No Game Is This Scary

Night of Sacrifice is an upcoming horror game for the Wii. A melodramatic, alarming teaser trailer of bikini model Saya Hikita playing through it showed the 21-year-old ending up in tears. But the game can’t be that scary, can it? Not much of an avid horror game player, Hikita is the title’s “spiritual idol” (a…

Paper Gordon Freeman Can Save Humanity In Under Seven Minutes

The Half-Life series is a fan favourite for a ton of reasons, but the main one is that its universe and story are so strong. Strong enough, even, to be re-told in under seven minutes using…paper. Below is the first Half-Life, re-enacted using little paper men, and told in 2:14. Below that is Half-Life 2,…

Study: Child After Child Is A Gaming Junkie

Playing video games is normal. A new study tries to pinpoint when it isn’t, claiming that one in ten are addicted. A two-year study followed the gaming habits of over 3,000 Singaporean school kids, revealing that one in ten were “addicts”. According to the study, kids who became addicted to games saw an increase of…

Hacker Holds Video Game Hostage

A player of the popular MMO Runes of Magic has hacked the game’s databases, made demands of its German operators and is effectively holding the personal details of its users hostage. In a fit of indignant rage, user augustus87 apparently took it upon himself to attack the servers of the game’s Western operator (it was…

Japanese Youth Shunning Sex For…What, Exactly?!

The Japanese birthrate continues drop to record lows. Is it because the nation’s youth are wrapped up in video games? A recent study carried out by famed sex researcher Kunio Kitamura reveals that 1 in 3 young males between the ages of 16 and 19 are “not interested in sex”, either stated that they “hate”…

X-Men Destiny Screen Shots

CTA Digital Assault Rifle Visual Guide

Weak Signal

To: Luke From: Owen Re: Edgar Allan Poe Is Not Impressed An MMA Challenger Walks The Line Of Violence – And Reality For Electronic Arts, It Means ‘Mothers I’d Like to Frighten’ Kinect Boxing Match Ends In Tactical Knock-Out Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Backstage at Nintendo World Winners Fight In The Shade Of 600 Arrows Launched…

In Video Games, What’s Worth A Wiki Entry?

The amount of video-games related content on Wikipedia is staggering; I can’t recall the last time I entered a title into its search and could not find a complete entry. As Wired writes, however, not everything passes moderation. Should it? Mark Brown, writing for Wired UK, brings up the matter of MUDs – multi-user dungeons,…

OK. What Would You Do About It?

Rep. Tim Murphy discussing the Tucson shootings. We have a Constitution that prohibits government restraint of most creative works, and guarantees a right to own firearms. Both can be called problems as well as values. Thanks truthtellah for the pullquote.

The Week in Games: LittleBigWeek

Two heavily anticipated PS3-only releases arrive this week: Mass Effect 2 comes to that console, and LittleBigPlanet 2 hits the shelves. Monday (Jan. 17) Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time (WiiWare) Glory Days – Tactical Defense (DSiWare) Tuesday (Jan. 18) LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3) – The sequel to Media Molecule’s PS3-exclusive platformer will add in…

Kotaku’s Top 5 List of Top 10 Lists

Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •Fighting Games’ 25 Hottest Women [UGO] Chun Li’s the obvious No. 1, Cammy’s No. 2, Sophitia’s No. 12 and Ivy Valentine is No. 18. Totally…

A Most Appropriate Cross Promotion

Fresh produce purchased this morning by Kotaku reader Stephane L. Not redeemable for store credit at GameStop.

An MMA Challenger Walks The Line Of Violence — And Reality

Supremacy MMA touts a motto of “unlicensed, unrestricted and uncompromising,” meaning brutal combat and graphic content is part of the game’s no-holds barred presentation. But with gameplay rooted more in arcade fighters than sports, should it also add “unrealistic”? Supremacy MMA, under development by Kung Fu Factory and due in late spring, volunteers that its…

Supremacy MMA Screenshots

For Electronic Arts, It Means ‘Mothers I’d Like to Frighten’

A Dead Space 2 viral campaign launching this weekend took plenty of chutzpah, I’ll give it that. Electronic Arts brought in 200 middle-aged mothers under the auspices of a focus group looking at a new game. They were, aptly, horrified. Four videos that released yesterday show moms walking into a conference room where they’re greeted…

Kinect Boxing Match Ends In Tactical Knock-Out

In Sweden, a team of cops stormed a couple’s home after a neighbor reported that five people were beating the crap out of a woman. Turns out they were all playing boxing on Kinect Sports. At least I hope that’s what Robert Johansson and his five friends were playing; otherwise they should have been arrested…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Facebook Games From Hell

It’s pretty clear, whenever we write about them, that many of you don’t care for Facebook games, certainly some of the more popular ones. Today’s your chance for revenge. Our mission today: Create your worst Facebook game imaginable. The sky is the limit, but I want to see total caricatures. At their worst, Facebook games…

Sunday Comics

Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Jan. 10 – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Jan. 10 – Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik published Jan. 10 – Read more of Penny Arcade Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull published Jan.…

Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves

This is Kotaku’s official forum for you to talk about video games. This paragraph also is a palindrome. Emordnilap a si osla hpargarap siht. Semag oediv tuoba klat ot uoy rof murof laiciffo sukatok si siht. I didn’t say it was a palindrome composed of more than 50 percent actual words. Hisilarn is the weekend…