Learning To Love Easy Mode

A couple of months ago, if I started a new game—no matter what it was—I’d start off on a high difficulty. At the very least, I’d go for normal, but only if it was clear that normal would provide a challenge. I reasoned that nowadays ‘normal’ is geared toward a more general audience which may…

Clementine was probably the most powerful, emotional experience in The Walking Dead. This is how she was developed.

New posts from Kirk Hamilton and Jenn Frank continue The New York Times’ review of games this year.

Born And Raised A Game Developer

You might know the name Victor Ireland—the outspoken ex-head of Working Designs was responsible for translating and publishing a number of beloved Japanese games, like the Lunar series and Alundra But you might not know his son, Broderick Ireland. Broderick, an 18-year-old designer who just released his first game on the Xbox Live Indie Marketplace,…

This Motion-Tracking Portal Turret Uses Your Webcam To Keep Intruders Out

Actually r4di0fly3r’s motion-tracking turret probably won’t keep intruders out. But it will startle them. And it will probably keep cats and dogs out from sheer terror of “OH GOD WHAT IS THAT.” You can download the software for your PC or Mac, or just run it off of the deviantART page since that didn’t seem…

War Z Creator Apologizes: ‘I Became Arrogant And Blinded By The Early Success And Quick Growth’

The man behind The War Z has apologized to his fans for some of the controversies that have entangled the much-maligned survival horror game over the past couple of weeks. In an extensive letter that tackles some of the game’s well-publicized issues—like misleading Steam descriptions and community mismanagement—War Z boss Sergey Titov says he’ll be…

Want To Make Far Cry 3 More Realistic? Check Out This Mod.

Sometimes what you need is a little realism in your power fantasy. If you feel that Far Cry 3 is missing some crucial realistic bits, maybe this mod is for you. Here is the “extremely in-depth Realism Mod” by Ubisoft forum user Panzerjager1943. According to the creator, this mod includes: -Damage is based on actual…

Blizzard Axes Diablo III‘s ‘Team Deathmatch’ PVP Mode

Diablo III‘s Team Deathmatch mode—shown off at a number of conventions and promised for the months following the game’s launch earlier this year—has been axed, Blizzard says. The player vs. player feature just wasn’t good enough, Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson writes on Battle.net today: So, our core problem is that our Team Deathmatch…

The Year In Zombies

I didn’t notice how fairly quiet a year it’s been for zombies until doing this round-up of all the flesh-eaters this year’s media has to offer, but there were definitely some highlights that more than fill those gaps. Some duds, too, but you can’t expect such a watered down narrative to always go over so…

According to research, women show twice as much skin as men do… on Second Life avatars.

This Is Impressive: Super Mario Bros. 1-1 Recreated In Minecraft And It’s Even Kinda Playable

It took Gavin and Geoff of Achievement Hunter about four hours to build Super Mario Bros.‘ 1-1 level almost block-for-block in Minecraft You can watch them “play” the level from two camera perspectives. Then they’ll zoom out to show you how the level was constructed. It’s pretty neat.

Get a Good Look at Vergil in Action in DmC‘s DLC

Vergil, Dante’s twin brother in the Devil May Cry continuity, returns as a playable character in next year’s DmC: Devil May Cry. Yesterday Capcom released a couple minutes of gameplay footage in that trailer above, showing Vergil in the DLC extension due shortly after the game launches. It’s free if you preorder the game. The…

Take Over the World One RPG Dungeon at a Time

Every corner of this dirty little ball we live on has been mapped and uploaded to the internet. Now it’s time to play with it. Life is Magic gives players the chance to team up and take over a fantasy version of the real world, one city at a time. Once you choose one of…

The Best Games for Your New PC or Mac

There it is: a glorious new gaming PC, specc’ed out all to hell and ready to take you to all sorts of wondrous places. Or maybe you went the Cupertino route and wound up with a glossy Mac machine that you want some video game bonafides for. Our Best lists have you covered, either way.…

Facebook’s Favorite Games of 2012

There are what Kotaku thinks are the best games on Facebook, and then there are the games Facebook’s game curators and players think are the most playable pieces on the social network. I find their lack of Robot Rising disturbing. For the most part the official Facebook list contains the usual suspects. There’s a couple…

A Glimpse At One Of The Dungeons In The New Final Fantasy XIV

This one is called the Tam-Tara Deepcroft, an instanced dungeon from Final Fantasy XIV. The above video footage shows what this dungeon will look like in version 2.0 of the game, A Realm Reborn, which will launch next year for PC and PS3. Cool music. Reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics Square plans to start…

Tank! Tank! Tank! Makes a Little Kid Cry on Christmas Morning

Everyone, say hi to Reese. He got the thing he really, really wanted most for Christmas. And yes, it’s Tank! Tank! Tank!, which was … not exactly the best launch title for the Wii U. When Reese’s dad sent us this video, we first thought, “Well, wait, surely he’s crying because Tank! Tank! Tank! is…

The Best Games for Your New Nintendo Handheld

There’s a reason Nintendo owned the on-the-go gaming market for decades. From the Game Boy to the 3DS XL, the House of Mario consistently packs a one-two punch of great software and clever hardware in its portables. Want proof? Take a gander at our compilations of the best games on current Nintendo handhelds. You’ll see…

Touch Detective on Android, What Took You So Long?

After a highly successful stint on iOS, the stylish 2006 Nintendo DS game Touch Detective finally lands on Android. If anyone needs me I’ll be playing it all day. KotakuMobile is your one-stop shop for all of Kotaku’s Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 game coverage. Follow @KotakuMobile on Twitter and stalk us on Facebook

A LEGO Cortana That Actually Shimmers Like A Hologram

OK, if we’re going to be honest, at face value, this LEGO depiction of Halo star Cortana doesn’t look that great. It’s “2D”, and in places looks more like ASCII art than a portrait. But there’s a reason for that. This isn’t supposed to resemble Cortana’s 3D model in the games. It’s meant to resemble…