Nintendo “Piracy” Store: Now You See It, Now You Don’t

Well, that was quick. Real quick. On April 11, retail shop Otacon Village was slated to open for business. The store, located in Osaka’s geek area of Den-Den Town, featured two banners on the front of the shop that read, “R4, Majikon, TT DS”. As Kotaku posted previously, the R4 cartridge itself is not a…

First Pokémon Black & White Screens

Nintendo’s latest Pocket Monster series, Black & White, will be out later this year in Japan. Here are the first official screenshots from the game. You’ve seen some of these are scans, yeah, but scans can be crappy sometimes, and this was one of those times.

Final Fight: Double Impact Micro-Review: Take Two and Call It a Classic

Beat-em-ups of the ’80s were long on action and short on story. Like Capcom’s Final Fight, re-released this week for consoles. Just how ridiculous is the idea that a former pro rassler could be elected to high office in America? Final Fight: Double Impact, a downloadable title pairing the eponymous game (starring a mustachioed politician…

Darth Vader Contemplates One More Round Of Advance Wars

As seen on 20×200

Microsoft Supplier Factory Treats Workers Like “Prisoners”

A damning report from the National Labor Committe, released earlier this week, has highlighted atrocious working conditions at Chinese company KYE Systems Corp, which among other things manufactures control pads for the Xbox 360. The NLC’s report claims that KYE, an electronics manufacturer that supplies hardware for companies like Microsoft (the firm’s biggest single customer),…

Dogs Show Their Inferiority When Faced With An iPad

Surely by now you’ve seen how well a cat can perform when faced with Noby Noby Boy and a virtual piano on an iPad. But what about a Welsh Corgi? Brace for massive head tilting and pure canine cowardice.

Kotaku Off Topic: A Friend For Blech Beard

Hey, it’s Kotaku Off Topic, where we… aww, you’re probably playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live right now, aren’t you? Getting in those last few hours worth of original Xbox games. Fine, we’ll do tonight’s anything goes discussion without you! Hey, humans. Got any suggestions for artwork to liven up Kotaku Towers West? All I…

A Who’s Who Of Who’s Having The Biggest Impact On Games

Steve Jobs? You’ve probably heard of him. Same with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. But what about the other 48 people on Game Developer’s list of “most important contributors to the current state of the game industry”? Game Developer’s list of the 50 people attached to “important accomplishments of the last year (give or take) [..]…

PlayStation Network Gets Another ‘Virtual Console’ Platform In Japan

Japanese PlayStation 3 owners are already enjoying some of the TurboGrafx-16 library, courtesy of Hudson’s “PC Engine Archives” that let modern gamers experience a handful of 16-bit classics. One more console is being added to Hudson’s list: the SuperGrafx. According to a report from Andriasang, sci-fi shooter SuperGrafx title Battle Ace will come to the…

My Painful Break-Up With Games

In May of 1998 I grabbed my primitive digital camera, hopped on a MARTA train, and took my first stumbling steps as a video game journalist. A year later I wanted nothing to do with video games. I started writing for Kotaku in November of 2006, but my first role as a video game journalist…

Scenes From A Phantasy Star Universe Phuneral

Tonight, original Xbox games goes offline when Microsoft pulls the plug on Xbox Live support for its last-generation console. Some stalwart Phantasy Star Universe players recently experienced the pain of losing their online connection. Sega announced its plans to take the PC and PlayStation 2 versions of Phantasy Star Universe offline in January of this…

Gears of War 3 Trailer Is No Longer Too Gray

Enemies of desaturated color design wailed that the new Gears of War 3 trailer is too gray. To those people, I direct you to devilboy666x‘s remixed Gears 3 trailer. A new color has been added! How many more you need?

Looks Like Demon’s Souls Is (Finally) Coming To Europe

European PlayStation 3 owners without the courage or wherewithal to import last year’s brilliant Demon’s Souls may be in luck. Namco Bandai appears to have picked up the brutal, dark role-playing game for your continent. A new listing at Germany’s Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle ratings board all but confirms the long nightmarish wait for Demon’s Souls for…

Today’s Update On The Great Modern Warfare Developer Bailout

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward continues its slow crumble today with the departure of two more key team members, sources close to the studio tell Kotaku. Longtime Infinity Ward employees Mark Grigsby and Paul Messerly have both left the studio, the team’s lead animator and lead character animator, respectively. Grigsby had…

The Last Magic-Marker Day Note

Let’s try this: ugh… back to typing More Stories You May Have Missed Alienware M11x Review: Ultraportable Gaming Game Changers: Sequels That Scared The True Fans Why Did Apple Break a Broken System?

Game Changers: Sequels That Scared The True Fans

Yesterday 2K Games panicked some gamers with news that the turn-based tactics series X-Com will return as a first-person shooter. What other classic video game franchise have had their genres changed, and how did they weather the transformation? We’re calling the phenomenon genre bending. You take a game known as being one of the best…

Kotaku In Your Inbox, On Your Twitter And Up In Your Facebook

Reading Kotaku through a browser is so obvious. Now, we’ve got a handsome e-mail newsletter. Subscribe via the “Get Kotaku in your inbox” on the lefthand column of this site. Plus: Follow us on Twitter? Fan us on Facebook!

A Rash of Kirbys

Observe: a view into a world where Kirby is common and popular. “The 126 Faces of Kirby” by Buci01 at Deviant Art [Via Press The Buttons]

Pokemon Black White

The Lost Kotaku Podcast

No, not that Lost. Just lost. As in technical problems. As in the Kotaku Talk Radio featuring me, Major Nelson and a Madden guy lost due to a a) magnetic anomaly b) plane crash or c) computer malfunction. The bad news from our friends at CBS Radio is that this week’s episode, which was recorded…