Blizzard Thinks Always Online Diablo III Shouldn’t Surprise You

Blizzard really thinks you should get with the times. There’s really no reason why an always-online Diablo III should shock you, Blizzard VP of Online Technologies Robert Bridenbecker says in an interview with MTV Multiplayer “I’m actually kind of surprised in terms of there even being a question in today’s age around online play and…

Uncover a Twisting Tale in this Brilliant, Deceptively Deep Half-Life 2 Mod

Branching storylines have become quite the thing in games lately, but most games don’t take the idea much farther than “choose option A to get ending A, choose option B to get ending B.” That’s not the case with The Stanley Parable, a smart, twisty new Half-Life 2 mod by Davey Wreden. The first time…

Rhythm Heaven Still Tops In Japan, But Erotic PSP Fighting Is Also A Hit

WIi game Rhythm Heaven Wii (Minna no Rhythm Tengoku in Japan) is still the bestselling game in Japan, according to the people at Media Create. But Namco Bandai’s Queen’s Gate came closest to beating that with its suggestive, girl-on-girl role-playing brawler. Queen’s Gate: Spiral Chaos, the PSP sequel to 2009’s Queen’s Blade: Spiral Chaos, was…

Have Some Cake, Atlus. Catherine Sold Quite Well.

We get game news in some pretty strange ways. Today, Atlus USA’s twitter feed posted a picture of a cake, upon which was the news that their groovy/odd sex-puzzler Catherine sold 200,000 copies in its first week. So while that number is unconfirmed, it seems worth taking Atlus at their word. Or taking them at…

id Sets Doom 3 Source Code Free Post-Rage

During his kenote speech this afternoon at QuakeCon 2011, id Software’s John Carmack revealed that the source code for Doom 3 would be released to the public later this year, sometime after the October release of Rage

San Francisco Welcomes Reckless Multiplayer Drivers

I just want to play Driver: San Francisco to try and figure out how taxi drivers take those hills without launching their vehicles into low Earth orbit. Other crave a little competition. This video is for them. Give me a large city to roam about in my vehicle, and that’s just what I shall do,…

Rage Avatar Items Not the Doom We Were Looking For

We here at Kotaku are waiting, hoping, wondering if there will be Doom 4 news during the QuakeCon 2011 keynote that is occurring as I type this. We got a new Rage trailer already. We got some iOS id games going on sale. And now…. These Rage avatars are now available for download on the…

We’re Talking About CivWorld. Right Here. Right Now.

Welcome, folks, to the first meeting of the Kotaku Game Club, CivWorld edition. I hope everyone’s been enjoying the game so far. For those of you who are having trouble getting into our game, I apologize; we’re working on getting everyone in. Time marches on: That’s what I learned from CivWorld this week. Every time…

This Spectacular Rage Trailer Gives Us Something to Fight For

Just in time for the kickoff of QuakeCon 2011, the epic new trailer forRage sheds new light on the forces aligned against humanity’s remnants in id’s post-apocalyptic shooter. As if we needed any more motivation to play what might be the best thing to come out of id since Quake, this intense look at the…

Rage HD Will Go Free If you Like Rage Enough

Bethesda said today that once the RAGE Facebook page reaches 100,000 “Likes”, RAGE HD for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch will be available for free for one week. Like them on Facebook

New NASA Photo Suggests Signs of Flowing Water on Mars

Revise Red Faction. Update Doom. Go back to the drawing board with that Total Recall remake (actually, please just stop making that). NASA announced today that they may have possible evidence of flowing water on Mars. Official caption for today’s NASA image: “An image combining orbital imagery with 3-D modeling shows flows that appear in…

UK Woman Drives Over Boyfriend Twice Because He “Cheated Her at a Computer Game”

Love hurts. Sometimes video games can hurt more. In 2009 a UK woman, Erin Slingsby, 20, had a heated argument with her boyfriend, Kane Charles, 20, over a computer game, an argument that ended in her storming out. Charles stood in front of her car to prevent her from driving away when Slingsby mowed him…

Steam Honors Quakecon With Weekend Sale, Including 27 Game Pack

Starting today, Steam is celebrating id and Bethesda’s Quakecon with deals on their games. Sales will change daily from now until August 8th. Today’s deals include discounted games, free-to-play Brink, and in-game specials for TF2. Quakecon 2011 Steam Sale [Steam]

Who Wants to Work for Sony’s Testing Department, Round Three

Sony is gearing up for season three of its PlayStation Network reality show The Tester, asking gamers to submit a profile for their chance to compete for a shitty job and be ridiculed by Kotaku

Hard Reset Gallery

Hard Reset is a Sexy Cyberpunk Shooter That Took Me By Surprise

It’s okay if you’ve never heard of Hard Reset, the new single-player cyberpunk first-person shooter coming next month from Polish developer Flying Wild Hog. Up until a couple of weeks ago, no one had. It happens. It just doesn’t happen often with a game this good being released this soon. Evolve PR is calling Hard…

Madden NFL 12’s “Battle of the Gridiron” Tournament

Earlier this year retail giant GameStop and newly created Virgin Gaming announced a partnership that would power online video game tournaments. Gamers who purchased specific games at GameStop could join tournaments through Virgin Gaming registration. “Battle of the Gridiron” was announced today as the inaugural tournament. Anyone who pre-orders or purchases Madden NFL 12 from…

Watch The Bernese Alps Go From Real Life To Forza Motorsport 4

Turn 10 Studios, the people behind the Forza Motorsport series, have a rough job. In order to make a top-shelf racing game, they had to go to one of the most beautiful places in the world and hike, examine, and photograph the landscape. They have our sympathies. Check out this behind the scenes look at…

Happy 20th Anniversary, Bungie, This is Your Life

The folks at Bungie are celebrating 20 years of doing whatever it is Bungie does… make games, I think! Halo, Marathon, mystery projects for Activision and stuff. They’ve created a nearly one-hour long documentary about themselves, promising never-before-seen material. They’re calling it “O Brave New World”. Official description: “…a feast of infotainment sure to satisfy…

They Don’t Even Bother Coloring WiiWare Games Anymore

I can understand leaving Mario Picross for the original Game Boy in black and white, but in this day and age a WiiWare game needs to be completely filled with vibrant splashes of color. Shame on you, Monochrome Racing I suppose it’s okay to make your game mostly black and white when it’s a design…