What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, people! Alright, alright… I’ll probably be playing more Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 this Labor Day weekend than I will Deus Ex, but I’ve gotta have something to break up the flood of CoD XP posts! In the in-between times, I’ll be alternating between some of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador…

Call of Duty XP’s Real-Life Achievements and Badges of Honor

Activision has a long and storied history of making some of the best video game patches in the business. Or at least they did during the Atari 2600 era. At Call of Duty XP, Activision returned to its patch-making ways, rewarding XP attendees for braving real-life and virtual challenges. For example, should you wait in…

Guns! Guns! Guns! A Tour of the Call of Duty XP Armory

Hey, you like guns? Then you should really be at Call of Duty XP this weekend. They got guns! Lots of ’em. They even have a FGM-148 Javelin and an alien head. Just head to “The Armory.” Or take a journey with me through the magic of photo galleries! The various arsenals of many Call…

New Leaked Borderlands 2 Footage Features Sweeping Vistas, Old Friends, and Exploding Guns

An intrepid tipster has sent in a video s/he shot of the latest demo of Gearbox’s upcoming shooter Borderlands 2, and so of course we thought we’d share it with all of you. Unlike the last leaked footage we ran, this video is taken not from a possible pants-cam—it’s clearly in-bag. Though it wasn’t shot…

The Physical Warfare Pack is an Excellent Reason to Look at More Battlefield 3 Footage

Available as a preorder bonus at select retailers and EA’s Origin service, the relatively unexciting Physical Warfare Pack gives us an excuse to look at more Battlefield 3, which is always good. Folks that preorder Battlefield 3 at participating retailers will score early access to the DAO-12 semi-automatic shotgun, Type 88 Light Machine Gun, flechette…

Comcast Will Charge for Hurricane Irene Service Outages, Blames God

Comcast customers who lost—or still don’t have—cable, phone or Internet service in the wake of Hurricane Irene have a nasty surprise in store for them when they seek to get credit for their downtime. Comcast says they won’t be crediting customers who lost service during the hurricane because it was an “Act of God”. UPDATED…

Multiplayer Steals the Show in Madden NFL 12

In the online multiplayer era of sports gaming, I have been a Grinch-like hermit, rarely venturing forth into it except to ragequit and rant that none of what they do reflects reality, and to get off my lawn. Madden, which has a culture of elite play spanning about a decade, television shows celebrating it, and…

This Week in the Business: “PS3 Will Outsell Xbox 360”

QUOTE | “PS3 will outsell Xbox 360.” – That’s the belief of Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, IF Microsoft decides to stand pat on 360 price this holiday season QUOTE | “Like a religion.” – Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg says 60 frames per second is critical to Call of Duty as he describes the four…

L.A. Production Company Looking for the “King of the Nerds”. Is that you?

An L.A. production company is looking for nerds for a new reality show called “King of the Nerds”. If you think you’ve got what it takes, Lindsay Casting ([email protected]) wants you to drop a line. From the producers of MYTHBUSTERS, SURVIVOR and AMAZING RACE comes a new competition-based show embracing and celebrating passionate and intellectual…

From 4Chan to Evil Dead: The Secrets of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Revealed (More Secrets Added!)

As I mentioned in my review, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a game that comes to life in its details. The team at Eidos Montreal has shown a rare attention to detail and and willingness to engage in fan-service, filling the game with a nigh-on unprecedented number of hidden sight gags and easter eggs. They’re…

How Modern Warfare 3 Changes the Call of Duty Multiplayer Game Yet Again

Year after year, how can Call of Duty‘s massive online shooter remain fresh? With Modern Warfare 3, the game’s developers have focused on what works—player progression, extensive customization, tons of maps and game modes—and are blowing it out. Activision offered a first look at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the night before Call of…

Call of Duty Elite ‘Premium’ Membership Costs $50 A Year, Includes All This and More

Call of Duty Elite, Activision’s new social network and stat-tracking service that will launch alongside Modern Warfare 3—and work with last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops—is largely going to be free to use. But there are very good reasons for investing in Elite. At the war game maker’s Call of Duty XP gathering, Activision…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Screen Shots

One of the Main Brains Behind Portal Explains Her New Idea

This is Quantum Conundrum, the first-person puzzle game coming out early next year from a development team led by Kim Swift. She’s someone who has earned my gaming trust, since she was a senior member of the team that made Narbacular Drop and the more famous game it was turned into, Portal Swift no longer…

The War of the Worlds Video Game Keeps Reminding People of Out of this World

I heard at E3 that the new downloadable War of the Worlds game might remind people of the lovely, spooky black-and-white sidescroller Limbo. But when I saw the downloadable game at the Xbox 360 booth at the Penny Arcade Expo, I and two other passersby all made a different comparison: Out of this World This…

Yes, That’s a Mabari War Hound in The Sims 3: Pets

Who says cross-game promotions never work out? If you pre-order The Sims 3: Pets: Limited Edition on Xbox 360 or PlayStation, you’ll get a dozen exclusive breeds of dogs, including a panda chow, skunk birman, and—in a Kotaku-exclusive reveal, because we’re an important media outlet—a Mabari War Hound from Dragon Age And if I’m reading…

The Surprising Art, and Eerie Death of LEGO Harry Potter

It’s an incongruous notion: Making a video game set in a LEGO world of children wizards dark and gritty. But that’s what the folks at developer Traveller’s Tale set out to do with LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5 – 7, designer Wil Evans tells me. “Years five to seven, that’s where the really cool stuff…

Be There Using the Magic of the Internet! Call of Duty XP Live Stream

The first ever Call of Duty expo, Call of Duty XP, is being held today and tomorrow in Los Angeles. If you didn’t score a ticket, you can still feel like you’re there via live coverage on both days. The site says that there will be one hour of live coverage today and tomorrow beginning…

Buy a Shadows of the Damned CD, Get an Autograph

Grasshopper Manufacuture’s Akira Yamaoka, who cut his teeth on Silent Hill, is one of gaming’s most famous composers-slash-games developers. You can get his autograph. His music, too. The original soundtrack for Shadows of the Damned is limited to only one thousand pressings and is available on the Grasshopper Manufacture website. Here is the cool part:…

Fresh Fighter Jet Porn for Ace Combat Fans

It’s Ace Combat Assault Horizon Friday, boys and girls, and you know what that means: Project Aces is parading four sexy fighter craft players will be slipping inside when the game drops October 11. This week we’ve got stunning shots of the MiG-21bis Fishbed, MiG-29A Fulcrum, the Su-34 Fullback, and the Su-47 Berkut, just four…