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“Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory gave me brain damage.” This short blog post by veteran game designer Clint Hocking about the stress and anxiety of game development is worth a read

In-Game Kickstarter Rewards Can Be… Distracting

Anyone who enjoyed isometric PC role-playing games like Baldur’s Gate will undoubtedly love Pillars of Eternity, which has taken over my life for the past few days. It’s really, really excellent. It’s also got some hilariously anomalous player-created names and messages, like the one you can see above. “I will either die by the wife…

Halo 5‘s Online Mystery Game Suggests Master Chief’s A Traitor

We’ve always thought of Master Chief as the savior of humanity in the Halo series, but the ARG kicking off for Halo 5: Guardians posits something much sinister: he’s a traitor. What’s an ARG? It stands for alternate reality game, and usually means it sends fans chasing from one end of the Internet to the…

The 20 Best X-Men Artists

Humanity hates and fears the X-Men in the Marvel Universe. In the real world, the genetically superpowered heroes have enjoyed incredible visual interpretations over the last 50 years. Let’s take a look at the artists who’ve done the most iconic versions of the Children of the Atom. Neal Adams Probably best known for his work…

Nintendo Boss Says Zelda Netflix Rumors Weren’t True

Last month, the world freaked out over rumors that Nintendo was working with Netflix to create a live-action TV series based on The Legend of Zelda. Today, the guy who runs Nintendo says those rumors aren’t true. The buzz started back in February, when the Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix was in the “early…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number: The TAY Review • Your Lie in April: The Ani-TAY Review • On Trying (And Succeeding) to get Excited About Rock Band 4 • Why Doesn’t This Game Exist: Drudgeons and Diplomacy TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.

Batman: Arkham Knight just got yet another delay—the upcoming superhero action game will now come out on June 23, the developers say. More time to polish that batsuit.

LEGO Matrix Lobby Shootout Improves On The Original

Not only has YouTube LEGO animator Snooperking painstakingly recreated the lobby shootout from The Matrix, he tweaked the ending to solve the movie trilogy’s main problem. Despite the fact that Neo and Trinty are technically slaughtering countless innocent comatose machine batteries on their way to rescue Morpheus from Agent Smith (it’s the smell, if there…

Playing Half-Life Upside Down Is One Confusing Trip

Half-Life veteran quadrazid decided to give the classic FPS a whole new perspective and turned everything upside down. Headcrabs are a bit easier to spot this way, but besides that, things just get more difficult and confusing. Quadrazid’s playthrough is still fast and smooth, though. But it’s not just hard when the ceiling becomes the…

Besiege: A Tale of Rebellion and War

Siege engine building sim Besiege is far more than just a vehicle for funny robots. What better way to show it than with an epic story-driven machinima series? Recently shared by redditor LHB2010 (following a teaser posted three weeks ago), “Battle for Ipsilon #1” chronicles the first two days of a war between two kingdoms.…

About half of the studio behind Driveclub are getting laid off, according to Eurogamer. Created by veteran developers Evolution Studios, the PS4 exclusive racing game suffered an extremely rocky launch last year, but a series of updates improved Driveclub significantly. Contact the author at [email protected]

Um, There Are Zombies In Buck Hunter Now

Look, there’s only so many years you can keep shooting innocent defenceless animals before the formula gets a little stale. Which might explain why the next Buck Hunter arcade game—Big Buck HD Wild—is full of zombies. Sure, there’s a regular game mode where you shoot animals, but there’s also a mode called “In Case of…

Brutal Half-Life Mod Soaks Gordon Freeman In Blood

If you’ve never heard of it, Brutal Doom is a mod that turns an already-violent shooter into something hilariously bloody and full of gibs. Well, Brutal Half-Life is that, only for Half-Life A first playable mod was made available for the project last week, and you can see a trailer for it below. To focus…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Nintendo Mobile

Nintendo is making mobile games. There will be Nintendo games on our phones and tablets. Wow. While the news is exciting, it’s hard to push aside our worst free-to-play gaming fears. So let’s embrace them. How bad can a mobile Nintendo get? I’ve been paying attention to the comments section all week, and I know…

In Which Anime Girls Make Out And Transform Into Weapons

Making its debut at this weekend’s AnimeJapan expo in Japan, Valkyrie Drive is a mixed-media game and anime project from Marvelous which revolves around girls making out and turning into weapons. It all makes sense when you realize who it’s coming from. From Kenichirō Takaki, the man who brought us the Senran Kagura series of…

Five Nights At Freddy‘s Twitter Roleplay Is Scarier Than The Games

Yesterday on Twitter I bore witness to something amazing—nine hours of Twitter-based Five Nights At Freddy‘s role-playing. It was horrible. I was riveted. It began with Twitter user @Bad123Hoover peaking out of the music box. @Bad123Hoover is playing as The Puppet, one of the more insidious antagonists of Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, who would…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Tips for Playing Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. • A Better Class of Game Criticism: Part 2 • I Miss Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding • Indie HYPE: The Weaponographist • SNES 1994: A Year that Changed Gaming and Gamers Forever • WW2 Snipers – Videogames vs History TAY Classic—TAY Open…

Fossil Fighters: Frontier‘s Australian Character Seems Legit 

That’s pretty much Australia, right? Sure, it’s a little light on what we Americans know to be traditional Aussie flavor, but having been to Outback Steakhouse where I partook of a Bloomin’ Onion and seen all of Crocodile Dundee one and bits of two, I’d say Red Entertainment and Spike Chunsoft nailed it. I guess…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Gaming With Paula Deen: Winners!

Former Food Network personality Paula Deen deserved a better game thansome mobile puzzle fluff, so I tasked our readers with creating an appropriately epic PD experience. Mission accomplished. Frequent ‘Shop Contest contributor billysan gets his due today, thanks to the winning combination of Final Fantasy VII and heavy cream. Paula’s commercial face, which rivals famed…

What D&D Is Bringing To The CRPG Party

We’re in the middle of an incredibly welcome computer role-playing game resurgence, so it’s only fair the key inspiration for the genre chime in. Check out the first single-player campaign gameplay from Sword Coast Legends. Mind you single-player is the least compelling aspect of n-Space and Wizards of the Coast’s entry into the suddenly bustling…