Learning To Like (Some) Video Game Chores

I was skeptical about the new(ish) 3DS game Fantasy Life back when our own Jason Schreier praised it as “the best to-do list I’ve ever played.” Too many games feel over-stuffed with too many chores as is—too many-no-fun-fetch-quests, too many collectibles, etc. But I’ve come around with this game. I explain my change of heart…

Assassin’s Creed Initiates, the semi-reliable web-based service used to track players’ progress in Assassin’s Creed games, will be down for extended maintenance over the holidays according to Ubisoft, which is making—good news—all those Initiates-tied gold treasure chests accessible to all players with online connections. (The chests usually require players to be at certain Initiates ranks…

Hitman Is The Official Worst Host Of A Christmas Party

You probably don’t want to attend a Hitman-hosted Christmas party. Unless you like tons of murder and awkward physics, of course. Then I guess you do. Playful YouTuber Robbaz celebrates Christmas once again by playing through video games for us, this year wandering through a Christmas party in Hitman: Blood Money. The mission—You Better Watch…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Secret Santa 2014: The Great Gift Reveal • #GamerProblems • Shin Sekai Yori is a Great, Believable, Coming of Age Dystopian Anime TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.

​How To Bring More Holiday Cheer To The Sims 4

Well, it’s about that time of year when you get to see a lot of your family. Your virtual family, that is. Despite The Sims 4’s many warm and fuzzy qualities, though, the game doesn’t come with a ton of stuff to help put you in the mood for the holidays. Modders to the rescue!…

Pokémon’s Pallet Town Theme Played Perfectly On The Game’s Note Mats

That’s how you do it. A perfect execution of Pallet Town’s theme by Kemos Tay, using the note mats in Pokémon ORAS‘s Secret Base, with the bass line being played on the bottom screen and the main melody on top. You can even hear the furious mashing of the D-Pad. Pokemon OR/AS Secret Base –…

UK Politician Upset About “Racist” Parody Game

A student game designed “to encourage political discussion amongst young people” has upset UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage. This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK The game, UKIK (which you can get on Google Play for free), sees a fictional character called Nicholas Fromage kicking immigrants off the White Cliffs of Dover to save…

A Game Where You Can Snuggle Snowmen

Anyone can build a snowman. A good snowman, though? That requires ice-cold nerves, high-level spatial reasoning, and a dash of love—or so A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build claims. Oh, and look at that: there are hugs! I bring this upcoming Steam game to your attention largely because it’s one of the most quietly…

Hobbit Sword Glows When It Detects Wi-Fi

WarSting is a replica of Bilbo Baggins’ famous sword Sting, with a twist: instead of glowing blue when it detects Orcs, it glows blue when it picks up an open wi-fi network. You can’t buy WarSting, but you can make it. Make: have a guide up showing how all you need is a particular brand…

A Ton Of Cheaters Just Got Banned From Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a cheating problem. It can be infuriating to come up against rule-breakers and code-busters in regular matches, but there’s a silver lining here: Valve is doing its damndest to fight back. If you go on any major Counter-Strike board right now, you’ll notice a trend: thread upon thread upon thread either…

Santa Is Trying To Deliver Presents To Everyone In Skyrim

Just because not everyone celebrates Christmas doesn’t mean Christmas can’t come to everybody. Even the NPCs in Skyrim. PC Gamer decided to create a new character in the game, dress them up as Santa and try and deliver presents to every NPC in the game in a single night. Those presents include: Next, I mull…

Five Smash Bros. Basics That You Should Master

So you want to be a Smash Bros. expert. Great! But becoming a better player isn’t just a matter of fast reflexes. It’s also a matter of knowing what to do. You know what they say about knowledge and power, right? Earlier this month we covered Super Smash Academy‘s first “basics” video, which covered things…

Not Even Cinema Sins Can Resist The Power Of Groot

In the midst of tearing apart Guardians of the Galaxy for its regular “Everything Wrong With” series, Cinema Sins discovers why none of the movies’ obvious issues really mattered. He is Groot. I’ve watched the movie a dozen times since it came out on Blu-ray, and while it’s mainly become a pleasant way to put…

A Team Fortress 2 Fan Film Nearly As Good As Valve’s

I always figured heists and car chases were more the domain of games like Grand Theft Auto, but this slick video makes a pretty convincing argument that they’d be unfathomably rad in Team Fortress 2, er, too. “Red Zone” is a machinima film by Dunkle, an extremely talented wielder of the Source Filmmaker’s arcane magicks.…