Imagine Activision releasing the latest Call of Duty game without telling anyone it was coming. No developer diaries, no screenshot packages, no media events—just a quick heads up that it would be in stores tomorrow. Preposterous, right?

Did you buy, rent, or steal a game last year expecting the worst only to be pleasantly surprised? Commenter DerpiestShazbot wants to know, and you'll tell him in today's Speak Up on Kotaku.

Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles, originally not due out in Europe until September, is having its release slid up not by a few days, but by a few weeks. It'll now be out on August 19.

There are two ways to describe Nintendo's next Wii game, Wii Play: Motion. Well, three ways, if you include Game I Was Never Going To Touch Based On Its Original Description. For Nintendo, there were two:

Those lucky enough to be in on the Gears of War 3 beta today were treated to this, either cute or disturbing depending on your sensibilities. Pick a male character, COG or Locust, and voila, bunny hat. [h/t reader Hazel H.]

And I thought our Kotaku Play Date on Halo: Reach was intense, at least we didn't try distracting each other...

Ten-year-old Kade Goodman's holiday dreams were shattered on Christmas Day, when it was discovered that someone had left a penis on his used PSP.

You know that little spirit that's been following Link around in all of the trailers for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the Nintendo DS? Surprise, it's Princess Zelda!

A surprise to absolutely no one, the LinkedIn profile for a senior animator at Treyarch lists Call of Duty 7 as currently in production.

This week's Nintendo Wii update not only includes Evasive Space for WiiWare and NES shooter Life Force on the virtual console, but also a secret surprise clue that we need your help to decipher.