Some Wii U Features Load Fast. Others Do Not.

The Wii U’s best trick is its lightning fast swap of the graphics on your TV and the graphics on the Wii U GamePad. The Wii U’s worst trick is the absurdly slow loading time users have to sit through when accessing the machine’s system menu or any of the applications in it. I shot…

Guy Reckons He’s Accessed Miiverse Debug Mode by Accident, Can See Other People’s Messages

NeoGAF user Trike claims, after messing around with the Wii U’s Miiverse, that his console suddenly allowed him to access the service’s debug/admin options. As you can see in the pictures posted above and below, he appears to have access to screens that let him monitor users, reset their passwords and even delete… something (whether…

If the Miiverse catches on, a new word will catch on with it: “Unyeah.”

Skylanders Giants Has a Little Something Extra on the Wii U

The Wii U version of Skylanders Giants doesn’t look noticeably better or worse than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version. It plays exactly the same as well—the Skylander toys are placed on the USB-connected portal, they come to life in the game, adventure ensues. For the Wii U version of Skylanders Giants, the Wii…

The Baseball Video Gamer: A Hack Living in Mom’s Basement

When I was about 15, about the time you should begin to read serious books and challenge the accepted wisdom of your forebears, I got a copy of Total Baseball, an enormous, flaccid, yellow paperback about the size of the Manhattan phone book. I studied it at the foot of my bed next to the…

Hey Wii U Owners, Share Your Nintendo Network ID Right Here

New Wii U owners unite! If you’ve got your hands on Nintendo’s new console and you want some new friends for your Miiverse, get in here and post your Nintendo Network ID below.

The Week in Games: Say U, Say Wii

The Wii U’s release opened a floodgate of new releases today, and also made about a dozen early launches on the new console finally playable. Tuesday returns things more to normal, with Hitman: Absolution arriving on consoles and Assassin’s Creed III coming to PC. Kotaku thanks our bargain-hunting watchdogs Dealzon for assembling The Week in…

Under 18? You Need 50 Cents to Register on Nintendo Network

As said earlier, Nintendo is serious about making Miiverse into an elegant online service for a more civilized age. They want to keep it safe, too, and make sure some adult in the house is aware of what the kids are doing on it. The best way to accomplish that seems to be requiring a…

Nintendo’s Cool New MiiVerse Social Network Goes Down on Day One [UPDATE: Back up!]

The Wii U’s MiiVerse service is currently offline. Trying to access it spits out an error message like the one you see above. It’s too bad because Nintendo’s ambitious social network for its new console is pretty cool. I’ve been messing around with it for much of the day. It lets Wii U users post…

If you have or are getting a Wii U, Nintendo’s official USB storage FAQ is a must-read. Plan your storage solution!

Here’s What the Second Grand Theft Auto V Trailer Looks Like in GTA IV

We saw the first Grand Theft Auto V trailer recreated in the original San Andreas (GTA: San Andreas, to be exact). Then someone set it in Grand Theft Auto IV. So, with the second trailer’s release earlier this week, it’s natural we get that one rebuilt inside IV as well. This is by YouTube user…

ZombiU Is Like an FPS Demon’s Souls With Zombies. That’s A Great Thing.

Technically, ZombiU reviews can start hitting right now. Realistically, we won’t have a review until early in the coming week. Sorry about that. Too many Wii U games to try, to many system features to cover and too many snags with what could be a terrific, albeit imperfect game. I can tell you some stuff……

If Your Wii U Won’t Connect To Your WiFi Router, Here’s What To Do

Last night, after attending the midnight Wii U launch event in New York City (which was a lot of fun!), I went home to download the big day-one firmware patch. But. When I tried to connect the Internet, the Wii U told me it couldn’t find my WiFi router. I played around with all the…

What’s the Gray Market Like for the Wii U? Check Back After Black Friday

As of this writing there are at least 630 Wii Us listed on eBay for minimum bids or buy-it-now prices of $520 or more. Not a one of them has any takers. Even though it took less than a day for GameStop to sell out its preorder allotment, even though the retailer claims a waiting…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Spike This Award

That’s Samuel L. Jackson in a publicity shot for the Video Game Awards, which he’ll be hosting in less than three weeks on Spike. I can think of a thousand things Jules might rather be holding, and so can you, probably. So let’s get going with this week’s ‘Shop Contest, featuring a special guest exploitable.…

Wii U Owners Bummed Out By Huge Firmware Update

That’s a progress bar 1/8th full after 30 minutes—a four-hour process at this rate—for the Wii U’s infamous firmware update, said to be 5 gigabytes (according to Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TV, and repeated by numerous others). Sony, you are officially off the hook with the PS3’s interminable, poorly timed and mandatory system updates. It’s…

Sunday Comics: A Lot Harder Than It Looks

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Nov. 12.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Nov. 16.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by…

Hitman: Absolution: The Kotaku Review

Hitman: Absolution is a wickedly smart, darkly enjoyable video game, one that’s as generous to players as its protagonist is merciless to his victims. You’ll stab, strangle and shoot your way through level after level, sometimes grimacing, sometimes scowling, sometimes laughing. When all is said and done, you’ll probably need a shower. To play Absolution…

Report: Wii U Cracked Open, System Memory and Speed Revealed

Nintendo, like many hardware manufacturers, was cagey about the final specs for the Wii U, choosing not to reveal the system’s overall memory prior to release. Now that the Wii U is out, though, it hasn’t taken long for someone to tear one apart and do the detective work themselves. The crew at PC Perspective…

How To Transfer Wii Data to a Wii U (And Witness The World’s Cutest Progress Bar Ever)

You can transfer most Wii data to a new Wii U. This is a good thing, but nearly as good a thing as the animation that plays when you do this. As soon as it started, I had to grab my camera and start shooting this. The first video shows what you see from the…