LEGO Universe MMO Log Three: A Dark Hero Rises

This week’s installment of our four-part LEGO Universe MMO Log begins with the death of RumbleWarpWhistle and the birth of Fahey, Agent of Paradox. Kotaku’s MMO reviews are a multi-part process. Rather than deliver day one reviews based on beta gameplay, we play the game for four weeks before issuing our final verdict. Once a…

Should You Buy an iPad for Gaming?

The iPad is a magical device, at least according to Apple, but is it a device worth buying to play games on? [UPDATED for the holidays.] This is our best advice — updated regularly — about whether or not you should buy an iPad for gaming, what games to get for it and what to…

Ex LucasArts, Budcat Staffers To Also Have A Lousy Christmas [Update]

Bizarre Creations isn’t the only video game developer dealing with hard times right now. Two more developers appear to have been affected by holiday layoffs, including Star Wars game dev LucasArts and Guitar Hero studio Budcat Creations. Sources close to LucasArts say the studio has gone through another round of layoffs today, but numbers were…

Kotaku’s 2010 iPad Gift Guide

The holidays are coming, and that means it’s time for you to start thinking about what sorts of gifts you want to give and get this year. Yesterday I walked you through a mix of some of the best games to hit the iPhone this year. Today it’s all about the iPad. Here’s our take…

My Cat’s Impressions Of Kinectimals

My cat has co-starred in a number of stories I’ve posted about Microsoft’s Kinect in the past couple of weeks, mostly by accident. She likes prowling through our house, making cameo appearances in videos I shoot. Not with Kinectimals, though. She is fascinated with Microsoft’s virtual cat game, which I discovered while I was reviewing…

The Console War Fought Final Fantasy Style

If the video game console wars were fought not with billions of dollars spent on marketing and exclusives, but with Power Bombs, Biggoron, and Spark Shocks—and an Evil Wall with Bill Gates’ face—it might look something like this. “Firewall” is the latest creation from Doctor Octoroc, the talent behind Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog: The…

Final Fantasy XIV’s Skips Another Subscription Period

Expecting extensive game-fixing changes in the months to come, Square Enix steps up to the plate once again, offering Final Fantasy XIV players another free 30 days of game time while renovations are underway. Square Enix has big plans for troubled MMO Final Fantasy XIV, but those changes will amount to nothing if the player…

Are The PlayStation 3-Exclusive Assassin’s Creed Missions Worth It?

The main difference between the newly released Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is that the PS3 version has eight “exclusive” missions. I played them last night to see if this is a difference with significance. The free downloadable missions involve Nicolaus Copernicus, the newest historical figure to be woven into…

A Space-Time Cloak Is Much More Exciting Than An Invisibility Cloak

Do you find the idea of an honest-to-goodness cloak of invisibility intriguing? How about a cloak that obscures events in space-time? Science is making it happen. the United Kingdom is obsessed with not being seen, and I blame Monty Python Earlier this month I posted about a team of researchers in Scotland that were using…

Bizarre Devs Took a Chance, May Get Closed

Three years after purchasing the developer behind Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars, Activision appears to be in the process of deciding how to ditch the studio. “Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations,” an Activision spokesperson told Kotaku today, “the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. Although we…

New Pac-Man Begets New Galaga Begets New, Uh, Metro-Cross

The next Pac-Man, called Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, looks great. It’s another trippy, techno remix of a classic Namco arcade game. More are coming, the company revealed today. New Galaga and new Metro-Cross. Galaga Legions DX will be the next Galaga, according to a company press release. Namco puts no date on it, but it…

Which Call of Duty: Black Ops Accessories Are Worth Buying?

Call of Duty: Black Ops wasn’t a huge game for just Activison and Treyarch, it was also a big deal for Mad Catz, the king of franchise-specific add-ons like glasses, controllers and headphones. Here’s what I thought of Mad Catz many Call of Duty: Black Ops controllers, headphones, mice and even mousepads. Some are worth…

Same-Sex Marriage Thrives In Frontierville

While the majority of U.S. states don’t legally recognize same-sex marriage, the wilds of of Zynga’s Frontierville have no need for laws, spawning 650,000 boy-boy, girl-girl unions. Zynga CEO Mark Pincus delivered the impressive statistic yesterday during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco while rattling off other interesting statistics about the company’s game portfolio.…

The Witcher 2 Collector’s Edition Comes To A Head

You want the head of Geralt of Rivia? CD Project Red and Atari will give you the head of Geralt of Rivia and much, much more in the $129.99 collector’s edition of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. CD Projekt Red and Atari had a big hit on their hands with 2007’s the Witcher, so…

Review: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Is The Best Assassin’s Creed

The first Assassin’s Creed was an interesting but repetitive experiment. Two years later, Assassin’s Creed II was an improvement in almost all ways. One year later, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, woefully misunderstood prior to release, is arguably the best one yet. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood returns gamers to Renaissance Italy and into the virtual body of expert…

Visual Guide to Mad Catz PS3 Black Ops Controller

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Spreads the Love In February

Nothing says “I love you” like taking your significant other to a midnight launch event for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 15. This is the box art you’ll see hitting store shelves the day after Valentine’s Day 2011, when Capcom unleashes the…

Princess Leia On The Wall, Asteroids On the Ceiling

A lovely shrine to things that were excellent in the 1980s, as seen on the Flickr page of Touch Arcade editor Blake Patterson. Cool computer room, Blake!

Two New Modes Hit Crackdown 2 Today

Crackdown 2 is getting two new gameplay modes, one free and one not, with the release of the Deluge Pack today. Before you download the pack, you’ll have to decide if you want to pay for the Crackdown’s version of Horde mode or if you’re fine with getting just the game’s take on capture the…

Talk Amongst Yourselves Gift Guide

It’s gift guide season here at Kotaku, though all the image we have today tells you is which game not to buy. Lesson learned, carry on and talk about video games, will you? Thanks to reader jaz350z for today’s image. Submit yours at #TAYpics