The PS4 Was Designed To Not Embarrass You

Your parents come visit your house. Or the person you’re dating gets their first look at your living room and your entertainment center. They see your hot new PlayStation. Sony hopes their next console won’t suddenly bring you shame. The PS4 “was designed to be an impact product in an entertainment center,” Sony’s v.p. of…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: TruthTellah links to a video about the print-making process for Jed Henry’s Ukiyo-e Heroes project, which fuses iconic game characters and feudal Japanese aesthetics. JollyBootsofDoom runs down three flawed but fun games. And, Zarnyx explores why she’ scared of certain things and how it affects…

These Games Were Missing From E3

Now that we’ve had a weekend to recoup from the bright lights and pulsing music of the world’s most elaborate video game marketing circus, it’s time to take a quiet moment to reflect on the games we didn’t get to play at E3 2013. Jade, Samus, Drake — where were you guys? Now this isn’t…

This Pacific Rim Trailer Remade In Minecraft Is Super-Intense

The trailer for Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming movie Pacific Rim remains badass in the animated Minecraft version of it. The edit is made by the same guys, Steel House Digital, who recreated one of the Man of Steel trailers. We might just wonder what’s nexton their list. Elysium? Or maybe Ender’s Game? Pacific Realm –…

108 Terrific Shots of Super Smash Bros. on Wii U

You don’t even need to be a fan of Nintendo’s Smash Bros. series to enjoy the colorful mayhem of one of these games in action. Below, if you can take it, are 108 screenshots and art from 2014’s Wii U Super Smash Bros., with a healthy amount of images of the lady trainer from Wii…

XCOM: Enemy Unknown to Hit iOS This Week

Firaxis, developers of Enemy Unknown, the latest installment in the long-standing XCOM series of tactical RPG/strategy games, recently announced that the game’s iOS port will be arriving in just three days’ time, on Thursday. Enemy Unknown for iOS will be a universal app featuring GameCenter and iCloud support; “the complete XCOM experience of the console…

Gaming industry analytics firm DFC, in their recent forecast of the Xbox One’s market performance, have noted that Microsoft’s “overall strategy for entertainment devices is deeply flawed,” adding that due to their strategy, “the entire future of Microsoft’s consumer entertainment business is in question.” [via MCV]

Chinese Sixth Grader Steals From Mother To Buy Digital Currency

A sixth grader in China recently stole over $1000 worth of money from his mother to spend on video game currency. After finding out that he had stolen the money, the mother called the police to make a complaint against the net cafe that sold him the currency, gaining her a partial refund. China’s People’s…

Tencent Pisses Off Chinese Fans By Buying Manga Rights

Despite all that you read about the tensions between China and Japan, Japanese manga is highly celebrated in China. Chinese people cosplay as Japanese manga characters. They watch Japanese manga inspired animations. And they read manga—that is, until now. Earlier this year, the Chinese internet giant Tencent signed a publishing deal with Shueisha inc, the…

That’s Quite The Capcom Action Figure You Have There

Lost Planet 2 is one of those games time simply stomped all over then punched out of your memory, but with a sequel on the way, the franchise has one more (last?) shot at relevancy. Which is as good a reason as any I can think of for this amazing Lost Planet 2 figure to…

DOTA 2 Match-Fixing Shows E-Sports Still Learning From Real Sports

Gaming network Starladder TV has handed out a number of serious punishments, including a lifetime ban, for a group of DOTA 2 players caught match-fixing for cash. It’s alleged that Alexey ‘Solo’ Berezin, from the team roX.KIS, bet money on his own team losing a match, which they did in what’s been described as a…

A Monster Hunter Game More People Might Actually Play

Look, I know there’s this underground movement trying to get Monster Hunter going in the West, but most people – myself included – just aren’t feeling it. Mostly that’s down to the combat and reliance on party multiplayer, but I’m starting to wonder if the game’s looks don’t have something to do with it. At…

All Game Of Thrones Needed Was An 80’s Training Montage

Violence! Witty banter! Politics! Nudity! Fancy dresses! Lemon cakes! Game of Thrones has just about everything. Everything except an 80’s movie training montage. Fixed. If you need to know who that is on vocals, it is Australia’s greatest treasure, John Farnham. And it’s from this movie. God, this might be the best paragraph of links…

Caught Flatfooted by Xbox 360, EA Sports Vows It Won’t Happen Again

Few sports video games are truly timeless. Even the best—MVP Baseball 2005, NFL 2K5—show their age and shortcomings immediately, and more than their contemporaries in other genres. It’s the special burden of sports titles, tasked with reflecting both the state of the art and the state of reality inside a one-year snapshot. But eight years…

Beautiful Custom PS3 Consoles Exist To Make You Super Jealous

Sony has a long-running tradition of customising PlayStation consoles, sometimes giving them to celebrities, a tradition that continues to this day. One of the men responsible for these amazing one-of-a-kind machines is Javier Riquelme. Over the weekend he shared examples of some consoles he recently had made for Sony, and they will make you look…

Moneysaver One-Shot: Playstation 4 Bundles

Bundle up, it’s gonna be a cheap ride. Retailers have a tendency to take advantage of supply constraints by forcing early adopters into crappy bundles during a console’s launch. Amazon is bucking that trend with two bundles that offer legitimate savings. The Battlefield 4 Launch Day Bundle includes the console, along with Battlefield 4, a…

Though 4J Studios, which is handling Minecraft‘s Xbox One edition, said it is trying to allow importation of gamesaves from Minecraft on the Xbox 360, Microsoft studios’ Phil Spencer said it won’t happen. “Bigger worlds don’t translate between the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.”

Police Blotter: Magic: The Burglaring

Crime is a constant feature of video games writing. Somewhere, someone is doing something illicit with them—sometimes comically stupid, sometimes tragic. Games and consoles are currency, objects of dispute, sometimes even weapons themselves. Kotaku‘s Police Blotter is here to round up the latest in games crime. Disappearing Magic Act SALINA, Kansas—Twenty-eight Magic: The Gathering cards,…

The Week in Games: Ready Player Two

A modest week for new releases trails the end of E3. New Super Luigi U is the only console release, coming to the Wii U eShop on Thursday. Otherwise, there’s the Jak and Daxter Collection for PS Vita on Tuesday. Tuesday • Knights of Pen & Paper: +1 Edition (PC, Mac) • Jak and Daxter…

Can an Oculus Rift Game Make You ‘Genuinely Horny?’ They’re Gonna Try.

Somehow, porn managed not to be the first thing folks started putting on the Oculus Rift when the VR simulator headset started going out to developers. Well, wait no longer. Someone is building “the world’s first erotic virtual reality adventure game” for it. Jeroen Van den Bosch and his startup studio are building a game…