AVADirect Mini Gaming PC: The Kotaku Review

There are dozens of places to purchase a custom gaming PC on the internet. Companies with colorful websites with flash-animated front pages and rotating images showing off their latest products in the best possible light. Then there’s AVADirect, a custom PC builder on the outskirts of Cleveland with a website that looks like it was…

Don’t Worry. It Looks Like Dark Souls 2 Will Be As Hard As Its Predecessors

Dark Souls II, the sequel to the notoriously difficult action RPG, Dark Souls (which was a sequel to the phonetically tongue twisting Demon’s Souls) has been announced for the PS3, the Xbox 360, and the PC. One of the more shocking announcements to fans of the previous games was that director Hidetaka Miyazaki would be…

Satoru Iwata recently apologized for long Wii U load times and updates and promised future improvement. Hooray!

I Never Expected A Character Story From One Piece Film: Z

If something is popular enough, you’ll inevitably find a movie version or spinoff of it. More often than not, it’s because some executive is trying to make a quick buck by using the name value to bring people in to see whatever movie they’re selling. While every now and then you’ll find a diamond in…

These Hamburger Wrappers Are Madness and Nightmares

Freshness Burger is a Japanese burger chain. They make good burgers! “Organic & natural” is the Freshness motto. But with these new burger wrappers, it should be something else. In the past, Freshness Burger has wrapped its burgers in unusual designs, such as Jack-o’-lanterns. These latest wrappers are highly unusual. “The hell is this, it’s…

This Game Was Developed in North Korea. Play It Right Now.

There’s a first for everything. Until checking out Pyongyang Racer, I’d never played a North Korean developed game. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s also not very good. To be fair, it is a browser game developed for a British owned travel agency that takes tourists to North Korea. The…

The Wii U Isn’t Just A Large Scale DS In Function, It’s One In Spirit As Well

Nintendo’s Wii U is out, and say what you will about the innovative new controller or long loading times, it’s definitely making its mark on the gaming world. In a recent interview on Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun, Shigesato Itoi, creator of the Earthbound series, sat down with the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, and executive…

Heads up! Final Fantasy IV is now out on iOS. Yours for US$16 at the Apple Store

Dick Flashing Comedian, in Action Figure Form

When not promoting Patapon 3 or helping people, Japanese comedian Egashira 2:50 has another hobby: whipping out his dick. Now you can bring Egashira’s antics to your desktop or bookshelf with this upcoming posable figure. Part of the Figma line, this Egashira 2:50 action figure is slated for next June and priced at ¥3,800. (Amazon…

Japanese Internet Mogul Hit with Drug Accusations

In the West, Reddit says it’s the front page of the internet. But in Japan, it’s not. The internet in Japan is dominated by 2channel. It’s where news—whether that’s political or video game news—disseminates. It’s the center of online culture. And apparently, drugs. That’s perhaps why today drug charges were brought against Hiroyuki Nishimura, 2ch’s…

These Aren’t New Metal Gear Screens, But Man, They’re Sure Wonderfully Bizarre

Remember that insane Metal Gear bento? Well, game creator Hideo Kojima decided to use his new game engine, the Fox Engine, to capture the bento, and then have Big Boss hold it. Because if you could, you’d do it, too. Above is the result, courtesy of Kojima’s Twitter Perhaps you think this is a huge…

It’s Not Every Day You See Link Stabbing An X-Wing

In fact, it’s usually one of two days. The first being in January 1999, when this issue of German mag Video Games hit news stands, and the second being… today. Video Games [VGJunk]

What Happens When A SNES Controller Is Eaten By A Wii U Controller

A few months back, I gasped in horror at the sight of a third-party Wii U pad that, from the hideous photoshop promotional image, looked to be a sin against everything Nintendo held dear about controllers. Well, for the past week I’ve been using the thing. It’s called the Controller Pro U. Combining the functionality…

Sony Releasing Custom God of War Control Pad

To cash in on the upcoming release of God of War: Ascension, Sony Japan will be releasing this custom Kratos-themed DualShock 3 controller. It’s not exactly subtle, but I actually like the skin-tone shade they’ve gone for, makes a nice change from the bolder stuff companies normally choose for controller colour schemes. The pad will…

Far Cry 3 Isn’t Racist. You Just Didn’t Get It.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Far Cry 3. It’s a magical game. But at the same time, the further I got through the game’s story, the more uncomfortable it made me feel. Yeah, there’s the racist stuff, but also just the sense that, oh dear, one of the best games of the year is…

This Artist Is Paid To Draw Star Wars Pictures All Day Long. So Jealous.

If you’d asked me as a kid what my dream job would have been, getting paid to draw pictures of Star Wars would have been right up there. So yeah, Amy Beth Christenson has quite the day job. A former senior concept at Lucasarts for over a decade, she now works at Lucasfilm, and since…

Team Fortress 2 Celebrates Christmas With… Godzilla Tributes And Giant Robot Engineers

Team Fortress 2 just got itself a big Christmas update. I’m so far past playing this game that the significance is lost on me, but hey, that giant Godzilla poster is awesome. Mecha Update [Team Fortress 2]

Diablo III Bans Thousands Of Robots

The world of Diablo III is a little less mechanical today, with Blizzard having made recent steps to ban a ton of people who were using bots. It wasn’t a handful of folks, either. It was “several thousand”, all in the name of rooting out those causing “technical problems with the game” and “undermining the…

Don’t Paint The Town Red. Paint It Gabe Newell.

The ability for the PC version of Jet Set Radio to import images as graffiti reaches its logical conclusion with these pics, titled “Paint the Town Gaben”. Paint the Town Gaben [billosmiley]

I Played The War Z So You Didn’t Have To

The War Z has quickly become the week’s most interesting, and hilarious, news item. Between the bad press, the worse press and the fact the game’s been taken down from Steam, most of you are probably yet to actually play it. Well, over the past few days, I’ve been playing it. So you don’t have…