Happy Fiftieth, Ryu!

They grow up so fast, don’t they? Street Fighter characters, that is. One day, they’re just a bunch of pixels in your favorite arcade game. Next thing you know, they’re being cast in live-action dramas including one regrettable movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme Sigh. Enjoy middle age, Ryu. It’s pretty damn impressive if you’ve been…

They grow up so fast…

Yesterday, everyone was doing it. All seven of my online friends were playing the same game. Me? I had Lego: The Hobbit sidequests to take care of.

People Sure Are Mad That Kim Kardashian’s Game Wasn’t Working

Sometime during the weekend, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood stopped working for some players. Given the game’s popularity—it’s currently the number one free game on iTunes—it’s probably not surprising that some fans got miffed that their game time was interrupted. Even so, getting death threats over something like this is kind of ridiculous. The outrage is mostly…

My Favorite Mobile Game, Ruined By Free-To-Play

Brilliant in concept and nearly flawless in execution, Sword & Poker and Sword & Poker 2 were two of the best reasons to own an iPhone. With the release of the free-to-play Sword & Poker Adventures, the whole thing has gone to shit. The first Sword & Poker game, available still for $2.99 on iPhone,…

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—…