Lorde’s ‘Royals’ + The Legend of Zelda = A Sweet Love Song

Ah, young love. Check out this adorable mash-up by Nerdist of the ridiculously catchy ‘Royals’ by Lorde and Zelda—not only is the result charming, but it’s also chock full of references to the Nintendo franchise. I apologize if this gets stuck in your head the rest of the day. At least, the original song—which is…

A Committee Of Five People Decides Which Pokémon Live And Which Die

Five silhouetted figures sit in a smoke-filled room, sipping brandy as they vote upon the most important issues of our era: which Pokémon will make it into the next Pokémon game. Every few minutes they make the decision: who will live… and who will die? That’s how I like to imagine the Pokémon Selection Committee,…

Your Space Battles Shaped The Stories In The New EVE Online Comic Book

EVE Online is known for being a video game universe where players come first. Their alliances, decisions and protests change the shape of the fictional galaxy and the huge multiplayer game it lives in. And starting next year, the player-driven sagas of CCP’s hit MMO will be providing the fuel for a new comic-book series…

Oh Prime, What Has The New Transformers Movie Done To You?

Last night during its annual pre-New York Comic-Con party, Hasbro unveiled the first toy tie in for 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction. It’s Leader Class Optimus Prime, and he makes me sad. This isn’t general Michael Bay-bot bashing. After three movies I’ve learned to appreciate what he’s done to bring my childhood heroes into the…

Three More Pokemon X & Y Mega Evolutions Leak

Though we’re rather close to the official release to Pokemon X & Y, there are still new snippets of information that are bubbling up. Today, for example, CoroCoro magazine scans that showcase three new Mega Pokemon appeared on Serebii. Obviously, if you don’t want these Pokemon spoiled, you should probably stop reading now! Otherwise, you…

In An Era Of Online Launch Fiascoes, Gamers Deserve Some Rights

On October 1, President Obama took the stage at a press conference and did something unusual for the leader of the free world: He explained why a website wasn’t working. Specifically, Obamacare’s overloaded online service healthcare.gov, which hadn’t had a particularly smooth launch. For a moment, the president sounded indistinguishable from a PR rep for…

You Never Played The Stanley Parable? Shame On You. Try It Next Week

The Stanley Parable is a remake of the fantastic 2011 Half-Life 2 mod about a man named Stanley. The creators, Galactic Cafe, really don’t like sharing anything from the game, as you can see in their trailers, so now they’ve gone even further and created a standalone demo showing off the behind-the-scenes of remaking their…

Deus Ex Is More Expensive On Wii U Because Of ‘Exclusive Features’

Bad news ahead for Wii U owners who were looking forward to the upcoming director’s cut of Deus Ex: Human Revolution—the game will cost $50 on Wii U, even though it’s $30 on other platforms. Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut, which will be out on October 22 for Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3,…

Gone Commentary: The lovely exploration game Gone Home will receive a free update on Steam that adds commentary from the developers, easter eggs and possibly some interviews according to Rock Paper, Shotgun.

Today’s Deals: How To Save On Xbox One Games, XCOM iOS, Blade Runner

We’ve added a few great Xbox One promotions to our moves list, but now it’s time for a c-c-combo. We mentioned yesterday that Microsoft has a selection of Xbox One and Xbox 360 available for pre-order, and doing so will net you a $10 Microsoft Credit: Skylanders SWAP Force Starter Pack + $10 Gift Card…

No press allowed at the newly-announced Valve-hosted Steam Dev Days conference happening in Jan 15-16 in Seattle. For $95, game creators get to talk shop, check out Steam OS, prototype Steam Machines and more. But if they announce Half-Life 3 there (they won’t), how will anyone know? (Twitter, probably).

What comes after Mega Evolution in Pokemon X & Y? For Blastoise, evolution has gotta mean more cannons, right? You can never have too many cannons. (Memebase viaAndrew Kane)

Saints Row IV‘s Next DLC Stars An Evil Dominatrix

See that scantily clad dominatrix? She’s your new villain this month in Saints Row IV. You’ll be fighting her and her army of sex-workers. Seriously. Check her out: Remember the expansion we were going to get for Saints Row: The Third? It was called Enter The Dominatrix. Volition is still calling it by that same…

The Biggest Walking Dead Story Ever Starts This Week

It’s become a bit of a cliché to say that living people—and not the shambling undead—are the most interesting thing about zombie fiction. And while that’s true in The Walking Dead, what makes the series stand apart is how it makes its characters and readers relive human history. Now, the latest issue of the hit…

Report: Grand Theft Auto V Coming To PC Next Year

We’ve always kind of assumed that Grand Theft Auto V will be out on PC at some point in the near future, but Rockstar has stayed quiet about the possibility, even after loads of speculation and murmurs from outside companies Today, the rumor cloud gets a little bit thicker. Gaming website Eurogamer says “multiple industry…

GTA V Would Make A Tremendous Horror Film

If Rockstar ever decided to switch gears and turn their open-world extravaganza into a nightmare-inducing horror flick, this would be a good start. Check out this trailer, put together by Kotaku reader Adrian Jurek, and just try to tell me you wouldn’t watch this movie. “You were my best friend!!!”

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: Zarnyx catalogs some of her unsettling Animal Crossing experiences. And ElijahTheWeathered questions the nostalgia lots of folks have for past video game eras And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY Classic and in the TAY: Open…

Surprise! Double Fine’s lovely turn-based RPG Costume Quest just popped up on the iTunes store Between this and The Cave last week, could Psychonauts iOS be on the horizon? Here’s hoping they can get the rights to Day of the Tentacle, too.

What Makes Reading the Same Old Comics Feel Good (and Bad)

Mainstream comics efforts live or die on their ability to spin up fantastic new worlds and keep the stories within going for as long as possible. But too much familiarity is the enemy of reader loyalty. Nothing makes folks stop bring comics faster than coming across something they feel like they’ve already seen. This week,…

The Fables Game Comes Out Tomorrow! What The Hell Is Fables?

The folks behind the astounding The Walking Dead games kick-off a new serialized adventure tomorrow with The Wolf Among Us, based on an award-winning comic book about fairy tale characters. If that sounds childish and prosaic to you, you’ve been reading the wrong fairy tales. Strewn about the stories crafted to entertain us as children…