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After Years Of Playing A Game, These Guys Turned Their Exploits Into A Giant Story

Dwarf Fortress is, even with mods helping it out, one of the ugliest video games on the planet. It’s also one of the most rewarding for those who crack its tough exterior, leading to the kind of heroic exploits and emergent gameplay most titles can only dream about. One tale in particular, though, stands out.…

Reminder: PlayStation Home Is Still F**king Weird

Last time we checked in on Sony’s PlayStation Home service—yeah, it’s still around—we found that, over the years, it’s… changed. The people still using it, and paying money for things, have…interesting tastes. The objects, items and experiences you see below are not jokes. They’re what’s actually new for sale this month on the service, as…

In this poignant article at Gameological, one writer has his Magic collection appraised to dispiriting result.

Surgery Simulator 2013, Performed In Front Of A Live “Studio” Audience

Surgeon Simulator 2013 is, for reasons mostly comedic, the best damn game most of us have played this year It’s even better when there’s a live audience—real or otherwise—to see you fail. Or, somehow in this case, succeed Heart transplant surgery with live audience [CriticalIdiot]

Well, Killzone On The Vita Looks Pretty Great

You can’t ever put your complete trust in something until you’ve got your hands on it—especially when it comes to this franchise and this platform—but still. Even allowing for that, this is looking like a much better effort than other FPS games we’ve seen on the Vita thus far. We’ll have more on Killzone: Mercenary…

Everyone’s Going to Play as the Bad Guys in Aliens: Colonial Marines Multiplayer, Aren’t They?

Ok, yes: the Marines in Gearbox’s officially sanctioned Aliens shooter have some cool guns. But, honestly, if you’re going to pick up this game, do you really want to play as another sci-fi soldier? No, you’re not. You’re going to want to impale humans on your deadly tail, slash them to bits and spit acid…

Stop Trying To Use ‘Companies Exist To Make Money’ As An Argument. Just Stop.

You’re expressing an opinion on something—maybe DLC, maybe DRM, maybe microtransactions or online passes. Something controversial where it’s clear that a company is taking advantage of customers. You have worries. You’re upset. Enter the Apologist Gamer, here to invalidate your concerns. “Companies Exist To Make Money,” they’ll stupidly say—as if this fact wasn’t obvious, as…

Ni No Kuni Gets Its Own Dubsteppy xx420_NoScope Video

Thanks to My Inner Fred for making this “Official Pro Wizard” video of Ni no Kuni. (It’s somewhat spoilery, in that it shows some stuff from after the first act.) Wait for the drop at 0:36. Who says that shooters should get all the great bro-tastic NoScope videos? This game does have motherfucking management, after…

A Gorgeous Digital World That You Can Explore Starting Today

Last year, I wrote about the beautiful digital island found inside of Proteus. Proteus is an exploration game where the world is reactive to the player. Stones will hum as you walk by. Frogs will sing to you. I’d tell you more but it’s best that you experience it yourself; there’s nothing quite like it.…

Source Code and Moon director Duncan Jones will be directing the Warcraft movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist Won’t Have Interactive Torture, But It’ll Still Have ‘Interrogations’

One of the more inflammatory aspects of 2010’s Splinter Cell: Conviction was the fact that it included a number of gruesome interactive torture sequences. The game, in which you play as rogue spec-ops badass Sam Fisher, featured a number of ticking time-bomb scenarios in which Sam would torture various bad guys to get information. True…

Wizardry Online Launches. Prepare to Die, Permanently.

The free-to-play massively multiplayer online extension of one of the world’s oldest role-playing game franchises is now live in North America, luring players to its servers with the sweet embrace of permadeath. How long will you survive Wizardry Online? The selling point of Sony Online Entertainment’s Japanese import, besides the prestigious name, is the fact…

The Goriest, Nastiest, Bloodiest Video Games

The evolution of graphics and physics engines (just think about ragdoll physics) in video games introduced a whole new level of violence and blood. Despite the continuous debates, like it or not, this trend won’t fade away anytime soon. We collected some of the nastiest examples, games where gore is an essential part of the…

Where’s My Water? for iOS just added a feature that lets players share pics their strategies on Facebook and Twitter.

Satoru Iwata told Japanese investors Nintendo will put out 10 or so big, first-party titles for 3DS in the next quarter.

Gamers Also Like Cheetos and Fedoras, According To Facebook’s New Search Tool

Graph Search debuted recently—it’s Facebook’s social search—and some of us have had the chance to try the beta out. Taking a cue from the Actual Facebook Searches Tumblr, here are a few fun searches I conducted about people who ‘like’ video games on Facebook. Click for full size. And, for the record: the sidebar will…

Gabe Newell Says Apple, Not Consoles, Is The Biggest Threat To The Steam Box

Most of the talk of Valve’s recent excursion into the world of living-room PCs has focused on how their hardware, née the “Steam Box”, would compete with gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has another competitor on his mind: Apple. Polygon reports that Newell, speaking today to…

Anita Sarkeesian’s First ‘Tropes vs. Women in Games’ Video May Come Out Next Month, But Her Tumblr’s Live Now

Anita Sarkeesian, the controversial feminist critic whose plans to produce a crowdfunded video series about female tropes in video games led to someone creating a video game all about punching her in the face, is almost ready to show her work. Sarkeesian quietly launched a Tumblr called “Bits of Tropes Vs. Women in Games” this…

Take a look at our Tumblr. It’s like Kotaku on a visual high.

Gather Round For One Of Ni no Kuni‘s Lovely Fairy Tales

The splendid new role-playing game Ni no Kuni is, in many ways, a game about stories. It’s a fairy tale of the purest sort, full of morals and messages, overflowing with heart. So it’s fitting that within the game lies a book filled with richly-drawn fairy tales. Early in the story, the protagonist Oliver is…