The Pikachu 3DS XL Is Just Too Adorable

Squeal! Holy smoke, this Pikachu 3DS XL is too cute. Not only that, it’s hard to get. See, this Pikachu 3DS XL will only be sold at the Pokémon Center stores in Sapporo, Tohoku, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. The “Pokémon Center Original Nintendo 3DS XL Pikachu Yellow” is priced at ¥18,900 (US$239). The…

Gabe Newell Dodges Half-Life 3 Question with Shark Hate

This is shark week! All week, all the time, all sharks. There are even sharks in your Half-Life 3 answers. Aw, crap. Really? Yes, really During an interview with Valve’s Gabe Newell, Spike TV asked if there was anything he wanted to say about Half-Life 3. To which Newell responded, “I hate sharks.” That’s not…

The Art of Darksiders II

You could, if Hong Kong gangsters weren’t your thing, call Darksiders II the biggest game release of the week. Probably the month, too. So now’s probably as good a time as ever to look at some terrific concept art from the game. The environmental and weapon images below were done by artist Jonathan Kirtz, a…

The Counter Strike: Global Offensive Teaser Has You in Its Sights

Here’s a cinematic teaser for the upcoming Counter Strike: Global Offensive, flash bang and all. The upcoming team-based shooter is headed to PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on August 21.

Valve Is Making Documentaries Now

Here’s the documentary trailer for the upcoming DOTA documentary, which follows the players who are trying to go pro and compete in a million dollar tourney. It premiered tonight on GTTV and is “coming soon”.

GameStop Launching Streaming Game Service Next Year

GameStop will start competing direcly with streaming services like OnLive in 2013, when the retailer launches its own entrant in the growing field. The company purchased Spawn Labs’ streaming service last year, but while initially promising it would be able to beam games to “any Internet-enabled device”, it’s since dialled that back a little to…

Game Studio Sues Another Over The Word “Rebellion”

Stardock is now fighting a legal war on two fronts. Only a day after news of its case against a former employee emerged, the publisher is now being taken to court by Rebellion, the developers of games like Sniper Elite and the original (and awesome) Alien vs Predator. The issue? Stardock is the publisher of…

There Was a Ton of Stuff Cut From Fallout: New Vegas That You Can Play Right Now

When Obsidian took over from BioWare to develop Knights of the Old Republic II, the game was famously (and forcibly, by Lucasarts) shipped “incomplete”. Only when modders reinstated a bunch of cut content could we enjoy the full experience the developers had planned for the game. Much the same happened when the studio took over…

Now This Looks Like The Perfect Game of Thrones…Game

Like Kirk, I’m a fiend for the Game of Thrones board game. The treachery, the balance, it’s one of the best tabletop experiences I’ve ever had. Still, there’s always room for improvement! The pieces, for example, are a little bland. My crew has fixed that by purchasing a ton of the Battles of Westeros miniatures.…

Chinese Cops Burn Game Machines

Part of a striking gallery of images over on Wired, showing Chinese authorities taking the torch to a pile of illegal electronic gambling game machines. In focus: Confiscated gambling machine bonfire [Wired]

Man, Everybody’s Leaving Saturday Night Live

So many people are leaving SNL this year that people like Abby Elliott, who I feel like I’ve barely seen on the show, are also announcing their departures. Elliott will join two heavy hitters, Kristin Wiig and Andy Samberg, in leaving the show before its next season, and there are reports that “Weekend Update” anchor…

Hyrule Historia, the Zelda Encyclopedia, Will Be Localized for North America

Serious Legend of Zelda fans in the West have treated Hyrule Historia something like a venerated text—and one in a language many of them couldn’t read. Today, Dark Horse Comics announced that it at long last would be bringing an English-language version of the Zelda encyclopedia to North America, the UK and Australia. Known for…

Preordering Persona 4 Golden Makes Your Vita Look So Pretty

Available while supplies last at participating retailers, this gorgeous Persona 4 skin for your Vita is yours free when you preorder the upcoming sprucing-up, Persona 4 Golden Not only is it sticky and colorful, the skin also melds seamlessly with the eight included wallpapers, transforming the face of your Vita into a work of art.…

One Day Soon, We’ll Have A Real Video Game Musical

Sure, we’ve got musical video games. But we’ve yet to have a real video game musical, a game that brings the goofy, earnest energy of musical theater onto a console or PC and lets us play our part. For a long time, it’s felt like an inevitability—people love musicals! They love video games! Who wouldn’t…

Even Nobuo Uematsu Gets Bossed Around Sometimes

I’ve been playing The Last Story, as you know. While researching (read: aimlessly Googling) the game earlier this week, I happened upon this old Iwata Asks interview from 2010. In it, The Last Story designer (and Final Fantasy creator) Hironobu Sakaguchi sits down with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. They…

This Whacked-Out, Wicked Cool Music Game Does Everything Backwards

Back in music school, I had the same thought that many a (possibly stoned) music student has had—what if we played famous music, but we played it… backwards? How would harmony work if chord progressions ran backwards? What insight could we gain into melody, into harmony? I ran this idea past some of my professors…

NBA 2K13 Isn’t the First to Feature the Dream Team. This Genesis Game Is.

Not only that, Team USA Basketball featured all of the Dream Team’s 12 players, including Scottie Pippen, who won’t be in NBA 2K13 because he and 2K Sports couldn’t reach an agreement on his appearance. It’s remarkable that 1992’s Team USA Basketball by Electronic Arts—then under the “EA Sports Network” label—is the only video game…

Black Ops: Declassified Has A Promising Gamescom Debut, But The Jury’s Still Out

Still aching to scratch that FPS itch at school, work, on the bus, or anywhere that isn’t home? And not with virtual controls? Sony’s handheld Vita, with its twin analog sticks, should have been the device to scratch that itch. Sadly, though, the handheld has been light on first person shooters even after six months…

Darksiders II Is Just The Most Recent Game to Prove that Imitation Really Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I was far from the only reviewer to observe that Darksiders II very clearly draws inspiration and ideas from a number of other games that came before it. Happily, it does so well, and it does so successfully. The mechanics and concepts it brings forward from other games are nearly all good ones, and for…

Portal 2 users can now design co-op maps. Own the game? You get a 75%-off coupon to give to a friend.