(Originally published May 11, 2008) May 1st 1980 I came home from school to find my mother waiting there for me, a giddy smile on her lips. She always loved birthdays. Back then we were living in an apartment, my younger sister and I sharing one room, my older brother and sister sometimes sharing another, and…

On this, the eve of the official launch of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, let's take a look back at the original release of Square Enix's second Final Fantasy MMO, and reflect on the wrongs the new version is trying to right.

This review was originally published on Kotaku on January 26, 2010. To celebrate Mass Effect week, we're bumping it up!

This post was originally published on Kotaku on August 28, 2009. To celebrate Mass Effect week, we're bumping it up!

The MMO tie-in to SyFy's upcoming Earth-plus-aliens series Defiance is in full swing, or as full a swing as it can manage, given the shaky start. While we're waiting for Trion Worlds to fix wehat needs fixing, there's at least one activity that'll never let you down. Vrooom.

Creating a compelling and enjoyable open world experience is more than just giving the player as much real estate technologically possible to play in. It's a delicate balancing act between character and scale. Somewhere between Grand Theft Auto's size and Yakuza's personality lies Sleeping Dogs.

The following story originally ran in March of 2011, but since the excellent game it's partially about just came out this week, we're showing it to you again. And, before you ask, the last time I asked Dyad's creator about this special gaming chair, he didn't make it sound like it would be going into…

The bigger the gaming laptop is, the more powerful it is. At least that's been the experience I've had in my gaming laptop-reviewing career. A bigger chassis means more bells and whistles, better heat management, and a larger, more vivid display.

Last summer PC peripheral maker Razer introduced the world to the Razer Blade, a device CEO Min-Liang Tan boldly described as "the world's first gaming laptop." Well now the world's first gaming laptop is in my dining room. Let's open this baby up, shall we?

So, we've heard from a source that the next Xbox may feature some kind of anti-used games technology. When you first read that, your first instinct was probably to think it's either bullshit or the worst idea a video game company has ever had.

When the original DS launched Nintendo gave us Pictochat, a decent local wireless program for chatting and exchanging pictures with our friends. When the 3DS launched, casual chatting was nowhere to be seen. Swapnote fixes that.

Over the weekend Sony unleashed the next evolution of portable gaming on Japan, and Kotaku was there. Here's our complete coverage of the Japanese PlayStation Vita launch, from queuing up to booting up and beyond.

Perhaps I was the only male over the age of thirteen to hope that Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL for the Xbox 360 was something more than a sloppy clone of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series of character-driven fighting games.