These Game Controller Pencil-Holders Are Oddly Nightmarish

I don’t know what it is exactly about Graeme Abraham’s pencil-holder game controllers that horrifies me, but when I look at them, my first thought is, “gah!” They just seem unnatural, don’t they? Like someone’s stabbed their wee little eyes out. But they’re also strangely hypnotic… and probably somewhat less terrifying when they’re sitting on…

A First-Person Skating Game That’s Trippy As Heck

If Tony Hawk didn’t land the 900, apparently the consequences would be so dire that the entire world would become a psychedelic skating wonderland according to Perfect Stride. Also the laws of physics would break to the point where you can now skate on the ceiling. Seems legit. The developers call Perfect Stride a “first-person…

A Strong Argument Against Used Games

YouTube gaming commentator Total Biscuit does not like used games. He’s no suit defending The Man. He’s a hardcore PC gamer and man of the people. Now, he’s not right about everything (to wit: he thinks we’re “terrible”… yeah, ok). But he makes some great points about used games being no-good. Got half an hour?…

What Fuse Lacks In Story It Makes Up In Gameplay, Six Reviews Say

Perhaps keeping Fuse as a “Ratchet & Clank with humans” would have helped it stand out more. Too late for that now. Luckily, Fuse is still thought to be a more or less a fun shooter, even if it’s not without flaws. The forgettable story and bland setting are oft-mentioned low points, along with the…

Super Sonic The Hedgehog Galaxy Is Looking Pretty Sharp

It’s the first Sonic the Hedgehog game of the current generation of consoles, technically, and it’s bringing Sonic up-to-date, Super Mario Galaxy style. Sega may be calling it Sonic Lost World, but to me it’ll always be Super Sonic the Hedgehog Galaxy. It’s a good thing this is exclusive to Nintendo consoles, because we wouldn’t…

For Sale: A $2,500 Video Gaming Chamber That Could Probably Kill You

Craigslist ain’t simply your one-stop source for $27 flea-infested futons, or where you celebrate a third DUI by buying a moped. No, you can find some truly bizarre shit, like this rolling deathtrap in which you may play an Xbox 360 with your knees tucked to your chest. Why on God’s green earth someone would…

How The Makers of The Last Of Us Almost Spoiled Their Own Game In 2011

For two years, the developers at Naughty Dog managed to successfully keep one of the biggest secrets in gaming. So how is it that they almost spoiled their own surprise in front of millions of gamers? Ah, that’s a good story. (No spoilers, I promise!) What happened? “We screwed up,” Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann recently…

This Bizarre Asari Pizza Dance Demands Music

Why would someone make a gif of a pizza Asari dancing on top of a pizza? You ask the wrong questions, my friend. The real question should be: what music would go best with this gif? Two picks from me. Let’s start with the silly, almost too easy one: G I M M E P…

You’ll Be Able To Play Almost Every PS4 Game On Your Vita, Sony Says

Looks like the PlayStation 4 will be taking a page from the book of Wii U: according to Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, almost all PS4 games will support Remote Play on the Vita. In other words, you’ll be able to play PS4 games on your handheld, so long as the tech works. At…

The Moneysaver: Rockstar Games, Gameplay Recording, Humble Bundle 8

Read the Moneysaver and protect yourself from missing out on mayhem, like Amazon’s Mayhem sale. We’ve got the games and the deals to get you through your Wednesday. Grab cult classic Bully for under $4, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, one of my favorite downloadable titles of the generation, for the same…

There’s Only One Way to Play ‘Legitimate Rape’: the Pinball Machine

The Missouri goober who last year was leading a senate race against the incumbent until he decided to mouth off about his personal concept of “legitimate rape” has been immortalized by a pinball machine. In France. And in keeping with Todd Akin’s dumbfuck worldview, it’s ball out, every time. You may recall that Akin was…

Is This Nazi-Killing Video Game Hero Jewish? Maybe.

In the upcoming, ass-kicking video game Wolfenstein: The New Order, the Polish protagonist B. J. Blazkowicz encounters a gray-haired Nazi officer named Engel. Blazkowicz is undercover, posing as a Nazi underling. The officer compliments Blazkowicz on his Aryan features and then puts him to the test. She says she wants to be sure he has…

Fuse: The Kotaku Review

From the outset, Fuse feels like a familiar game—it mixes some of the best ideas from a bevy of other titles into a futuristic third-person shooter. Think Borderlands meets Bulletstorm with a dash of Uncharted. That sounds sweet on paper, but Fuse proves that it takes more than a list of good ideas to make…

Ubisoft’s Massive Mystery. EA Back on Mac. And More Gaming Secrets…

Editor’s note: The mysterious figure known as Superannuation in an expert at digging up what’s hidden in plain view. All of what Superannuation finds is available to the public. These could very well be true gaming secrets. Read on… In his CV, a business development person at Ubisoft‘s Swedish studio Massive mentions that he is…

Tell Me More About Zombie Free Hug Girl, Dead Ahead

Dead Ahead, released last week on iTunes, is awonderful litttle endless runner-style game in which a pleasantly pixelated protagonist escapes from hordes of zombies on a motorcycle. It’s got a wonderful style, mostly solid controls, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun to play, but that’s not what’s important right now. She’s what’s…

Sonic The Hedgehog‘s “Ultimate Life Form” Doesn’t Deserve This Statue

Has First4Figures really explored both the modern and classic eras of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise so fully that all they’re left with is Shadow the gun-toting misstep? Where is Amy Rose? Where is Cream the Rabbit? Heck, I’d even take Silver. To be honest, I really like Shadow’s design, with the striking black-and-red coloring…

Here’s what’s going on at Talk Amongst Yourselves, Kotaku’s reader-written blog: Heigham offers regrets for disposing of old console games, while keeping the consoles. And The Geek Empress compares the evolution of games’ visual sophistication with that of classical art’s. And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in…

Sony President Trolls Everyone

For the past few days, passionate PlayStation fans have been waging a campaign to convince Sony not to restrict used games on the PS4. They’ve taken to Twitter, posting messages with the hashtag #PS4NoDRM—an acronym for Digital Rights Management, which has become the common term for technology that limits how digital products (like video games)…

Teen’s School Shooting Plan Included Call of Duty’s ‘No Russian’ Theme

The teenager accused of plotting a bombing attack on his school in Albany, Ore., wanted his car stereo to blare the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack—specifically, the song from the infamous “No Russian” mission—as he carried out his assault, according to his handwritten plans, police there said. At 11:10 a.m. on the day…

From NES to Xbox One, How The Big Three Described Their Consoles

What do you call the box that plugs into the TV and plays games? “Game console”? Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have been changing the terms they use for their Entertainment Systems, PlayStations, and Xboxes ever so slightly, ever so purposefully, for two decades. Have a look. Let’s start with Nintendo. Kotaku researcher extraordinaire András Neltz…