Portal 2‘s “Want You Gone” Sounds Even Better When Sung by Electric Guitar

Need a reason to learn how to play the electric guitar? YouTube musician FamilyJules7X demonstrates how well mad guitar skills and gaming go together in his triumphant electric cover of Jonathan Coulton’s “Want You Gone.” GLaDOS wants you gone so badly she sings a song about it at the end of Portal 2. Most test…

These are the Big Shooters of E3 2011, We Think

Prediction! There will be a lot of shooters (first-person and third-person) at E3 next week. Yes, indeed. As crazy as it sounds, games that involve the rapid transferral of bullets (or lasers) from gun barrel to bad guy’s head will be as ubiquitous at next week’s E3 showcase of upcoming video games as shirtless people…

Get Shitfaced with This Game Schwag

It’s not every day that you see a bottle of booze stamped with “licensed by Sega”. But this isn’t everyday. It’s Tuesday, May 31. Yakuza, Sega’s games about… yakuza, is once again collaborating with a Japanese liquor maker for its latest game, Yakuza: of the End. The last couple of Yakuza games got their own…

The Ultimate Version of Captain America: Super Soldier Comes from GameStop

According to our own Stephen Totilo, we might be in for a pretty good Captain America experience when the movie tie-in game drops on July 19, but you won’t get the ultimate Captain America experience unless you preorder from GameStop. That’s because players that preorder the game from GameStop will score the Ultimates downloadable content…

Uncharted 3 Wants to Be the Go-To Multiplayer Experience on the PlayStation 3

The first two Uncharted games for the PlayStation 3 established Naughty Dog as one of the premiere single-player developers on the console. That’s just not good enough for these people. The Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception developer is really serious about multiplayer this time around. They aren’t content with just having an okay multiplayer system that…

Gaming is One Reason This Amazing Driving Technology is a Bad Idea

According to UK windscreen replacement company Autoglass, this video represents a future where augmented reality windshield displays can usher in a new era of driver safety. At least until gamers get a hold of them. In theory, this is an excellent idea. Pedestrian and cyclist warnings, arrows pointing to important landmarks, messages warning us of…

“In the zombie apocalypse, I died of cooking soup.”

The Indie Stone’s calamitous path has finally brought it to a place where Project Zomboid is available to play as a cut-down alpha. Those who have pre-ordered the game (and more recently, those who have bought their other games to get a PZ pre-order) will by now have received an email with the link and…

Having a Runny Nose is No Excuse for Not Playing MineCraft

Notch’s excellent decision to make MineCraft built out of boxes creates marketing ideas he never imagined, unless he’s prone to sinus infections. Reader Frank tells us the story behind these lovely little snot boxes. “My sister started making cute covers for those cube tissue boxes and when a friend of mine said she should make…

Android Owners Can Grab Plants Vs. Zombies Today for Free

Kicking off a two week exclusive launch at Amazon.com, Android owners can score Popcap’s award-winning flower defense game Plants Vs. Zombies for free today only. Grab it before the price rises to $2.99 at midnight!

Which Classic Controller Do You Wish Would Be Brought Back?

Between the Kinect, the Wii and the Xbox, modern controllers can pretty much accomplish any task a gamer sets their sights on—but don’t you sometimes miss the way a certain old school system handled? Do you ever wish they’d re-release the Power Glove, long for the familiar grey, black and red boxiness of the original…

Skarlet Is Mortal Kombat‘s Bloodiest Kombatant Ever

Mortal Kombat fans love women. Mortal Kombat fans love blood. So here’s a woman made of blood. Born of a Mortal Kombat II Kitana programming glitch, Skarlet is the latest mortal kombatant to spring from rumor into life, joining Ermac the Scorpion programming glitch and Blaze, the burning figure from the background of the second…

When a Great Demo Hides a Bad Game

In today’s Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Dracosummoner talks about a game that sold him with its demo and then let him down in full release. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever played a demo that you absolutely loved, one that instantly convinced you to go out and play the real game…

Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Next Year Will See A Return To Metro 2033‘s Horrific Russian Underground

They call it their flawed masterpiece. Released last year, 4A Games’ Metro 2033 gave gamers a chance to experience a different sort of apocalypse, one untainted by Western views and culture. Metro 2033 was an apocalypse shaped by old world fears, and Russian ethos. Based on the novel of the same name by Russian author…

Talk Amongst Yourselves: Majora’s Mask

Today’s Talk Amongst Yourselves will be the best Talk Amongst Yourselves of all time. After all, anything that includes the subtitle Majora’s Mask is the best of its kind. Celebrate the excellence of today’s TAY by commenting here about video games. Side-quest: Go to #TAYpics and post suggestions of which public-domain painting we should use…

Nintendo Clearing Out Nintendo DS Lites for $99.99

The Nintendo DS Lite, rumored to be discontinued, is getting a price drop, down to $99.99 effective June 5, according to a Nintendo press release that went out this morning. That’s a $30 drop for history’s first non-ugly DS, a model that’s been supplanted by the DSi, the DSi XL and the $250 brand-new 3DS.

Relax, Spirits Will Guide You Through Your Next Wait In Line

The iPhone seems packed to the rafters these days with loud, violent shooters and games about money. So let’s take things a little slower, and relax with a puzzling platformer about some cute spirits instead. Spirits is an iPhone and iPad game by Spaces of Play that, at the risk of crudely comparing the game,…

Square Enix Making Social Game for the Nintendo 3DS

What is Heroes of Ruin? It is Square Enix’s stab at social gaming on the Nintendo 3DS. The game features a band of four heroes taking on monsters and other creatures that pop up in games involving bands of heroes. Heroes of Ruin uses 3DS StreetPass functionality for an in-game “Traders’ Network” that lets players…

How Call of Duty Elite Works, and Why You Might Be Paying For It

The people who make Call of Duty keep promising that they won’t charge you extra to play their hit game against other people. They shoot down any fears that they’re going to turn CoD multiplayer into a pay-per-month subscription service, a la World of Warcraft or HBO. But starting this fall, series publisher Activision will…

What Is This Man Thinking?

The Force | LAS VEGAS, NV: Filmmaker George Lucas appeared at CinemaCon earlier this spring. (Photo: Ethan Miller | Getty) Hands On With StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm ‘s Campaign, Now With More RPG and Space Yetis StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is a mutated beast of last year’s real-time strategy game infused…