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FACE, MVPC, 11-X—the Original Xbox had Some Ridiculous Alternate Names

We’re all familiar with the etymology behind “Xbox”—it’s a truncation of “DirectX Box.” But, as one of the console’s creators told Edge, Microsoft lawyers at first weren’t too sure of “Xbox” for some reason, and the alternatives favored by the suits were all hideous. The final stage of naming the console “was a battle between…

One Year Later, Fez Will Be Patched

Fez will be patched, fixing a potential game-breaking bug, now that Microsoft is no longer charging studios for title updates. Fez creator Phil Fish tweeted the news on July 4, saying the patch would take “a couple of months.” Last year, Fez was updated once on Xbox Live to fix some glitches; it was a…

The Best Of Kotaku, The Week Of July 1st

Mid-week days off are always strange, aren’t they? It barely felt like a real week! And yet, as evidenced by Kotaku Selects—where I round up all our best content—it most certainly was a real week. As for the ‘revenge’ pic above, it’s the fantastic work of Vincent Bocognani, found by Dotcore. Check out Vincent’s Flickr…

Let’s Watch Other People Play Cube World

Unfortunately, due to a number of server issues from having so many people try to download the game—which the developers say has acted similar to a DDoS attack—not everyone has been able to buy Cube World, the awesome-looking voxel adventure-RPG. What’s the next best thing? Watching other people play it while we wait for the…

A Tribute To Some Characters That Got Killed Off In Game of Thrones

Take Gotye’s catchy song, Somebody I Used To Know. Change the lyrics so that they’re about characters in the first season of Game of Thrones. What do you get? This delightfully funny video by notliterallycommemorating some of the characters we ‘used to know,’ that’s what. He got a goddamned papercut, are you for real? Ha.…

DLC Has Become One Of The Most Exciting Things In Gaming

It used to be that you couldn’t even mention downloadable content’s existence without someone getting upset, or without someone going off on how much of a money-grab scheme it all is. It’s an understandable reaction, to some extent—sometimes, a game isn’t out yet and already we’re talking about the follow-ups? Geez, slow down. I used…

Just An Average Day In Arma III

Did he ever end up noticing the rail and reach the beach in time? We’ll never know but this Arma III montage has a lot of great gif-y moments. Let’s dig into these and other popular GIFs this week. Adventure Time, beautifully animated. We’ll probably never see it this way in a video game. Mario…

Final Fantasy VII is out on Steam, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to point readers to “The Final Fantasy VII Letters,” a series Leigh Alexander and I wrote back in 2011. She was a FFVII veteran and I’d never played, and together we went on a journey that changed us forever.…

Pokemon Aren’t The Only Ones That Evolve. So Do The Fans.

A Pokemon fan has many stages as they grow older. Evolutions, if you will—which Dorkly illustrates with a funny comic about the different types of Pokemon fans that exist. Mind, these aren’t all the possible Pokemon fans out there. But surely you’ve met some of these, yeah? Which would you say you are, if any?…

Hideo Kojima Reviews Pacific Rim In Eight Tweets

It’s no surprise that Hideo Kojima, maker of games about people, giant robots and war would like a new summer blockbuster about people, giant robots and monsters. (Hey, two out of three…) It is nevertheless refreshing to see how gleeful the Metal Gear mastermind is about next week’s Guillermo Del Toro action flick, Pacific Rim.…

Zombies, Women & Citizen Kane: Last of Us Makers Defend Their Game

The Last of Us is one of the most critically acclaimed big-budget games of the last year. All the same, it’s gotten its fair share of criticism. Is it too difficult? Too much like a movie? Are female characters relegated to the sidelines? And why the heck aren’t they just called zombies? I took these…

Indian gamers are waging a Twitter campaign against EA with the hashtag #EAPCIndia. Their beef? EA has jacked up the price of PC games this year. Last year’s Battlefield 3 had cost roughly the equivalent of $20 in India. Battlefield 4 will be close to $60, or 3,499 rupees. IndianVideoGamer.com has the story and the…

How You’d Cook A Clicker From The Last of Us. Y’know, If You Could.

You gotta think, someone, somewhere in The Last of Us’ universe has tried to cook Clicker meat. Not like, the once-human part of the Clicker—they’d probably cook the stuff growing off the Clicker’s face. Gross, I know, but…someone has tried it, surely. Right? Well, if you’re curious as to how they’d probably go about cooking…

13 Minutes Of Gameplay From Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

No Random Encounters today—sorry!—but here, have 13 minutes of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII gameplay from the Japan Expo in France this week. For more on Lightning Returns, check out my hands-on impressions from E3 last month.

The Moneysaver: All 3 Bioshocks for $40, Humble Weekly, Mad Max

I chose the impossibly cheap. Happy Friday dear readers, hope everyone ate themselves into a coma yesterday. The Amazon Summer Sale limped a bit out of the gate but things are in full swing now. With deals like all three Bioshocks for $40, this is Amazon Mayhem all over again. There’s a dirt cheap 2560×1440…

The New Age Of Star Wars Tabletop Role-Playing Begins Today

West End and Wizards of the Coast had their go. Now it’s Fantasy Flight Games’ turn at tackling Star Wars tabletop role-playing, and they’re off to a gruff and gritty start with Edge of the Empire. Who wants to be a bounty hunter? Rather than attempting to represent the length and breadth of the Star…

The Return of Campy Batman Is My Favorite Comics Panel This Week

Batman ’66 #1: It’s that most miserable of times in the mainline Batman continuity, the period after someone close to Batman dies. So, of course, Bruce Wayne’s busy alienating everyone who cares for or works with him. Who knows how long this bout of Dark Knight grumpiness will continue? That’s why it’s great that Batman…

Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: Full Burst Brings Naruto Battles To PC

Announced yesterday during the Japan Expo in Paris, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is getting an upgrade this winter, with fresh missions, enhanced visuals, a new playable character and — most importantly — a PC version. Namco Bandai is calling this enhanced version of the last installment of CyberConnect2’s long-running franchise Naruto Shippuden Ultimate…

Hollywood’s Long History of Mostly Failing to Make Video Games

As mainstream video games strived to be more cinematic and as gaming emerged as a major source of entertainment revenues, it was only a matter of time until the talent from the film industry would attempt to get in on the action. Such a thing has indeed happened numerous times. For whatever reason, it typically…

DARK Seems Nice, For A Vampire Game With A Dance Soundtrack

Okay, it doesn’t really have a dance soundtrack But for some reason, developer Realmforge Studios thought it appropriate to go with a somewhat nightclubby mood for their stealth-action game’s release trailer DARK is, obviously, a vampire game. It stars Eric Bane, a fledgling vampire who’s trying to hunt down his sire (ie. the vampire who…