Xbox

Grand Theft Auto V: Do We Really Want to Know?

This is an article about spoilers, though there won’t be any spoilers in it. This is a piece about Grand Theft Auto V but really about what we—what you—want to know or not know. This is a piece about knowledge, about information. It’s about that seeming law of physics that guarantees that secrets can and…

Disney Infinity: The Kotaku Review

Disney Infinity is a wonderful way for children of all ages to indulge their desire to create and explore, but are all of these colorful pieces ofexpensive plasticreally necessary? Setting aside the game’s creativity-exercising segment for the moment, let’s consider the origin of Disney Infinity. The game’s roots lie in 2010’s Toy Story 3: The…

Splinter Cell And One Of The Most Notorious Places in the World

I was reminded of how powerful big-budget video games can be—yet how frustratingly tame they often remain—while I was playing the new Splinter Cell. This game goes somewhere I didn’t expect. Spoilers ahead. Close the window you’re reading this in now if you don’t want to know. Keep it open if you want to know…

The best shooter dogs are Nazi cyborg dogs. Roll over, Call of Duty; this Gamescom screen for Wolfenstein: The New Order shows how shooter dogs should be done. It also shows a swastika armband, which maybe isn’t the best idea for a screenshot celebrating a German trade show. But man, look at that dog. Catch…

There’s Something Strange About GTA V‘s Yoga Clinic

I’m no yoga expert — not by a long shot — but I am pretty sure the poses depicted in Grand Theft Auto V‘s newly-updatedLos Santos Travelogue aren’t on the up-and-up. This one’s “Downward Facing Camel.” The others are incredibly NSFW. My wife does yoga, and I would have noticed this. Or maybe not. I…

Is Next-Gen Kinect Facial Scan As Magical As It Seems? Mixed Results.

Stand in front of the next-gen Kinect, the one that can read your heartbeat just by looking at you (it’s true; I tried it), and in theory it can scan your face. In the Xbox One game Kinect Sports: Rivals, Kinect 2.0 should be able to turn you into a video game character. But can…

Assassin’s Creed IV’s “Stealth” trailer sure does involve a lot of murder. And it’s not just stealthy murder, either. Semantics aside, I’m really looking forward to neck-stabbing some bad guys in the jungle. Even if I won’t have the kick-ass music. Did I mention there’s kick-ass music? Have a look above.

Microsoft Says They Won’t Sell Xbox One Without Kinect

It’s time to rule out those hopes of a cheap, Kinect-free Xbox One bundle, at least for now: Microsoft says it’s not happening. Following news that you don’t actually need the Kinect plugged in for your next-gen Xbox to work, many gamers started wondering if maybe Microsoft would strip out the Kinect and sell a…

Bungie Aiming Absurdly High With Destiny In New Trailer

Possibly the best-looking game of E3, the next-gen epic from the makers of Halo now also has a new trailer/developer-diary thing. In it, Bungie boasts: “This game has an activity for every mood.” Raise that bar, Bungie! Destiny is slated for release on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 next year. Note: An earlier…

I’ve Played Skylanders On The PS4, And There’s No Going Back

I didn’t fully appreciate the next generation of consoles until last Friday, when I got the chance to play Skylanders: Swap Force for a couple hours on the PlayStation 4. It’s not that I consider the third installment of Activision’s wildly popular toys-meets-games franchise to be the pinnacle of gaming achievement or anything. I know…

If you’re a sucker for hyper-detailed trailer analysis, then take a look at the detective work being done by the folks at ArkhamOriginsVideos on the news trailer for October’s Batman: Arkham Origins game. The Dark Knight detective would be proud.

There Was an Xbox One Press Conference In Germany. Now You Can See It.

Microsoft decided not to livestream their Xbox One press conference from Germany yesterday, taking the quieter path than Sony. But today you can watch it and, if nothing else, see how much better their cameraperson was. You’ll find no sudden zooms and illogical camera angles in this half hour of Xbox One stagecraft. You will…

The Fastest Leveling Up In Disney Infinity Is Just a Giant Fan Away

Tired of grinding through adventures to earn your Silver and Gold character statues in Disney Infinity? YouTube user Craig Sullivan (viaChris Kohler’s Twitter) discovered this simple-yet-devious means of leveling up in minutes. Having had all of my progress eaten by the PlayStation 3 problems, I am certainly down with a little creative cheating. All you…

To Be Fair, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes‘ Galactus Is OMG Squirrel Girl

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes reveals its ultimate villain, and we are all acting surprised. I gasped audibly. We did not see this coming. Well, we did see it coming. We just didn’t know it would be so freaky. Of all the incarnations of Marvel’s world-eating ultimate menace, the brief glimpse we’re given here in the…

Can’t wait for the next-gen version of Call of Duty: Ghosts? Activision’s got your back. If you buy the game’s PS3 version, you’ll be able to upgrade to the PS4 version as soon as it releases ten days later, at a price of 10$ (or €10, or £10). In the US, Amazon and Gamestop will…

You’ll Pay A Monthly Fee To Play The Elder Scrolls Online

Putting an end to speculation that the massively multiplayer entry in Bethesda’s award-winning role-playing franchise would be free-to-play, Zenimax Online’s Matt Firor has confirmed The Elder Scrolls Online will follow a subscription-based business model. The general manager of Zenimax online confirmed monthly subscriptions for the eagerly-anticipated game during a pre-Gamescom interview with German site Gamestar.…

Not All New Skylanders Split In Half. Some Are Sabertooth Turtles.

More of a sabertooth turtle dinosaur, I suppose. This is Slobber Tooth, and he’s one of the latest non-splitting Skylanders champions, joining the fray when Swap Force hits October 13. The whole Swap Force mechanic is nice and all, but I’m a sucker for a well-designed one piece with a focus on function. I had…

Defiance ‘Castithan Charge Pack’ Adds Playable Creepy White People

Nothing plays on the TV screen quite as well as an alien race whose defining feature is cake makeup and contact lenses. Defiance‘s dorkiest extraterrestrials look much better as playable characters in today’s ‘Castithan Charge Pack’ release. The ‘Castithan Charge Pack’ is a two-pronged bit of downloadable content for the video game portion of trion…

The Fix For Disney Infinity PlayStation 3 Problems Is In

After two days of PlayStation 3 players being unable to play Disney Infinity properly without the game locking up and save game corruption, patch 1.03 has arrived to make things all better, mostly. The previous patch, 1.01, caused the game to lock up shortly after launching, as well as corrupting game saves. A workaround for…

With Xbox One Gaining Momentum, Sony Still Has Confidence

The most remarkable thing about Sony’s Gamescom press conference today wasn’t the big game announcements (Sony still loves indie games) or the PS4 feature demonstrations (the new menu looks like a video game console menu). It was Sony’s overarching, at times infectious confidence. While the event didn’t have the same razzle-dazzle of their PS4 reveal…