From Dream To Disaster: The Story Of Aliens: Colonial Marines

On December 11, 2006, Sega announced that they had snagged the rights to the much-beloved sci-fi franchise Aliens. Eager to get people excited, Sega quickly announced that they had two big games in the works: a role-playing game and a first-person shooter. In the coming years, one would be cancelled. And the other probably should…

Trophy Listings Point to Dishonored‘s Next DLC, “Other Side of the Coin”

Ten new trophies for Dishonored hint that the title of its second DLC extension is coming soon, and it’ll be titled “Other Side of the Coin.” When additional chapters were first mentioned by publisher Bethesda back in the fall, it said the second installment would deal with Daud, the leader of “The Whalers,” a group…

FarmVille 2 Vanilla Heirloom Recipes: Everything You Need to Know

You might already be satisfied with the amount of crafting recipes available in FarmVille 2‘s Crafting Kitchen. But Zynga always releases more. In fact, the developer has released a brand new “Heirloom Recipe” feature to the Crafting Kitchen that will see new recipes released for a very limited time to encourage players to come back…

Zynga is shutting down its Baltimore (Frontierville) studio and “consolidating” Texas and New York studios. [Zynga blog]

Let This Halo, Mega Man and Metroid Stained Glass Turn Your Home Into a Video Game House of Worship

If you grew up Catholic like me, you can only have one response to seeing the creation above: “Holy Samus, Mother of Metroid, hallowed be thy name.” Hang these translucent beauties where they can catch some sun and you might see people genuflecting. Those glowing renditions are the work of Evan Daniels, who sells his…

The Most Terrifying Game I’ve Played In Ages Is Not Technically a Horror Game

Death is coming, and it’s coming large. This grim reaper needs no dark shadows or flickering lights. There is no slender ghoul lurking just outside the periphery of vision. Where one would expect shrill violins there is thrilling chiptune. The coming darkness isn’t a metaphor—it’s the gaping maw of an enormous space worm, and I’m…

FBI Profilers Don’t Believe Violent Video Games Cause Violence

FBI profilers don’t view video games as a cause of shootings and other violent crime, a former profile said yesterday morning on CBS’ Face the Nation Profilers still include an interest in games when making their threat assessment of whether a person is at risk to act out violently, Mary Ellen O’Toole (above) told the…

I Wanted a Bigger Phone, Samsung, But This is Ridiculous

Last year I switched from the iPhone to the Samsung Galaxy Note II. Going from the slender Apple device to the five-inch “phablet” took some getting used to, but these days I hardly notice it’s larger than guy-sized phone, thanks largely (tee) to my oversized paws. I’m not sure those paws are ready to handle…

The Latest Legendary Pokémon Transforms Into a One-of-a-Kind Creature

Meet Meloetta. She’s special. Coming to Pokémon Black and White and Black and White 2 as part of a distribution campaign throughout GameStop stores for three weeks starting March 4, Meloetta is the first combination Normal and Fighting-type creature to grace the series, as long as you take her out to the right bar. It…

Tomb Raider: The Kotaku Review

I never wanted to have sex with Lara Croft. And I didn’t want to protect her either. In the early Tomb Raider games that I played and loved, the relationship was simple. The lethal, archly snippy adventurer was me and I was her. I wanted what she wanted: to unearth the relics of antiquity. To…

The Infamy Shows Assassin’s Creed III Still Has A Little Room For Experimentation

Assassin’s Creed III was, for me, an agonising paradox. It’s both one of the best games of last year and also one of the most frustrating, one where a strong foundation of combat and exploration was undone by poor pacing and mission design. You’d hope, then, that new singleplayer content for the game—released months after…

Street Fighter X Sanrio Arcade Fightstick Pro: The Kotaku Review

How many times can one website review the same fighting game controller with different graphics on it? Let’s see, one, two, three… three times. There is nothing else to say about the hardware itself. It’s lovely, certainly worth the $159.99 asking price to a hardcore PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 fighting game player. So the…

The Kingdom Hearts ‘Remix’ Is Coming To North America This Fall As A PS3 Exclusive

For PlayStation 3 only, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix—yes, that’s the full name—will be coming to the U.S. this fall, Square Enix said today. From Square: Fully remastered in HD, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5 ReMIX is a compilation of the critically acclaimed KINGDOM HEARTS FINAL MIX, previously exclusive to the Japanese market, and KINGDOM HEARTS…

Development Costs Mean Next-Gen Leap ‘Won’t Be As Obvious’ as the Last, Says BioWare’s Art Director

If you’re accustomed to a new console generation delivering a big leap forward in technology, particularly visual fidelity, BioWare’s art director suggests you temper your expectations. The PS4 and whatever Microsoft is cooking up will be “a big leap, but it won’t be as obvious,” Neil Thompson told Official Xbox Magazine. Noting that the transition…

Shigeru Miyamoto Link Cosplay Portraits Are A Wii U Exclusive

I thought giant Majora’s Mask illustrations were good. And, hey, they are. But enormous portraits of Shigeru Miyamoto in Link cosplay are even better. [via AndrewNK]

Valve’s Gabe Newell will be awarded an Academy Fellowship at the 2013 BAFTA Games Awards. Congrats, Gabe!

Special Effects Team To Blame For Asura’s Wrath Plagiarism, Say People Blamed for Plagiarism

Stephen Chow’s latest box office offering, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, is slated by the Chinese press to rake in billions of yuan by the time its run is over. However one thing is still causing problems for Chow: the allegations that his movie stole assets from a video game. Chow, the director,…

Is Final Fantasy XIV Coming to the PS4? Somebody Asked That Question.

Final Fantasy XIV‘s road to the PS3 has been rough. But now that the game is finally coming to the PlayStation 3, Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada was asked whether or not the game is headed to the PS4. “Basically,” said Wada, “I want to offer it through any means possible, but only after we’ve nailed…

Voice Actress Invents a Thong That Turns into a Wristband. (No, Really.)

Dubbed the “Wristunder” (geddit? GEDDIT?), the special panties were invented by Chiaki Takahashi, the voice actress who brings life to video characters in The Idolmaster, BlazBlue and many more. Takahashi is dubbed a “sexy voice actress”, and it often seems like she tries really hard. Probably too hard. But, hey, she tries. There’s always trying.…

Chinese MMO Adds Crane Riding and Space Ships, Ruins The Movie It Was Based On

Video game adaptations of movies are a dime a dozen—you’ve got Transformers the Movie the game, E.T. the game. No matter the subject matter, very few of the games turn out as well-received as the films—not everyone can be a GoldenEye—oftentimes these “tie-in” games are just a repeat of the movie but with some interactive…