Forget the Haters, Japan *Hearts* Call of Duty

The conventional wisdom has always been Japan loves role-playing games and dislikes first-person shooters. First-person shooters, pundits said, were popular only with Western gamers. The pundits and conventional wisdom, it seems, are wrong. In its debut week, Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the PS3 is the second best selling game in Japan, moving…

How To Beg Your Dad To Buy You a Console

In 1999, Buzzfeed’s Josh Fjelstad really, really wanted an N64. And hey, it was 1999, so did a lot of kids. But what Josh did to actually get one was… different. Instead of just asking, or sulking, or whatever else kids do to try and get their way, Josh sat down and wrote a letter.…

Del Toro’s Horror Game Rises From The Grave At New Studio

Guillermo Del Toro had been helping out on a video game with THQ before, well, THQ basically ran out of money. But that doesn’t mean the game is dead. Movie site Bloody Disgusting is reporting that the game idea, which is actually planned to be a trilogy, was shipped around to other studios and… picked…

Now That is One Good-Looking Future Ship

Long Ouyang is a concept artist who works at WETA, they of The Hobbit, District 9 and Lord of the Rings fame. He’s previously done some game work, including iOS titles. Anyway, today is a good day to show off his stuff, because chances are you saw some of it earlier this week. Where? In…

Turns Out a Lot of People Have no Idea What the Hell a Wii U is

Last night, an Australian TV commercial for the Wii U came on. My wife looked at it, then at me, then back at it, then at our Wii, before finally asking “wait, don’t we have a Wii? What’s this?” While a single anecdote, it sums up my biggest concern for Nintendo’s new console, at least…

Are You Hard Enough To Wear Dark Souls On Your Chest?

Not content with releasing just one line of shirts this month, the friends of Kotaku at Meat Bun have released a second, and this one’s all about souls. That means shirts based on Ghosts’n Goblins and… well, a ton based on Dark Souls, like the awesome anatomical cut-away of a Mimic and the awesomer Alvina…

Russian Criminals Use Grand Theft Auto Fan Art In Ads For Bank Robberies

A seedy underground of Russian criminals has gotten so brazen it’s taken to posting advertisements offering the services of its expert “bank robbers”. These crims, who mostly employ “cyberheists and tax fraud” to lift money from US banks, even go into detail about the kind of things they can offer prospective employers, as listed on…

But What Did Internet Morons Think Of Vice City’s New Trailer?

Taking inspiration from a treatment on the latest GTAV trailer, reader Adriaan has wonderfully gone through YouTube comments on the latest Vice City iOS clip, presenting them in isolation for our enjoyment. Some are touching. Some even contain a sliver of truth. Most, though, are hilariously bonkers, just like you hope/expect YouTube comments to be.…

Transforming Minecraft Maps Into Stunning Works of Art

When you play Minecraft, it’s in your face, it’s blocky, and it’s all rather immediate. You rarely get the sense of scale, or even wonder, that an entire world can contain from any single vantage point. The game’s simplistic graphics don’t help things. But, as PC Gamer explains, when you convert a Minecraft world into…

And Now, This Weatherman Will Read The Forecast In Elvish

It’s sort of been unofficial Lord of the Rings week here at Kotaku, hasn’t it? Guess everyone’s just excited about The Hobbit This amazing video shows a weatherman in New Zealand going into full cosplay and reading the weather… in Elvish. He’s not exactly Liv Tyler, but his accent sounds pretty good! This is some…

The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Recreated in LEGO, is Blowing My Socks Off

Brotherhood Workshop return with another LEGO Lord of the Rings video, this time about Helm’s Deep. An epic battle deserves an epic recreation in LEGO, and this clip doesn’t disappoint. LEGO The Battle of Helm’s Deep [YouTube]

No, President Obama is Not Plugging NBA 2K13 With His #my2K Campaign

On a long drive back yesterday evening I heard over the radio that President Obama, using the White House bully pulpit in deficit negotiations, had opened a social media campaign designed to pressure Congressional Republicans. If tax cuts set to expire on Jan. 1 do so, middle-class families would take a cash hit of around…

The Final Nintendo Power Cover is Awesomely Nostalgic

On the left, the cover of the final issue of Nintendo Power magazine, a publication that’s been running since the 80s. It’s great on its own, but when you remember what the first issue of Nintendo Power looked like, on the right, it’s enough to bring a tear to the eye. Nintendo Power’s closure was…

Creator of Original X-Com Thinks the New XCOM Is “Addictive and Absorbing”

No one was sure that XCOM: Enemy Unknown would please fans of the original X-Com. The remake’s lead designer Jake Solomon counts himself amongst the devotees of Microprose’s sci-fi strategy game and even he wasn’t certain the team at Firaxis could recapture the appeal of the original. So, Solomon was understandably chuffed when he heard…

Persona 4 Golden‘s Soaring Soundtrack Is Love At First Listen

Music is, as I’ve written here so many times I’ve lost count, a part of the soul of any good video game. The beats and melodies that propel us forward are more than just aural decoration, they’re a vital aspect of the character and feel of a game. Last weekend, after 65 hours, countless battles,…

Here are the Spike VGA nominations for 2012 game of the year. Journey is there, Halo 4 and Black Ops II are not.

This Music Video Is A Bit Like Eternal Sunshine Of The Minecraft Mind

Life in Minecraft can be a scary thing, but also a romantic one. Build a life together, away from everything, and do your best to stay alive. But what about when that’s no longer enough? This music video for “From the Ground Up” explores those ideas in charming fashion. The video is by SlamacowCreations, and…

The Ups and Downs of a Night Out at the Official Zelda Concert

Nintendo’s Zelda games are usually very good. Their music is among their better qualities. So an official Zelda concert should be good, right? I went to one last night. I liked it, didn’t love it… meaning it was a little more Zelda II for me, not so much Ocarina Of Time. And definitely not Majora’s…

This Dud is Still a One-Hit Kill in Black Ops II

This could only come from the great laboratory of death known as free-for-all in a multiplayer shooter. Given enough matches, enough combatants and enough button-spamming, you’ll inevitably discover that a bouncing betty to the face is a one-hit kill Call of Duty: Black Ops II—without detonating. YouTube video uploaded by reader Danny

Miyamoto Convinced The People Behind Paper Mario: Sticker Star To Ditch The Story

Nintendo’s got up a great Iwata Asks interview with the folks behind Paper Mario: Sticker Star that’s worth a read. Perhaps the most interesting part: Mario creator and legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto actually convinced them that story isn’t necessary to a Paper Mario game. Which might be why, when compared to the other three Paper…