My E3 hotel room key is brought to me by Thief. Very reassuring. I’m sure all my valuables are safe.

Here’s What Call of Duty: Ghosts Will Look Like on a Next-Gen Console

If you missed the “all-access event” for Call of Duty: Ghosts from earlier today, here is the gameplay footage from two campaign levels shown—”Into the Deep” and “No Man’s Land” featuring Riley Call of Duty Dog. Developer Infinity Ward said the sequences above were taken from the next-generation console version of Ghosts (you can tell…

Sports at E3: A Viewer’s Guide

Covering E3 always felt like going to a midlevel bowl game for me. It’s a salad of over-produced photo opportunities with big props, costumed actors and nonplussed celebrities, and when you do get one-on-one time with the real players, they’re on heavy guard to say nothing but the right things before the big game. Every…

Either Hip-Hop Gamer’s an official greeter at Los Angeles International Airport, or he was waiting patiently for Kotaku to touch down there today, as he was the first guy the gang saw after getting off the flight. Here, editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo models HHG’s state-of-the-art, platform-agnostic pants holder-upper.

The Week in Games: Last and Leaf of All

Animal Crossing: New Leaf released for 3DS today and The Last of Us arrives on an unusual day in North America, on Friday, bracketing all of the hype you’ll see this week from E3. Zeno Clash II is coming to Xbox Live on Wednesday. Today • Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) Wednesday • The Golden…

Police Blotter: Knock-Knock. Who’s There? Bang.

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. The Victim Knocks Twice FREDERICK, Md.—An 18-year-old was sentenced…

And Here are Four More Screenshots of Call of Duty: Ghosts

Yes, Riley Call of Duty Dog is in one of them. What’s more, one is entitled “Federation Day Rappel,” (below) a curious little tease of the continuity surrounding the game’s campaign mode. Remember, this game takes place in the future in a wholly separate canon; the events of Modern Warfare 3 have nothing to do…

Watch the Call of Duty: Ghosts Big Pre-E3 Gameplay Showcase Right Here

A pre-E3 “all-access” event for Call of Duty: Ghosts is kicking off moments from now, showing off new gameplay footage from several of the game’s campaign levels. You can watch all of it right here. This 30-minute stream will also include behind-the-scenes details and interviews with Infinity Ward, the studio behind this year’s edition of…

Redbox Takes a Mild Shot at Xbox One, PS4 Over Used-Game Concerns

While the rent-by-mail service GameFly is keeping quiet on what Xbox One may mean to its future, the kiosk rental service Redbox has begun a modest lobbying campaign to remind gamers that game rentals, used games, even taking them to a friend’s home are in serious jeopardy under the new console generation. A barebones site…

Tips For Playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Few games are as relaxing and enjoyable as Animal Crossing—that much hasn’t changed with the newest iteration. Now that the latest game in the franchise is out, I figured I’d share some tips in the hopes that they’ll help you make the most of your New Leaf experience. Make sure the date and time on…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: The Power of Wub

Previewed hilariously in this video a month ago, the Dubstep Gun from Saints Row IV finally got a good clean exploitable image this week, making it a no-brainer for the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. Remember, if it’s not wub, then it’s the womp that will bring us together. Real simple mandate—use the following in any image…

Sunday Comics: The Original Kings of Comics

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. Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie. Published June 5. Read more of Virtual Shackles Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike…

Leaked Images of Battlefield 4 Alpha Give Many Hints of New Features

About five dozen images, purportedly from an alpha test of Battlefield 4‘s Xbox 360 version, found their way onto the Internet early this morning. A thorough deconstruction of their contents, by Reddit, give up weapons, vehicles, player classes and other details, though being an alpha version, any of that could change. Their origin is unknown,…

Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Outed, Is Likely a Shooter

Signage for a PopCap game called Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is sprouting up at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the site of this year’s E3. Combine that with a reliable source telling Kotaku that the long-rumored PvZ shooter—yes, shooter—is about to unveiled, and it looks like we’ve got a name to attach to the…

Shake Up At Studio From Hell

An awful situation may be turning around for the better. Trendy Entertainment president Jeremy Stieglitz will alter his role following Kotaku‘s report into the company’s practices yesterday, according to two people close to the situation. Yesterday, we published an investigation into conditions at Trendy, which included testimonials from nine current and former employees. They described…

More Proof That the Wii U Basic Is About To Go Extinct, Via Best Buy

Earlier this week, GameStop issued a June 18 “recall” of the 8GB $300 Wii U Basic, the version of the Wii U that smart consumers knew to avoid. (Edit: Okay, okay, see the comments for reasons why some smart people did buy the 8GB version.) Now a tipster sends us an internal flyer from Best…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Rolling Wonder: The Winners

America’s heartland has produced many great things on wheels, none greater than the pride of Youngstown, Ohio—the X-Box—the most ludicrously mobile operating base since the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. There are 17 more ridiculous uses our ‘Shop artists thought up for it, led by overall No. 1 silentstrife! For starters, here’s what everyone was working with: And…

As if free Saints Row: The Third and Deus Ex: Human Revolution weren’t enough, PlayStation Plus members also get free Uncharted 3, Littlebigplanet: Karting, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown beginning Tuesday.

This Game’s Starting Concept: What If John McClane Had Died?

In an E3 that is full of sequels and the same-old, same-old Murdered: Soul Suspect, may stand out as something that’s actually new. But one look at this game—the adventure of a ghostly detective who has one night to solve his own murder—probably wouldn’t make you think of its even more unusual origins. “Square Enix…

You Can Bark Orders to Call of Duty‘s Happy Scrappy Hero Pup

Though he practically upstaged the Xbox One at its own reveal event, don’t expect Call of Duty Dog to slink off into a corner during E3 week. He’s not going to be eye candy or a prop in Call of Duty: Ghosts‘ singleplayer campaign. If anything, developer Infinity Ward is doubling down on the Dog.…