An Extraordinary History of the Modern First-Person Shooter and its Unsung Heroes

Level designer and writer Robert Yang has written up a fascinating “People’s History of the FPS” as a three part series at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. In it, Yang posits that first-person gaming and first-person-shooters are not, as we tend to think of them, just an industry-dominated gorefest with a linear evolution, but rather, have always…

A Mystical Journey Inside the Box of the Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition

How many pandas can you count inside the box to World of Warcraft‘s next expansion? If you answered “all the pandas”, you’d be on the right track. Warning: this video may contain brief moments of singing. Mists of Pandaria is unleashed upon the World of Warcraft next week, ushering a new era of furry jokes…

Medal of Honor: Warfighter gets an Xbox 360 multiplayer beta in October, with a chance to unlock a Linkin Park video.

Don’t Panic: The Wii U Naysayers Are Wrong

Nintendo is doomed. Haven’t you heard? They’re about to release a new, underpowered console with a funny name that’s built around a silly gimmick. There’s no way anyone will buy it. Oh, wait. That was the Wii. And the DS. And the 3DS. All of which have turned into ridiculous successes for the folks who…

Break in Your iPhone 5 With Lili, Most Delightful Game on iTunes

We’ve seen how Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 can be used to create dark, gritty and realistic games like The Dark Meadow, Horn and Infinity Blade. Bit Monster’s Lili takes the powerful mobile game developing toolset in an entirely new direction, resulting in a whimsically magical experience that easily earns a spot among our iPhone Bests…

Artist “Disappointed” That Borderlands 2‘s Manual Art Swipes From His Designs [UPDATE]

If you’ve seen artist Olly Moss’ work, then you’ve gone out and learned his name. Over the last few years, Moss has won a loyal following with his impressively designed homages to geekdom’s sacred texts, as well as cinematic classics. His posters for The Dark Knight Rises, Source Code, Moon and Rocky create visual puns…

Reality Bending Displays, Disappointing Wii U Pro Controllers and More from Tokyo Game Show’s Second Day

You’ve probably been seeing quite a bit of Tokyo Game Show news pouring in from our Kotaku East team. Rather than letting you sift through them yourself, here’s a round up of day two to easily browse through. If you missed yesterday’s showfloor news and impressions, we’ve rounded that one up, as well. Um, I’m…

Sleeping Dogs Gets New Downloadable Content This October

Prepare to revisit Hong Kong virtually this October when a whole bunch of DLC drops some time in October. From the official release, this is what the line-up looks like: adrenaline-fuelled street racing across the island of Hong Kong in the Street Racer Pack twenty new cop missions unfold on the streets of Hong Kong…

This Is Bill Clinton’s I’m-Playing-A-Video-Game Face

Former President Bill Clinton told The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart yesterday that he’s been obsessed with a video game at least once in his life. He did not say which game. It’s not news when most people play video games, but this is one of our only instances of a U.S. President admitting he plays…

Kickstarter’s new rules say simulations and renderings for hardware projects are no longer allowed.

Lots of Fresh Halo 4 Footage For You To Watch

Today’s sort of a Halo 4 news day, as Microsoft unleashes the press to talk a lot more about November’s big, exclusive Xbox 360 first-person-shooter. The fresh looks began with last night’s episode of GTTV. The episode is embedded below. Here are the times you want to jump to in order to see the good…

Um, I’m Not Sure How This Game Is Going To Make This Girl My Pet

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (さくら荘のペットな彼女) is a novel series in Japan that is getting its own game for the PS Vita. A brief demo was on display at the Tokyo Game Show 2012. The story is about an apartment complex where a strange new tenant arrives. The young girl, Mashiro Shiina, is a genius…

Why Metal Gear Rising Features a Fancy New Raiden Outfit

If you’ve been paying attention to Raiden’s bodysuits (I, apparently, have not), you might notice that Raiden has a different outfit in Metal Gear Rising In a Konami stage event, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima explained that within Konami, the developers refer to the three different versions of Raiden in different ways. So, the Raiden…

Scenes from the Scenic Tokyo Game Show Floor

Today is the second press day. But tomorrow, this scenic Tokyo Game Show floor will turn into chaos, once fans pour into the Makuhari Messe convention center. Until then, enjoy these snaps of the relatively stress-free look at TGS. Once tomorrow rolls around, this place will be a madhouse.

Light Gun? No, This Game Uses a Bow and Arrows

The Light Shooter is an experimental indie game from a Japanese developer named Kyosuke Yasumoto. In The Light Shooter, you get a bow peripheral that works with a basic shooting mechanic, but also sports a flashlight mechanic. So the direction that you point the bow shines light on the black screen. The object here is…

The Unfinished Swan May Be The Next Journey

This year’s Tokyo Game Show has showcased many titles, but none of them has an ounce of the creativity shown in The Unfinished Swan Plot-wise The Unfinished Swan is a modern fairy tale. One day, the titular swan disappears from a little boy’s favorite painting. So then he enters the painting and travels across the…

Nippon Ichi is publishing Persona 4: Golden on the Vita in Europe. Atlus is handling North America.

Hyper Dimension Neptunia V will be released in the West on the PS3 next spring.

Metal Gear Rising‘s Controls Seem Painfully Counterintuitive

Going into Metal Gear Rising Revengance at the Tokyo Game Show 2012, I was sure I knew what I was in for. After all, I have played (and liked) plenty of Platinum’s previous titles—i.e. Bayonetta, Madworld, and Anarchy Reigns. Yet, my time with Rising was plagued with a major issue stemming from the game’s incredibly…

GTAIV Brings the Curtain Down on Gangnam Style Videos

OK, I think we’ve all had just about enough of this Gangnam Style business. So let’s tie it all off neatly with what really should have been the first video game parody of the lot: Grand Theft Auto IV’s. GTA IV – GANGNAM STYLE [YouTube, via Rockstar]