See the Star Wars Lightsaber-Fighting Game That Never Made It

It never went anywhere, and maybe that’s a good thing, but this is a demonstration Studio Gigante put together for a Star Wars fighting game on the original Xbox. Josh Tsui, currently of Robomodo, co-founded the studio and for some reason tweeted out this video on Valentine’s Day It’s somewhat better than the trainwreck that…

This Week in the Business: ‘There is a Real Problem With Putting Console Games on Mobile’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “There is a real problem with putting console games on mobile.”—Chris Mahoney, director of emerging platforms at Sony, explaining why so many mobile games aren’t good and what Sony plans to do about it QUOTE | “We sent a loud and…

God of War: Ascension‘s Demo is Feb. 26, but There’s a Way to Get It Early

Everyone will get their hands on the demo for God of War: Ascension on Feb. 26, but some will get access to it on Feb. 20, provided they prevail in some kind of social media sign-up challenge that’s been going on for the past 10 days. The “Rise of the Warrior social challenge,” as it’s…

The Moneysaver: Only Two More Hours of Payne

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 • Max Payne 3: Complete Pack is $14 (list $70). Deal ends today at noon EST. • Max Payne 3 standard is $10.88 (next best $40). Ends today 12PM Eastern!…

The Best Of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, where I round up all of this week’s best content. Look, you guys have known me long enough now. It’s been a year since I’ve been at Kotaku. You know if there’s a cat and there’s a video game, Tina is going to post it. So here’s the latest,…

All These Animals Scream Like Humans. It’s Freaky, Man.

I had no idea all these animals could make these sounds. Some aren’t so surprising—goats screaming videos have been floating around the web this week. And some, like the frogs—the frogs!! What the heck!? The screams. So many screams. “Thanks” for the video, CompilarizTV. Okay, that’s a weird send-off to the weekend in this open…

Here’s another new superhero-customization demo from Project Awakened, a game we wrote about earlier today

Interactive fiction + shooter = this neat experimental Twine game. It’s about a cowgirl who gets her heart broken.

Ian Bogost has written this ironic-yet-thoughtful “Trio of Artisanal Game Reviews” about the meditative PC game Proteus

This Legend of Zelda Vocal Arrangement Gave Me Chills

I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that lately, “Fi’s Theme” from Skyward Sword has sort of become my favorite piece of Zelda music. So, I very much enjoyed this vocal performance from Laura Shigihara. Shigihara is perhaps best known as the composer of the music for Plants vs. Zombies, though she’s…

Report: The Next PlayStation Will Stream PS3 Games

Ever since Sony purchased streaming games company Gakai last year, it’s been speculated that they were planning to have the next PlayStation stream games. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that is indeed the case, and that the new console will stream PlayStation 3 games. Citing “people familiar with the company’s plans,” the WSJ elaborates:…

New PS4 Controller Image Raises More Questions About What’s Actually In The Controller

Yesterday, we posted this photo of a prototype controller for the next PlayStation. The image turned up online, and an industry source familiar with the system told us the photo was indeed a prototype controller for the PS4, code-named Orbis. Today, a forum poster at Gametrailers has shared a better-quality photo of what looks like…

You Play As The Niece Of Mega-Man Co-Creator Keiji Inafune In This Ridiculous Game

Hot off the heels of Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward, my favorite game of 2012, niche publisher Aksys has just announced Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, another Japanese visual novel. Here’s a brief description for the upcoming PSP game, which Aksys will release this summer: Saki Inafune, niece to legendary game developer Keiji Inafune, can’t…

What’s This? A Non-Nintendo Game Creator Raves About The Wii U.

I thought I was on another planet on Wednesday when I saw Alex Ward for the first time in five years. This was Criterion’s Alex Ward, the developer of a game studio that pushes gaming hardware to the brink and that hasn’t made a game for Nintendo in 10 years. He was saying nothing but…

There’s Lots of Love in This Week in Gaming Apps

During this most romantic/depressing week of the year, let us not forget the gaming apps, whose portability and charm keep us playing whether we be curled up on the corner sobbing or curled up naked on a bed of roses, waiting for your significant other to get home. Now that I have children in the…

Oh, So THAT’S How Magikarp Became The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Um, I Mean Sinnoh.

Magikarp may be useless, but that doesn’t mean the poor Pokémon-fish can’t be funny. Look no further than the great Magikarp web comics below, which chronicle Magikarp’s misadventures—this one in particular riffs off of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Click for full size. Pretty great, right? The creator—mysterious “Chris S.”—has a whole Tumblr full of…

The Most Insane Minecart Levels In Video Games

There was a time when mines and minecarts dominated video games. If a platformer or RPG didn’t have a mine stage or a mine-themed dungeon, it wasn’t a game. We felt like mines—where actual mining was eschewed in favor of racing around on minecarts—were the most natural things in the world, just as common as…

Kinect + Department Store Mannequins = Horrible Waking Nightmare

Microsoft exec Larry “Major Nelson” tweeted out this melding of Kinect and commerce earlier today. Nelson is likely proud of the execution here, since it shows the flexibility of the company’s motion-sensing camera in a non-gaming setting. But me? All I can think of is how utterly disturbing it would be if a mannequin in…

Here’s How You’ll Build Your Own Superhero In The Crazy-Ambitious Project Awakened

Pretty much everyone wants to play as a super powerful badass, roaming the city, saving lives and causing mayhem. But not everyone wants to do it the same way. Do you want to be a Nightcrawler-like teleporter? Or a Magneto-like manipulator? Or maybe you just want to suit up like The Punisher and blow people…

Another Excuse To Boot Up Skyrim: So You Can Kiss Everyone

Forget about compulsively collecting every useless bauble, or heck, even normal adventuring in Skyrim. That’s not worth going back for. This is. Check out this strange but hilarious mod by rsv_rsv. It gives you the ability to kiss everyone in Skyrim. Well, almost everyone. You can’t kiss creatures, mannequins or corpses—which is bullshit, because I…