Mafia Wars Agency Takes The Rap For Vandal-Marketing Stunt

An ad agency has taken the fall for a guerrilla marketing stunt that had the city of San Francisco threatening Facebook-games maker Zynga with vandalism and other charges. The agency will pay the city $45,000 in fines. In August, San Francisco officials were steaming mad over the fake $25,000 bills glued to city sidewalks as…

Meet Super Kong, Your Donkey Kong Country Returns ‘Super Guide’

The new Donkey Kong Country also has a new Kong and features the third appearance of Nintendo’s helpful “Super Guide”, the help system introduced in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. This is our first look at Super Kong in Donkey Kong Country Returns. But he looks familiar… Maybe we’ve seen him before under another name?…

Xbox Live Indie Clips: Get Your Girlfriend Into Games

Will the Xbox Live Indie game Get Your Girlfriend Into Games actually get your girlfriend to start playing video games? the answer may surprise you! Okay, no. Our weekly look at Xbox Live Indie Games isn’t just about highlighting games we like. It’s about taking games like Get Your Girlfriend Into Games, you know, games…

Nintendo Trying To Figure Out What Went Wrong With Newest Metroid

Nintendo wanted to sell a million copies of Metroid: Other M, which wasn’t a bad game. They won’t, not by the end of the year in America, and now they’re trying to figure out why. Was it the quality of the game? Do people not care about Metroid? Was it really a problem, as some…

Grand Theft Auto Finally Jacks The Mac

Mac owners, get ready to game like it’s 2001, as the Grand Theft Auto III trilogy has finally come to Apple computers. Better late than never, right? Thanks to Rockstar Games and TransGaming’s Cider engine, those of us who prefer Mac OS X to Windows can play Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: San…

Colbert Takes On Nintendo Like Donkey Kong

In response to Nintendo’s attempt to trademark “It’s on like Donkey Kong,” Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert decides to squat on other dated catchphrases, just in case. Nintendo’s trademark application for “It’s on like Donkey Kong” might be more of a marketing stunt for Donkey Kong Country Returns than a serious attempt to secure the phrase,…

These Lego People Liked The Older Games

Flickr user Sirekat likes to take Lego mini-figures out on the town. To the Louvre. To the Centre Pompidou. To the artsy places in Paris, including a museum for video games, seen here. A good time was had by all, I hope. As seen on Sirekat’s Flickr stream

Prepare Your Sacrificial Offerings

The time has come to prove your devotion to the dark overlords, aka, the most popular band in the universe, aka, Dethklok. Gather your virgins and slaughter your goats because the gods of metal demand their tribute. They have a bestowed a gift upon the world: Metalocalypse Season 3 on DVD and Blu-ray! Season 3…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Will I be playing Sonic Colors this weekend? Only the UPS man (or FedEx man) knows for sure. And will Sonic Colors live up to the promise of being a very good Sonic the Hedgehog game? Only future me knows! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Sonic Colors does make an early appearance at Kotaku…

A Sudden New Appreciation For Metro 2033

A pair of models show off the sexier side to Metro 2033 at the World Exhibition Centre in Moscow during Game World 2010 earlier this month, as seen at English Russia Gameface is a photographic celebration of the people who make, play and love video games.

Wii 2 Is Not A Must For 2011

This Wii has had a great run, but surely Nintendo’s console is primed for replacement? Nintendo of America’s top guy, Reggie Fils-Aime, told Kotaku today that a successor to the Wii doesn’t have to come out in 2011. Of course he’d say that, right? He’s got Christmas 2010 coming and he wants the world to…

Why Male Spiders Prefer Virgins

It’s Friday, so I picked something lighthearted and fun for the daily Kotaku science post. Did you know male wasp spiders snap their genitalia off inside the female during sex? Don’t worry, they have two sets. The animal kingdom is a funny place, filled with odd little discrepancies that keep people like University of Hamburg…

The Best Way To Ask People To Prepare For Your Wedding and Its Very Real Cake

Tara and Seth are getting married. They also happen to love Portal. So they hired Gawker artist Sam Spratt to design their save-the-date for their upcoming spring wedding. Seth tells Kotaku that he and his fiance are both big sci-fi geeks and love the game Portal. They wanted to do something incredibly different and quirky…

Pac-Man CE DX Levels

Pac-Man CE DX Styles

Gran Turismo 5 Bending Laws Of Time, Space

According to the instruction manual for The Sly Collection, a PlayStation 3 game released this week, Gran Turismo 5 is out now. We know that is wrong. Then again, last month, I walked into a GameStop and saw this: Gran Turismo, once set for a Nov. 2 release is now supposed to come out on…

Assassin’s Creed Ascendance Bridges The Gap to Brotherhood

What has assassin Ezio Auditore been up to during the time between Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood? Find out in Assassin’s Creed Ascendance, coming November 16 to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. From Ubi Workshop, the folks behind the recently released Assassin’s Creed: The Fall comic book series, Ascendance is an animated short film…

Spotting the Gameplay in L.A. Noire’s New Trailer And Why It May Not Matter

Our first look at L.A. Noire in action included some pretty amazing graphics. Strike that, it included some pretty amazing facial animation. The graphics are about what we’ve come to expect from Rockstar Games, but those facial tics, the worry lines, the creases, those were an impressive display of taking a bit of an actor’s…

Preorder Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded And You Get these Things

Square Enix dropped us a line today to show off the wonderful preorder incentive for Kingdom Hearts Re: coded available at GameStop and Amazon.com. What is it? According to Square Enix PR, this is a lovely set of stickers. Yes, either it’s the late 80’s again and no one told me, or stickers are back…

The Michael Jackson Experience Makes The View Audience Scream

If you can stomach the sounds of Whoopi Goldberg talking with her mouth full, you see an impressive demonstration of The Michael Jackson Experience on the Wii and an audience overcome with the thrill of free stuff. Guinan chokes down a cookie while presenting Ubisoft’s Michael Jackson Experience for the Wii on ABC’s The View.…