New Left 4 Dead 2 Level Appearing At PAX, As Are We

In an un-extraordinary coincidence, Valve announced that a new level of Left 4 Dead 2 will be playable at next week’s Penny Arcade Expo — on the same day Fahey and I did a lot of PAX booking. Valve announced that “Dark Carnival,” the third of the November PC and Xbox 360 game’s five campaigns…

The Mario Scape Pepsi Built

Witness the spectacular aftermath of a Coke versus Pepsi “display war” in a California grocery store. Reader Chris writes that his sister snapped a photo of what she described as a huge 8-bit Mario display Pepsi built out of cases of their drinks at the Safeway in Rohnert Park, California. Keep in mind this isn’t…

Kotaku Talk Radio: BlizzCon

Hear PlayStation 3 debates featuring live calls from Kotaku readers. Listen to our Mike Fahey reveal the secrets of his strange interview with Ozzy Osbourne. Take Crecente’s podcast-naming challenge (Kotalku???). Laugh at my jokes. It’s our newest podcast episode. If you missed the live call-in show you can stream the full episode right here or…

Enter to Win a Copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum

Holy cats—everyone’s talking about the latest Batman game. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, you become the Invisible Predator armed with Batman’s gadgets and abilities and battle the Joker’s crazies, including Harley Quinn, Victor Zsasz, and Killer Croc. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, you can roam freely and explore every inch of Arkham Asylum—the infamous island is presented…

Raven Hit By Layoffs, Some Point to Lackluster Wolfenstein Sales

Raven Software, developers of recently released Wolfenstein and soon to be released Singluarlity, let 30 to 35 go from their Wisconsin studios, sources tell Kotaku. In a prepared statement released to Kotaku today, Activision confirmed that Raven, a subsidiary of the company, had laid people off today, but declined to confirm or deny the number…

Heavy Rain Story Could Expand Through DLC

While the full story of PS3-exclusive Heavy Rain will ship on the disc, developer Quantic Dream is toying with the idea of further exploring the game’s diverse cast of characters through future downloadable content. Quantic Dream founder David Cage spoke to Videogamer.com at Gamescom last week about the possibility for additional, post-release downloadable content for…

How To Hype A PS3 Game Advantage

If only, for Sony, it was always so easy to argue that the PlayStation 3 version of a game is the superior edition. When Sony launched the PS3 in 2006, stressing the advantage of games being on the console was certainly was part of Sony’s plan: Flaunt the positives of games being pressed on Blu-Ray…

The Pictures, Still and Moving, Of Gamescom

Gamescom was a massive event, both in scale and attendance with a quarter of a million people packing 1.3 million square feet over a week. There were plenty of things to do and even more to see. If you missed our exhaustive coverage, and aren’t really into reading, you should take the time to pick…

Want To Work In The Japanese Gaming Industry? Here’s How

It’s a regular occurrence. Open my email, and time after time, there the question is, staring me in the face: How do I work in Japanese gaming? Heck, I dunno. I don’t work in the game industry, but rather, cover the game industry. If you want to ask me about that, do it. Fire away!…

Command & Conquer 4 Gets A Real Name

After introducing the next C&C game with a placeholder numbered title, EA Los Angeles has settled on a name that only slightly evokes thoughts of sparkly vampires: Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. EA let the fans choose the name they felt best fit the game, and I’d say the fans made a very wise…

Gameloft Lines-Up Five For The PSPgo

Gameloft’s focus is downloadable titles, and with the PSPgo sharing said focus, the company is ready with a line-up of five titles for 2009, including an online multiplayer version of UNO. Not one to miss the downloadable games party, Gameloft aims to be front-and-center this holiday season on the PSPgo and original PSP. The company…

Tune In, Call Up, Talk Back: It’s Time For Kotaku Talk Radio

In this week’s episode of Kotaku Talk Radio we’ll be talking about Blizzcon, used game sales, World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, why some people need to stop complaining about Playstation 3 Slim and a taste of an upcoming chip tune concert in San Francisco. To listen, head over to our BlogTalkRadio page. Unfortunately, you can…

Amazon Does Video Game Deals This Friday

Tired of arriving late to the Amazon deals party? Well now you’ve got two days to prepare for Amazon’s next all video games Gold Box event. You should all know how this works by now, but just in case we’ll explain. At 12:01AM Pacific time on Friday, August 28th, Amazon will post a special discounted…

2K Play Brings Indie Games To Live Arcade

Forget Xbox Live Indie Games. 2K Games is bringing independent titles to Xbox Live Arcade directly, with The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom and Axel & Pixel due out this fall. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom and Axel & Pixel are two games you wouldn’t expect to come from 2K, but they certainly seem to be…

Diablo III’s Witch Doctor Conjures Up Memories, Concerns

Played for a bit at last week’s Gamescom, I found my short time with Diablo III’s Witch Doctor initially exhilarating, but over time it left me questioning what exactly I liked about Blizzard’s famed franchise. The Witch Doctor, Blizzard tells us, dispatches opponents with “terrifying precision, assaulting his victim’s mind and body with elixirs and…

Megan Fox Wants To Play Transformers With You

You’ll be a sentient robot that can transform into a vehicle, and she’ll play one of Hollywood’s hottest young actresses despite that weird thumb. Megan Fox takes on all comers this weekend on Xbox Live. Perhaps the thumb will be to Miss Fox’s advantage in Saturday’s Game with Fame session, during which she’ll be challenging…

Funcom’s The Secret World Becomes Less Secret At PAX

We’ve been chomping at the bit for more on Funcom’s modern-day MMO The Secret World ever since the milkshake-ruining trailer appeared in April, and the developer plans to deliver at this year’s PAX. Instead of bringing the player to the fantasy, The Secret World brings the fantasy to the player, taking place in a modern…

Cosplay Shodown: Gamescom Vs. BlizzCon

August was packed to the gills with conventions. And conventions mean cosplay. But who had the best in August? BlizzCon’s “purple girl” seems to be leading the charge for all things Warcraft, while in Germany the all-female cast of Metal Gear Solid were rocking Gamescom. Here’s your chance to decide which of the gatherings brought…

Red Faction: Guerrilla’s New Bagman Mode Explained

So what’s this new Bagman multiplayer mode coming in next month’s Red Faction Guerrilla Multiplayer Pack? This trailer explains it all. I’m a little bit worried about playing a game over Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation network that requires players to keep hold of a bag. If the reasoning behind my trepidation isn’t abundantly…

@Brian Crecente: Well, this letter’s not supposed to be for people who necessarily agree. It’s like the persuasive writing jive we learned in school, ”as with a girl’s skirt, keep it long enough to cover the subject, and short enough to keep it interesting”.