Best Video Game Swag Pairing EVER!

After one Gamescom interview I was presented with this lovely bottle of Poland’s famous, grass-infused Zubrowka and a… real, steel meat cleaver? True story.

Trash-talking Battlefield Publisher Predicts Call of Duty Will Collapse ‘In 2-3 Years’

EA, the publisher of this fall’s Battlefield 3, responded today to a call from their competition for cooler rhetoric with some heated trash talk. “Welcome to the big leagues Eric,” EA spokesperson Jeff Brown said in a comment issued to Kotaku but adressed to Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision and the man who said in…

Our Excitement for Capcom’s Biggest Game Ever Remains Low

There are some games we at Kotaku love writing about. Skyrim‘s one. Assassin’s Creed. Whatever Atlus game our Mike Fahey’s obsessed with this month. And then there are games like Dragon’s Dogma which we pass around coverage duties of like soldiers passing around the hand grenade that just fell into their foxhole. There’s something about…

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Simplifies With Polished Play

The first thing I noticed while watching a team of two Ubisoft developers play through a new level of Ghost Recon; Future Soldier wasn’t the Zambia setting or the rolling wave of dust and smoke created by a crashing plane, it was how clean everything looked. Gone were the screen-filling, often distracting augmented reality icons…

Classic Sonic Won’t Speak In Sonic Generations But Maybe He’ll… Turn Into a Werewolf?

For Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th anniversary, Sega and Sonic Team will bring two versions of its mascot—in “classic” and “modern” flavors—together for a time-traveling, old school-meets-new school adventure. But only one of those Sonics will actually speak in Sonic Generations Sonic Generations spans three eras of Sonic the Hedgehog’s video game history: the Sega Genesis,…

This New MMO Will Kill Every Damn Sasquatch In Space

One of the quiet hits of Gamescom so far has been Wildstar, a freshly-unveiled MMO from NCsoft. While it won’t be of much interest to anyone outside the world of MMOs, it does have a great art style, and its blending of fantasy and sci-fi design (along with BRIGHT COLOURS EVERYWHERE) making it very easy…

The Ultra Disposable Gun is One of the Great Big Little Improvements in Borderlands 2

The throwaway guns of the original Borderlands, which numbered in the hundreds of bazillions, were nothing compared to the fire and forget disposability of the game’s sequel. And Borderlands 2‘s “disposable razor-style” guns from fictional manufacturer Tediore, the Walmart of intergalactic gunmakers, already stand out as one of the game’s better features. Gearbox Software showed…

Free Witcher 2 Patch Adds Horde Mode, Makes Things Darker, Harder

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Version 2.0 will be a free patch that gives PC gamers a new tutorial system, a survival arena mode, a difficulty-increasing dark mode, oodles of patches and all of the previously released download packs. The free patch hits Sept. 29. All new installations of the game will update automatically.…

Do You Have Few Friends? This Trailer Is for You

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Portable is the portable version of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. It’s a PSP game. It was originally a light novel, and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, which means “I Have Few Friends”, follows a mixed Japanese and British boy at a Catholic school having a hard time making friends.…

Stepping Onto the Fields of Justice in League of Legends

With 15 million registered players, the free-to-play League of Legends is the most popular multiplayer online battle arena title in the rapidly growing genre. Two years in post-launch development, the game is constantly evolving, and frequent content releases guarantee there’s always something new to experience. The game combines the fast-paced combat of an action strategy…

Watch Blizzard Open the Gates of Hell in Cologne

We showed you that fancy bit of 3D street art Blizzard created for Diablo III earlier this week. Now we have a sped-up video showing how the artists made it look like demons were bursting from the city’s streets. You can contact Brian Crecente, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find…

Talk This Guy Into (Or Out Of) Buying a PlayStation 3

This week’s PlayStation 3 price drop leaves one question in the minds of gamers that have been avoiding Sony’s console: To buy, or not to buy? That is the question we’ll be helping commenter GiantBoyDetective answer in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. Alright guys. Talk me in to or out of buying a PlayStation 3.…

The 3DS Tractor Simulator Genre Has a New Champion

You know, not every game at this year’s Gamescom is an international best-seller. Some games are made with a more local audience in mind, and few are as German as this one. It’s called Landwirtschafts-Simulator 3D, and puts you in control of…tractors. Just chugging around a farm. Doing farm stuff. We’re not doing much farm…

The Great Ubisoft Post-It Wars End With a Three-Story Assassination

They say that any war can be ended by a single, well-placed assassin. Ubisoft Paris proves this to be true with what is surely their final salvo in the ongoing Paris Post-It war. Sometimes you just have to think outside the window. For months, Ubisoft Paris and its neighbor, French bank BNP, have been firing…

Talk Amongst Yourselves, Still Hanging By A Thread

We’ve been saved from repeat TAYPics by Prof. Gast, but there’s only so much the good Professor can do for his community without your support! Join the academic elite and make a TAYPic of your own. If you think you’ve got what it takes, or even if you don’t, here’s what to do: submit your…

Guess Which Character Marvel Worried Capcom Would Get Wrong?

With more than 75 Marvel characters appearing in Capcom fighting games over the years, you’d think the comic maker would completely trust Capcom’s judgment when it comes to how their heroes and villains appear in-game. Not so with one particular character appearing in the soon-to-be released Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the game’s producer tells…

Beam Katana? Dirty Camera? Yours for $13!

If you purchased the first edition of No More Heroes Red Zone Edition, you got some special content, such as the ability to move the camera around in a “Forbidden Viewer Mode” as well as four types of beam katanas. Starting on August 23, the content will available on the Japanese PSN for ¥1,000 (US$13).…

PixelJunk: Sidescroller Screens Scroll Out

Q-Games is working on PixelJunk: Sidescroller, the latest PixelJunk title. The game’s gameplay looks bright and old school The game is as much about shooting stuff as messing with liquids. It will be out on the PS3’s PlayStation Network later this year. You can download it then. You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of…

Eight Minutes of Guild Wars 2 Gameplay and Art, Presented Without Comment

You’ve seen the trailer, now take a look at eight minutes or so of Guild Wars 2 gameplay shot from the Gamescom show floor. You can contact Brian Crecente, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.

Sonic Generations Screen Shots