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Designer Apologizes for Reply to Question About Oversexed Characters

The game director for Blizzard Entertainment’s upcoming Heroes of the Storm has apologized for his treatment of a question about how characters are designed—specifically how multiplayer online battle arena games, of which Heroes is one, tend to hyper-sexualize female avatars. Dustin Browder took to Heroes of the Storm‘s official blog to offer his regrets for…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: The Sportsbros

Kirk, I’m not upset with you, I’m just a little disappointed. You took a great concept—the Sportsbros, EA Sports’ trio of next-gen pitchmen—and you only gave them word balloons? An entire legion of my best Photoshoppers awaits, to make the Sportsbros even funnier than you could possibly imagine, in the Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. So here…

LEGO The Hobbit Game Rumored for 2014 Release

A user in the Brickset LEGO enthusiast forum has posted what appears to be promotional materials for a LEGO The Hobbit adaptation, launching some time next year. The image is said to come from the instruction booklet to 2014 The Hobbit sets. Xbox 360, PS3, 3DS, PC and Wii U are listed as platforms for…

Reports Of Xbox One Disc Drive Issues Increase

As we continue to hear from more and more brand new Xbox One owners who say their disc drives don’t work, Microsoft’s solution remains the same: contact customer service. That’s unfortunate news for affected gamers who thought there could be a DIY fix for what we’re calling, for lack of a catchier name, the “Disc…

Here’s $11 Off Basically Every Xbox One And Playstation 4 Game

If you’re looking to stock up on next-gen launch titles, this is pretty much the time. Amazon and Walmart are both taking a straight 11 bucks off the majority of the games available for the two new consoles. Most of these next-gen versions are actually currently going for less than their current-gen counterparts. PS4 Assassins…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Mister First: The Winners

As we mentioned an hour ago, Joey Chiu, the first customer to buy a PlayStation 4 on launch day, is our celebrity guest judge of this week’s ‘Shop Contest. We had a swarm of fantastic entries—more than 30 in all—plus overall No. 1 SupremeEvan! Following are the Top Five, as selected by Joey himself, with…

Meet the First PS4 Customer. He Has Come to Judge You.

For the second straight week, the subject of our ‘Shop Contest will judge the entries making fun of him. As a courtesy, we will now profile Joey Chiu (center)—who 10 days ago was first in line to buy the PlayStation 4 at its launch event in New York. Soon after hearing word over Twitter when…

Twitch Couple’s Strip Show Could Mean Bad News for PlayStation 4

File this one under “Why we can’t have nice things.” A week after the console’s launch, some PlayStation 4 users appear to be using Playroom, an augmented-reality game taking place in one’s living room, to broadcast ridiculous live “shows” involving nudity, firearms, and God knows what else. This is accomplished through the live-streaming of games…

Does this count as government aid? Because EVE Online has an actual ruling body that meets in Iceland IRL. The game’s publisher is asking players to donate Pilot License Extensions (PLEX) to fund relief to the Phillippines as it recovers from Typhoon Haiyan, and will match $15 to each donation, up to $75,000.

EA Sports Sued by a Desperate NCAA Over the Game it Endorsed and Made

Back in the summer, the NCAA piously announced it would no longer license video games, leaving it to members to decide whether they would continue to appear in EA Sports’ college football series. The schools’ biggest licensing agent and Electronic Arts chose to settle all claims brought by college players, leaving the NCAA as the…

Making Room for a New Xbox Brings Back Memories of the Original

For some, the arrival of the Xbox One means finding room for it in a TV cabinet or entertainment center, especially for those power-user gamers with multiple consoles spanning generations. For me, it meant putting out to pasture an original Xbox, one given to me by a very good friend. The following is an essay…

Spider-Man Foiled in Attempt to Rob Xbox One on Launch Night

Parker! Parker! Get out there and get me some pictures of that menace! He tried to steal an Xbox One! Maybe that’s news? What do I pay you people for?! OK, so, not really. It was a guy in a Spider-Man hoodie, the hood zipped into a mask around his face to keep his identity…

​Your Guide To The Next-Gen Consoles

Just like that, the Xbox One was released to the public, and the next generation of gaming became the current generation of gaming. In the last two weeks, we’ve gotten two new consoles in the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Add last year’s Nintendo Wii U, and you’ve officially got a lot of new…

The Best Of Kotaku, The Week Of November 18

Just as last week was filled with PS4 content, this week it’s ripe with Xbox One coverage over at Kotaku Selects If you’re getting or thinking about getting one of these consoles or both, definitely check out some of our guides. Alex Griendling made an evolution GIF of the PlayStation controllers last week, and he’s…

​A Zelda Violin Performance Worthy Of The Hero Of Time

Just in time to get me psyched about the excellence of Zelda music all over again. Here’s violinist Taylor Davis with a rousing performance of both Song of Time and Song of Storms from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. She plays violin in the rain, man. It doesn’t get any more dramatic than…

Two Grown Men Re-enact A Justin Bieber/One Direction Fan Argument

You gotta love dramatic readings—they make even awful YouTube comments not just bearable, but downright hilarious. Yes, even when it comes to Bieber and One Direction fans. You just gotta watch this ridiculous argument that happened on YouTube, read by two full grown men from Dead Parrot. It’s something else. Off-Topic is our nightly open…

An Xbox One Achievement That People Are Selling On Ebay

They say that everything has a price—and this axiom apparently includes Xbox One achievements, judging from recent eBay listings. Thing is, these achievements are extra special—they come bundled with the limited number of ‘Day One’ editions of the Xbox One. As the name suggests, these are consoles made to commemorate the launch of the Xbox…

Xbox One Sprints to a Million: Calling it “The biggest launch in Xbox history,” Microsoft informs us that they’ve sold more than one million Xbox One consoles worldwide in less than 24 hours. They also say that more than 3.6 million Forza miles have been driven and more than 60 million Dead Rising zombies have…

Look At These Dogs And Cats Confused By Xbox One

Let’s say you have a pet and just got a new Xbox One. And let’s say you wanted to celebrate both of them in picture form. What do you do? Take photos of them together, of course. And that is what many pet-and-Xbox-One owners did today with the release of Microsoft’s newest console. Here are…

Rocky launches: EA recognizes that both Battlefield 4 and NBA Live have had problems following their launches, and promises not only a number of updates and improvements, but in the case of BF4, some in-game bonuses too. [NOTE: That link is not working right, and we’re not sure why. Please go here to find Wilson’s…