PC Gaming Lives Reporting for Duty

It’s time for two hours of PC gaming goodness. Grab your mouse and keyboard and come along!

In the Game of Thrones MMORPG, You Win or You Grind

Popular fantasy franchise Game of Thrones will become a browser-based massively multiplayer online game this fall, publisher Bigpoint said today. Bigpoint, the studio behind several free-to-play online games, says it will reveal more information next week at the Game Developers Conference. Development studio Artplant (Battlestar Galactica Online) will partner with Bigpoint to make the game.…

Leaked Pics Appear to Show a Sprawling, Gorgeous SimCity 5

A set of seven leaked images assumed to be concept art for SimCity 5 have surfaced today, along with rumors indicating that the game is 30% of the way through development, and will be released in 2013. Users at NeoGAF have posted the images as well as a translation from a print edition of German…

Sputnik Gallery

Blizzard Axes 600 Employees, World of Warcraft Dev Team Not Affected

Blizzard, the development studio behind the Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft franchises, has laid off 600 employees, it said today in a press release. Ninety percent of the cut staff were in departments unrelated to game development, the company said. Blizzard does not expect the news to affect upcoming games Diablo III, World of Warcraft: Mists…

WTPT: Battlefield 3 Is Beautiful With A Tilt-Shift Perspective

Battlefield 3 has never looked prettier than from this angle. Using a tilt-shift camera perspective, Independent Gamers Production managed to create this array of scenes from Battlefield 3 in a unique perspective. From the more distant angle and with a sharper look, the trees and water look even more realistic. That same effect that makes…

British Commentary Makes Everything Funnier, Especially Basketball

Comedian Anthony Richardson knows how to make basketball even more entertaining — fill it with hilarious, clueless commentary that seems to be voiced by somebody who has never watched a game of hoops in his life. Check out this video of him commentating on an NBA 2k12-simulated matchup of last week’s NBA All Star Game.…

Take Out Skeletons with Take-Out Pizza in this Ridiculous iPhone Platformer

More often than not, it seems that mobile game developers are encouraging you to not take their games too seriously. The art is fun, and the game mechanics are typically quirky. Pizza Vs. Skeletons is maybe the quirkiest of them all. As the name suggests, you’ll be controlling an animated pie of pizza against a…

Morsel Kombat: One Man’s Quest To “Finish” His Meal

In the eternal struggle between man and lunch, there can be only one victor! It takes dedication, preparation, and a vat of ketchup to defeat the breaded foe once and for all. The nuggets may fight back, but it is a fighter’s task — nay, his silly, funny, comic duty — to FINISH THEM. Morsel…

Watch This, Play This Begins Now

Stuff to play, stuff to see, here comes Watch This, Play This. Confused? Read this

Mass Effect 3 Ditched By Troubled European Game Stores

U.K.-based retailer GAME will not be stacking any of publisher Electronic Arts’s March games, including Mass Effect 3, it said today. In a statement on its website, the retail chain said it is “not in a position to supply [its] customers with Mass Effect 3,” although it “may” stock copies of the game in the…

My Commander Shepard Has a First Name, It’s…

What’s in a name? To the John and Jane Shepards out there, not much, but to those that prefer customizing their Mass Effect heroes picking the right name can make all the difference in the universe. In today’s Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Salari wants to know how you name your role-playing game characters. With…

Leap Day Talk Amongst Yourselves

We won’t be able to discuss video games in Kotaku‘s official forum on February 29 again for another four years, so make it count, people! Today’s TAYpic comes from rabid TAYpic creator Pan1da7, who reminds us that it’s time to select the new TAYpic image for March! That’s right, it’s time for a new TAYpic…

Even Banana Peels Can’t Stop This Real-Life Mario Kart

Now you, too, can drive around your very own Mario Kart-themed Mario Kart. Assuming you’re 27-year-old Nathanial Stehley, who won himself a life-sized kart racer as part of a GameStop rewards program Nintendo sent out these pictures last night of Stehley receiving the grandiose prize, complete with a comically sized key and a comically sized…

The Latest Game of Thrones Screens Cover New Ground

While Cyanide Studio’s Game of Thrones role-playing game will take players to plenty of familiar locales, it also features original settings created to fit in with existing A Song Of Ice And Fire lore. Welcome to Castlewood. You might not find it in the books or television series, but Castlewood plays a key role in…

The Not-So-Good Ship Fireflower Might Be the Most Triumphant LEGO Video Game Creation Ever

After months sequestered in his secret underground lair, LEGO artist Baron von Brunk emerges with a massive Super Mario Bros. 3 airship that rivals any other block-meets-pixels creation I’ve seen. Behold its glory. Okay, so he probably doesn’t have an underground lair (though you never know, he is based in Queens, New York). What Baron…

Pac-Man Returns to Television in 2013, and He’s Bringing Friends

One of the most iconic characters in video game history gets another shot at small screen glory in 2013, when the Avi Arad-produced 3D animated Pac-Man: The Adventure Begins makes its Disney XD debut. So who’s this cute little round girl with the pink streaks? What took you so long, Avi Arad? We’ve been waiting…

It’s Mass Effect 3. Go Figure.

Effect | TOKYO, JAPAN: As seen at a recent Mass Effect press event. (Photo: azixero | GameWatchImpress) Are These Doom 4 Screenshots? These images, supposedly from Doom 4, have popped up. It seems they were inadvertently spilled by the portfolio of artist Thao Le, a senior environmental artist at id Software (and since taken down).…

Japanese Cops Crack Down on Darth Vader

When Darth Vader showed up in Osaka to march about and promote the 3D Star Wars flicks, it was glorious. When he did the same in Tokyo, it was glorious, too. That is, until the cops showed up. This past weekend, Darth Vader and his Imperial Stormtropper, the Japanese Garrison of the 501st Legion, strutted…

Yes, Ghost and Goblins Online Really Exists. It Needs Testers, Too.

Live in Korea? Want to play Ghosts’n Goblins with a friend online? Capcom and Korean publishing partner Seed9 Games offer you Ghosts’n Goblins Online. They are looking for testers for its second closed beta test, which will run from March 6 to March 11. You have until March 4 to sign up. Capcom says that…