Modern Warfare 3 Shoots the Lights Out on Jimmy Fallon

As promised, Late Night host Jimmy Fallon has kicked off his video game week with footage of Modern Warfare 3 Sadly, at least for the first part of the clip, there’s not much to see. Much of the singleplayer footage has been seen before, and the audio has been totally washed out by Activision and…

Where Arcade Games Go To Die

Lensman Kert Gartner filmed this depressing, yet beautiful short at Allied Coin, one of Winnipeg’s larger “arcade graveyards”. Haunting, stunning, and sad. The short is a promotional piece for the Winnitron 1000, which aims to encourage and inspire indie game developers. Read more about it here

Turns Out Hideo Kojima HATES Metal Gear On the NES

The original Metal Gear may have been most famous on the Nintendo Entertainment System, but that’s not the platform it was designed for. It was instead developed first for the MSX, and the fact it had to be ported over to the NES is something that makes the series’ creator, Hideo Kojima, very unhappy. In…

Is This Girl Real or Virtual?

For years, gamers have developed feelings for characters that don’t exist in the traditionally tangible world. They might look real, but the characters are a composition of art and reality. They are virtual. But what if a virtual person was passed off as real? Or what if a real person was thought to be virtual?…

Time Magazine’s First Official Game Tie-In is for…Modern Warfare 3

Time is one of the most storied magazines the world has ever seen, and while its relevance may have dipped somewhat during the internet era, it’s still seen as a respectable publication. So its first ever video game tie-in is a bit of a disappointment. As a marketing stunt for the upcoming Modern Warfare 3,…

The Wii U Might be a Little More Powerful Than we Thought

Based on everything we saw at E3, Nintendo’s new Wii U console didn’t look any more powerful than an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Now, though, some developers are apparently saying that’s not the case! Speaking with IndustryGamers earlier today, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said “Some of the developers we spoke to indicated to…

Call Her Iron…Woman!

Marvelous | SHANGHAI, CHINA: Telecoms worker Wang Kang created an Iron Man costume in several months for $450. Here, a female newscaster tries it on. (Photo: Weibo Source) While my review is forthcoming, it’s no spoiler that Duke Nukem Forever isn’t a Game of the Year contender. Question is, though, what game are we judging?…

Arcades Don’t Make for Good TV (But Starcades do)

Video games and TV just do not mix. Aside from a few brave attempts coming out of the UK, I’m yet to see a show about games that doesn’t come off as juvenile, stale and boring as hell. There will always, however, be a soft spot in my heart for Starcade Running from 1982 to…

Dangerously Close To On Topic

Hola, Kotaku readers! Thanks for joining us in tonight’s open thread. If you’re just joining us, that’s where we get together for a little chat, one that’s not solely video game related. Tonight’s might be though. I need to talk out my post-E3 2011 grief, guys. I’m in the stage of post-show regret, where I…

These Were the Most Thrilling Moments of Mass Effect 3‘s E3 2011 Presentation

If you like Mass Effect for its blockbuster bits—the explosions, the futuristic set pieces involving giant alien machines, the narrow escapes—this trailer is for you. It represents the Mass Effect 3 moments that might draw in the people who don’t play role-playing games. During my 30 minute long demonstration of Mass Effect 3 at E3…

Heroes of Ruin Is Rich With Ideas, Shorter on Atmosphere

Heroes of Ruin is a deft, well-implemented multiplayer-RPG—but right now it’s lacking in distinctive character. The title, published by Square Enix and developed by n-Space, the team behind the GameCube action-adventure title Geist, is due to launch on the Nintendo 3DS in early 2012. So far, our exposure to the Heroes has mostly been limited…

This is the Disorienting, Possibly Exciting Gravity For Vita Being Played By Shaky Hands

One of the more original PlayStation Vita efforts is Gravity, a game from Sony’s Japanese developers, specifically some of the people behind the Siren horror games. It’s exciting, in that it’s not another PlayStation sequel and that it has stylish, comic book-like beauty. For a clearer look at Gravity‘s graphics, watch the official trailer. But…

The War of the Worlds Takes a Novel’s Approach to a Game

If there’s a star of The War of the Worlds, the upcoming downloadable title for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it’s someone working behind the scenes or above the action. It’s the score by Chris Hülsbeck, or the writing by Chris Fowler or, not least, the narration by Patrick Stewart. As a game, however,…

Heroes of Ruin E3 Gallery

Mix Spore with LittleBigPlanet, Put it on the 3DS and… Wait, What’s That Coil of Yellow Stuff?

Picture Lives, which I sometimes accidentally call Picture This was one of my favorite surprise finds at E3. It’s a downloadable game from Nintendo that will be sold through the 3DS’ eShop. I’d never heard of the game before and had to figure this one out on the fly. Enjoy the video of this very…

Tanks For the E3 Memories

LOS ANGELES, CA | A World War II Sherman M4A3 military tank is on display promoting the World of Tanks from developer Wargaming.net outside of the Los Angeles Convention Center during Electronics Entertainment Expo on June 7, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) Backbreaker‘s Team Checks In Again With Icebreaker In…

The Man Behind Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive and Devil’s Third Reveals His Favorite Retro Games

The creative force previously behind Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series, now on the upcoming Devil’s Third, Tomonobu Itagaki, says he has wanted to make games since he was a teenager. He just didn’t want to make video games. The man better known for his fast-paced, reflex-based action games told Kotaku in a…

Nintendo Doubts You Can Take the Wii U to the Bathroom

Prior to E3, as details of the next Wii were becoming clear, I had a dream that I could play the games on Nintendo’s next console in my bathroom The idea is that the Wii 2—which we now know will be called the Wii U—can stream games that normally run on your TV onto the…

Eyes-on With Sony’s New PlayStation 3D Display (Which Can Render Splitscreen Gaming Obsolete)

Sony is trying to make 3D gaming on its PlayStation 3 more affordable with its very own PlayStation branded, stereoscopic 3D monitor—comparatively cheap at just $500 USD for 24 inches of 3D gaming. Better still is the monitor’s ability to deliver full-screen gaming to two players at once. Sony’s “official 3D Display,” due this fall,…

In Defense of Duke Nukem Forever

Who is Duke Nukem, and why—after all of these years—are we still talking about him? One of our readers has described him as a “character that people actually love or hate. Or feel something about. As opposed to military personnel (1) and (1a).” In a sea of “blandness,” according to the reader, the Duke is…