What Battlefield 3 Needs

For the past few weeks I have found myself returning to my favourite multiplayer game of last year, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It’s a punchy rascal of a game, but it also hints at plenty of things that could be better in the future, and reminds us of lots of things that have been better…

PlayStation Store Update: Everybody Limbo

PlayStation 3 owners, you are now cleared to download last year’s excellent puzzle platformer Limbo, one of the dark highlights of this week’s North American PlayStation Store update. Already played that? Well, there’s a lot more. One PlayStation Move downloadable game (Fast Draw Showdown) and one undead tower defense game (Dead Block) are also new…

Robbed GameStop Store Employee Threatened with Blasting

You’re in the GameStop, you’ve got your gun at the ready, you’ve cleared the cash register area of children, and now you’re ready to make your demand. “Give me the money!” Good! Now follow it up with a threat! “…or I’ll blast you!” Wait, what? You shouldn’t rob video game stores; that should really go…

Darksiders II‘s Death and the Horse He Rode In On

The extended announcement trailer for THQ’s Darksiders II is here, giving us a deeper appreciation of Death and his majestic steed. Is it just me, or is that horse looking a little pallid? After bringing war to life in Darksiders the first, Vigil Games takes on the monumental task of granting a personality and likeability…

The Darkness II Slips From Crowded Fall to Early (Still Crowded) 2012

The thinning of the fall and winter 2011 video game herd claims a victim today, as 2K Games delays Digital Extremes’ The Darkness II. Originally on the books for an October release, 2K is now aiming the first-person shooter for February 2012. 2K updated the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game’s release date today…

More Waiting for Nintendo 3DS Games As Sega Delays Two

Sega’s side-scrolling ninja game Shinobi and puzzler CRUSH3D, both originally due in September have been pushed. Griptonite’s Shinobi is now a November 15 release in North America, with CRUSH3D moving way out to February 21 of next year.

NCAA Football 12: The Kotaku Review

A century’s worth of traditions spread over 100 teams makes college football one of the top subjects when sports fans start gumming How It Really Oughta Be: Who gets into what bowl, what rivalry should be rescheduled, what schools should be in which conference if everyone wasn’t so fixated on starting their own TV network.…

The Final Catherine Trailer is Nothing But Gameplay and Promo Bumper

With Atlus dropping Catherine into the laps of North American gamers next week, said gamers should familiarize themselves with these extended clips of block climbing to soften the shock of seeing it in your nightmares. Catherine is sexy, sassy, scary, sure; it’s also about climbing tons of blocks, sometimes being chased by creepy babies. It…

The Story of Rapture Begins Here

Andrew Ryan was a visionary, dreaming of a utopian society where great men and women could live free of the rules and the government keeping them from realizing their true potential. His story begins in BioShock: Rapture, available today in bookstores everywhere. Written by John Shirley, the award winning author of Cyberpunk classics like City…

Call of Juarez: The Cartel Includes At Least One Cowboy Hat

And there’s also this um, western music, and the dusters. So there you go: Western shooter.

GoldenEye 007 Reloaded Is Real, Coming to PS3 and Xbox 360

Activision will be tightening up the graphics on 2010’s GoldeneEye 007 for the Wii—the re-imagining of the 1997 Nintendo 64 game of the same name—bringing it to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as GoldenEye 007 Reloaded. See? Reloaded, expected to be officially unveiled at the San Diego Comic-Con this week, appears to be a…

Get Hunters HD on the Cheap

Hunters HD, the iPad and iPhone game that Luke recently enthused about, is on sale for the next day or so. Pick it up now for $0.99, down from the regular price of $7.99. Since it’s release in February, the team-based strategy game has been downloaded more than 500,000 times.

Our Newest Xbox Live Indie Favorites are Full of Rainbows and Death

Every two weeks, we weigh in on our favorite selections on Xbox Live’s indie channel. These are not Microsoft-approved games. They’re created by everyone from the average Joe to upstart game companies, and reviewed by users like you. We list the stand-outs here and in the Kotaku’s Favorites channel in Xbox Live’s Games Marketplace. New…

Build Your Own Private Plane in Your PC Room

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is the most successful mass produced light aircraft in history, yet it exists in a price range far beyond the reach of mortals. Its controls, however, can be yours for $450, courtesy of Mad Catz. Mad Catz is now shipping a trio of officially licensed Cessna products to PC; the Cessna…

Cessna Gallery

The Laser-Shooting Golem of Dragon’s Dogma

I’m still not sold on the concept of Capcom’s swords-and-mythical-enemies game Dragon’s Dogma. But I also haven’t quite dismissed it yet. In this latest collection of screens we get a look at the Cassardis’ Golem, which has the ability to shoot a frickin’ laser beam out of its one giant purple eye. OK, closer to…

In Which Sir Arthur Solicits the Worst Blacksmith Ever

The best armor will cover the wearer’s body completely, providing maximum protection from swords, axes, spears, and other implements of destruction. The worst armor appears in Capcom classic Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Someone had to make armor for Ghost ‘n Goblins‘ hero, and that someone was the most inept armor crafter in all the lands, crafting…

Drool over Bastion, a 21st-Century Throwback to the Glory of the Super Nintendo

Bastion is a brand-new game out on Xbox Live Arcade this week. I’ve been playing it in advance of release for a few days and have been loving it. I’m pretty sure it’s very good, but I’m also pretty sure that this is the kind of game people like me who grew up playing the…

Deus Ex Meets Sonic the Hedgehog in The Swindle

Size Five Games, the independent developer behind point-and-click hit Time Gentlemen, Please! and that one game about vaginas, are creating a game they say “plays a little bit like Deus Ex mixed with Sonic the Hedgehog.” How does that work? The Swindle: A Steampunk Cybercrime Caper is a physics-based 2D platformer, which I suppose is…

“I’m the Best Man. I Did It.” Viral Freestyler Eli Porter Gets His Own Documentary, “People’s Champion”

Remember Eli Porter? You probably wouldn’t by name. But he’s the kid who went viral in the “Iron Mic” freestyle competition with the famous “I’m the best man. I did it.” line. And for some reason filmmakers Trent Babbington and Walker Warren decided to make a documentary about that moment—and I’m glad they did. “People’s…