StarCraft II Says It’s Sorry With a Free Name Change for Everyone

Battle.net had hinted at plans for a name-changing service—for a fee—in StarCraft II some time ago but it never materialized. With the paid name-change option deprioritized and unlikely to happen anytime soon, Battle.net is saying sorry by giving everyone a free name-change. “The fact that we didn’t keep you updated when we deprioritized the feature…

The Speakys Have Spoken; This is Your Game of the Year

Though Speak Up on Kotaku became one with the Force back around September, the reader-voted GOTYs it spawned lived on in the second annual Speakys, which longtime reader GiantBoyDetective organized this year again. The votes have been tallied, and it’s a clean sweep for 2K Games in both chambers of Kotaku‘s congress: Borderlands 2 is…

This Week in the Business: ‘Project Shield is a Melange of Too Many Ideas and Gimmicks.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Project Shield is a melange of too many ideas and gimmicks.”—Dan Pearson, GamesIndustry International journalist, talking with others about the flood of new gaming hardware being introduced and why few will likely succeed QUOTE | “It was just miserable. I don’t…

Is Resident Evil: Revelations coming to Xbox 360? This achievement list says yes. (It may be coming to PS3, too.)

Those wacky MIT kids perched Pac-Man on the Great Dome yesterday, continuing a recent trend of game-themed “hacks.”

The Moneysaver: Pre-Order in the Court!

I will never not laugh at that picture, now 4 1/2 years old, of Old Snake showing up in The People’s Court. Or, well, someone unintentionally cosplaying him, that is. Anyway, it’s preorder season for the big games of 2013’s first four months, and a discount coupon combines with some existing deals at Green Man…

The Best Of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, where I round up all of this week’s best content. So, Dante really loves pizza. Who can blame him? Certainly not Let’s go gamers, where the gif above was found. (If you know an original sourcing, let us know!) Now let’s move on to reading this week’s best content,…

How a Phony Pikachu Trolled Japanese Twitter Users

Shortly after Nintendo revealed the newest Pokémon, Pocket Monsters X/Y, the above image started circulating on Twitter. “This seems to be an image of the evolved Pikachu from the new Pokémon,” the tweet read. Another image of this evolved Pikachu, which was apparently named “Kaenchu” (カエンチュ), also started making its way around the internet in…

Worried About Your Face Ending Up Online? These Glasses Could Help.

With the rise of the internet, social networking, and camera phones, there’s a good chance your mug (yes, your) is somewhere on the internet. Not everyone is cool with that. Japanese researchers have come up with a way you can protect yourself. And look like a goofball. Last December, researcher Isao Echizen at the National…

Manga Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure teamed up again with Gucci, with 70 store windows worldwide getting the Jojo treatment.

The Difference Between Japanese and American Vending Machines

In Japan, drink machines seem to be everywhere. America also has lots of vending machines. But there’s one key difference between the two. A huge difference if you drink coffee (canned coffee ain’t bad!). Image courtesy of I Love Coffee Why I Like Japanese Vending Machines [I Love Coffee via A One Year Project]

This Nerdy Explanation for Pokémon X/Y Might Blow Your Mind [Update]

At first look, the titles for the new Pokémon, Pocket Monsters X and Pocket Monsters Y, sound like its creators are out of ideas. They sound like a joke—no wonder why they were perhaps suggested as such in 2008. But dig a little deeper (way deeper!), and things get interesting What if X and Y…

Jackie Chan thinks America is “the most corrupt country in the world.” No, he didn’t say it in Jeremy Clarkson’s voice

A Game Developer’s Take on Japan: the Myths and the Reality

One well-received and much commented-on blog post I wrote many years ago covered the “stages of living in Japan”. These are the 5 stages I have witnessed, again and again, in myself and in others, and though your mileage may of course vary, they seem pretty spot on. I daresay they could be applied to…

Gaming Industry Had a ‘Productive and Candid’ Chat With Joe Biden

What did the Vice President of the United States and the leaders of the video game industry talk about today at the White House during today’s meeting by the VP’s Sandy Hook task force? Other than Blastman III? Considering that representatives from any of the game publishers who attended either don’t respond to requests for…

White House Responds To Death Star Petition: ‘The Administration Does Not Support Blowing Up Planets’

The White House has turned down a popular petition to begin construction on a Death Star in fairly hilarious fashion. “The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn’t on the horizon,” writes Paul Shawcross, chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House…

The Commodore 64 Game Bad Cat Had Some Pretty Amazing Music, Too

After I posted about how much I love the music for Time Surfer, game developer Steve Gaynor tweeted this music at me. I have never played Bad Cat (it looks, well, like a Commodore 64 game), but if this incredible music is anything to go by… maybe I should?

Sounds like Double Fine is interested in buying back a couple of games it made for THQ when the company goes to auction.

A Gearbox-Developed Call of Duty Could Have Happened. Imagine That.

Am I the only one that’s a tad bewildered by the idea? Apparently, Gearbox—the developers behind Borderlands 2—had the opportunity to make a Call of Duty game according to a translated Krawall interview. Nothing official, but they were in a position to consider it. Obviously, they didn’t go for it. Here’s why, according to IGN.…

Alleged Screenshots Surface Of A Long-Cancelled Half Life 2 Episode

For years now, there have been rumors and reports of a now-cancelled Half-Life 2 episode called Half-Life 2: Return to Ravenholm. The project, an overview of which can be found at the Combine Overwiki, was to be a collaboration between Valve and Dishonored-makers Arkane, and would, presumably, take players back to the creepy, zombie-infested village…