Get in the God of War: Ascension Multiplayer Beta Now, Because It Ends Tomorrow

Wait, God of War: Ascension is having an open multiplayer beta? Holy smokes, no one told me until now. But it’s for real, it’s open to all PlayStation Network users (Plus and otherwise) in North and South America, and will last through tomorrow (3 a.m. Tuesday EST, as the beta closes midnight PST.) Go get…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Googly Eyes: The Winners

Life is more funny with googly eyeballs attached. So are video games. Proving this corollary are the 20 ‘Shop Contest finalists for this week, led by the outstanding retrofan! See them all inside. arniejolt AttorneyAtMusic BernKastel docherty HarveyBent LolMunnchy Odrakir Pan_1da7 ParamedicFoetus pkThunder Psyborg retrofan Shiryu SmacQ Stuky ThatGuyFromTV TheAlmightyZeus theonlyboom toolsoldier xule.outtervoid

They Said Alan Wake Couldn’t Be Modded; Hello Kitty Says They Were Wrong…

When it released for PC in February 2012, Alan Wake came with no mod tools. Developer Remedy Entertainment said tools wouldn’t be released because of their complexity, and their dependence on third-party tools which would presumably require permissions or licenses. That hasn’t stopped Alan Wake‘s community from hurling itself at the task, which, to change…

Street Fighter X Mega Man version 2 is out, offering a buffed M. Bison—and a new (secret) challenger.

Too Human Wiped From Existence on Xbox Live

In November, a federal judge made the breathtaking order that all copies of Too Human had to be destroyed by its creator, Silicon Knights, as part of a $4 million judgment awarded to Epic Games in a nasty six-year suit-and-countersuit court battle between the two. We now see that this extended also to digital copies…

This Week in the Business: ‘Nintendo will be Forced to Prematurely Lower the Wii U Price’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Nintendo will be forced to prematurely lower the Wii U price.”—Colin Sebastian of RW Baird, talking with other analysts about Nintendo’s lackluster performance in 2012 and whether the company should go platform-agnostic with its games QUOTE | “You can’t have 18-34…

Go listen to Jason Schreier talk violent video games over at On The Media, an NPR-syndicated radio show.

Earl Weaver, the John Madden of baseball in the early days of sports video gaming, has died.

THIS IS YOUR GOD (of War: Ascension Trailer) [UPDATE: Demo in February]

Kratos is all out of bubblegum in this singleplayer teaser trailer that Sony released yesterday for God of War: Ascension. It’s billed as a gameplay tease but, of course, with this series, it’s a thin line between pre-render and QTE. God of War: Ascension arrives March 12 on PlayStation 3. [Update:] PlayStation Blog this morning…

The Moneysaver: Points of (Pre) Order

Microsoft Store has a preorder incentive that actually sounds useful, if you’re looking to get any of the major releases on day one between now and whenever Grand Theft Auto V arrives. Green Man Gaming also is offering a 25 percent off coupon on pre-orders, though the selection is not as deep. These are among…

PlayStation Network finished its maintenance this morning; you can log in, visit the Store, and play online now.

The Best Of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, where I round up all of this week’s best content. Look at BMO up there. So happy amongst his brethren (actually BMO is genderless as far as I know). The picture was made for Game & Graphics’ new BMO shirt Now let’s move on to reading this week’s best…

One of the Most Impressive Nintendo Collections in Japan

By day, Tokyo resident Isao Yamazaki is a website developer. By night, he’s at home, perusing one of the most amazing Nintendo collections you can find in Japan or anywhere else. Yamazaki fell in love with Nintendo early on. “I started collecting Nintendo items 30 years ago, in 1982,” he told website Before Mario. “My…

This Isn’t Real Sushi. These Are Diapers.

How cute. Japanese company Wire Orange is offering “Diaper Sushi” (“omutsu zushi” or おむつ寿司) as a present for new mothers. The gift set is designed to look like sushi. Often in Japan, sushi is used in celebrations and special dinners, whether that’s going out to eat, ordering sushi for home delivery, or making it at…

Gold medal judoka Kaori Matsumoto is voicing a motorcycle cop in upcoming anime Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods

The Clever Optical Illusions and Camera Tricks of Figure Photography

Kotaku previously showed how skilled photographer Yoshinobu Kimura is at using tilt-shift photography, Photoshop, and figurines to make toys appear larger than life. Literally. Here’s another look at Kimura’s work, showing off his ability to breathe life into plastic figures and statues by using computer sofward to digitally add them to a variety of backgrounds.…

The Poetry and Humor of Japan’s iPhone Hero

Earlier this month, a Japanese performance artist who goes by Morishowta became a viral hit on Western websites like sister site Gizmodo with his Taxi Driver inspired iPhone quick-draw sleeve. But his work is far more interesting than just the quick-draw sleeve. Morishowta’s short movies follow his brilliant plans to make devices or eat soumen…

Mario Kart isn’t on iTunes, but a Mario Kart “cheat” app is.

This Super Sonico Statue Is Truly Enormous

Remember that Queen’s Blade statue? The jumbo one with silly proportions that an 88 year-old gentleman was thrilled to hold? Well, there’s another huge statue slated for release. It also has silly proportions. This is an unpainted prototype statue of Super Sonico, the mascot character for adult PC game maker Nitroplus. The figure is 1/2…

More Hope for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I Guess?

Back in 2006, Square Enix unveiled three games: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. All three were linked by a mythos centered on crystals, and the series was dubbed “Fabula Nova Crystallis”. And somewhere along the way to 2013, Final Fantasy Agito XIII was renamed Final Fantasy Type-0, while…