Lara Croft, Ezio & Nathan Drake Are Actually Terrible At Climbing

They may swing from ledges, walls and cliffs like it’s going out of style, but as real-life rock-dangler (and Kotaku Australia EIC) Mark Serrels explains, your favourite video game characters are, it turns out, terrible climbers.

Imagining The Branding For A Nintendo Console That Doesn’t Have “Wii” In Its Name

The Nintendo image is one of the most treasured in gaming. It carries a lot of weight, a lot of history. Yet that weight can sometimes be as much of a burden as a benefit, which is why even the oldest and proudest companies can sometimes opt to drop the vintage in favour of a…

In Case You Ever Wanted To Own A Giant Punching Robot

Oh, Atom. Poor Atom. Here I hold in my hands – just barely, given the size – another masterpiece from the toysmiths at threeA. I’m holding a figure with astonishing levels of detail, to the point where his feet have springs on them smaller than I thought you could make springs. With a paintjob that…

Harvey Smith, who has worked on stuff like Deus Ex and was most recently lead designer on Dishonored, has written a novel. You can check it out here

District 9’s Director Would Still Love To Make A Halo Film, But…

Hollywood director Neill Blomkamp was, back in the day, down to make a Halo movie. He even made a fantastic short, above, showing how it could be done. Sadly, it was not to be, and the South African went on to direct first the fantastic District 9, and nowthe looking-fantastic Elysium Speaking with IGN, though,…

Because Nothing Says KILL EM ALL Like Metallica Pinball

One Metallica gaming experience enters, another one leaves Stern has announced that it’ll be making an officially-licensed Metallica pinball table. There will be 30 years’ worth of Metallica songs, there’s a colour display, there will be animated representations of album art characters, there will be people complaining that there shouldn’t be any post-90s tracks on…

Devinity is what happens when you take Garry’s Mod and decide to make an epic space game out of it. (via RPS)

Nintendo Would, Sadly, Never Make A Handheld This Pink

Yes, Nintendo has made pink handhelds before. But not like this. Not with glitter. This fabulous Game Boy Micro was made by Matthew Wiggins, who runs a custom hardware business called Rose Colored Gaming. It’s Kirby-themed, with gummy-style buttons and a classy white back that’s got me thinking delicious strawberry ice-cream. I would buy this…

Ignore Those Early Negative Ouya Reviews. It Wasn’t Ready.

While the Android-powered Ouya isn’t hitting retail until early June, early backers have received their preview units, and some of them don’t have very positive things to say about the great open source console hope. That’s to be expected as, according to the console maker, the system isn’t review-ready yet. In a statement issued to…

The One Man Who Influenced Mass Effect’s Look More Than Anyone Else

The Mass Effect series draws creatively, like all “new” universes do, from those which came before. You can see traces of Star Trek’s intergalactic politics. Star Wars’ “science magic”. The influence those properties had on Mass Effect, though, pales in comparison with the work of one man, a single artist whose 20th-century output defined the…

As this (spoilerific) special effects reel demonstrates, The Walking Dead season 3 had a lot of head-trauma. Like, a looooooot. It’s pretty cool to see how special effects house Stargate Studios put together all the tasty, tasty head-cleaving. (Via) Everyone good? Having a decent week so far? Cool. Head on over to Talk Amongst Yourselves…

Mass Effect 2 Review: Once More Unto The Breach

This review was originally published on Kotaku on January 26, 2010. To celebrate Mass Effect week, we’re bumping it up! What kind of man (or woman) has intergalactic hero Commander Shepard become after saving the universe from the Reapers in Mass Effect? That’s all up to you in BioWare’s Mass Effect 2. Shortly after the…

They Look Real, But These Are Actually Just Amazing Team Fortress 2 Props

Forget collecting hats. I want to own the fantastic Team Fortress 2 replicas made by Nathan Longest, the man behind HVD Props. The images come from his blog, which details the process involved in making these beauties. Let’s take a closer look at some of these, shall we? The Scattergun: The Ambassador: The Bonesaw: The…

The Most Iconic Moments of the Mass Effect Trilogy

The Mass Effect series is a true space opera full of interstellar battles, irreversible decisions, sprawling story-lines and so, so many defining moments. The events of the trilogy could fill twice as many games and novels as there already are. The story of Commander Shepard is over, which creates a good opportunity to collect—in no…

Please, Watch The First Trailer For Elysium, From The Man Who Directed District 9

This is the debut trailer for Elysium, the new movie by District 9 director Neill “I nearly directed the Halo movie” Blomkamp. If you think it looks like a modern video game come to life, right down to the lone super-soldier, you are not alone.

“Those are however small prices to pay for a game that may not advance some great BioShock canon, but still stands as a great way to round off your view of Rapture – a world that always felt like a designed dystopia more than a failed city suddenly converted into a much more plausible place.”…

Half the People Who Got BioShock Infinite on Steam Have Finished It. Not True for That Walking Dead Shooter

Can we judge the quality of a video game by the number of people who finish it? Probably not, since I’ve met many a people who just loooove Shadow of the Colossus and never reached the fourth Colossus. Nevertheless, that PC gaming service Steam allows us to determine which games people bother to finish. Take…

The Sex, Booze and Hard Partying of Mass Effect

Saving the world from the Reapers is hard work. That’s why Commander Shepard also made sure to enjoy the finer things in life: booze, sex and partying. Let’s playfully reminisce on the the debauchery of Mass Effect, shall we? Clubs We’ve got to start with the night clubs, if only because these are often the…

Now that the people at GameFront have created a Metal Gear timeline (1944-2018), that series’ storyline makes so much more sense. See for yourself

This Xbox 360 Batman Arkham Origins Boxart Is Most Unexpected

Are you excited about the newly-announced Batman: Arkham Origins? It’s ok if you were on the fence. But surely this boxart for the Xbox 360 version can win you over? This is a real listing at Wal-Mart. They’ll probably change it soon. [UPDATE: And they just did.]