Jerry Bruckheimer’s Game Studio, Which Never Produced A Game, Is Officially Closed

Try to hide your shock, people. The game studio founded in 2007 by Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer is officially no more. Granted, the cleverly named Jerry Bruckheimer Games never actually produced a single game in almost six years, but still. A representative from Bruckheimer Films revealed the news to Gamespot, reportedly saying…

Have You Heard About The Graphics In Crysis 3?

Whoo boy, those Crysis 3 graphics. I knew they were good, but I had no idea you could get so enthusiastic about it. I guess I underestimated the passion of bros Now excuse me—I’m feeling the urge to make some modifications to my PC. Bro Team: Crysis 3 [Machinima]

The Art Director On Journey And Flower Just Formed His Own Studio

As unique as they are, the most striking thing about games like Flower and Journey may be their art styles. Now Matt Nava, the art director on both titles, has departed thatgamecompany to form his own development house, Giant Squid Studios, with the Los Angeles-based film and TV studio Ink Factory. Nava is the creative…

Blonde Twins Playing Iron Maiden On Harps While Standing In A Ruined Brick Building

This performance of “Fear of the Dark” brought to you by Camille and Kennerly, the magnificent harp-handlers behind such classics as Blonde Twins Playing The Elder Scrolls Theme On Harps While Standing In A Forest, Blonde Twins Playing A Metallica Cover On Harps While Standing In The Desert, Blonde Twins Playing Final Fantasy Music On…

Kids Reveal The Real Flaws Of Free-To-Play Games

If a certain system can be used to trick children into spending thousands of dollars, then it’s probably not a very ethical system. I won’t stand here and tell you that microtransactions are the devil. I won’t even call them a necessary evil. “Evil” is too strong a word. Cliff Bleszinski did a good job…

The Kickstarter Game Delver’s Drop Needs To Get Made, If Only For Its Wonderful Music

Development on Delver’s Drop has been going since before last September, which is when Kotaku spent an entire video calling it “Deliver’s Drop.” Pixelscopic has turned to Kickstarter for funding, and with ten days left to go they’ve already got over two thirds of their goal. Looking good, people! I was immediately attracted to the…

This Trailer For The Portal Web Show Aperture R&D Is Scientifically Delicious

Nobody likes movies based on video games, with very few exceptions. That said, we’re far from giving up on fan-made web shows based on video games. Case in point: this trailer for Machinima and Wayside Creations’ Portal series, Aperture R&D Evidently Machinima is calling it Portal meets The Office. As long as they don’t run…

How I Learned That I Suck At Civilization

I had never played Civilization V prior to last week. Not to any meaningful degree, at least. I grew up with Nintendo and, to a lesser extent, Sega (plus Microsoft, come the aughts) providing my gaming goodness. I was a toddler when the original Civilization hit computers in 1991. Going from fast-paced kiddie-crack like Sonic…

Assassin’s Creed IV Is Out October 29, According To This Leaked Trailer [UPDATE: Trailer Removed]

Via GamesRadar, this is the leaked first trailer for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag In the trailer, a grizzled pirate describes Captain (and assassin) Edward Kenway. “There was a time I thought myself the deadliest scourge of these seas,” the pirate says. “But this man…” We then see Kenway hacking, slashing, and doing his assassin…

This Week in the Business: What if the NRA Was More Like the ESRB?

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Imagine if the NRA had the same relationship with the gun industry that the ESRB has with the game industry.”—Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford talking about the ongoing gun debate in America and how the NRA should behave like the game…

Have A Few More Beautiful Legend Of Zelda Movie Posters

Artist Marinko Milosevski has created another trio of Legend of Zelda posters, adding A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword to the list of games that he’s created designs for. That list also includes games like Metroid and Metal Gear Solid, which, like Zelda, still have not been made into awful Hollywood…

Al Gore Made A Video Game… Sort Of

In July 2011, after a somewhat clueless Al Gore keynoted the Games for Change conference in New York, Kotaku wrote that the former vice president should try playing a video game. In March 2013, Gore announced that he had done one better and created a video game instead. And guess what it’s about? Okay, so…

The Moneysaver: Tomb Raider Everything

Kotaku’s twice weekly roundup of the best discounts, combinations, offers and incentives in video gaming is brought to you by Dealzon Downloadables Green Man Gaming • Tomb Raider Collection is $24 (list $60). Includes 9 Tomb Raider games: Tomb Raider I-IV, Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and Tomb Raider: Underworld • The Last Remnant…

Hello Kotaku! I’ll Be Your Editor Again This Weekend.

Hey, Kotaku. It’s me, Mike Rougeau, again. I’m going to be your editor for the weekend. That means that Owen likely got fired again, or maybe he’s just missing. I honestly have no idea In case you don’t know me, I’ll reintroduce myself: my name is Mike Rougeau. That’s me and Ricky the Dog again…

Owen Good is in Madison, Wisc. for the world’s largest Tecmo Super Bowl tournament. Follow the action live here.

The Best Of Kotaku, This Week

Welcome to The Best of Kotaku, where Tina usually rounds up our best reporting, funniest stories, and otherwise favorite Kotaku content of the week. But Tina’s on vacation! Never fear. I’m the one collecting these gems. I dare say it was a good week. A wild one, to boot. (The art up top is from…

Let’s Guess What Happens When In The New Season Of Game Of Thrones, Based On The Episode Titles

Have you heard? Game of Thrones, the fantasy book-series-turned-television-show comes back on HBO soon. At the end of this month, to be specific. Most of the episode titles are out now, though. Courtesy of Winter Is Coming, they are: Ep. 301 – Valar Dohaeris Ep. 302 – Dark Wings, Dark Words Ep. 303 – Walk…

Multiplayer gaming can be a drag thanks to jerks and harassment. Here are some tips to make the experience a better one.

The new They Might Be Giants album Nanobots is a lot of fun. It’ll be out next week, but you can stream it here

Check out this cool essay about games, free jazz, and learning to improvise.