Kid Icarus: Uprising is a Gaudy, Goofy, Surprisingly Hardcore Shoot-‘Em-Up

When Nintendo announced Kid Icarus: Uprising at last year’s E3, I remember the enthusiastic response from the crowd. “Hooray!” they said. “A new Kid Icarus game!” And yet when we paused to think about it… “Hooray? A new Kid Icarus game?” That initial enthusiasm was actually a little puzzling. It was nice to see Nintendo…

Kid Icarus: Uprising Screenshots

Mortal Kombat Getting Touchscreen Fatalities for Its PlayStation Vita Version

Yesterday’s confirmation of a Mortal Kombat game for Sony’s upcoming handheld didn’t offer much in the way of details. There was cover art and not much more. Boo. But MK co-creator Ed Boon talks in depth about bringing the revitalized fighting game to the Vita over on the official PlayStation Blog. All of the content…

More Senators Abandon PIPA, But Lead Author Says Blackout Sites Wouldn’t Have Been Affected

Support for PIPA, the Senate version of the notorious Stop Online Piracy Act, is dwindling faster than most media outlets can keep up with them. If you woke up to an article today that reported that X number of Senators have dropped their support for the Protect IP Act, you can assume they under-counted. Many…

Shank 2 Sticks It To Players February 7

Shank 2, the sequel to Klei Entertainment’s stylish 2D pulp fiction beat-em up, gets the drop on the PlayStation Network and PC February 7, with the Xbox Live Arcade version lagging a day behind.

Dungeons & Dragons Online‘s First Expansion Pack Travels to the Forgotten Realms

The most disappointing aspect of Dungeons & Dragons Online was that the game was set in Stormreach instead of the much more popular Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Turbine rectifies that mistake with the first expansion pack for the six-year-old MMO, Menace of the Underdark Why has it taken six years for Dungeons & Dragons Online…

What Difficulty Setting Do You Play On, or How Hard Do You Like It?

With today’s news that BioShock Infinite will include a special old school difficulty mode, commenter Blessrok is curious about what difficulty setting you play on by default? Are you an easy-going gamer, or do you like to be punished? Tell us in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. I don’t know about anyone else, but for…

Protest Game Super SOPA Bros. Shows a Future Without Any Super [CENSORED] Tributes

We’re used to seeing tons of Mario tributes on the internet, in live action videos or custom-made browser games where Nintendo’s mascot does things he wouldn’t normally do. The Japanese publisher seems to turn something of a blind eye to most of these. But SOPA probably wouldn’t. It’s that supposition that powers NoLan Labs’ Super…

Talk Amongst Yourselves

Ah, the cool refreshing goodness of discussing video games in Kotaku’s official forum. Nothing like a little iced TAY to quench your thirst for discussion. Sorry about that. I say we all blame Pan1da7 for this excellent Ice Climbers TAYPic. Join in the fun and submit your own TAYpic. Please do your best—or your worst—and…

This Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition Trailer Celebrates the Folks That Waited

Did you forego picking up Fallout: New Vegas and its downloadable content in the hopes that Bethesda would release some sort of Ultimate Edition featuring everything rolled into one? Then February 7 (10 in Europe) is your day to reap your patience’s reward. As someone that only played about an hour of Fallout: New Vegas,…

Minesweeper Is Much Better With Zombies

Have they added zombies to Pac-Man and computer solitaire yet? I am afraid to check. But I should not be, because they have added zombies to Minesweeper. That turns out to have been a terrific idea. The result of this mad combination is called Zombie Minesweeper: A Love Story In this iOS game you are…

Permanent Consequences Up BioShock Infinite‘s Difficulty Like It’s 1999

Today’s gamers crave choice. Choice in how they progress through a game; choice on how they develop their character. The gamers of 13 years ago needed not these things, which is why Irrational Games is including the punishing 1999 Mode in BioShock Infinite In 1999 Irrational Games released System Shock 2, a game that began…

Is This the First Pokémon Plus Nobunaga’s Ambition Cosplay?

Ambition | TOKYO JAPAN: Akina Minami shows off her new threads. (Photo: Game Watch Impress) Resident Evil: Retribution Trailer? No, You Mean Blatant Sony Ad. Movie trailers are for hyping upcoming flicks. That’s their raison d’etre. The Resident Evil: Retribution preview did more than that: it’s also flogging Sony hardware. More » You Might Soon be…

Soulcalibur is $12 on the iPhone, and That’s On Sale

Namco Bandai has released a port of the original Soulcalibur on iTunes, but the $12 price tag might drive some folks away. I say get it now before the release sale ends and it jumps to $15. Plactice mode!

First Look at New Pokémon Toys

Upcoming Pokémon game Pokémon Plus Nobunaga’s Ambition is getting the usual array of Pocket Monster merchandising. Today, the first figurines were displayed in Tokyo: a Mitsuhide and Articuno figurine and a Nobunaga and Zekrom figure. Each is priced at ¥2,800 (US$36) on will go on sale March 17. There was also a life-sized Nobunaga statue…

Iconic Japanese Anime Recreated Shot-By-Shot

Slam Dunk, first a manga and then an anime, was instrumental in popularizing basketball in Japan, as well as other parts of Asia. Students at the National Taiwan University of Arts paid tributed to the anime’s opening with this brilliant shot-by-shot recreation. It’s not 100 percent perfect, but it’s damn close. Nice work students! 灌籃高手真人版…

Does the World Really Need this Sega Meatbun?

No. But the world is getting it. To mark the 20th anniversary of puzzle game Puyo Puyo, Sega is releasing Puyo Puyo meat buns in Japan. Last fall, Square Enix did something similar for Dragon Quest. The result was both horrific and amusing. Expect the same for PuyoPuyo. ぷよぷよ [Sega]

Look How Far We’ve Come! These Are Computer Graphics from the 1980s.

It’s only been three decades, but it might as well have been three hundred. These Japan Computer Graphics Lab demo reels show just how far computer graphics have come in such a short span of time. The graphics look dated, sure, but not bad. Many of them have more visual style than current “realistic” generation…

Watching the New Pokémon Trailer with an 8-Year-Old

Nintendo released another trailer for its upcoming collaboration with Koei Tecmo, Pokémon Plus Nobunaga’s Ambition The game isn’t exactly what people are expecting, and when I showed my 8-year-old this trailer for the first time tonight, neither was he. “What is this?” Mini-Bash asked. “It’s a new Pokémon game,” I said. “It doesn’t look very…

Resident Evil: Retribution Trailer? No, You Mean Blatant Sony Ad.

Movie trailers are for hyping upcoming flicks. That’s their raison d’etre. The Resident Evil: Retribution preview did more than that: it’s also flogging Sony hardware. The movie stars Milla Jovovich and is based on the horror games from Osaka-based developer Capcom. Sony Pictures is releasing Resident Evil: Retribution, the latest entry in the successful RE…