Aren’t You Guys A Little Short To Be Stormtroopers?

The art you’re seeing today comes from Daryl Mandryk, a freelance concept artist who has worked with EA on games like Need for Speed, Def Jam and SSX, and more recently on the Turok and Tron franchises. You may have seen him on Kotaku previously for that Tron stuff, but today’s gallery encompasses all of…

We Can Cover 2012 In Video Games In Under Two Minutes, Apparently

Malcolm Klock put together this nice video book-ending the year in video games in under two minutes. Before you reach for the keyboard for an angry “WHERE’S MY FAVOURITE GAME”, here’s what Malcolm has to say on the subject: Your favorite game isn’t missing because I don’t think its great, more likely it just didn’t…

How Video Game Stories Are Written

Having just endured the train wreck that was Far Cry 3’s narrative arc, now’s the perfect time to look at this guide by GameFront on how to write a story for a video game. It may look like a joke (and because it is a joke, it gets a little wonky in parts), but think…

There’ll Always Be A Giant Baggins Under A Giant LEGO Bag End

What you’re looking at here is the result of over 3000 hours of work and, insanely, two million pieces of LEGO. It’s a recreation of Bag End, from The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, and it’s life-sized. Well, sort of. Gandalf is as tall as everyone else, so maybe “giant minifig-sized” would have been a better…

Hacker Breaks Into Heroes of Newerth, Targets League of Legends Next

A hacker claiming to be a software engineer from Belarus broke into online game Heroes of Newerth earlier this week, stealing passwords and account information from developer S2 Games’ database. “I hacked HoN because there’s nothing as hilarious as seeing a bunch of fanboys of a game get enraged over the fact that their favourite…

If The Walking Dead Had A Christmas Special

More shows need Christmas specials. The UK The Office and more recently, Downton Abbey both had some pretty outstanding specials; surely The Walking Dead could use one? This video from Jawiin imagines just such a scenario. The jokes are hit or miss, but the impersonations are all pretty great. “I’VE GOT THE HAM.” Are you…

2D Is Not A Type Of Game. It’s a Work Of Art.

Photography student David A. Reeves likes video games and movies with guns in them. So he’s found an awesome way to combine all three, crafting intricate little silhouettes of game and movie scenes out of paper then taking photos of them. If you think the results look a lot like Limbo, that’s cool, he’s got…

This Couple Announced Their Wedding Via NES-Inspired Video Game

There is something about weddings and video games, huh? People proposing through games is something we hear about often. Here’s a small twist: announcing your wedding via video game. That’s exactly what Barry Abrams and his fiance, Katie, did—they made a small game to celebrate their wedding that anyone can play. It includes small snippets…

The Smartest & Dumbest Things Activision Did in 2012

The year is winding down and, if we simply asked Activision boss Bobby Kotick what the smartest thing Activision did was this year, he might say it was the making of gobs of money. Yes, Activision is doing fairly well Activision did well in 2012 by being conservative. That’s not quite the same as playing…

This Is What Our Favorite Pokémon Looked Like Before Their Final Designs

I love looking at the early stages of a a creative work I’ve experienced in its finalized form. You get a glimpse of what-almost-was, what-could-have-been, and sometimes the thank-god-that-didn’t-happen. Bulbapedia has a fascinating page on prototype Pokemon and prototype trainers, as well as some Pokemon that just plain never made it into a Pokemon game.…

The first episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead is currently free on iOS. Our advice: Play on iPad over iPhone.

FoxNews: Gun industry wants to couple 2nd Amendment talk w/scrutiny of “games that teach young kids how to shoot heads.”

Steam will now send you an email if a game on your wishlist goes on sale. Thanks!

Woodcutting Simulators Have Never Been Quite This Realistic

Numerous vehicles and cranes! Diverse tasks! You’ve never seen wood cutting simulated like this before. It’s Woodcutter Simulator 2013!!! Coming to Woodcutter Simulator stores near you.

Can We Talk About The Joy Of Violence Without Sounding Like Complete Psychopaths?

In a fit of frustration over Hotline Miami and the way gamers discuss violent games, I ended up talking to game critic/provocateur Cara Ellison. She adores Hotline Miami, you see. Originally I meant to consult her about a different article, but our conversation was much more interesting than what I wrote. So we’re publishing our…

Nuketown, Wake Island, De_Dust2 And Other Awesome Maps Recreated In Far Cry 3

Bless map editors. They make wonderful things possible—wonderful things that normally couldn’t exist. MP1st brings our attention to Youtube user ShadowZack, who took it upon himself to recreate a few famous maps in Far Cry 3. These maps hail from franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield and Counter-Strike. The one above is Nuketown. Here are…

Previously exclusive to Tegra devices, Zen Pinball HD is now available on Google Play for non-Tegra Android devices.

Thieves Steal 7,000 Wii U Consoles In Daring Warehouse Heist

Look out, Danny Ocean, you’ve got some competition: Last night, in a daring warehouse heist near Seattle’s SeaTac airport, thieves made off with 7,000 Nintendo Wii U consoles. Yes, you read that right: Seven thousand As reported by ABC News, the heist occurred during last night’s storm. The thieves rolled into SeaTac’s Seattle Air Cargo…

Slow Motion, Live Action Dubstep Fruit Ninja 

From YouTube video creator Scott Winn, creator of the famous kittens flying in slow motion video, comes the ultimate realization of the world’s most popular fruit-slicing mini-game. Somebody get me a sword. Fruit Ninja in Real Life to Dubstep [YouTube]

The Case Of The Made-Up BioWare Interview

Sometimes people tell lies on the Internet. That’s no news if you’ve spent any time on a computer, where finding the truth is no simple task. Pranksters on the web make things up all the time. But last week, we saw something rather uncommon even for the Internet’s standards: an interview with BioWare that was…