Police Department Accidentally (Helpfully?) Tweets Video Game High Score

Amidst a torrent of official announcements, a very strange tweet appeared on the feed of the Dallas Police Department over the weekend. It had nothing to do with perps, crimes or laws. It had to do with… Fruit Ninja The tweet was soon taken down, but an official apology of sorts remains. Right. Kids. Nice…

Ragnarok Online‘s Little Mobile Friend Launches Next Month

Ragnarok Online, Gravity Co.’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game, has been going strong for more than a decade, driven by the free-to-play model, simple gameplay and adorable 2D anime character sprites. Next month those cute little bastards get even smaller with the release of Ragnarok Online: Valkyrie Uprising for Android and iOS devices. Already released…

The Best Games for Your iPhone and iPad

We’ve promised that Kotaku‘s Bests lists—compliations of the best games for various platforms—will be changing, dynamic entities. So here’s another update where new titles jump onto the rolls for two Apple mobile devices. Curious as to what they are? Click through and see if you guessed what we think are great iPad and iPhone games.…

Madden, Right In 7 of Its Last 9 Picks, Says Baltimore Wins Super Bowl XLVII

Madden NFL 13 says the Baltimore Ravens will claim their second Super Bowl championship on Sunday, 27-24, handing San Francisco its first defeat in six visits to the NFL’s title game. As you can see in this video above, EA Sports’ annual simulation this year came down to a last minute drive. Facing third down…

Remedy’s looking for people to help out with “the next blockbuster on future generation consoles.” What could it be?

New BioShock Infinite Trailer Is A Historian’s Delight

If you went to school in the 1980s, well, you’ll probably find this to be one of the best video game trailers you’ll ever see.

Bringing Chinese Games to the West Is a Lot Harder Than You’d Think

Every time I visit Hong Kong or Taipei, I notice that more and more console games are being translated for the Chinese market. Be it English to Chinese or Japanese to Chinese, it seems much of the focus is now on creating games that the Chinese can play. On the flip side, Chinese game companies…

Gabe Newell To Face J.J. Abrams At D.I.C.E. Keynote Discussion

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced that Valve’s Gabe Newell and Star Trek (and now Star Wars) director J. J. Abrams will be opening up 2013’s D.I.C.E. Summit—with a joint discussion about storytelling, no less. Says Martin Rae, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences: “From TV to film and…

Chinese TV Catches Weatherman Playing Online Game

You know that scene in the Avengers? That scene where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) starts talking about the faults of everyone on board and then he points out that this one technician was playing Galaga instead of operating the super flying aircraft carrier? Well it sorta happened in China this week when a weatherman…

Normand Corbeil, composer of the Heavy Rain soundtrack, died yesterday after his battle against cancer. He was 56.

Bungie Replaces a Defective Disc It Didn’t Manufacture of a Game It Didn’t Make

The secret to good customer service is not necessarily that the customer is always right. It’s in pretending he is always right. While, of course, pointing out he may, in fact, be wrong. Politely. Here, Bungie takes one for the Halo team, despite the fact it parted ways in 2011 with the franchise it created.…

Wrestling Faces a Long Comeback After THQ’s Bankruptcy

If there’s truth in advertising, then three weeks ago, 2K Sports was looking at changing its name to the singular form. Major League Baseball 2K was justifiably believed to be a dead series; the company had canceled online support for legacy titles like All-Pro Football 2K8, College Hoops 2K8 and Top Spin 4. Outside of…

Wow, EA Sports updated the roster for 2011’s NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. The last one was nine months ago.

The Week in Games: Antichamber and Omerta

Sort of a quiet week coming for new releases, though a couple arrive on PC that many have noticed: Antichamber, the indie, non-Euclidian mindfuck puzzle that has gotten plenty of attention, and Omerta, which interprets gangsterin’ as a management sim and turn-based combat. Here’s what you’ve got coming this week. Monday • Heavy Fire: Shattered…

Europe Ungrateful for Slower, More Authentic Version of Balloon Fight on Wii U

Beginning with Balloon Fight this week, Nintendo is releasing NES and SNES console classics over a new Virtual Console for the Wii U. Eurogamer noticed that the NES version of Balloon Fight in the EU runs slower—50 Hz compared to 60 Hz for the NTSC version of the game we get here in the U.S..…

This Video Shows You What a 2,800-Player Battle Looks Like in EVE Online

This morning, Reddit user Itsatrapski posted several images of a major battle—like 2,800 players—raging in the space MMO EVE Online today. YouTube user deusxverra followed with this video capture of the battle, described as terribly one-sided, so you can get an idea of what this conflict looks like in real time. WTF was going on?…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Dildover

On Thursday, THQ president Jason Rubin clocked out with his cock out. This purple dildo he’s shouldering was a notorious premium/gag promoting Saints Row The Third, which now is in the hands of Deep Silver following THQ’s liquidation on Wednesday. You know what this means: ‘Shop Contest! What, you need instructions? That’s the image. You…

End the Shame: Commit to ‘Four in February’

My colleague Mike Suszek of Joystiq, with whom I appear bi-weekly on the Press Row Podcast discussing sports video games, has begun an initiative to help many face down their Piles of Shame: Four in February. The goal: Beat four video games in the month of February. That’s it. It’s kind of like National Novel…

Sunday Comics: Closed Beta

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. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published Jan. 25. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Jan. 23. Read more of…

Watch Hotline Miami Destroy Your Childhood (And Just About Everything Else)

Hotline Miami is one of the most vicious, violent games in recent memory. This video by PulpitPower explores what would happen if we put Hotline Miami’s savage protagonist in some old-school games (and a couple of newer ones, too!) The results are about as horrifying as you’d expect. The worst part is, watching this, you…