Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Bleak Friday: The Winners

Know how I can tell this picture of a father and son buying a Wii U on Black Friday is staged? There are no police barriers in the background. A publicity photo from Nintendo was the grist for last week’s ‘Shop Contest. We’ve got a dozen more interesting takes on this tender moment, plus overall…

Here Are the Winners of the 2012 Saxxys for Excellence in Team Fortress 2 Movie-Making

Two weeks ago Valve opened voting on the second annual Saxxy Awards, celebrating cinematography in Team Fortress 2 and the Source Filmmaker tool released earlier in the year. Last night, voting ended, and winners in four categories were crowned. You may see them here in this gallery. The overall winner has not yet been named.…

What Kind of Person Plays a Sports Video Game? MIT Has the Answers.

More than a year ago, Abe Stein of the Game Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reached out to me about a survey he was conducting, an examination of sports video gamers. Stein, himself a committed sports gamer, wanted to know who made up this segment of gaming—long viewed as an outlier to the…

Ian Cummings, formerly of Madden NFL, now at social/mobile developer Row Sham Bow, is holding an AMA on Reddit. So, AHA.

Yes, BioShock Infinite‘s Cover is Terrible, and Yes, That Actually Matters

2K Games revealed the box art for BioShock Infinite this morning and the verdict on it was swift and disapproving. “You have a game involving floating islands, mechanical creatures of all shapes and sizes, the existance of realityshifting and timebending magic and sky-ziplines,” said Redditor Gregar in a thread almost unanimous in its disappointment. “And…

Ubisoft’s uPlay app is now available for the Wii U. Find it in the Nintendo eShop. The file is 43 MB.

This Week in the Business: ‘Wii U’s Fisher-Price Take on Tech Seems a Bit Desperate.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Wii U’s Fisher-Price take on tech seems a bit desperate.”—Rob Fahey, former editor of GamesIndustry.biz, talking about the Wii U and how no one knows if it will ultimately succeed or fail QUOTE | “It’s good, but it’s not great. And…

City of Heroes Goes Out With a Roar and a Bang

Last night NCsoft shut down City of Heroes, a landmark game that eight years ago brought the thrills of super powers and comic-book crimefighting to an MMO roleplaying world. City of Heroes had an intensely dedicated community which fought to save the game when news of the closure was announced. When those efforts failed, they…

The Moneysaver: Fade From Black

The end of the major publishing calendar comes right after Black Friday, making this one of the quieter times for new releases. Retailers looking to cash in on the holiday sales season continue to offer discounts on some good titles released earlier in the year. Far Cry 3 is the big upcoming release, but savings…

Here’s the Box Art for BioShock Infinite

The front image for Irrational Games’ long-brewing historical FPS has descended from the heavens, featuring lead character Booker DeWitt looking a bit more grizzled than we’ve seen him before. PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are in evidence, with the latter touting the full original BioShock as part of the package. (No Wii U version,…

The Best of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, where I round up all of this week’s best content. Up top, the first and last issues ever of Nintendo Power, which, sadly, will not be publishing any more issues. At least they went out on a classy note. Moving on to our Best Of content this week, we…

All the Bullet Hell You Can Handle in One Box Set

Cave, famous for its maniac shooting games, is releasing an Xbox 360 box set for its shoot’em up fans. Called “Cave Shooting Collection”, the box set comes with ten classy Cave titles: Espgaluda 2: Black Label, DeathSmiles, DeathSmiles II X, Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu, Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu: Black Label, Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets, Akai Katana Shin,…

Remember the nude U.S. Naval officer who peed in a manga cafe? He got off without prosecution. At least he got off.

I’m Frying My Eyes, So Let’s See If These Gaming Glasses Can Stop That

I stare at a screen. A lot. All day. And when I finish, I stare at a screen some more. Seriously, this cannot be good for my eyes. You might have the same worry! You might not, because A). You don’t stare at a monitor or a TV all day or B). Don’t really care…

The New Iron Chef‘s Bad Ratings Blamed on Unappetizing Food

During its heyday, Iron Chef had celebrities like Mother creator Shigesato Itoi on to taste its delicious looking and interesting meals. The show was a smash hit. And now, it has returned to Japanese television after a 13-year hiatus. And nobody’s watching. According to J-Cast, online and in weekly magazines, people have been saying that…

This Mecha Sure Knows Its Audience (and Fan Service)

Virtual On mecha Fei-Yen is getting yet another plastic model. It’s called “TF-14 A/M+ Fei-Yen [Final 14 Special] Vivid Cinderella”. Try saying that twice fast. The kit comes with customizable pieces—weapons and boobs—for both version of Fei-Yen, whether that’s the TF-14+, which is named “Vivid Heart”, or the TF-14 M+ version, which is named “Cinderella…

Here Are All the Japanese Game Boy Advance Games. At Once.

If you’ve ever wondered what all 795 Japanese Game Boy Advance cartridges would look like lined up, wonder no more. And if you’ve ever wondered how much all those carts would cost, then do likewise! Someone has put a complete Japanese GBA game collection up on eBay for a cool US$5,800. Free shipping, though. There’s…

Teen Wanted To Be An Anime Character, So He Burned Trash

A 13 year-old in Fukuoka was recently picked up for a misdemeanor: he was burning garbage with a lighter at two trash collection spots, Yahoo! Japan reports. When asked why he was doing this, the kid replied that he wanted to see what how it was to handle fire “like an anime hero.” The article…

It’s Like Facebook or Twitter, But for Japanese Geeks

Meet Wonder! As social networking sites go, it’s pretty darn nerdy. Cosplay, figurines, mecha, anime drawings—you name it, Wonder! seems to have it. Just launched by Yahoo! Japan, the site does have a decidedly otaku (geek) focus and an unnecessary exclamation point. Wonder! is image heavy, which I personally prefer for social networking sites (and…

True to Its Word, Halo 4‘s Multiplayer Sends Out Its Specialization Codes

Anyone who played multiplayer in Halo 4 before Nov. 20 is now getting access to six class-based specializations previously available only to those who purchased the game’s Limited Edition. Emails with download codes went out Friday evening, according to tipsters. “Specialization Priority Alpha,” is the codename for the DLC package unlocking the modes. You earned…