Madden Again Seeks to Put Up More of a Defense

Around this time each year, Madden bombards us with the annual list of improvements they say they’ve made to the defense. And when the game gets arrives, I’m still usually playing it as I have for years: by calling a play and letting the CPU deal with it. But one new move does look useful…

That Angry Birds movie that’s coming out in three years will be distributed by Sony Pictures, according to Deadline Hollywood. Somewhere, Nathan Drake is yelling into a phone wondering what the hell is going on with HIS movie.

Former THQ Pres: Metro Makers The ‘Jamaican Bobsledders’ Of Developers [UPDATE]

In the Olympics, the Jamaican bobsledding team is famed for beating out countries who had a number of advantages over the Jamaican team—like winter coats and bobsledding tracks for training. Sure, the Jamaican team didn’t come in first, but the fact they were competitive in the first place was amazing. 4A Games, the developers behind…

Valve Launches Steam Trading Cards, So Much Better Than Achievements

Launching today in beta across a selection of popular titles, Steam Trading Cards are collectibles Steam users gather while playing their favorite games, with sets tradable for game badges, profile backgrounds, emoticons, coupons, and more. As if hunting for achievements wasn’t enough. They’re a means of rewarding players for playing the games they love, while…

Here’s How Mass Effect‘s Biological Warfare is Scientifically Possible

Mass Effect’s genophage is one of the few fictions in gaming that is easiest to match to real science. We can already engineer viruses that manipulate genetics within biological systems. While such a bioweaponized feat is difficult to create within model animals (let alone sapient life) let’s have some fun speculating how close theory can…

The Moneysaver: 3DS Games, Plasma TV’s, Audio-Technicas, Harry Potter

You’re gonna love the way you save. I guarantee it. UPDATE: There’s a special Moneysaver going up at 3am tomorrow morning. Hint: there are a lot of games and a lot of deals. 3DS owners, today is your day. Amazon and Best Buy have lots of big 3DS titles on sale, including Fire Emblem: Awakening.…

No, Nintendo Didn’t Call Wind Waker‘s Tutorials ‘Annoying’

An article floating around the web yesterday claimed that Nintendo had sent them a press release calling Zelda: Wind Waker‘s tutorials “annoying” and sailing “a bit of a chore,” but the Zelda makers tell Kotaku that’s not true. Yesterday, the website Operation Rainfall—a blog originally formed as a fan campaign to petition that Nintendo bring…

A BitTorrent study tackles some common misconceptions about video game piracy, mainly finding that that the “previously reported magnitudes in game piracy are too high.” It also (unsurprisingly) finds that there is a correlation between a game’s review score on Metacritic and how much activity that game sees on BitTorrent.

Nintendo: Tom Nook Is ‘Misunderstood’

As I play an advance copy of the newest version of Nintendo’s beloved Animal Crossing games, I’ve again been pondering the nature of Tom Nook, a character who could teach Bowser and Mother Brain a thing or two about tormenting a Nintendo gamer. Tom Nook, if you don’t know, is one of the recurring characters…

Assassin’s Creed IV‘s Protagonist Is Pretty Damn Angry

The newest trailer for this year’s Assassin’s Creed game explains why Edward Kenway’s prowling the Caribbean with vengeance on his mind. Kenway’s cranky voiceover carries much more personality than anything we saw from ACIII‘s Connor. Maybe Ubisoft listened when people complained that Connor was too bland. The clip gives a peek at the tropical environments…

Gran Turismo 6 Comes to PS3 for the Holidays

Gran Turismo 6 is headed for the PlayStation 3 this holiday season. The game will feature 1,200 cars in its fleet at launch, along with seven new racing locations for a total of 33 tracks (with dozens of layouts.) There are plans for additional cars and tracks as downloadable content after release. The UK’s Silverstone…

Screw It, I Can’t Wait To Tell You How Good Bombcats Is

Luke Schneider of Radiangames has created some of the coolest bite-sized shooters I’ve played, starting with Xbox Live Indies and then graduating to mobile platforms. Just check out the Radiangames tag here at Kotaku and see how much well-deserved love we’ve given him. Radiangames latest doesn’t hit iOS until tomorrow, but I can’t wait for…

Add WWE 2K14 to the list of sports video games with no announced Wii U version. (NBA 2K14 is “TBA,” says Take-Two.) No Madden, no FIFA, no NCAA, no NHL. Will the Wii U see any sports titles?

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: Part II of Zarynx’s Pokemon photo essay is up . And Odin lets the anime flock know which shows that he TAY anime Club will be watching and talking about for it first cycle. And you can always go join the voices talking about video…

Moneysaver One-Shot: Turtle Beach For $40

Wake up, you’re in the Moneysaver baby, time to save. Looking for the current Moneysaver roundup? Click here Nothing like a no-brainer purchase to start your Wednesday off right. This Turtle Beach Limited Edition Kilo Headset is currently sitting at $40, it’s lowest price ever, and $20 cheaper than the Corsair Vengeance we featured a…

Current Pros Give the Old College Try in NCAA Football Ultimate Team

There will be real football players, using their real names, in the debut of NCAA Football Ultimate Team this year. They just won’t be anyone suiting up on a college football field this fall. A deal with the NFL Players’ Association gives NCAA the rights to use up to 2,500 current NFL stars, pictured in…

This BioShock Infinite Replica Weapon Fell Right Out of the Sky

Last time we saw anything from Vector Sigma Creations’ Weaselhammer, he’d made a weapon from the future in the form of the M-12 Locust submachine gun from the Mass Effect games. This time, he goes back into the past and crafts a swell looking machine gun from BioShock Infinite. The Triple R Repeater wasn’t my…

This Is Some Incredibly Impressive Marker-Free Facial Capture

It’s really amazing how flawlessly this motion capture demo—sharedby yasser3d—works in real-time without markers to capture every tiny movement of the actor’s face. Just look at the wrinkled skin animations at the 1:30 marker, it’s absolutely stunning, also the random facial movements around 3:30. Markerless Facial Motion Capture Demo [YouTube] To contact the author of…

This Game Might Include Every DC Comics Hero (And Villain) Ever

Imagine a video game that includes 33 Batmans (Batmen?), 130 Green Lanterns and even Aztek The Ultimate Man. Imagine a game that, its creators say, includes ever super-powered hero or villain in DC Comics’ nearly 80-year history. That game is real. It’s scheduled for a fall release. The game goes by the name Scribblenauts Unmasked:…

Okay, This Is A Rather Cool Way To Link Defiance Game and Show

I’ve been skeptical about the extent that SyFy’s Defiance television show would be interacting with Trion Worlds’ Defiance MMO, but this is pretty cool. This is Tiio Horn as Rynn, a member of the Irathient race that found herself in hot water in the TV series over the past two episodes. She’ll be spending a…