Mass Effect Toy Turns Commander Shepard Into Sparkly Burns Victim

Aaarrgghhhh my eyes These Play Arts Mass Effect figures looked so good when we first saw them! And while all the production copies of other Play Arts figures I’ve looked at here on Kotaku previously have been just fine, something’s gone very wrong with Commander Shepard, who between initial prototyping and being boxed for sale…

Gamers, Relax, Windows 8 is Fine (For Now)

Windows 8 has its problems. Some of these are immediate, others hypothetical (and potentially graver in nature). But I’m finding, as I write this using the operating system, having been playing games using the operating system, the negativity over Microsoft’s latest Windows seems a little extreme Sure, the Start screen is annoying, and the way…

See How Much Work Actually Goes Into an Amazing Cosplay Outfit

The superficial appeal of cosplay is the quality of the still image. How good a costume looks, or how much like a character the particular cosplayer seems to appear. The real craft, though, comes behind the scenes. Anybody can put some lycra on a model and call it cosplay, but the true artists make their…

The Week in Games: Wake Up, John …

Halo 4 isn’t the only one coming out of hibernation this week. It’s the biggest video game doing so, as you can see by the fact the only other first-run console release is NASCAR The Game: Inside Line Also of note: anthologies for Saints Row: The Third (comprising all DLC) and Mass Effect (all three…

Talk Amongst Yourselves is where you can talk about everything you’ve been dying to say the past week. Welcome back.

Kotaku is Back—and Fully Operational

Welcome back to Kotaku The site and all of its features are now fully restored after a nearly weeklong outage brought on by Hurricane Sandy. The entire staff thanks you for your understanding and your readership as we continued our work with a different web presence this past week. We’ve imported all of the stories…

Sunday Comics: Dressed to Kill Yourself

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie published Oct. 31.—Read more of Virtual Shackles Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Oct. 29.—Read more of Awkward Zombie…

Bring Wreck-It Ralph to Your 3DS With These Mii Codes

Jordan White, the founder of StreetPass NYC (a 3DS meetup organization) sends along these four Mii QR codes from Wreck-It Ralph, which released on Friday. If you want to trick out your Mii like one of the film’s characters, there’s Ralph and his adversary Fix-It Felix, plus Sgt. Tamora Calhoun from Hero’s Duty and the…

These Old Folks’ Reactions to Black Ops II Are Adorable

Gather a bunch of 50- and 60-year-olds in a focus group, show them Black Ops II‘s violent, self-regarding trailer, and ask them what they think. Recipe for incomprehending outrage and comedy gold, akin to the infamous “Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2,” stunt EA pulled, right?. Not really. Asked why the game is so popular…

There Are At Least 4,294 People Playing Halo 4 Multiplayer Right Now, Three Days Before Launch

We’re up to 4,294 people playing Halo 4 online right now-at least. We can’t co-op, but we do have the breakdowns for competitive multiplayer and the story based Spartan Ops. Yesterday, there were at least 495 people playing the game online. This is a nine-fold increase. Halo 4 will be officially released on November 6.…

Texas Patent Firm Asks Judge to Shut Down Magic: The Gathering: Online

A Texas intellectual property firm has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast-but, intriguingly, not parent company Hasbro-alleging that Magic: The Gathering‘s online version violates patents it holds on a video game you’ve probably never heard of. Given that Magic: The Gathering Online is 10 years old, and patent infringement cases are…

Is Someone Starting a League of Legends Fantasy League?

I suppose this was inevitable. When you have eSports, with all the markers of professional sports-superstars, commentators, million-dollar prizes-at some point you’ll wind up with fantasy eSports. Domain watchdog Fusible spotted three registrations on Thursday and, combined with their owner, it suggests someone’s looking to create a fantasy League of Legends league. Who knows how…

Five Bucks Buys Six Exotic Rides in Forza Horizon‘s Next DLC Pack

The “Bondurant Car Pack” for Forza Horizon arrives on Nov. 6 and offers six new rides: The 2012 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Spyder Performante; the 2012 Shelby 1000; the 2010 BMW M3 GTS; the 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C, the 1993 Nissan 240SX SE, and the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It’s 400 Microsoft points.

Court Rejects Claim that ‘San Andreas’ Hero was Based on Cypress Hill Backup Dancer

Unless he wants to try his luck before the U.S. Supreme Court, a backup dancer for Cypress Hill [not pictured, above] won’t be getting $250 million-or any money-from the makers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. A California appeals court has upheld an earlier ruling against the dancer’s claim that the character of Carl “C.J.”…

GameStop’s Former PR Chief Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Almost $2 Million [UPDATE]

Chris Olivera, formerly the vice president of corporate communications for GameStop, pleaded guilty on Thursday to an embezzlement scheme that netted him $1.9 million over the course of two years. Olivera, according to his guilty plea, set up a fake PR agency (“Cloud Communications”) in Nevada, with a nonexistent person (“Jennifer Miller”) as its boss,…

Skyrim’s ‘Dragonborn’ DLC Gets a Trailer on Monday

Bethesda dropped this image via its Twitter yesterday afternoon, telling everyone to expect full details on Monday. This is in all likelihood the reveal trailer for Dragonborn, the game’s next round of DLC.

A Game So Frustrating I Can’t Stop Playing It

When I was 16, in an effort to improve my feeble hitting, I sawed off a broomstick, taped both ends with grip, and would spend hours in the back yard hitting driveway gravel at the galvanized roof of our horse barn. I was quite good at it. Still am. Unfortunately, pitchers my junior year did…

This Week in the Business ‘PS3 has a Great Future Ahead of It Over the Next Few Years.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “PS3 has a great future ahead of it over the next few years.”-John Koller, Sony VP, talking about the holiday season and future prospects for the PS3, as well as how it’s a “marathon, not a sprint” for Vita. QUOTE |…

The Moneysaver: Aprés le Déluge, le Deals

What are we calling it, is it Hurricane Sandy still? Technically that wasn’t a hurricane when it started smashing into things and bringing down power and flooding out datacenters and spawning the Kotumblr and canceling a marathon. Hurricane Sandy, Superstorm Sandy, whatever, it can’t bring a halt to the engines of video game commerce, and…

The Best of Kotumblr, This Week

Welcome to The Best of Kotak…Kotumblr! Our temporary digs while we wait for our sites to turn back up. That’s right, Hurricane Sandy. Flood our servers, take down our sites, strip us from power and chase the NYC writers out of our city, and we’ll still be posting great content. In your face, storm! Video…