Shoot People as Bobby Kotick Tomorrow In This Free Online Game To Celebrate Black Ops II

Tomorrow, you can play the new Call of Duty. Separately, you will also be able to play as Bobby Kotick, chief of CoD publisher Activision, in the free (well, mostly free) online shooter Offensive Combat Kotick’s character is called “Money Sack” and will be available for purchase of free rental in the game. Offensive Combat…

How Not To Get Banned From Call of Duty: Black Ops II

The next installment in the Call of Duty juggernaut, Black Ops II, launches tomorrow. In preparation for the legions of players who will no doubt soon be shooting each other, exploiting every glitch, and saying very rude things on voice chat—as well as the millions of folks who just want to play, and have to…

Alternative Halo 4 Launch Trailer Captures What’s Great About The Campaign

Most people probably play Halo titles for the multiplayer. I don’t blame them. But the singleplayer campaign in Halo 4 is too excellent to ignore. The legitimate launch trailer—which focuses on the storyline—is pretty good on its own. It’s simple, it alludes to the main threat and theme of the game. But I like this…

Pond Panic Isn’t Exactly Darwinism

Pond Panic, a new app from Fabling Game Studios, has you try to save a ladybug from deadly piranhas that are in a pond. There are several different types of piranha, and you are supposed to flick them out of the pond. Then, after you flick a certain number out of the pond, you can…

The Next Mass Effect Is Being Made on The Battlefield 3 Graphics Engine

BioWare Montreal will be heading up the development on the next Mass Effect game and they’ll be using the Frostbite 2 engine to build it. The epicenter for the hit sci-fi series has generally been done out of BioWare’s Edmonton homebase. But a new post on the BioWare blog reveals that the three-year-old BioWare Montreal…

They’re Still Not Showing Enough of Dead Space 3

Someone somewhere has decided the best way to show off Dead Space 3, an EA game only four months from release, is to keep only showing the tiniest bits of the thing. The latest third-person horror/shooter adventures of space miner Isaac Clarke could be wonderful. They could be terrible. It’s impossible to tell. The latest…

Adam Sessler Joins A New Video Game Network

Seven months after leaving G4TV, gaming personality Adam Sessler has a new job. He’s now over at Revision3, where he’ll make video content, talk about games, and continue to refuse to wear pants.

Zelda Meets WarioWare Meets King’s Quest? I’ll Take It.

Coming November 15 to an iTunes near you, Arranger is a madcap musical adventure that stitches together a Zelda-style RPG, WarioWare-esque mini-games and King’s Quest questing and style into an epic tale of world-saving and saxophone-playing. Arranger is the creation of musician Arman Bohn, who according to the official announcement press release is “former bandmate…

One of the generation’s best RPGs, Radiant Historia, is on sale over at Amazon for just $15. UPDATE: Sale’s over!

Don’t Worry About GTA V Being Too Big, Rockstar Says

Rockstar’s next game looks to be its biggest ever. In fact, it’s supposed to outstrip the combined size of the three of the publisher’s most massive releases. Some folks worried when they heard about GTA V‘s size. Would the quality suffer? Would there be enough to do? Sure, there will, says one of Rockstar’s co-founders…

Kotaku Timeline: Half-Life 2: Episode Three

Remember when you first finished Half-Life 2: Episode 2? The excitement? The shock? You were ready to set out with Alyx at your side, ready to show those alien bastards who’s boss. The trilogy, and with it, the Combine’s rule over Earth, would end soon. Except it didn’t. At the time of this writing, almost…

Kotaku Gallery: Half-Life 2: Episode Three

April/May, 2006 the world according to gabe Valve’s Gabe Newell reveals the future of Half-Life and tells us why episodic gaming is going to rule Be honest now: how many single-player games have you played all the way through? Gabe Newell, the founder and managing director for Valve, is betting that it’s fewer than it…

This Week’s Facebook Losers and Winners: Zynga Only Dominates One of These Charts

For the past couple of months I’ve been taking time every Monday morning to report on the top ten Facebook games by daily active users. That list has barely budged in four week. Here’s a better pair of lists — the top fan gainers and losers of the week, featuring a chart that’s almost entirely…

RAGE May Have Underwhelmed, But Its Characters Were Gorgeous

id’s RAGE may have its fans—and I’m one of them—but even they’d admit it never really hit the heights it could, or given the developer’s pedigree perhaps should have hit. Two two things I liked best about the game were its sky (seriously, it’s one of the best in video game history) and its characters,…

These New Grand Theft Auto V Screens Are On Fire

Grand Theft Auto V won’t feature one protagonist, but rather, it will feature three. Here is a look at them, courtesy of Gamer.nl and GTAV.net, as well as a round up of recent details about the game. Preview [Gamer.nl] New Screenshots [GTAV.net] Click here to visit our Grand Theft Auto V timeline!

Portrayed as a Loser, Gamer Steps Out To Confront Bad Reporter

Defense of the Ancients, aka DOTA, champion Wei Shanchuan (卫山川) doesn’t have many regrets regarding his professional gaming career. Why should he? He’s fairly young and he’s won many national tournaments in China. So when he was approached by a reporter for a profile piece on his life as a gamer he was eager to…

Want to Intern for Kotaku East?

It’s that time again. It’s time to look for Kotaku East interns. Do you live in Asia? Would you like to intern with Kotaku? Have I got something for you! In particular, Kotaku East is looking for interns in Asia that are located outside of Japan. Here are the particulars: • You must be over…

This Totoro Costume Is So Incredibly Adorable

For Halloween, college student Melanie wanted to be Totoro. So she and her mom decided to make a Totoro costume. Hours and hours of hard work later, the costume was finished, totally cute, and screams “sleep on my belly!”. Totoro Halloween Costume [Melanie Mescher via Geekologie via Fashionably Geek]

There’s a New Paid Dating Service Just for Japanese Nerds

For some, it’s not enough to have virtual girlfriends. Maybe they want the companionship of a real one, but aren’t good at meeting people. Open your wallets, Japanese geeks! There’s a new service called “Moé Date”. And for a price, you can have a girlfriend for a few hours. “Moé” (萌え) literally means “budding”, but…

Out of 1,161 Japanese gamers polled, 40.4% want a Wii U, 33.4% a Vita, 21.2% a 3DS, 19.7% a PS3, and 9.6% an Xbox 360.