Gorgeous Games of 2012: Journey

2012 was a good year to be moved by visuals in games. I’m not talking graphic fidelity, but rather aesthetics. So many games this year were visually inspired and pleasing to the eye. To commemorate this, I’m creating a series of cinemagraphs (partially animated GIFs) devoted to some the most aesthetically beautiful moments in gaming…

The Recession Killed This Jason-Bourne-Meets-007 Spy RPG By Bioware

Former BioWare game director Trent Oster recently spoke to Eurogamer and revealed a project that was killed by EA. Think James Bond meets Jason Bourne. Okay, now take that and add a focus on digital action and intense drama. That’s what this game was going to be. It had the working title “Agent.” “The idea…

Let’s Take A Tour Through Far Cry 3‘s Rook Islands In 35 Gorgeous Shots

Just cause Jason Brody’s vacation didn’t go exactly according to plan doesn’t mean he’s not going to take advantage of the opportunity to take some quality photographs of his travels. Excluding the bloodier events, let’s sit back and take a virtual tour of Rook Islands, as photographed by Jason Brody himself. Or, more accurately, Redditor…

Watch A Bit of Kotaku On The Second-Screen Version of the VGAs Tonight

It’s a big night for video games. We’ve got Spike TV’s 10th annual Video Game Awards airing live at 9pm ET/ 6pm PT, hosted by Samuel L. Jackson. Some of you may tune in to see which games and developers win top honors. I bet a lot of you are going to be most interested…

No Random Encounters this week — sorry folks! Jason’s out in LA and had no time to put together a column this week.

In Europe, You Can Only Download Mature-Rated Wii U Games At Night

If you’d like to buy 18+ rated games on the Wii U’s European eShop, you’ll have to do it after the sun goes down. When the kids are tucked into bed, and no one can see you sin. The policy came to light after NeoGAFer Panajef2001a tried to access the Italian store during the day,…

Wii U’s Winter Gets A Little Brighter: Rayman Legends Out February 26th

With a “launch window” that appears to be of the floor-to-ceiling variety, there have been questions about when some Wii U titles would actually see the light of day. For one of the most anticipated titles, the wait for knowing how long you have to wait is over: Ubisoft’s gorgeous platformer Rayman Legends will be…

For those of you allergic to Facebook, Insomiac’s monster-collecting social game Outernauts is now on Kongregate

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate has a release date in NA: March 5th, 2013. Coming to the 3DS.

Far Cry 3 Patch Will Let Us Remove Annoying Pop-Ups

And the tigers wept, and the tapirs sang: Ubisoft has confirmed that they’re working on a patch for Far Cry 3 that will let players adjust or remove the game’s clutter-y user interface. In a statement sent to Kotaku: Based on feedback from both press and fans, the Far Cry 3 production team is working…

ZombiU’s Marketing Team: Sure, Why Not. Let’s Make An Ad With A Half-Naked Woman.

ZombiU’s got plenty going for it—it’s Demon Souls meets FPS, for one. That’s pretty great. You shoot zombies in it; people love that. Really, there’s no shortage of possible ways to sell this game. But why sell it on sex, something that literally has nothing to do with the game itself? It’s a common advertising…

CoasterVille Cheats & Tips: A Complete Guide to Building Roller Coasters

Zynga‘s CoasterVille focuses on more than just roller coasters, allowing players to build small rides, businesses and attractions. But one of the most interesting features within the game is definitely the ability to build roller coasters. From the game’s tutorial, you’re introduced to this feature, which sees you constructing each roller coaster piece by piece.…

Nine Signs That Video Games Grew Up a Bit in 2012

We hear all the time that video games are a young medium, that they’ve still got so much untapped potential to wow us in unique and meaningful ways. And while it may seem like it’s been just another 12 months of sequels, remakes and disappointment, there have been signs that video games are maturing. Some…

Twelve Things You Should Know About Metal Gear Rising

This week in Los Angeles, Konami threw a three-day event to show off Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the oddly-titled action game they’re developing in conjunction with Platinum Games, the folks behind Bayonetta and Vanquish Although Kotaku typically turns down these sort of publisher-paid press events, I happened to be in Los Angeles this week anyway,…

Think Hard About What You Want to Say In a Lovely Letter By Letter

My apologies to the guy I was playing this morning in Letter by Letter. You were assigned to me at random by the game’s server. You played “bole,” (a synonym for “trunk”) which was a very good choice. I didn’t have an S to tack onto the end of that and steal the whole thing.…

That BioShock Vita Game Still Doesn’t Exist

Here’s what we know about BioShock Vita: Ken Levine announced it was a thing during last year’s E3, and planned as an entirely new universe. Not a port, but they might need outside developer support on it What we don’t know if it’s actually going to be made. In the video above, you’ll see Irrational…

007 Legends Developer Let All Of Its Staff Go Today

In a sad turn of events for Eurocom—developer of those recent James Bond games—the company made the remaining 42 of its previously 150 staff members redundant after 25 years of development history, reports Eurogamer When you get through all the legal and business terms, it comes down to the UK-based developers not having enough money…

One of the Greatest Role-Playing Games of All-Time is Now on iPad

For the past week PC gamers have been enjoying the enhanced edition of Baldur’s Gate, a fourteen-year-old BioWare role-playing game that many consider to be the greatest Dungeons & Dragons video game ever made. Now it’s iPad owners’ turn to rediscover the magic. If you’re unclear on what Baldur’s Gate is, you should read Jason’s…

Witness The Janky Origins of the Wii U GamePad

In a roundtable discussion posted on Nintendo’s website last night, president Satoru Iwata and the team behind Nintendo Land revealed some interesting tidbits about the Wii U development process, as well as the hilariously constructed GamePad prototype you see above. Part of the ongoing Iwata Asks series, the talk quickly turned to the topic of…

(Possible) Wreck-It Ralph Sequel To (Maybe) Feature Mario

Fire up those warp pipes people, because the man behind Disney’s hit Wreck-It Ralph has designs on bringing everyone’s favorite mustachioed plumber to the potential sequel. Director and story writer Rich Moore has talked about a Wreck-It Ralph sequel since the film’s release last month, where it broke box office records for Walt Disney Animation…