Sony will be staging a live reading and musical performance of The Last Of Us in Santa Monica on Monday, July 28 at 10pm ET. The performance will feature the game’s voice actors and is overseen by the game’s creative director, Neil Druckmann. Livestreamed on PSN/Twitch/YouTube. More details at the PlayStation blog

Reminder: the Destiny beta’s going bye-bye for a bit, for scheduled maintenance. The preview test of Bungie’s sci-fi shooter will be down starting today and returns on 7/23, the first day Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners will have access to the beta.

Deals: BOGO 3DS Games, Superhero Blu-rays Assemble, Xbox One

Select 3DS games are buy one get one free today at Best Buy. It’s not the entire library of course, but there’s Bravely Default, both Pokemon games, Link Between Worlds, and more. [BOGO 3DS Games] If you don’t mind heading into the store, Target will take $15 off a $40 game if you put down…

Some Sports Fans Upset ESPN Is Airing Video Game Tournaments

This weekend, ESPN2 aired a preview for the grand finals of Dota 2’s The International, the 10 million-dollar tournament for the very popular video game. The move is kind of a big deal—arguably, it grants competitive gaming more mainstream legitimacy. But not everyone was happy to see Dota 2 on ESPN. You can watch the…

‘You Want Goku? Have Goku’

(Fake Sakurai Miiverse post via Nentendo)

Gmail Thinks JJ Abrams Is Trying To Scam Me?

Huh. Episode VII as giant phishing scam. I hadn’t considered that!

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Cooking with TAY: Cacio e Pepe (Italian Mac n’ Cheese) • Starsector: A Story of Indie Development Done Right • This is One of the Best Eras of Anime, Stop Saying It Sucks • 4 Dark Souls 2 Lore Gaps I Hope the DLC Will Fill TAY…

One-Woman Choir Takes on Game of Thrones

The finale to Game of Thrones’ fourth season had some really nice music. Now, if we take that music, and add one of YouTube’s greatest cover artists, what we get is something truly magical. Malukah is mostly known for her renditions of various video game tunes—she even composed a song for The Elder Scrolls Online—…

​A Teasing Look At Star Wars: Episode VII‘s First Ship

We’ve already seen a few signs that Episode VII of the Star Wars saga will be embracing handmade practical effects in the form of aliens, creatures and costumes. But the newest sign is a big one. It’s a ship. One big enough for a Rebel Alliance pilot to climb into. The glimpse at the spacecraft…

The Skylanders Dark Edition Isn’t A GameStop Exclusive This Year

Last year I gave Activision flack for making its special Dark Edition version of Skylanders: Swap Force a GameStop exclusive. The $99 Skylanders: Trap Team Dark Edition carries no such constraints, so if your children don’t get one it’s merely because you’re some kind of monster. Debuting to the public at this week’s San Diego…

Terrifyingly Large Insect Found in China

No, I wasn’t planning on sleeping tonight anyway. Or the rest of this month, for that matter. Earlier this month in Sichuan, China, the Insect Museum of West China went on an expedition and found the largest dobsonfly of its kind, Xinhua reports. Look at those mandibles. They are pure nightmare fuel. If you are…

Brutal Doom Is About To Become Even More Brutal

I didn’t think it was possible, but there you go. There’s a new fifteen-minute video out for Brutal Doom’s upcoming v20 update which, sadly, still hasn’t got a release date. The clip is pretty awesome though: All those splatters. Those flying limbs and bodies. That chainsaw. It’s really amazing how much SGtMarkIV can squeeze out…

Report Shows Just How Disgusting Fast Food Can Be

Over the weekend, fast food companies in China have come under attack after an undercover report by the media revealed that the companies could be serving expired meats — some that may have been expired for over a year! Shanghai’s Dragon TV reported that a major meat supplier for fast food brands such as KFC,…

Yokai Watch Used to Score Sex, Says Dubious Magazine

Let me say that I don’t believe the suspect magazine article in question. However, I do think that this is a rather interesting, if not totally unfortunate, example of just how popular Yokai Watch has become in Japan. Note: This article contains content some readers might find objectionable. Earlier this year, Kotaku first reported that…