The Unceasing Beauty Of Portal 2

Aperture Science, man. The only abandoned, robot-infested lab I’d ever want to visit more than once. This video is part of “Other Places,” a series from Ultrabrilliant detailing the unattended motion and stillness of unattended video game backdrops. It’s super cool. As it happens, I’ve been returning to Portal 2 a bit lately, and remain…

Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches: The Kotaku Review

Dunwall is a hard city full of hard people—a plague-rotted concrete prison inhabited by exhausted souls who regularly seem shocked that they’re still alive. It’s easy to forget, while stalking rooftops and slashing your way through Dishonored‘s starring city, that Dunwall only exists when you’re in it. No people reside here; there are no homes…

There’s A Lot To Like In This Assassin’s Creed IV Stealth Demo

Stealth. Long has it been the bugbear of the Assassin’s Creed series. The more swashbuckling, pirate-ship helm-ing and tree-climbing Ubisoft adds, the less they seem to mind that the stealth in their stealth game just isn’t that fun. Might that change this time around? Maybe? Hmm. IGN has posted a new walkthrough video in which…

A Novel About the Time All the Space Invaders Machines Went Away

If you remember the heyday of giant arcade halls filled with stand-up coin-op machines, then you’ll also remember that one day they seemingly all disappeared. What was it like to live through that bygone era? The Final Day at Westfield Arcade—a new novel by Andy Hunt—explores what it felt like to have a digital childhood…

Spartan Assault May Be Different, But It Tastes Like Halo To Me

Running across alien terrain in sexy armor, firing machine guns, tossing sticky grenades, mounting turrets, jacking vehicles and slaughtering grunts and elites by the dozens? This is Halo, only now we’re up above it instead of down in it. Halo: Spartan Assaultis a twin-stick shooter crafted by Microsoft’s 343 Studios and Vanguard Entertainment, the developers…

This Is How You Cosplay Metal Gear Rising Characters

Baltimore hosted the 20th Otakon convention last weekend, full of pop culture celebration and cosplayers. One particular group of four people—Pro Voltage—did a hell of a job showing off their Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance cosplay, dressing up as Raiden, Monsoon, Mistral and—in this case, transforming to—Bladewolf. Check the gallery below for more Bladewolf (that thing…

PS3 and Xbox 360 owners will be getting demos for Rayman Legends on August 20th. You can check out Kotaku’s preview of the 360 version right here

Moneysaver: Brigmore Witches, 5 GTA’s For $10, Breaking Bad

Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger, But she ain’t messin’ with anyone who doesn’t read the Moneysaver. Deal Leaderboard Grand Theft Auto III + San Andreas + Vice City + IV Complete [Steam] ($10) | Green Man Gaming | Use code GMG20-4B9NY-L4FEN Today’s Release DLC Dishonored Brigmore Witches [Steam] ($8) | Green Man…

Watch An Hour Of Arma 3‘s Massive Military Simulation

The people making the upcoming sandbox military sim Arma 3 recently did a big livestream in which they demoed a number of the game’s features. Give it a watch, and see what’s got Luke so excited (h/t PC Gamer)

A Smash Bros. Mod That Makes Captain Falcon’s Final Smash Glorious

Not to say Captain Falcon’s final smash isn’t already neat, but it pales to the absurdity and awesomeness of what this mod by Nudolf can make it into. We’re talkin’ like, smash sans car, smash using Wario’s motorcycle and more. It’s great. You can see what I mean in this video compilation by versat13,where the…

GameStop: $90 Xenoblade Is ‘Based On Current Market Value’

Why is GameStop charging $90 for Xenoblade? Because that’s in line with the marketplace, they say. Yesterday, we reported that GameStop had restocked copies of the critically-acclaimed Wii RPG and was selling them pre-owned for $90 a pop. We reached out to GameStop for comment, and they got back to us this afternoon with the…

What It’s Like to Have an Xbox One At Home Now (If You Work For Xbox)

If you’re a powerful person at Microsoft, you may already have an Xbox One in your home. Such are the perks. What’s that like? Two of them talk about it. Of course they’re only saying nice things, but this is the best we have for now… These new (first?) impressions of home Xbox One ownership…

On one hand, yes, the whole “point-n-click adventure Kickstarter” thing is getting kind of cliche. On the other hand, Alum looks pretty neat, poor English aside. Check it out here.

In Saints Row, Everyone’s Beautiful in Their Own Way—Except ‘Big Bob’

Saints Row IV is rather proud of the fact that its character creation options are 100 percent sex-unrestricted. You want to give a dude the Karlie? Go for it. Lady with a chinstrap beard? All in a day’s work. The price of such freedom, however, are some hideous creations taking place in the “Inauguration Station.”…

GTA V‘s Los Santos Travelogue Is Almost As Fun As Being There

Our collective trip to beautiful (and incredibly dangerous) Los Santos isn’t for another month, but we can explore the sights and sounds of the city and its surrounding areas early through the official interactive travelogue. It’s filled with so much greatness. What sort of greatness, you ask? How about 360 degree views of some of…

Fresh off the announcement of his new stealth game Volume, Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell answered some questions about his latest endeavor. Go here to see what he thinks about Hideo Kojima, letting people make stuff in his games and all these other indie stealth titles.

Creators of the ‘StarCraft MMO’ Seek $80,000 to Make It Free-to-Play

StarCraft Universe, the “StarCraft MMO” concept that got a bunch of Blizzard’s lawyers itchy and nervous a couple of years ago, is aiming toward a full fledged release—with Blizzard’s permisson—and is looking for $80,000 in Kickstarter funding to do so. StarCraft Universe did release a version—SCU: Chronicles of Fate—over Battle.net earlier this year, but the…

Indie dev Derek Yu saw one of his games praised and one criticized in a recent feminist critique of video games. Out of that emerged arefreshingly calm and open-minded exchange between developer and critic on Twitter. It’s well worth a read.

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: Datacide explains why Microsoft’s shifts on Xbox One policies have made him cancel his pre-order for the next-gen console. Dear Video Game Expert—Marsh Naylor’s column that answers your burning questions in most humorous fashion—tackles the idea of video game bad guy afterlife. And MasterChef_117 writes…

The Powerfully Moving That Dragon, Cancer Is Now A Ouya Exclusive

Thanks to an investment from the Ouya team, Ryan Green and Josh Larson’s interactive exploration of a family coping with a young child’s terminal cancer diagnosis comes to fruition in 2014. The game will be exclusive to the Android home console. I cried more reading about Jenn Frank playing That Dragon, Cancer than I ever…