The DRM-Free Version Of Shadowrun Returns Sounds Kinda Lame

UPDATE: As of December 2013, the DRM-free version is now public and available to all. Games simply not being completed isn’t the only hazard people face when pledging money to Kickstarter campaigns. Other problems can arise, like pledges being made during a pitch running into licensing agreements made with Microsoft. When Harebrained first asked for…

What An Assassin’s Creed Fighting Game Could Look Like

Benoit Perreault is a UI designer at Eidos Montreal. Before that, though, he worked at Ubisoft, where in his spare time – as in, this wasn’t an actual Ubisoft project – he cooked up this concept for an Assassin’s Creed fighting game. Envisaged as a downloadable arcade title, and uncovered by NeoGAF user Mama Robotnik,…

Here’s Gears of War‘s Top Designer Going Bald for a Good Cause

I may be bald, but Cliff Bleszinski is both unemployed and bald. But I wouldn’t worry about the former lead designer of the Gears of War series. He’s been doing alright for himself since leaving Epic Games, and this weekend he pulled in enough dough—$15,000, the highest contributor in this fundraiser—to make good on a…

College Athletes are More Than a Number, and Everyone Knows It

For many sports fans, a number is as identifiable as a name. Growing up far away from a professional team, those numbers didn’t really imprint on me until I covered football for four years at college. Ever since, I remember uniform numerals not with a name, but as a name. No. 85? Carl Reeves, one…

A 20-minute chunk of gameplay from The Elder Scrolls Online MMO leaked overnight, and was quickly taken down from YouTube on ZeniMax Media’s orders. PCGamer, however, has the clip if you want to see it. Early verdicts are not good.

The Week in Games: No Injustice, No Peace

DC Comics’ story-driven fighter from NetherRealm Studios hits shelves on Tuesday, dominating a week lacking any other major first-run PC or console release. Dishonored‘s Knife of Dunwall extension arrives for all three platforms, too. Monday • ArcaniA: Game of the Year Edition (PS3) Tuesday • Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, Wii U) • Shin…

Concerned Lawmaker Proposes Banning Video Games That Do Not Exist

Following Massachusetts’ successful crackdown on Time Crisis and Lethal Enforcers, a New Jersey lawmaker is also looking to make the state’s beautiful and historic Turnpike safe from light-gun games no one plays anymore. Except the language of the law she has in mind has a teeny tiny problem that renders it entirely meaningless. Here it…

Kotaku Shop Contest: Le Chateau What If

Earlier this week we heard the unusual story of the French prisoner whose PS3 was banned because of its consumer-friendly onboard WiFi. Fahey was pressed for time when he ‘shopped our lead image—so pressed that I didn’t notice that what I’d given him had someone’s stupid watermark in it. So by crowdsourcing this to the…

Bring on Sandman with a Mega Man Sleep Hoodie and Mega Buster Pillow

Capcom is now taking preorders for this Mega Man sleep set (yet only through its Japan site, for now) that will run about $60 once it arrives in the summer. It’s a brilliant idea, and I expect to see a ton of these running around Comic-Con. What might also be a good idea is to…

Sunday Comics: Fighting Fire with Fire

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best features, chosen by our readership. The features enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner of each image Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published March 29. Read more of Brawl In The Family Penny Arcade by…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: The Bad Guys: The Winners

Is Electronic Arts the worst company in America? It is once its secret leaders and evil plans are laid bare by the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. This week’s finalists send a dozen strongly worded messages to corporate America, led by overall No. 1 arniejolt, the first-ever three-time finalist in a single week. Editor’s Note: Wiegraf, you…

Is the Decision to Buy Call of Duty or Battlefield a Moral Choice?

Before you skip everything in this video and run straight to the comments, understand the question: Many (not “most”; not “all”) shooter video games feature licensed, real-world firearms. Gunmakers are compensated for the appearance of their brands as much as the NFL Players Association is paid for its members appearing in Madden. Does this present…

If you can’t sign into Xbox Live, it’s not because of your home networking setup. Microsoft acknowledges the problem and says they are looking into it.

Dark Souls got a “half-assed” PC port, said the game’s director himself. He promises that Dark Souls 2 “will definitely put more priority on the PC.”

In the Video Game World of Retail, No One Walks Out the Door Unless They’re Dissatisfied

Cracked offers a spot-on satirization of the miserable buyer/miserable seller relationship fostered by video gaming’s simplified retail economies. However, it overlooks some enormous bargains you can find in real estate. For example, an entire golf course for $5. Why Shopping in a Video Game Universe Sucks [Cracked]

Delayed XCOM Shooter’s Official Site and Videos Taken Offline

The official web presence for the shooter/RPG variant of XCOM, a reboot concept that never seemed to capture gamers’ imagination from the moment it was announced in 2010 through its E3 2011 appearance, and several delays thereafter, has been taken down and, further, the game’s YouTube videos also have been set to private. 2K Games…

The physical release of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has been delayed about a month, from April 30 to June 4. Major Nelson said the delay is necessary “to include the very latest content.”

MMA Contender Trained for His Title Shot with Tekken

Tonight, Uriah Hall faces Kelvin Gastelum in the middleweight final of The Ultimate Fighter. Hall is an up-and-comer in top flight mixed martial arts, thought to be a contender in a middleweight division whose title holder is Anderson Silva, one of the best fighters in the world. But how Hall got to this stage is…

This Week in the Business: ‘There is No Room for B-Games.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “There is no room for B-games.”—Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat explaining why next-gen games will need to focus on quality and consumer value QUOTE | “What Sony is doing is a very positive note for the console industry.”—Ted Price, CEO of…

Watch PSY’s Newest Music Video, the Follow Up to “Gangnam Style”

Yesterday, Kotaku posted PSY’s newest song, “Gentleman”. And today, here’s the video, which also includes PSY’s latest dance. Have a look.