This Is Why You Don’t Give Lightsabers To Toddlers

They let anyone have lightsabers these days, including babies. But good luck trying to get the lightsaber back from a little kid without some casualties. Let this video by gnarlytooth serve as a lesson in why we need stricter lightsaber laws, or at least, pressure for manufacturers to stop making lightsabers for toddlers. I mean,…

One thing you’ve probably noticed while playing BioShock Infinite is that Booker DeWitt is one hungry fella. Hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, cotton candy—he’ll eat just about anything, even if he found it in the trash. Our friends over at Gourmet Gaming have posted a recipe for Finkton’s Baked Beans so that you can make your…

A Grittier, Darker Version of Calvin And Hobbes Works Surprisingly Well

I suspect that the video game industry’s obsession with DARKER, MORE “MATURE” STORY might have influenced the way I look at stuff like this gritty re-imagining of Calvin and Hobbes by GrittyReboots. Like, it doesn’t need to be grittier and darker. But everything is nowadays! So I could totally see this type of Calvin and…

Everything I’ve Learned About The Witcher 3

Last week during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, I sat down with three gentlemen from CD Projekt Red to discuss their upcoming RPG The Witcher 3. We know it’s an open-world game for PC and next-gen consoles, and that it will bring the story of the Witcher Geralt of Rivia to a close.…

Madden‘s Cover Vote Sees Two Nominal Upsets, but the Favorites Still Rule

Madden NFL 25‘s tournament-of-champions cover vote saw its first real-but-not-really upset in the third round of voting as Houston running back Arian Foster dismissed Colin Kaepernick, the upstart San Francisco 49ers quarterback who had been seeded first in his grouping. By seeding, Barry Sanders’ triumph over the newly retired Ray Lewis also should be considered…

Lucasarts Closing Down Could Be A Good Thing (From A Certain Point Of View)

For the 150 former employees now out of a job, the decision by Disney to close Lucasarts is a sad and terrible one. I wish them all the best in their efforts to find a new employer. But for everybody else, there’s quite possibly a silver lining to this dark and stormy cloud. Disney aren’t…

From Solid Snake to Sam Fisher, it seems there’s a case of “New Voice Actor-itis” going around. Thief will be the latest game to feature a new voice actor in a beloved, iconic role. Rock, Paper Shotgun takes a deeper look

Geeze, Can You Even Imagine The Walking Dead Without Clementine?

Clementine, the little girl that Lee Everett has to raise during a zombie apocalypse, is the bulk of what makes The Walking Dead so excellent. Telltale managed to create a character that we cared about, so much so that many of us shed tears by the end of the first season of the franchise. And…

Tim Schafer, One of the Most Celebrated Game Creators in LucasArts History, Pays Tribute

The man led the creation of Grim Fandango and Full Throttle and helped make other beloved LucasArts games including The Secret of Monkey Island. Today, LucasArts is all but no more, shuttered as a development studio by its new owners at Disney and turned into a licensing house. Tim Schafer, now running things at Double…

Over at Unwinnable, they’ve posted a list of “The 40 Most Impressive Displays of Facial Hair at GDC 2013.” It was a pretty beardy event. To the side here is Spiky Tiger artist/illustrator Jason Bennett. The beards just get more elaborate from there.

“It will always be Lucasfilm Games(tm) to me, never LucasArts.” Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert writes a eulogy to the studio he helped build

You Are Only Sewing Skills Away From a Huggable, Functional Plush Game Controller

Okay, so you’ll also need some woven conductive cloth, a spool of conductive yarn and the FLORA wearable electronics platform, but the sewing is the hard part. Adafruit’s Becky Stern walks us through making an emulator-ready fluffy controller pal. Aside from making your own superhero costume, I can’t think of a better reason to learn…

The Problem With BioShock Infinite‘s Combat

There’s a lot to like about BioShock Infinite. It’s gorgeous looking, the music is spectacular, and the story is good enough that a couple days after finishing it, I’m still turning it over in my head. But the game has one glaring problem: combat just doesn’t work all that well. In some games, that wouldn’t…

LucasArts is Dead: Let’s Remember The Good Times

I don’t get wistful that often when it comes to gaming news. Companies come and go, but LucasArts was something special. It’s time to remember that. Yes, the LucasArts of more recent memory was not the company it was in the 1990s. Yes, the luminaries of old had left to found their own companies. But…

This Is Why Vague Dialogue Options Would Suck In Real Life

If you’ve ever played a game with dialogue choices, chances are you’ve encountered the dreaded vague dialogue tree (if not vague dialogue options). While it’s not ‘fun’ to mean one thing and say another, at least you can restart a game. You can’t really do that in real life, though if you got into the…

A Thousand Voices Cry Out for LucasArts, in Eulogies of 140 Characters

LucasArts, a nearly 30-year-old cornerstone brand in video gaming,said today it would cease all development. It was more than a publisher of Star Wars video games, like Dark Forces or X-Wing. LucasArts gave us point-and-click adventures from the halcyon days of the genre, like The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion and Full…

The Moneysaver: Rising: Revengeance, Falling Price

We’ve heard more requests for a deal on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance than any other game. Newegg has sliced 33% off Platinum’s latest, knocking the price down to $40 on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. This is the first discount for Revengeance, so cut in before you have to wait for another. Our…

I Can’t Play the New Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Until You Pick My Pocket Monster Persona

I love roguelikes. I love Pokemon. I should have been playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity on my 3DS a week ago, but here I am, staring at the character select screen. Which damn Pokemon should I be? In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity the player becomes a Pokemon, taking on the form…

Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 And Star Wars: First Assault

Disney has laid off the staff of LucasArts and cancelled all current projects. Staff were informed of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio’s current projects—Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313—were cancelled. Disney will still use the LucasArts name…

Hard-Luck Hurler Tosses a Perfect Game in MLB 2K‘s Million Dollar Contest

T.J. Brida, one of Kotaku‘s Gamers of the Year, and the hardest of hard-luck losers in MLB 2K’s Million Dollar Challenge last year, finally threw a perfect game. He did it today with Cole Hamels and his beloved Philadelphia Phillies, against the Atlanta Braves. With 10 strikeouts and 81 pitches, he should be well positioned…