Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Horsing Around With Gabe

We’ve had a run of good luck with no-brainer exploitables, and that continues this week with Gabe Newell, donning a horse mask after giving a talk in Texas, and then firing up some kind of Half-Life gang sign. Here are a couple of still frames taken from a video; if the student on the right…

Sunday Comics: Starting Over

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. Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published Feb. 1. Read more of Brawl In The Family Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Feb.…

Of Course Call of Duty’s Name Was Eventually Going To Lead To A Fish-Blasting Parody

Call of Duty. Or, CoD. It’s an abbreviation so ubiquitous it’s kind of weird that nobody thought to do this sooner. Indie dev Ryan Evans has made Cod of Duty, a short, simple game where you… shoot fish. You know. Cod. They’re even (mostly) in a barrel, just to complete the whole Call of Duty…

Borderlands 2’s Writer Says He’ll Change Tiny Tina If She Conveys Racism, As Some Players Think [UPDATE]

Today, an argument broke out on Twitter between Anthony Burch, lead writer on Borderlands 2, and a few players who think that Tiny Tina is a racist character. The issue, as some folks saw it, was that Tiny Tina appropriated African American lingo. See above video, which showcases Tiny Tina dialogue, if you want reference.…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Dildover: The Winners

Jason Rubin, the former THQ president, left work with head(s) held high last week. Though the publisher is no more, we’ll always remember his member, the good ole Penetrator from Saints Row: The Third. I couldn’t pick a single winner this week so there are two, the retro Atari VCS cartridge front from ParamedicFoetus, and…

MLB 2K13 Actually Has Some Marketing, Sort Of

In January, 2K Sports shocked sports video gaming with the announcement that it would, in fact, make Major League Baseball 2K13 this year. The label’s prior license with MLB expired at the end of 2012, and no one expected it to be renewed. Of course, it’s not like any other publisher was building an MLB-licensed…

Space Invaders Makes for a Great Themed Chess Set

It’s no secret I’ve stayed away from Kickstarter topics, as the whole thing by now strikes me as an Etsy for things that don’t exist. That said, there are some pretty cool projects there that have some reasonable fund-raising expectations and stand a good chance at delivering on their promise. This is one, a Space…

Rumor has it Brütal Legend is coming to Steam.

Minecraft Creator Made $101 Million Last Year, May Buy a Car With It

In 2012, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson took home 640 million kronor—$101 million US—in licensing fees for the game, according to a report in the Swedish financial press. What’s he going to do with that kind of money? Well, he tells Reddit, he may finally get a car. “It’s weird as fuck,” he said, in…

BioWare cofounder Greg Zeschuk’s second act is exploring the world of beer. Here are his beer pairings for game genres

Record Smashed as Arsenal Beat Spurs 190-Nil

Guinness and video games have made quite a partnership over the years, to the point where many of their honours now sound more like adverts. (Yes, I’m deliberately writing in UK English here.) Here, however, is one that harkens back to Guinness’ old-school marathon and milestone roots: Shattering the record for margin of victory in…

Proteus‘ Creator Defends His Game—as a Game

Proteus, which went on sale on Steam on Wednesday, is the latest art piece to kick up a fuss over whether something deserves to call itself a game. Twitter’s self-appointed video game cop has weighed in on the discussion, as have thousands of his deputies in message boards and comments. Now one of Proteus‘ creators…

This Week in the Business: “We know we’ve got a fast boat. We just don’t know how deep the water is right now.”

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Wii U has failed to capture consumer imagination.”—Rob Fahey, former editor of GI.biz, talking about Wii U’s problems but ultimately why there’s no need to worry about Nintendo. UPDATE: Fahey also wrote: “Sentiment is negative right now, but fundamentals aren’t, and…

It’s the 49ers vs. the Ravens in Call of Duty—With These Emblems

This emblem tutorial brings together two dewchuggin’ classics—football and Call of Duty, enough to make any bro-gamer stand up straight and armpit fart Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA The gang at FPSGeneral put together this tutorial if you want tomorrow’s Super Bowl combatants in today’s Call of Duty. The 49ers logo lacks the stylized,…

The Moneysaver: Send in the Marines

Kotaku’s twice weekly roundup of the best discounts, combinations, offers and incentives in video gaming is brought to you by Dealzon Software Green Man Gaming has a new coupon and some strong pre-order bonuses that produce these deals. New low on Aliens: Colonial Marines Season Pass. • Yesterday’s release Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed is…

The Best Of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, where I round up all of this week’s best content. Hatpire makes some ridiculously cute-looking postcards. The one of Chell above is the newest creation, and perfect for this week’s round-up. Now let’s move on to reading this week’s best content, courtesy of us. Before You Start… Tips For…

Behold the Largest Robot Lantern in the World (Apparently!)

We’ve seen giant Gundam robots—real ones and totally fake ones. This isn’t a Gundam robot, but it is giant. And it’s a lantern. So burn, baby, burn. Billed as the “Tallest Robot Lantern in the World”, the 12 meter tall, 2.5 light up statue was shown in the city of Shuzhou, China. In a perfect…

There are Neon Genesis Evangelion branded false eyelashes. No, really.

This Isn’t Japan’s Britney Spears Meltdown

Remember when Britney Spears cut off all her hair? That was disconcerting. This week, Minami Minegishi, a member of Japan’s biggest girl group AKB48, appeared in a YouTube video, apologizing and crying. Her head was shaved. Likewise, disconcerting. Online in Japan, however, people wondered if this was some kind of sick punishment for a tabloid…

Chinese Bootleggers Are Just Screwing Around

Pretty sure Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t in Star Wars: Episode I. That didn’t keep Chinese bootleggers from slapping his mug on this pirated box. It isn’t only Schwarzenegger. Many of the boxes either have incorrect descriptions or feature actors who are not in the film. It’s as though the pirates are just putting whatever is popular—whether…