A Chinese Toy Company That Specializes In Making American Soldiers

Toys coming out of China have long had a bad rap. There’s often talk of lead paint, dangerous and sometimes exploding parts, but the overall argument against Chinese toys is that they’re boring and low quality (not Western branded toys made in China). Despite all it had going against it, a small Chinese toy company…

Your SNES Carts Might Be In Trouble. This is How You Can Save Them.

Old Nintendo hardware and cartridges may last forever, but the batteries inside some games (used to save progress) do not. With an expected lifespan of only ten years (though they can last much longer), we’re obviously well past the point where you can expect all save games to work for a console like the SNES.…

Grand Theft Auto V’s Trailer Gets Remade With Some More Familiar Characters

You’ve seen Grand Theft Auto V’s real trailer, starring Grand Theft Auto V’s real characters. Now see Grand Theft Auto V’s trailer starring Grand Theft Auto IV’s characters. And yes, there’s a point. The point being, comedy. GTA V Trailer with Niko Luis and Johnny [Jantsuu, thanks Adrian!] Click here to visit our Grand Theft…

The Ouya Is Real. Here’s An Unboxing.

After millions of dollars, a ton of excitement and a spoonful of trepidation, the first Ouya consoles begin shipping to developers today. Yup. Today. Meaning this thing ceases to be a wispy project existing only on your monitor, and becomes a real console. One that’ll soon be jostling with all kinds of products for attention…

Boy Asks For 3DS For Christmas, Gets Box Full Of Rocks Instead

It might not have been as saucy as a collection of sexy images, but it still makes for a tale of Christmas heartbreak: according to a report on Fox, a boy from Talladega woke up on December 25 to find a Nintendo 3DS box waiting for him. Only there was no 3DS inside. Instead, it…

Halo & Aliens Are A Lot Closer Than You Think

I’ve lost count of the actual number of times Aliens have been pitted against someone in a comic. It’s surely enough that it doesn’t matter any more, and we can just throw them in the ring against anyone. I mean, if they can fight Batman and Robocop, then surely Master Chief—who fights in space for…

This Shenmue Statue Won’t Be Looking For Sailors

Next year, collectible company First4Figures—who basically do nothing else but specialise in video game statues—will be paying tribute to a Dreamcast icon, Shenmue’s Ryo Hazuki. While it doesn’t look like it comes with a forklift, it does have his trademark jacket and band-aid. No word on price or specific release date just yet.

The PlayStation 2 Ceases Shipping In Japan, Begins Well-Deserved Victory Lap

We’ve joked about its refusal to die before, but today, finally, the console begins its march into the history books. Having sold over 150 million units since its release in 2000, the PlayStation 2 has today ceased shipping to Japanese retailers, meaning once remaining stock is gone, it’s gone The console was first released in…

The Nintendo 64 Finally Gets A Pro, Dual-Stick Controller

Oh boy, don’t get me started on the Nintendo 64 controller. I hated it. Hated the weird layout, hated the fact the analog stick would always get loose. These days, Nintendo wisely offers alternatives to their “wacky” controllers in the form of Classic and Pro pads for the Wii and Wii U respectively, but we…

Play The World’s First Proper RTS Game, Right In Your Browser

Snobs will try and bring up Herzog Zwei, but really, the RTS genre as we know it starts with Westwood’s classic Dune II, which, while playing a little rough around the edges these days, still looks amazing. Being so old, though, many of you might not have played it. Not to worry. Here’s a version…

Maybe The WarZ Is More Fun If You Use Cheats…

It’s easy to lose sight of it amongst the politics and apologies, but The WarZ isn’t a very good video game Its inspiration/competitor DayZ is an exercise in tension and mood. The WarZ, on the other hand, is an exercise in boredom and broken code. Making things worse, my first five games all ended in…

14 Years Later, Unseen Footage Of The Nintendo 64 Kid’s Freakout Emerges

As part of an interview with Mashable, Brandon and Rachel Kuzma—the kids at the centre of the famous “Nintendo Sixty-Fooouuurrrr” Christmas video—have shared some extra footage of that infamous morning that until now hasn’t been seen. It shows Mrs. Kuzma revealing that, to go with the system, two games have been hired for the kids…

The Year In Kotaku

When you look back on all that’s happened in the gaming world—games released, scandals unveiled and surprises unleashed—it’s been a long, long year. Let’s take a look back at what that year has been like for Kotaku Pretty soon after I was hired here at Kotaku, I started doing weekly round-ups of our best content.…

This Second Life Water Birth Is Practically A Miracle. A Wonderful, Horrifying Miracle.

Via our lovely video editor Chris Person comes this absolutely baffling video of a ‘birth’ in Second Life, an MMO. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be beautiful, weird or funny. Maybe a bit of all three. Someone out there thought it was a good idea to record this, though. The real question…

The Year in Sports Video Games

What’s up, buttheads. It’s me, Biff. Look, I know my sports betting advice this year didn’t play out so well. Sorry if you bet your adjustable-rate mortgage balloon payment on one of my lead pipe locks. How was I to know I had a printer’s error? Really, that stuff was the Gray’s Sports Almanac from…

This Five Year Old Kid Accidentally Got A 3DS Full Of Porn For Christmas

The dangers of buying used, people. According to 9News, this Christmas, the Giles family found themselves horrified after their five year old son, Braydon Giles, found racy pictures on his refurbished 3DS. Presumably, the pictures came from previous owners who utilized the system’s camera function. (…who the hell DOES that? For porn, I mean.) The…

Learning To Love Easy Mode

A couple of months ago, if I started a new game—no matter what it was—I’d start off on a high difficulty. At the very least, I’d go for normal, but only if it was clear that normal would provide a challenge. I reasoned that nowadays ‘normal’ is geared toward a more general audience which may…

Clementine was probably the most powerful, emotional experience in The Walking Dead. This is how she was developed.

New posts from Kirk Hamilton and Jenn Frank continue The New York Times’ review of games this year.

Born And Raised A Game Developer

You might know the name Victor Ireland—the outspoken ex-head of Working Designs was responsible for translating and publishing a number of beloved Japanese games, like the Lunar series and Alundra But you might not know his son, Broderick Ireland. Broderick, an 18-year-old designer who just released his first game on the Xbox Live Indie Marketplace,…