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  Let’s Play the Complete PS Vita Gravity Rush Demo

  I’ve only had about ten minutes with Gravity Rush, but I’m already thinking that it’s one of the most exciting new games coming to Sony’s PS Vita. The game blends a gravity-defying puzzle quality with action combat, a bit of platforming and a wonderful, arty aesthetic and surreal story. Gravity Rush is due out on…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 27, 2011
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  New, New Hitman? Maybe!

  At least a new Hitman trademark. Square Enix Europe recently trademarked “Hitman: Profession”. Not to be confused with 2012’s Hitman: Absolution, this could be either a new Hitman, DLC, or a port. [Siliconera via Multiplayer]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  Cut Paul “@OceanMarketting @OceanStratagy” Christoforo a Break—He Might Just Have Roid Rage [Updated]

  It’s been a heck of a day for Paul Christoforo, whose flippant email to a customer asking about his Avenger controller order has made Christoforo a walking memetic punchline. But maybe we should cut Christoforo a break for his overly aggressive emails: he could just be feeling the effects of roid rage. We asked for…

  By Joel Johnson Published December 27, 2011
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  The Five 3DS Game Demos Aren’t Unlimited. Some Are Nice, Though.

  As first revealed during last night’s Nintendo Direct, the 3DS is getting five game demos in Japan: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Theater, New Love Plus and Resident Evil: Revelations In this video, I showed off some of the game demos and talked a bit about…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  Halo‘s Graphics Guru Talks The Problems of the Future

  Way before you pick up a controller, the first thing lots of folks think about when they think video games is how it’s going to look. This generation of gamers isn’t so enlightened that they’ll overlook shitty graphics in lieu of anything a game presents. Yet, graphics need to be balanced against various systems’ processing…

  By Evan Narcisse Published December 27, 2011
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  Now’s a Great Time to Pick Up Those PlayStation 3 Add-Ons You’ve Been Eyeing

  Have you purchased add-ons like controllers, headsets, or glowing balls-on-sticks for the PlayStation 3 in the weeks leading up to Christmas? Why would you do that? Didn’t you know Sony’s Play Days sale was coming? Well you do now. Between now and January 21, Sony has teamed up with select retailers to offer their hardware…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 27, 2011
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  These Are the Best PC Game Mods of 2011

  Every year thousands of PC gamers around the world sacrifice some of their play time in order to make the games they play even better that the original developers, and every year the community at modding hot spot ModDB choose the very best. Who made the grade this year? This is the joy of PC…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 27, 2011
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  PC Gamers, Never Get Cold Hands Again with this Silly Cat

  It’s winter. That is, unless you leave below the equator. For those using computers and shivering, the wizards at Japanese peripheral company Thanko have a ridiculous mouse pad for you. WITH VOLTRON EYES. It’s a cat mouse pad that has a USB powered heater in it, which should keep your mitts nice and toasty throughout…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  This PS Vita Game Has Panty Photography Blocking? [Update]

  When you think of virtual bar hostess game Dream Club, you think of girls in micro outfits. You think of underpants galore. The PS Vita Dream Club game, Dream Club Zero, isn’t short on skivvies, but according to sister site Kotaku Japan, it apparently won’t allow Vita owners to take screenshots of underpants. It will…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  Konami Staffer Sues for Maternity Leave Discrimination. Wins.

  In 2009, then 36-year-old Konami Digital Entertainment employee Yoko Sekiguchi sued her company after being demoted following maternity leave. Sekiguchi negotiated soccer team and foreign player licensing rights for Konami’s Pro Evolution soccer games. In Oct. 2008, Sekiguchi took maternity leave, returning the following spring. Upon returning, she was not only demoted due to a…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  The Best Game Music of 2011: Rayman: Origins

  Listen: the first thing you need to know about the music in the newest Rayman game is that it’s got some kickass virtuoso kazoo playing. Yes, kazoo. Like, a plastic one. And it kicks a lot of ass. That bit of whimsy comes courtesy of Christophe Héral, a musician/composer who’s worked on Ubisoft games since…

  By Evan Narcisse Published December 27, 2011
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  Fire Emblem To Set Japan Ablaze Next Spring

  Last night, Nintendo held the second of its Nintendo Direct online press conferences. In it, the Kyoto-based game creator confirmed several Japanese release dates. One of them was new—the one for Fire Emblem While Nintendo did confirm Japanese release dates for titles like Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (Mar. 8, which we knew), it…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  Please Do Not Arm Our Readers with Weapons, Especially Those with Cutting Edges

  Commenter GiantBoyDetective poses here with the replica Master Sword he received for Christmas, a harbinger of dark times ahead in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) one and all! I had probably the best video game haul of my life this morning. A lot more than I was expecting. –…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 27, 2011
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  Finally, The 3DS Gets Its MUCH Better Pictochat

  In case you missed it during all of your holiday revelries, Swapnote hit the e-Shop last week for free. It’s sort of like Pictochat for the 3DS but it also supports 3D sketches, the ability to send to friends online and attach real images to your messages. It’s pretty great.

  By Brian Crecente Published December 27, 2011
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  Kid Icarus: Uprising Will Have Online Multiplayer, Five 3DS Titles Getting Free Demos

  Four big 3DS titles, including Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Resident Evil: Revelations, are getting free downloadable demos in Japan, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said last night. No word on the timing for when the free demos will be hitting 3DS in other regions. Iwata also talked a bit more about the upcoming…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 27, 2011
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Hope everybody had a wonderful holiday weekend! So, some of you must of gotten some games for Christmas. So lets hear it, who made out like a bandit and who got hit by the Christmas Whammy (Boxing Day too!). Until tomorrow, Talk Amongst Yourselves. Many thanks to TheDon23 for today’s TAYpic! We could use more…

  By Chris Carolan Published December 27, 2011
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  Is Sword & Sworcery EP Kotaku‘s Game of the Year?

  I played a ton of games in 2011. More, probably, than any other year of my life. So when it came time to choose the best from among them, I spent a lot of time thinking back, sifting through the triumphs and the frustrations, the unexpected joys and the unfortunate disappointments. Arkham City and Portal…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published December 27, 2011
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  Dragonvale Captured My Heart and My Wallet in 2011

  I never should have downloaded a free iOS game about breeding cute and colorful dragons; it was a tremendously bad idea on my part. Normally I’d have avoided such things. I blame Crecente for dropping a link to the game into our inter-office chat room with only the word “cute” as a descriptor. You can’t…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 27, 2011
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  Japan Gets a Store Specializing in…the Xbox 360 (Huh?)

  Microsoft’s lack of Xbox success in Japan is notorious. Microsoft only sells between two and three thousand Xbox 360s a week in Japan. The system doesn’t exactly scream retail hit in Japan. That hasn’t stopped one shop in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture from creating a store with one thing in mind: the Xbox 360. Japanese blogger…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 27, 2011
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  The New York Times Offers Two Round-Ups, But Doesn’t Name a Game of the Year (Yet)

  The end of 2011 brings with it an implicit deadline for those inescapable year-end wrap-ups. Yet, the Paper of Record doesn’t really pony up a traditional countdown-to-the-best list. Instead, New York Times video game critic Seth Schiesel has written two pieces that catalog the games that caught his fancy in 2011. The first article runs…

  By Evan Narcisse Published December 27, 2011