New Super Mario Bros. U: The Kotaku Review

New Super Mario Bros. U is an extraordinarily important game. It’s the flagship title for a new piece of gaming hardware. It’s the first-ever high-definition Mario. And it’s the Wii U’s first system-seller, one of the big games that Nintendo hopes will convince people to buy their innovative, unusual new console. It’s also just another…

New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land: The Kotaku Reviews

Things are picking up pace here at Kotaku now that we have a Wii U in the office. Our own Stephen Totilo and Jason Schreier have been playing the heck out of the thing, and bring you two reviews today. Nintendo Land: The Kotaku Review Nintendo Land is no Wii Sports and it is no…

This Striking Motion-Controlled iOS Boxing Game is Completely Unreal

Powered by Unreal Engine 3, Vivid Games’ Real Boxing is not just another pretty face waiting to be beaten into submission. It also uses your iPad, iPhone or iPad Touch’s camera to deliver surprisingly responsive motion-controlled boxing. If you don’t want to look completely silly throwing punches at your iDevice, Real Boxing is still an…

The Walking Dead‘s Episode Four Stats Lead Up To Final Episode, Coming Next Week for All Platforms

If you, like me, are an episode or two behind in Telltale’s remarkable Walking Dead series, don’t watch this video. If you, unlike me, have caught up on episodes three and four of the five-part series, then by all means, go to town. In addition to releasing the player stats video for episode four, Telltale…

Watch The First Few Minutes Of Hitman: Absolution While Conan Makes Fun Of It

Oh, Conan. You surely are the clueless gamer, but you manage to make some of the best commentary regardless. Clueless Gamer: Conan Reviews “Hitman: Absolution” – CONAN on TBS [YouTube]

Stan Lee’s Latest Superhero Creation Has the Power to Fall From the Sky. Hey, Me Too!

Stan Lee has created (or “co-created”) countless superheroes over his long and illustrious career in the comics industry. Some of them have been fallen heroes. Pretty sure Verticus is his first falling hero. The evil alien Obliterators (so very Stan Lee) have breached the Earth’s core and planted a bomb that threatens the existence of…

The first two (free) DLC characters for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Kat and Emmett, will be arriving in 2013

Zynga Brings Ruby Blast to iPhone Today, Bubble Safari Coming Soon

I guess today is the day for popular Facebook games to come to iOS. First King.com’s Candy Crush Saga, and now Zynga’s increasingly popular gem tapper Ruby Blast arrives, tied-into but lacking the more recent features of its Facebook counterpart. Ruby Blast on Facebook is enjoying a period of increased popularity due to the recent…

Xbox Live Turns Ten Today. Let’s Look Back At Its Best And Worst Moments.

Today, Xbox Live turns 10 years old, meaning it’s finally as old as the majority of people who use it. Joking aside, Xbox Live has had its peaks and valleys, with both good and bad memories. Let’s take a moment to reflect back on those. You’re probably familiar with the bad ones. People who shoot…

Of Course There’s a Dubstep Scene in Black Ops II.

How will future historians be sure that Call of Duty: Black Ops II was released in 2012 or thereabouts? Because its campaign had a shootout set to dubstep. It’s short. It’s a little silly. It’s also the perfect time capsule moment.

Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLC Will Bring Players Back to Morrowind, Sort Of

Thanks to last week’s trailer, we already know that the next DLC for Bethesda’s hit action/RPG will be pitting players against the first humanoid to wield dragon powers. And now we know where Dragonborn‘s battles will be happening. New screenshots and details from the publisher reveal that your Dovahkiin will indeed be making a rumored…

Our Wonderful, Totally Normal Co-Workers Tried The Wii U. This Is What They Think of It.

Enough about what we here at Kotaku think of the Wii U. What do other people in our parent company who don’t cover games for a living think of Nintendo’s new console? We had them play some Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U and asked for their snap judgments. Watch the video and…

This Week’s Windows Phone Charts: Windows Phone 8 Defeats Angry Birds Star Wars

Angry Birds Star Wars has topped the iPad charts, the Android charts and the iPhone charts since its release last week, but it doesn’t dominate the Windows Phone charts, thanks to Windows Phone 8. Or rather thanks to the game requiring Windows Phone 8, shiny new technology that isn’t exactly sending Windows Phone 7 owners…

This Week’s Nintendo Download Holds Epic, Myst-ifying Monster ShooterDawgs

Thanksgiving is next week. That means you’ll need some games to ignore your family with play when everyone’s in their turkey coma. This week’s offerings include a portable version of Epic Mickey (hey, when’s Oswald getting his own game?!), classic puzzler Myst and a game about dogs working on construction sites. You think they all…

Candy Crush Saga Triumphantly Travels to iOS

Earlier this year King.com brought its smash hit Facebook game Bubble Witch Saga to iOS, and there was much rejoicing, as well as a little gnashing of free time. Now it’s Candy Crush Saga‘s turn. Regularly showing up on the most played Facebook games list along with its older siblings, Candy Crush Saga is a…

Because Your Day Needed to Start With a Team Fortress 2 vs Godzilla Movie

Master Source Filmmaker user Zachariah Scott returns once again with an amazing piece of work, this time crossing the world of Team Fortress 2 with that of Godzilla It’s… look, I’m starting to think Zachariah Scott isn’t one man, and that he’s instead a complex computer program nestled beneath Valve headquarters, devoted entirely to designing…

Japan’s Most Wanted Criminal Is One Slippery Troll

Above is a small Madoka Kaname figurine. The character is well known to Japanese anime fans, and now, the entire country. The reason, however, is not the anime she stars in, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It’s for a computer virus and a suicide threat. A photo of this character was sent to various Japanese news…

Wii Karaoke U By Itself Doesn’t Sell Me on the Wii U, But It’s Close

The Wii U will be hitting stores in Japan on December 8th, almost a month after its launch in the US and over a week after its release in Europe and Australia. Not exactly to make up for the delay, Nintendo announced last week a preinstalled game that will be included in Japanese Wii U’s,…

The Day I Said Goodbye To My PS3

I purchased my glossy black partner on January 30th, 2007. Since then it has run over 50 PS3 games, a bunch of PS2 and PS1 games, and probably hundreds of Blu-ray and DVD movies. But I had to bid farewell to my dear friend; my PS3 displayed the dreaded Yellow Light of Death, better known…

Japanese Guy Creates Amazing “Pop-Up” LEGO, Blows Minds

Japanese LEGO builder Talapz specializes in two things: recreating famous Japanese structures in LEGO, and turning those brick recreations into pop-up books. It’s as if Talapz didn’t think building was hard enough. He had to make things trickier Above, Talapz does a Todai-ji in LEGO—he even provides a how-to at the end, so get out…