Battlefield 4 ‘Illegal’ in China, But It Wasn’t For Sale There Anyway

To the surprise of no one, China’s Ministry of Culture has formally banned Battlefield 4—though “condemned” may be a more accurate term considering the game never was formally for sale there. Anyway, the game is henceforth “illegal,” according to reports from the country. China.com, one of the country’s oldest and largest online news sites, reported…

Don’t Forget To Vote! Voting for our Reader’s Choice Award will be open until Midnight Eastern this Sunday night. If you haven’t yet voted, be sure to. We’ll be publishing the results early next week.

Track: Vacation | Album: Get Olde | Artist: Crying Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Our demented friends at sister site Deadspin have once again sifted through public records in order to present a very disturbing list of things people got stuck in various bodily orifices in the past year. Read here. Warning: it’s not safe for the faint of heart.

Maybe You Won’t Hate Breath Of Fire 6 So Much

Earlier this year Capcom announced the eagerly awaited sixth installment of its popular role-playing game series would be an online game for mobile and PC. Fans were angry. Will fresh information and screens of Breath of Fire 6: Guardians of the White Dragon make them happy? Oh come on, it’s got Nina in it. I…

Ballpoint Universe Brings Doodles To Life And Sends Them To War

Ballpoint Universe brings together a collection of weird drawings of bullets, boots and spaceships and throws them together into a shoot-em-up. It’s a cool art style, and the game has a weird humor that matches it perfectly. Ballpoint Universe: Infinite was funded on Kickstarter and is available now on Steam, Desura and the App Store.

Stephen’s Top 10 Games of 2013

Sorry, Super Mario 3D World. Hundreds? Hell of a game. You were grand, Tearaway. I liked so many games in 2013 that I can’t put all the great ones on my Top 10. But I can put, uh, 10. (Actually, I’m going with 11.) Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Pirates! More modern-day stuff that only…

Another Christmas Ruined By A Porn-Filled Nintendo 3DS

Another year, another Nintendo handheld packed with pornography under the Christmas tree. Last year it was a five-year-old and a used 3DS. This year it’s an eight-year-old and a supposedly brand-new 3DS. According to a report from WAVY10 News, Tom Mayhew purchased a “new” Nintendo 3DS for his eight-year-old son from a Walmart in Hampton,…

Video-Game Violence: What Does It Mean? I wrote an article about meaningful game violence as part of The New York Times‘ year-in-review series. It focuses on a few games we’ve talked about a lot here, from The Last of Us to BioShock Infinite to Consensual Torture Simulator

There’s A Little Catherine In The Latest Persona Q Trailer

Chibi-fied characters from Persona 3 and 4 aren’t the only things to drool over in the latest trailer for Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth for the 3DS — there’s a little Vincent in there as well. A very little Vincent, along with some of his sheepy friends, and while the characters only appear in…

Predictions For 2016’s Winners and Losers Of The New Console Generation

Bookmark this post and re-check it in 2016. Eminently quotable games business analyst Michael Pachter doesn’t just host fun shows on GameTrailers. He crunches numbers, gives stock advice and forecasts the future of the gaming industry. Today, he revealed his mathematical model’s predictions for the new console generation. The following is from an e-mail he…

He’s A Kung Fu Renegade Cop, Hacking Time To Kill Hitler

Sure, there have been plenty of movies about killing Hitler. But this one has Vikings. And dinosaurs. And a power glove, Thor, street punks, a disgruntled police chief… What I’m trying to say is that this movie has everything. If you believe in the dream that the Laser Unicorns are pitching, you can help them…

Deep Down’s Next-Gen Living Treasure Chests Look Terrifying

Deep Down will be a free-to-play online RPG for the PS4. It will have knights and disturbing HD mimics. I think I liked them more when they were just sprites or silly 3D models, ugh The lovely creatures debuted in the latest trailer for Capcom’s RPG, dubbed the “Prologue trailer.” Take a look: Fight scenes…

Nintendo’s Taking The eShop Down For Repair

Troubled by connectivity issues since Christmas Day’s influx of new console owners, Nintendo’s eShop for the Wii U and 3DS is in dire need of maintenance, so it’s coming down at 4 PM Eastern for a 12-hour repair session. Nintendo announced the down time earlier today on the company’s Facebook page. We sincerely apologize for…

Here’s what’s going on Talk Amongst Yourselves, our reader-written blog: Christmas is completely over now. Let’s get back to work. Aestevalis starts us off with an exhaustive primer on the next Tales of… game. Stormborn’s Pokemon One A Day features Growlithe, looking more adorable than ever, if that’s possible. Oh, and Jollybootsofdoom takes on Godzilla…

The Top Mods of 2013, As Chosen by PC Gamers

Last year, it was Black Mesa. Which mod did the community choose as their favorite this year? Let’s find out. If you recognize the game at the top, you probably know the answer already: yep, the Just Cause 2 Multiplayer mod managed to wow just about everyone with its reckless, chaotic, and hilarious gameplay, snagging…

Former World Chess Champion Gives His Take On eSports In 15 Tweets

Russian chess grandmaster and former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is in Seoul to participate in a local sports fair. And since South Korea is the capital of eSports, it was inevitable for him to weigh in on League of Legends and StarCraft, which are essentially the number one rivals of chess. Here are his…