Guild Wars 2 Beta Sign-Ups Open… For 48 Hours

According to the Guild Wars 2 Twitter account, you have 48 hours to sign up for a chance to beta test this year’s hottest new MMO. You should probably do that. [Guild Wars 2 Beta Page – Thanks, Matthew!]

EA Yanks Busted Battlefield 3 Shooter from App Store

It came in stealthily, like a Navy SEAL on a night mission. And now Battlefield 3: Aftershock ‘s been dishonorably discharged after seemingly falling below EA’s expectations. News of the pulled app comes from Touch Arcade, which cites original source IGN. When reached for comment, EA replied to Kotaku with the same statement seen elsewhere:…

How To Turn Off the Vita’s Background Music

I hope you’re enjoying your brand new PlayStation Vita! If you’re anything like me, you turned it on and enjoyed the refreshing, smooth sounds of the menu music. Then, about an hour later, you realized that it’s actually pretty mind-numbing and started to wish you could turn it off. You’re in luck—it’s very easy to…

Nintendo’s New 3DS Western Is Cool And Worth Playing, Except for One Thing

If you’re left-handed, I have a minor bit of bad news about the terrific, original game that Nintendo started selling on the 3DS eShop today. The game was made for people who are comfortable holding pens in their right hand. Righties, I think you’ll have a great time with this game. Dillon’s Rolling Western is…

Mass Effect 3 Cover Art Has Decidedly Feminine Side

The Femshep love-fest spreads from trailer to box art, as BioWare’s official unboxing of the two-disc Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 3 reveals reversible cover art for fans of Shepard’s female form. Turn the sheet around, got to have my Femshep. Don’t turn it upside-down, however, because then the whole song reference falls apart.…

WTPT: CD Projekt Won’t Stop Teasing Us With The Witcher 2 on the 360

Teaser trailers are the cruelest of trailers when done right. A second teaser trailer follows yesterday’s look at The Witcher 2 on the 360. How much teasing do we need?! I’m already anxious to finally get my hands on the 360 version, as I’ve got no gaming machine to play the PC version on (I…

This Pokémon Rap Is Hot Like Charmander

I know. You’re skeptical. “Another Pokémon rap? This is going to be terrible,” you’re thinking. But this video, released yesterday by game TV channel The Game Station, is surprisingly awesome. (Except for that last line about masturbation. That part is super-awkward.) It’s worth watching, if only so you can go up to people and say…

Mother Nature, The Coldest Real-Time Strategist of Them All

Eufloria HD is a brutal game. Oh sure, it looks to be all pastels and flowers, but beneath its groovy new-wave art-style and bloopy, soothing soundtrack lies a game about life-or-death survival. A very fun game about life-or-death survival, as it turns out. Eufloria HD is an iPad-only port of Eufloria, an indie PC and…

How Could You Miss the Best Damn Pickup Truck Racing Game on the Wii?

Yes, yes, whine about how overly-saturated the pickup truck racing genre has gotten during the past console generation. That’s a poor excuse to miss out on what some remote cultures might consider the greatest Dodge Ram-centric racer ever created. Had to throw that little Ram caveat in there, just in case the Excite Truck crowd…

Watch This, Play This Begins Now

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

Nintendo Teases 3DS Owners With Thoughts Of New Zelda

Check out what Nintendo’s Eiji Aonuma, best known for directing and producing multiple Zelda games, just sent 3DS owners via Swapnote, the system’s text and picture messaging application. “Hello, this is Aonuma, Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda producer,” he says in the note. “Did you enjoy The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D? Thanks to…

Mario Tennis Open Serves Up Online Play for the 3DS on May 20th

The latest entry in Nintendo’s racket sports franchise will be hitting the 3DS on May 20th, five days before its Japanese counterpart. Nintendo says that there’ll be comprehensive online support for Mario Tennis Open and you can see Mario, Bowser, Princess Peach and more characters volleying in the trailer above.

And This is What High-Definition Rereleases Are All About

Some people view high-definition rereleases of older games as nothing more that an attempt to cash in on nostalgia. Others, like commenter Uncle Jesse here, see them as an opportunity to discover the gems they might have missed. Confession time! I have never played Shadow of the Colossus. Phew. There I said it. Yes, I…

This Man Has Played Through Mass Effect 3, And He Likes It A Lot

I talked to a guy named Ray a couple of weeks ago. He was with his buddy Greg. Ray said he had played BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 end to end already. I believe him. He told me what it was like to play through the whole thing. Ray is, I should note, really into BioWare…

Dillon’s Rolling Western Pops Up On 3DS eShop Today

Surprise! Nintendo has released the action slash tower-defense game a day early, it said during a video conference this morning. You’ll find Dillon’s Rolling Western in the 3DS eShop for $10 right now. [Nintendo]

Talk Amongst Yourselves

Here is where you can speak your mind, wanderers. Welcome to Kotaku’s official forum, known affectionately as Talk Amongst Yourselves, where we gather on a daily basis to discuss the joys and wonders of gaming all rolled up into one. It’s a celestial JRPG battle in this TAYpic, where the work of Yankton, the Circus…

Marvel: Avengers Alliance Lets You Assemble Your Own Oddball Avengers Team on Facebook

Cyclops! Black Cat! Invisible Woman! Facebook Avengers Assemble! Facebook’s Marvel: Avengers Alliance cares not for comic book continuity, focusing instead on giving players some sweet choices, and then making them pay for them. Coming soon to a major social network near you that doesn’t start with the letter Google, Avenger’s Alliance lets you slip into…

Avengers Alliance Gallery

Watch Super Smash Bros Creator Masahiro Sakurai Talk About Kid Icarus: Uprising’s Multiplayer

Expectations have to be running high for the multiplayer component of Kid Icarus: Uprising. After all, it’s the designer beloved for pitting Nintendo’s all-stars and B-listers against each other in crazy free-for-all battles who’s in charge of the game. In the video above, Sakurai details the weapons and modes that you’ll find in the upcoming…

Final Fantasy Creator’s Wii RPG Finally Headed to North America

Nintendo is partnering with publisher Xseed Games to bring Wii RPG The Last Story to North America this summer, it said today during an online broadcast The Last Story, directed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, has received rave reviews in Japan. Though the game will make its way to European shores this week, Nintendo…