How I Learned That I Suck At Civilization

I had never played Civilization V prior to last week. Not to any meaningful degree, at least. I grew up with Nintendo and, to a lesser extent, Sega (plus Microsoft, come the aughts) providing my gaming goodness. I was a toddler when the original Civilization hit computers in 1991. Going from fast-paced kiddie-crack like Sonic…

Assassin’s Creed IV Is Out October 29, According To This Leaked Trailer [UPDATE: Trailer Removed]

Via GamesRadar, this is the leaked first trailer for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag In the trailer, a grizzled pirate describes Captain (and assassin) Edward Kenway. “There was a time I thought myself the deadliest scourge of these seas,” the pirate says. “But this man…” We then see Kenway hacking, slashing, and doing his assassin…

This Week in the Business: What if the NRA Was More Like the ESRB?

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Imagine if the NRA had the same relationship with the gun industry that the ESRB has with the game industry.”—Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford talking about the ongoing gun debate in America and how the NRA should behave like the game…

Have A Few More Beautiful Legend Of Zelda Movie Posters

Artist Marinko Milosevski has created another trio of Legend of Zelda posters, adding A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword to the list of games that he’s created designs for. That list also includes games like Metroid and Metal Gear Solid, which, like Zelda, still have not been made into awful Hollywood…

Al Gore Made A Video Game… Sort Of

In July 2011, after a somewhat clueless Al Gore keynoted the Games for Change conference in New York, Kotaku wrote that the former vice president should try playing a video game. In March 2013, Gore announced that he had done one better and created a video game instead. And guess what it’s about? Okay, so…

The Moneysaver: Tomb Raider Everything

Kotaku’s twice weekly roundup of the best discounts, combinations, offers and incentives in video gaming is brought to you by Dealzon Downloadables Green Man Gaming • Tomb Raider Collection is $24 (list $60). Includes 9 Tomb Raider games: Tomb Raider I-IV, Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and Tomb Raider: Underworld • The Last Remnant…

Hello Kotaku! I’ll Be Your Editor Again This Weekend.

Hey, Kotaku. It’s me, Mike Rougeau, again. I’m going to be your editor for the weekend. That means that Owen likely got fired again, or maybe he’s just missing. I honestly have no idea In case you don’t know me, I’ll reintroduce myself: my name is Mike Rougeau. That’s me and Ricky the Dog again…

Owen Good is in Madison, Wisc. for the world’s largest Tecmo Super Bowl tournament. Follow the action live here.

The Best Of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to The Best of Kotaku, where Tina usually rounds up our best reporting, funniest stories, and otherwise favorite Kotaku content of the week. But Tina’s on vacation! Never fear. I’m the one collecting these gems. I dare say it was a good week. A wild one, to boot. (The art up top is from…

Let’s Guess What Happens When In The New Season Of Game Of Thrones, Based On The Episode Titles

Have you heard? Game of Thrones, the fantasy book-series-turned-television-show comes back on HBO soon. At the end of this month, to be specific. Most of the episode titles are out now, though. Courtesy of Winter Is Coming, they are: Ep. 301 – Valar Dohaeris Ep. 302 – Dark Wings, Dark Words Ep. 303 – Walk…

Multiplayer gaming can be a drag thanks to jerks and harassment. Here are some tips to make the experience a better one.

The new They Might Be Giants album Nanobots is a lot of fun. It’ll be out next week, but you can stream it here

Check out this cool essay about games, free jazz, and learning to improvise.

The Scariest Clowns And Jesters In Video Games

One of the most villainous ways to raise the fear level in a game is to throw in a psycho clown. That clown is hides behind his stupid fake smile, searching for a way to earn your trust. Clowns are pretty common in video games, both old and new, so this time we selected some…

Anonymous sources tell GameSpot that IGN has cancelled this year’s IPL6 tournament

Smash, Burn, Hack and Duck Your Way Through This Week in Gaming Apps

I finally caved and picked up a new full-sized iPad this week, so it stands to reason that this Week in Gaming Apps be bigger and higher resolution than the last, with a plug that doesn’t fit any other the ones that came before it. I’ve only had the iPad 4 since Monday, and I’ve…

Look At How Cool You Get To Dress In The Next Shin Megami Tensei

Demons, mature themes, samurai—blah, blah, blah. That stuff is important, but guys, look. Look at the things you get to wear in Shin Megami Tensei IV. That scarf. That jacket. There’s probably more; this gameplay footage by SCRAWLfx is short. Either way, I’m excited. Personalization is important! The world might be rather desolate in this…

Nickels, Dimes, and Quarters

The video game industry is just that. An industry. Which means that it exists in a capitalistic world. You know, a free market. A place where you’re welcome to spend your money on whatever you please… or to refrain from spending that money. Those companies that put these products out? They’re for profit businesses. They…

This Real-Life Version Of Black Ops 2 Reminds Me How Violent Black Ops 2 Is

It can be easy to become desensitized to Call of Duty‘s brand of realistic-yet-cartoonish violence. As motion-captured video-game dudes blow each other away over and over again, whatever I’d normally feel at watching that kind of carnage melts away. I see the game for what it is, and it stops having an impact. Videos like…

Just what Super Hexagon always needed: a dubstep xXx420XxX_NoScope trailer.