Homefront Vs. The Canceled Heartland, A Tale Of Two U.S. Invasions

The co-creator of Twisted Metal, David Jaffe, wanted to make a game about the Chinese military invading the United States once upon a time. Heartland for the PSP would have been “a very liberal response to the Bush administration and the Iraq War,” Jaffe has said, a first-person shooter that evoked intense emotion. While Heartland…

A Video Game About The Anger We Can’t Express

The creators of the video game Asura’s Wrath think you might be holding back. They think that, if you’re an adult, you might be bottling your rage. They’re making a violent video game to help you express your anger within, because they believe that’s how violent video games can help us. Their game, Asura’s Wrath,…

Introducing the PS3’s Answer to the Wii Bowling Ball

Yes, a bowling ball for your PS3. Take that Dude.

Video Game Ratings Board Lets Computers Do The Rating

Last year the Entertainment Software Ratings Board reviewed approximately 1,600 video games prior to their U.S. release, painstakingly poring over video game footage before arriving at a final decision. Starting today, the board is passing a great deal of that responsibility on to computers. Here’s how the Entertainment Software Review Board’s process generally works. A…

Call Of Duty Tip: Don’t Toss A Grenade Into The Chimney Of The House You’re Raiding

Players of Call of Duty: Black Ops, be careful where you toss your grenades. The consequences can be… well, watch this video, which is popular on YouTube today.

Screen-Free Week Goes On The Attack, Pushes TV-B-Gones

Screen-Free Week seems to be going guerrilla, calling not just for folks to avoid using their TVs, game consoles and computer screens this week, but to turn off other people’s televisions. Today kicks off the week of screen-free time, hosted by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. What would you and your family do with…

GLaDOS Is Powering Up, Is Portal 2 Imminent? [Updated]

The potatoes on the GLaDOS@Home web page are counting down, and a cryptic email from GLaDOS herself arrives. What does it mean? Is Portal 2 about to open? We’ve just received an email here at Kotaku Tower from [email protected], warning us of what could very well be our impending doom. Subject: The time has comf92xnsaielghdsm28…

Hands On With Uncharted 3‘s Three Team Deathmatch and Free For All Killfests

My first few minutes spent playing Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception in the game’s multiplayer mode was dedicated to making my Nathan Drake and my Victor Sullivan look different from all the other Drakes and Sullys I was fighting against. I put a fisherman’s hat on Sully, gave him a blue Hawaiian shirt, decked him out…

The Witcher 2 Casts A Sexy Spell On Polish Playboy

The Witcher’s fiery redheaded sorceress Triss can’t seem to pull a complete outfit together in the May issue of the Polish version of Playboy. Does she get this naked in the game? Why yes, yes she does. In the preview build I am currently playing you get to see naked Triss within moments of starting…

Rage‘s Dead City Is Surprisingly Lively

Just because there’s an apocalyptic event doesn’t mean the world’s great cities crumble into dust. They just get a few new residents, as demonstrated in Rage’s Dead City gameplay trailer. Rolling deserts and dust bowls are good enough for smaller games, but id’s Rage is no small game. Sooner or later you’ve got to give…

Sonic Generations Is Like A Dream Sonic Game, Except It’s Real

Sega’s next Sonic game, Sonic Generations, will let you play as classic, sidescrolling Genesis Sonic or as modern, control-him-from-behind-in-3D Sonic. You’ll control either Sonic in levels inspired by three eras of Sonic games, from the originals, to the Dreamcast era, to modern times. No special powers. No playable friends. Sonic Team is doing development. On…

Which crappy scifi vehicle is right for you?

Let’s face it. If sweet science fictional rides like Airwolf or KITT actually existed, laymen like us wouldn’t get first dibs. No, we’d probably get saddled with whatever comically impractical vehicles the Tony Starks of the world don’t scoop up. Assuming that the most outlandish transports are someday available to consumers, here’s a (not actually)…

First Look At Uncharted 3‘s All-New Multiplayer Mode, Now With Buddies, Splitscreen and High Fives

Soon, you’ll be able to high five your PlayStation Network and Facebook buddies while standing over the corpse of Nathan Drake—and you’ll be rewarded for doing so in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception’s all-new online multiplayer component. PlayStation 3 owners will be able to get their hands on the game’s multiplayer as early as June. Uncharted…

Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Screen Shots

Could Prey 2 Be Red Dead Redemption in Space?

Prey 2, as we expected, will be a very different sort of game then the original. Gone is the conflicted Native American hero. Gone too is the linear gameplay of the original. Instead Prey 2 will drop you into the shoes of US Air Marshall Killian Samuels as he becomes an off-world bounty hunter in…

Mega Man X Marks The Nintendo Download

In a Nintendo Download populated by baby simulations, demos, and piano tutors, only one ancient robot has the power to make this week’s downloadable Nintendo games not completely suck. That robot is Mega Man X, making his Virtual Console debut in the form of the original Super Nintendo game. Dr. Light has been dead for…

New Skyrim Shots Feature Orcs, Cat-People, And The Dreaded Giant Spider

Giant spiders are a staple of fantasy role-playing games, be they pen-and-paper or console-and-controller. Bethesda shows off perhaps the most terrifying giant spider of them all in this latest batch of screens for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Kotaku didn’t make it to Bethesda’s recent BFG event, where Skyrim was on display for all to…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

Greetings, people who play video games. You may discuss video games right here. Thanks to reader CowboyHugBees for today’s image. Submit your pic to #TAYpics (Read this thread for directions on how to do a TAYpic.)

The Mother of All Motherboard Shoot-Outs

Chipset delays aside, Sandy Bridge has been one of the most anticipated and impressive releases we’ve seen from Intel in recent years. The first wave of processors have demonstrated superior efficiency as they swept aside considerably more expensive processors of previous generations, while consuming even less power. The Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K…

That’s A Nice Suit. Like Something A Professor Would Wear.

TREASURE REPORT | TOKYO, JAPAN: Waterboys’ actor Hiroshi Tamaki appears at a press conference for DS game, Treasure Report. (Photo by Game Watch Impress) These Ladies Go Beyond A Fatal Attraction This week’s cosplay round-up is dominated by the ladies, with not one Felicias but two, some Final Fantasy favourites and a pair of Zelda…