Why a Free iPad Game is Better Than Every Blockbuster Game Released in 2012

Many people who went to film school will tell you that film school made them hate watching films. In a similar fashion, as someone who has worked on triple-A video games in the past, the only thing that impresses me about triple-A video games is the amount of work that goes into constructing them. Project…

Here Are Some Halo 4 Multiplayer Tricks You Might Not Have Known About

A new episode of Halo 4 Mythbusters by defendthehouse brings with it a bunch of new tricks you can use on unsuspecting players. You might’ve stumbled on some of these yourself through frequent play and experimentation. That’s the beauty of multiplayer games. But the video above should still add to your arsenal of killing techniques.

If Your Xbox Cloud Saving Had Issues Last Week, You Get A Free Month Of Gold Membership

Maybe you were playing a game on Xbox Live last week and you tried to save online. Maybe it didn’t work. Maybe you are cursing at the skies, wondering why you ever relied on this newfangled “cloud” technology when back in your day all you needed was a pen, paper, and a string of meaningless…

Take a Groovy, Animated Trip through One Man’s Favorite Games of 2012

Zac Gorman’s been doing video game-centric comics for Kotaku for the better part of a year now. He’s riffed on everything from Dishonored‘s stealth to what makes people jealous in Journey. So, it’s only fitting that he lets everybody know what his favorite playable experiences from the last twelve months were. It’s an eclectic—and damn…

Your Last Injection Of Great Cosplay For 2012

Sorry about the lack of quantity this week. Like the rest of us, cosplayers are on holiday too! Luckily, those that have been sticking with it and uploading new images have been knocking it out of the park. As seen on LexiStrife As seen on DeadlyNinja As seen on Sweet-Empathy As seen on naokunn As…

There’s a Big Piece Of Skyrim In This Guy’s House

Comic artist Tyler Kirkham took website CBR behind the scenes of his home/workplace the other day. There were pencils, couches, posters, bookshelves and… oh, yeah, an enormous customised Skyrim-themed dungeon. You’ll have to scroll a fair way down in this gallery to hit the basement, but once you do, you’ll know it. Just look for…

What If The Year’s Biggest Games Were Clunky Old Text Adventures?

That’s a question PC Gamer asked themselves over the course of the last week, re-imagining 2012 blockbusters like Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3 and Assassin’s Creed III as primitive text-based adventure games. The results are sometimes funny, sometimes cutting, and quite often both. You can read through four of them below. The Text Adventures…

The 3DS Is Being Hacked, And Why This Is Good News

Over the past week, hackers have made substantial progress in their efforts to hack Nintendo’s 3DS handheld. While, yes, this will have negative consequences for things like piracy, I’d like to think you, dear reader, can see the more practical benefits of getting under the system’s skin. Like getting around the 3DS’ region locks for…

13 Years Later, Age of Empires II Gets An (Unofficial) Expansion

Still regarded as one of the finest strategy games ever made, Ensemble’s 1999 classic Age of Kings has long been dead as far as publisher Microsoft is concerned. As far as fans are concerned, though, it’s all stations go, as a new expansion called Forgotten Empires has just been released, which introduces new campaigns, maps,…

The Best Video Game Concept Art Of 2012*

Seeing as I post a Fine Art feature almost every day, it’s only right that we take a minute to honour some of the best concept, production and promotional art the world got a chance to see in 2012. Due to the nature of the field—one in which art can be locked away for years—and…

You’ll Want These Portal Action Figures Next Christmas

They’re from ThreeA, so your loved ones will need the time to save up, but look at them. They’ll be worth it. We’ve seen these before in their unpainted prototype state, but these painted models are just to die for Still no word on a release date or price. ThreeA x VALVe Portal [ThreeA]

Nintendo Is To Thank, And Blame, For The Dead Metroid Movie

There was, once upon a time, a serious plan to bring a Metroid movie to the silver screen. With John Woo directing. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but various things conspired to sink the project, chief among them Nintendo itself. As former producer Brad Foxhoven tells IGN, while Nintendo at first surprisingly…

EA Sports Server Shutdown Next Week Means NBA Live is Finished

NBA Live 10 is one of six EA Sports titles that will lose online support on Jan. 11., according to a notice from Electronic Arts. While retiring online features for sports titles more than a year old is not uncommon for any sports publisher, killing multiplayer support for NBA Live 10, which released in 2009,…

Grand Theft Auto IV Now Looks Even More “Next Gen”

Thanks to a dedicated community, the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV has been continually polished and upgraded since its release all those years ago. To the point where, now, it looks like something from the future The iCEnhancer series of mods, which we’ve featured before, are being updated to 2.5 (this is an…

Achievement Unlocked: Chris Warcraft Makes the Postseason

A 29-yard field goal as time expired put Minnesota and our favorite MMO/XCOM-playing punter in the playoffs. Well done.

Four Stories to Follow in a Pivotal New Year for Sports Video Gaming

2K Sports hasn’t said specifically when its infamous exclusive pact with Major League Baseball ends, but it’s a good bet that day comes on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. If someone picks up that license, it’ll be the first big story of the year for sports video gaming. If no one picks up that license, it’ll…

Sure, blame the dog. We know what really happened.

Black Ops II‘s First DLC will be a Timed Xbox 360 Exclusive

Images purportedly of in-store promotional materials suggest that Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s first map pack extension will be a timed Xbox 360 exclusive arriving on Jan. 29. Five maps are included. “Revolution” sports five maps, one of which—”Die Rise”—appears to be a zombie map. The others are named Hydro, Grind, Downhill and Mirage.…

Zen Pinball‘s Wii U release is delayed “until January.” Sorry. Thirteen tables will be available when it does arrive.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: The Year-End All-Star Extravaganza

B.A. Baracus. The Michael McDonald Fight Stick. Some dude taking a 3DS picture of himself smoking pot. We’ve had some ups and downs with the ‘Shop Contest this year, but we still have a ton of good memories—10 of our most popular exploitables, to be specific—to look back on in an All-Star Extravaganza closing out…