enemies and move through the environment, and intuitively switch between weapons.” The Wii U version will be released at the same…

The Darkest Cyberpunk Worlds In Japanese Video Games

Cyberpunk was a big deal in the 80s and in the 90s. Writers like Philip K. Dick and William Gibson, movies like Blade Runner, and anime such as Akira heavily influenced video games. The result was games with a dark, dystopian future, high technology and low life. We’ve gathered Japanese games from this era to…

Well, This Anime Looks Different. Thank Goodness.

For what seems like forever now, googly-eyed saccharine cute characters have dominated Japanese anime. In the past few years, there seems to be a sea change. This is a good thing. Granted, I don’t hate the cutesy moé style. I just like a little variety! And new anime The Flowers of Evil offers just that.…

League of Legends Server Problems Are Pissing Off Korean Gamers

In South Korea, League of Legends is popular—perhaps the most popular game at the country’s net cafes. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. What makes being popular a bad thing? For starters, the League of Legends server always seems to be under maintenance. Last night, for example, LoL underwent emergency maintenance until…

Harebrained Schemes has announced that Shadowrun Returns, the 2D cyberpunk turn-based RPG funded a year ago through Kickstarter, will be coming out in June

Controversy Over a Cool Visual Technique Being Ripped Off [Update]

There’s a first time for everything. And once something is pioneered, others move in and make it theirs. But is that a rip off? One band seems to say so. Above, you can see a music video from the Australian group Clubfeet. The name of the song is “Everything You Wanted”, and it hit earlier…

This Fake Dark Souls Anime Is Brutal

While totally not a real anime per se, this hand-drawn fan-made clip mashes Dark Souls with Neon Genesis Evangelion. The title is “Dark Souls Neon NEET-gelion”. Originally from the UK, the term “NEET” means a young person who is not in education, employment, or training. As one would expect, this faux anime looks totally unforgiving.…

Call Her Tali’Zorah vas…Cosplay

Tali’Zorah is one of Mass Effect‘s most memorable characters. Of course, much of that is due to Tali herself, but the character’s superbly designed outfit and gear don’t hurt, either. No wonder so many cosplayers love bringing the character to life. Previously, Kotaku took at look at how cosplayers did up Commander Shepard (DudeShep and…

Maybe Nintendo Would Sell More Wii Us If They Had Giant Zombies On Them

Console painter Ozcan continues to do what he does best, turning rather plain video game consoles into electronic works or art. His latest work is this Wii U, emblazoned with the cover star of Ubisoft launch title ZombiU. The reanimated Queen’s Guard might be a bit much for faint-hearted, but that black-and-red colour scheme on…

Get Your First, Basic Look At Obsidian’s New RPG, Project Eternity

Project Eternity, the upcoming RPG from Obsidianthat raised nearly $4 million on Kickstarter, is still a while away, but this clip gives us our first look at the game – or at least its environment and characters – in action.

Lara Croft, Ezio & Nathan Drake Are Actually Terrible At Climbing

They may swing from ledges, walls and cliffs like it’s going out of style, but as real-life rock-dangler (and Kotaku Australia EIC) Mark Serrels explains, your favourite video game characters are, it turns out, terrible climbers.

Imagining The Branding For A Nintendo Console That Doesn’t Have “Wii” In Its Name

The Nintendo image is one of the most treasured in gaming. It carries a lot of weight, a lot of history. Yet that weight can sometimes be as much of a burden as a benefit, which is why even the oldest and proudest companies can sometimes opt to drop the vintage in favour of a…

In Case You Ever Wanted To Own A Giant Punching Robot

Oh, Atom. Poor Atom. Here I hold in my hands – just barely, given the size – another masterpiece from the toysmiths at threeA. I’m holding a figure with astonishing levels of detail, to the point where his feet have springs on them smaller than I thought you could make springs. With a paintjob that…

Harvey Smith, who has worked on stuff like Deus Ex and was most recently lead designer on Dishonored, has written a novel. You can check it out here

District 9’s Director Would Still Love To Make A Halo Film, But…

Hollywood director Neill Blomkamp was, back in the day, down to make a Halo movie. He even made a fantastic short, above, showing how it could be done. Sadly, it was not to be, and the South African went on to direct first the fantastic District 9, and nowthe looking-fantastic Elysium Speaking with IGN, though,…

Because Nothing Says KILL EM ALL Like Metallica Pinball

One Metallica gaming experience enters, another one leaves Stern has announced that it’ll be making an officially-licensed Metallica pinball table. There will be 30 years’ worth of Metallica songs, there’s a colour display, there will be animated representations of album art characters, there will be people complaining that there shouldn’t be any post-90s tracks on…

Devinity is what happens when you take Garry’s Mod and decide to make an epic space game out of it. (via RPS)