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Activision’s Boss Got an 800% Raise, and a Watchdog Doesn’t Like It

Activision has a lot of money. Bobby Kotick has fat stacks, too. The publisher’s CEO saw his total cash-and-prizes compensation jump from $8.1 million in 2011 to $64.9 million in 2012, reports Bloomberg, a figure that would make him the second-highest paid CEO among publicly traded U.S. companies. Kotick is due for another $16 million…

Moneysaver One-Shot: The Art Of Shaving Cheaply

Shave your face, not your wallet. Welcome to a special weekend Moneysaver. Don’t worry, your regularly scheduled programming has not been interrupted- yesterday’s Moneysaver roundup is still going strong, and we’ll be back on Monday at 2:15pm EST with another new installment. Some things in life are unavoidable, and worse, they drain you of time…

2K Games Bails on E3, Too

Earlier this week Nintendo said it wouldn’t do a pre-conference keynote event at E3, though it’ll still have a booth there. 2K Games isn’t even doing that. A post on the publisher’s blog says they won’t be on E3’s floor. “While 2K will not have a booth on the show floor at this year’s E3…

The Best of Kotaku, The Week of April 22nd

Another week, another Next Xbox rumor. Or, wait, that’s not right. This week Microsoft finally announced that they will be announcing the next generation console. Mark your calendar: May 21st. That’s soon! We will, of course, be reporting live to bring you all the details of the next boxy device you may or may not…

Supervillains Don’t Make For Very Good Speed Dates

But they sure make amusing speed dates according to this video by worldofheroes. Aww, now I feel mean. Even supervillains need love, people! Not that superheroes are much better… In any case, here we are. It’s the end of the week. Have a good one? Got any plans for the weekend? Feel free to talk…

The Future of Gaming Sure Looks Silly

Virtual reality is the next big thing in gaming, and the Oculus Rift is a VR headset which promises to bring immersion to the next level. Overall, the Rift looks like a cool experience—but as this this video by Brendan Caldwell shows, people can look quite silly while using it. The video comes fromEVE Fantast…

Spot Your Favorite Fire Emblem Character In This Amazing Fan Art

One of the most endearing qualities of the fantastic Fire Emblem: Awakening is its massive cast of characters. Over the course of the game, we really came to know Chrom, Frederick and the gang as we fought alongisde them, watched them fall in love and get married, and sometimes watched them die. It’s what sets…

These Excellent Films Might Become Commercials For The PlayStation

Sony recently announced that they’ve hired MOFILM—a community that holds regular contests meant to “inspire” filmmakers—to crowdsource their advertisement efforts. Which is great! Because MOFILM’s Barcelona 2013 contest churned out some really dramatic films. Here are the winners. Here’s what the winners got You can check out one of the first place winners up top.…

Everything’s Blue in The Week in Gaming Apps

Well, almost everything. We had a good thing going, Talisman Prologue, and you had to go and completely screw things up. Great job. Don’t know why I even bother anymore. They Need to Be Fed 2 is blue, sometimes. The newly-retooled The Night Jar? Blue. There’re blue skies in Madmonster, even if they are the…

The Visual Evolution Of Star Trek Video Games

A new Star Trek game hit the shelves this week, and only a few days remain until the premier of the 12th movie. As the tone of the movies and the series has changed a lot, we decided to take a look how the games evolved over more than 30 years. The variety in genre…

This might seem obvious to some, but it’s still kind of sad: as people grow older, they tend to care about video games less according to Facebook data. Do you think this will happen to you?

Thomas Was Alone Dev: Indie Means ‘I Get to Do Exactly What I Want’

Mike Bithell’s had a crazy year. He went from being one of a few dozen developers at U.K.-based Bossa Studios to becoming a solo indie creator supporting a game on multiple platformers. What prompted the drastic lifestyle change? The steady climb of acclaim around his minimalist platformer Thomas Was Alone. Thomas just came out this…

This Mario-Meets-Pokémon Game Is Completely Ridiculous

IGN found what is possibly one of the worst iOS games ever: Super Monster Bros. It’s this Mario-Meets-Pokémon game that tries its best to charge you for everything. One wrong tap and all of a sudden the game asks you to buy a hundred dollar jump ability or a Charizard rip-off. Watch: That much money,…

Seems Like Thief Really Is In Serious Trouble

We’d been hearing rumors that the new Thief was in trouble, which made for a worrisome combination with the findings of our columnist/sleuth Superannuation, who last June dug up a distressing amount of turnoverat the game’s developer Eidos Montreal. A new report at Polygon backs up those earlier concerns, describing a laborious creative process, conflicting…

Here’s Super Mario World Running On The Wii U Virtual Console

The Wii U’s Virtual Console is live, and we can prove it. Here’s what it looks like when you run the SNES classic Super Mario World (which will run you a hefty $7.99) on the Wii U’s new emulation service. Runs smoothly on both the TV and GamePad, as you can see.

The Little Things That Make JRPGs So Great

There’s a part at the beginning of Final Fantasy IX—a game that was once underrated, then overrated, and now feels properly rated as “totally awesome” by most RPG fans on the web—where you have to pretend to fight with swords. You, as the roguish, tailed hero Zidane, are putting on a play for the heinous…

The Moneysaver: $20 Tomb Raider And Your New HDTV

Get your games cheaply and watch them cheaply too. Welcome to The Moneysaver. Not content to be outdone by yesterday’s huge action gaming sale from EA, Green Man Gaming has thrown down the gauntlet with huge discounts on PC titles, most notably Tomb Raider for $20, the lowest price we’ve seen on it. Hit up…

They Bought Dead Island: Riptide But Got Dark Souls Instead

It’s like the universe was trying to tell them something. This week, some British gamers found that the retail Steam codes they redeemed for Dead Island: Riptide instead unlocked Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition The jokes really make themselves, don’t they? It’s easy to say, “Hey, you’re better off! One of those games is…

Just a heads up: the Wii U Virtual Console is now live in North America.

Cliff Bleszinski: Pirates Can Be Paying Customers

Ever since he left Epic Games, Cliff Bleszinski’s been letting his opinions fly fast and unfettered. At this week’s East Coast Game Conference, he talked about where the future of games might be heading. During the 25-minute talk—spotted on GamersNexus—he offers up opinions on the folks who pirate games and the heavy-handed top-down approach protecting…