The iPhone’s Best Free Games Right Now

Apple’s App Store is flooded with short burst games to play… but what if you don’t feel like paying for the privilege? Here’s a selection of some of the best free gaming the iPhone and iPod touch have to offer. There’s no lack of free things to play, but why waste your time with iPhone…

Kinect Is A Blessing For This Family

With a (mostly) disappointing launch lineup and some niggling problems, it’s easy to get down on Microsoft’s Kinect. Try sparing a thought, though, for the parents of a four year-old autistic boy, for which it’s been a revelation. Gaming Nexus writer John Yan has penned an account of his experiences playing with Kinect with his…

The PlayStation 3 Is For Giant Babies

At least, that’s what these new commercials for the console in Latin America are saying. The Move one below is…OK, but boy that top one is something special. It’s great to see some quality PlayStation ads again that don’t involve Kevin Butler. It’s not that I don’t like Kevin, it’s just…he’s very brash, and Sony’s…

Sega Promotes Awareness Of Endangered Hedgehogs By Being Cruel To Them

Britain’s hedgehog population is in crisis, with many falling victim to roadkill. Sega staged a “hedgehog road crossing” to raise awareness of the creatures, and, of course, Sonic Colors. Here one’s fitted with red booties. Seen via Daily Mail.

Travel Time

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let’s put this Wednesday to rest with a little off topic conversation as we enter… Kotaku After Dark! My day was busy writing about video games, buying video games, playing video games and making travel arrangements for the holidays. If you’re in the New York City or Orlando areas…

Victor Declared In Hack-Kinect Bounty Hunt

Adafruit, which laid a $3,000 bounty for the first open source driver for the Kinect, has declared a winner. “Hector” delivered the goods, verified as workable by a third party in the hacking community. He’s putting the $3,000 toward “hacking tools and devices for a group of people he works with closely,” on projects such…

EA Has Warp, Gatling Gears & Fancy Pants Adventures On Tap For 2011

Electronic Arts will be hitting Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC users hard next year with a trio of newly unveiled games, sci-fi stealth action game Warp, twin-stick shooter Gatling Gears and Flash-based platforming game The Fancy Pants Adventures. Warp comes to us from the newly signed EA Partners member Trapdoor. The XBLA, PSN…

Website Names Tip Plans For SSX Sequel

SSX, the snowboard supercross game, was one of the most acclaimed series on the defunct EA Sports Big nameplate, but hasn’t seen a new release since a poorly received Wii title in 2007. That might change with “SSX Deadly Descent.” Superannuation, cataloger of all prospective video game paperwork, noticed five sites all have been registered…

Which Version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Comes Out On Top?

If you care deeply about pixel counts and frame rate—or are simply still on the fence about which console version of Call of Duty: Black Ops to buy—don’t miss Digital Foundry‘s deep technical tear down of the Xbox 360 and PS3 releases. Eurogamer’s techy side examines the two console versions of Treyarch’s latest Call of…

Night Vision Cake Makes For A Prestigious Birthday

Was it really a year ago that Modern Warfare 2 was the it-release, and its night vision goggles were the opulent special edition premium. This cake doesn’t celebrate that anniversary, it’s for “stepTOF,” from his girlfriend. Sent in by TEAMCHINA.

Fan-made New Super Mario Bros. 3 Looks Super Insane

What if you took New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS and hacked a complete recreation of Super Mario 3 into the thing? Well, why stop there? Why not put some Metroid and Legend of Zelda in there too? Well, someone did that, creating the hacked New Super Mario Bros. 3, which not only…

The ‘Marvel Brothel’ Sex RPG Makes A Pimp Out Of Prof. X

Gross worlds collide when horny comic book fans get their hands on RPG Maker 2003. Not a dream! Not a hoax! Marvel Brothel is a fan-made role-playing game that turns Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters into a mutant whorehouse. Yes, in Marvel Brothel, the leader of the X-Men, Charles Xavier, decides that the best…

NHL Games Now Streaming Onto PS3

Much like its MLB TV application that launched earlier this year, the PS3 now features the NHL GameCenter application, so hockey nuts with a subscription can follow games live on their console instead of their PC. NHL GameCenter lets viewers see live regular season games (through the away team’s broadcast feed), with some playoff games…

Why We Don’t Do Review Events

To: Ash From: Crecente Another story about Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops review event has kicked off a new round of navel staring on Twitter. Something similar happened late last year when we wrote about these events. And I’m sure many times before when they’ve been written about. For the record, we declined to…

A New Breed Of Survival Horror Comes To The Forest

Sony’s Tokyo Jungle has some competition in video gaming’s survival of the fittest. Wildlife: Forest Survival from Electronic Arts lets you play as an alligator, hawk, rabbit, fox and more in its downloadable wildlife game due next year. Coming to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in spring 2011, Wildlife: Forest Survival lets players…

Black Ops Dev: Glitchers Are “Douche-Bags,” Who Want To Be “Internet Nerd Famous”

David Vonderhaar is not a happy guy. The design director for Call of Duty: Black Ops’ multiplayer is busy dealing with the baffling lag problem in the PC version, so please stop “Twit-bombing” him with video of glitches and exploits. “I’m not going to talk about it publicly,” an obviously pissed Vonderhaar said in the…

Guwange

This Is Ignition’s Canceled $20 Million Baby

Ignition Entertainment shuttered its Florida studio earlier this month, deep-sixing the game the 70 developers were building, which was an FPS rumored to have cost $20 million. Video of the game, “Reich” has surfaced. Develop magazine has three clips of the game, which showcase the protagonist’s powerful telekinetic abilities and the real-time physics engine handling…

Last Chance to Win Some Hibernation Entertainment

It’s cold season and there is absolutely no reason to go outside again until April. Take this short survey, email the last question to [email protected], and you’ll be entered to win a $150 gift certificate to Game Stop. That will buy enough games to keep you entertained for the next few months. Standard contest rules…

The Roast Of Mario Is Not Safe For Work

Click to viewWhen Bowser opens Mario’s foul-mouthed roast at Peach’s Castle with insult gags like “Mario, you beat me so often, I feel like Toad’s dick!” it can only go downhill from there. And it does. Mario’s enemies, rivals and esteemed colleagues, from Bowser to Kirby to a ‘faced Luigi, rip into the star of…