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Minecraft Map is Basically 36 Square Kilometers of Primal Beauty

If you’ve never played survival Minecraft on a hand-crafted map, you might want to give it a try now. Because this map is pretty damn impressive. It’s a 6000 by 6000 block map that depicts an archipelago consisting of two islands: one cold and snowy, and one warm and uh, desert-y. The two biggest landmarks,…

Cost of Getting a Person to Mars in 2030s According to SpaceX Founder

Elon Musk has been labeled as somewhat of a real-life Tony Stark. He’s founded future-facing companies like Tesla Motors and SpaceX, and seems genuinely dedicated to help humanity with advanced technology. Now, he’s set his eyes on Mars, and he’s thinking big. In an interview with Aeon, Musk laid out his plan. “I think there…

The 2014 Saxxy Award winners were announced today. Here’s one of my favorite action shorts, uploaded by Callegos Yavolitak, though you can take a look at the finalists for the machinima competition held by Valve (and overall winner) here.

Don’t Kill Orcs, Brew Beer For Them

We’ve been slaying lots of orcs lately around the Kotaku office/converted anti-orc nemesis death fortress lately—lots and lots, all thanks to Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. But not all orcs want to kill or even fight. Some just want to drink. Orcish Inn‘s Animal Crossing-esque antics are for them. See now? Wasn’t that nice? Why…

A strange, beautiful sci-fi game about creating your own story. You might remember Elegy for a Dead World, which Evan took a look at not too long ago. It’s got a sort of alien beauty about it, and its goal is to let anybody feel like they can dream up cool stories—about dead worlds, no…

Dad Bowser Is The Father Figure The Mushroom Kingdom Needs

Have you seen the latest 3DS commercial, which is chock full cuteness? More importantly, it features Bowser Dad. If you haven’t, you should. Not only is it good, it is also inspiring awesome fan-art—like the picture above, which was drawn by Rico But out of all the Nintendo characters featured in the commercial, it’s Bowser…

People Are Claiming To Be Popular YouTubers To Get Free Games

When Wastelands Interactive head Leszek Lisowski found a Steam key he thought he’d given to a successful YouTuber on a resale site, he knew something was wrong. Lisowski, whose company recently brought Worlds of Magic to Steam Early Access, wrote on Gamasutra about being ripped off by people claiming to be popular YouTubers. Under normal…

The Uphill Battle Of Making Sims Fans Happy

Every sequel faces a challenge of living up to whatever came before it. The Sims 4 struggles with this more than most video games because the series has such a distinctive and successful history. The shadow that The Sims 4 lives under came up in an unexpectedly candid way yesterday when I was speaking to…

The SteelSeries Siberia Headset Line Is All-New, Relatively Different

SteelSeries launched its Siberia v2 gaming headset back in 2009, and for five years I’ve not been able to attend a gaming function without seeing them everywhere. Now the peripheral maker has announced a four model family of next-gen Siberias, ready to proliferate supernaturally this holiday season. First we have the beating heart of the…

Someone Made A VR Game Out Of A Night At The Roxbury

Ah the Roxbury Guys sketch! It’s one of the most memorable sketches (and lesser movies) to come out of SNL in the mid-90s. Now you can experience it in stunning virtual reality! Live the syncopated motion of Chris Kattan’s neck with this free-to-play Oculus rhythm game. A Night at the Roculus simulates the head-bopping motion…

Dark Souls‘ Dodge Roll Would Get You Killed In Real Life

Think the dodge roll, a video game avoidance maneuver popularized by everything from Dark Souls to Legend of Zelda, is the height of armed combat, a stroke of tactical genius? This swordsman says you’re very, very wrong. Now, a comparison. Video game: Real life: Yeaaaaah. Turns out that it doesn’t take much effort to turn…

Shadow Of Mordor: Like Pro Wrestling, Only With More Orcs

Something I kept thinking about when playing Shadow of Mordor to review was that the orcs in the game reminded me of professional wrestlers. At least, my conception of pro-wrestlers. I mean this as the warmest of possible compliments. I was reminded of this yesterday when revisiting some footage and came across this very WWE-esque…

A Sims Fan Theory That Gets Pretty Dark

One of the most iconic families in The Sims 4 has a history that the game doesn’t tell you about. If you’ve played previous Sims games, perhaps you’re aware of it. Part of the story behind the Goths is obvious even in The Sims 4: they’re a wealthy, gloomy and somewhat snobby family. But there’s…

On Kissing Orcs

“We don’t kiss our loved ones in the same way we kill our enemies“. It’s true. We also don’t open our doors the way we use our computers, or drive our cars the way we walk down the street. These contradictions have all managed to fit into our controller, so why not include kissing? In…

Who Is Kevin Smith Playing In LEGO Batman 3? Hint: It’s Kevin Smith.

In what I feel is a horrible example of miscasting, film director and rabid Batman fan Kevin Smith has been tapped to voice film director and rabid Batman fan Kevin Smith in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. I probably would have gone with someone younger, maybe mixed things up and had him voiced by the…

DriveClub and Spelunky Head to PlayStation Plus in October

DriveClub finally leaves the starting line in October, with the PlayStation Plus Edition of the game joining Spelunky, Dust: An Elysian Tail, and several other additions to the lineup. Check out the video above, list below, or PlayStation.Blog to see the full roster. PlayStation 4 Dust: An Elysian Tail Spelunky DriveClub PlayStation Plus Edition Pix…

The Good And Bad Of Destiny‘s Crucible Multiplayer

Sometimes when I’m playing a Crucible PvP match in Destiny, and the scores for the Alpha and Bravo teams are roughly equal, the announcer Lord Shaxx tells me that I’ve misjudged my opponents. What does that mean? (And who named this guy?) I’m pretty sure the numbers on the board prove that everyone has judged…

Destiny’s baffling Engram system is finally fixed. Patch 1.0.2, which just went live, makes it so Legendary Engrams will now only give you Legendary Items.It also adds more rewards to strikes and daily/weekly missions in Bungie’s MMO-shooter. Full patch notes here

Spend $100 on PSN, Get $15 Back, White DualShock 4, Banner Saga [Deals]

The White DualShock 4 is down to just $45 today. Knock on wood, we’re seeing much better/more frequent discounts on controllers this generation. [White DualShock 4] This week’s PSN Update includes discounts on the Metal Gear and Castlevania series. Get these deals and more, and earlier on Deals.Kinja. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook…

The Combat In Shadow Of Mordor Sure Feels Familiar (In A Good Way)

The enjoyable fighting system in the superb Warner Bros.-published Lord of the Rings game Shadow of Mordor is clearly inspired by the enjoyable fighting system in the superb Warner Bros.-published Batman Arkham games. Let’s compare, shall we? I captured a battle in Shadow of Mordor off of my PS4 earlier this week. Take a look:…