Arkham City‘s Official Map App Gives Aid to Trophy Hunters

One of the more frustrating aspects of Batman: Arkham Asylum, for me, was the lack of a minimap in the hud. I appreciated the clean view afforded by a minimalist HUD, but it made hunting up Riddler Trophies and clues, with the aid of a GameFAQ, of course, a chore marked by constant pausing. While…

Pumpkinheads

Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •The Most Epic Halloween Gaming Pumpkins of All Time [Ranker] The fact Ranker included 10 links to Kotaku has absolutely noooooo bearing on my choice…

A Guide to Getting Batman’s Arkham City Many Downloadable Add-Ons

By our count, there are 14 alternate costumes or characters you may play as in Batman: Arkham City, through a variety of promotions, pre-order bonuses, and timed-exclusive downloadable content available now. The “good” news, I suppose, is that all of this stuff will be available at some point—for a price. So if you’re intent on…

Man Gets 27 Years for Killing Crying Baby Who Interrupted His Game

William Johnston was on this Earth for only one month. Andrew Keith Johnston, for 19 years. And he’ll be spending the next 27 in a Tennessee prison, whose population generally doesn’t look favorably upon child killers. Andrew Johnston, of Normandy, Tenn., pleaded guilty on Monday and was sentenced on Thursday. In October 2010, he was…

How StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm‘s New Units Will Balance Multiplayer

The huge multiplayer update coming to StarCraft II with the second installment, Heart of the Swarm, gives Blizzard an excellent opportunity to balance the three races and take advantage of missed opportunities. Let’s see what holes the new multiplayer units plug. It’s not that the balance in StarCraft II is currently completely ruined, but it…

Wild Card Weekend

So, yeah, the infamous wheelbarrow picture from Friday gave a lot of you premature ‘shopulation. I figure this is as good a time as any to try something I’ve been saving for a rainy day: the wild card weekend. In the more than 18 months we’ve had the ‘Shop Contest I’ve refrained from making Kotaku…

Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves

I hate to be a scrooge, but let’s get on with standard time. This waking up in total pitch darkness at 6:30 a.m. is for the birds. I’ve been ready to fall back for about a month. Thanks to Shadoroch for this morning’s TAYpic. Thanks to ‘Shop Contest all-star pan1da7 for his numerous submissions too;…

An “Everlong” Ending to a Two-Day Blizzard Celebration

This is pretty much exactly how I imagined BlizzCon 2010 would end when I first heard that Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters would be playing us out. Just about the same time the Foo Fighters took the stage at the BlizzCon 2011 closing ceremonies, I realized I was incredibly hungry and would likely collapse…

Sunday Comics: Subjective Objective

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Oct. 17.—Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Oct. 18.—Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by…

Let’s Talk About the 1,700 Pound Orc Shaman in the Room

Lording over the Mega Bloks booth at BlizzCon 2011, Doomhammer held high, World of Warcraft’s Thrall would have been much more impressive in block form if it wasn’t for the long line of people waiting to get their picture taken with him. He’s the savoir of two worlds, people! Mega Bloks ran a contest during…

Put a Ring On It Winners

Last Sunday the ‘Shop Contest said “I do” to Bejeweled’s cartoon-crazy cubic zirconium. We’ve got 20 winners—and one animated .gif—plus Ruizc inside! Getting everything started, Zak Canard (19) went well off the map and looked to another PopCap title to create his bloody-good shop. SphessMahreen (16) took a ridiculous-sized gemstone up to an even more…

Here’s the First Dumbass Thing the Mainstream Media Said About Grand Theft Auto III

Ten years ago today, Grand Theft Auto III released for the PlayStation 2. It became, in the words of Time “a national obsession.” In the mainstream media, it has since served as the No. 1 scapegoat for the corruption of youth through violent video games. Rightfully considered an epochal entry in video game design, the…

I Wield the Mighty Doomhammer

Does this make me Warchief? Weighing in at 18 pounds and forged from steel, Epic Weapons’ Doomhammer replica is one mighty meat tenderizer. If I can scrape up $300 we might have a new banhammer on our hands. The Doomhammer is the weapon of the Orc warchiefs in World of Warcraft, passed down from father…

Doomhammer Gallery

How EA Sports Kept Loose Lips from Sinking Blitz

For 18 months, Dave Ross surfed forums and blogs and dreaded what he’d find. He couldn’t tell his kids what he was working on, lest they say something at school. Every day, when Ross booted up his computer at EA Sports, he clicked on the shared drive over the studio’s intranet, and then on the…

Domain Registrations Sound Certain that Assassin’s Creed Movie is Coming

Variety reported on Wednesday that Sony Pictures and Ubisoft were in talks to make an Assassin’s Creed movie. Turns out Sony’s already registered 16 domains for such a picture, making this seem like a done deal. The domains were all registered on Oct. 20, the day before the Variety story, reports domain name eye-in-the-sky Fusible.…

One Hour in the Paws of a World of Warcraft Pandaren Monk

Join me as I go on a mystical journey on the back of a giant turtle, learning the ways of the new Monk class, the ways of the Pandaren race, and how strange it is to play a melee character in World of Warcraft without an auto attack. Blizzard may take forever to finish their…

What the Discerning Diablo III Fan is Wearing at BlizzCon 2011

Every year geek clothing companyJinx uses BlizzCon as an excuse to roll out their latest and greatest Blizzard-inspired fashions. This year’s Demon Hunter coat and Tyrael hoodie make me want to be a better, thinner man. Over the years Jinx has grown from a company that made licensed t-shirts to a company that designs and…

The Cel-Shaded Stylings of NBA 2K12‘s DLC

Somewhat lost in the shuffle with Thursday’s announcement of NBA 2K12‘s “Legends Showcase” DLC is the unique visual style the extension will carry. People seem to be fixated so much on the backstory of this and 2K’s motivations, and rightly so. This is the first paid post-release DLC extension for a 2K Sports title; it…

The Blizzcon 2011 Costume Contest Winner Must Be Seen to Be Believed

In a show filled with people dressed in cardboard copies of World of Warcraft armor a woman dressed up as the Adjutant from Starcraft completely stole the show at last night’s costume contest. I was on my way to the Kotaku Meetup party last night while the costume contest was going on, but I did…