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I Finished These 23 Video Games in 2012

For the seventh straight year, I’m publishing a list of all the games I started playing in the past year and all the ones I finished. My totals have dropped yet again. I started 139 games, finished 23 of them. When I started keeping track of this, back in 2006, the idea of finishing games…

Evil is everywhere—in the soda, under the ground and in the banks—in this new DmC trailer.

Almost the Wipeout-Style Futuristic Hovercar Racer the iPhone Has Been Waiting For

I want to go fast—faster than modern day street vehicles are capable of travelling. I’ve felt the need for ground-based speed since I was a small-ish boy, so games like F-Zero, Wipeout and Extreme-G (remember Extreme-G?) have always been a passion. Plenty of mobile developers have attempted to capture the power and energy of the…

Why Super Hexagon Should Be Game of The Year

Earlier today, our own Luke Plunkett nominated Crusader Kings II for Kotaku 2012 game of the year, writing that it’s “the only game on this list that’s about sex and politics.” Sounds like a man who hasn’t played Super Hexagon, right? Or. Actually. No. Super Hexagon (iOS, Steam) isn’t about sex and politics. It’s not…

American McGee’s Studio Is Out Of Money To Finish Their Game, Wants Your $200,000 [UPDATE]

The studio of game designer American McGee—best known for designing the horror game Alice and its sequel, Alice: Madness Returns—has run out of money to finish their next game. McGee and his studio Spicy Horse have been working on a game called Akaneiro for the past year-and-a-half. It’s a free-to-play action-role-playing game set in ancient…

Here’s an Actual Game Running on the Ouya

So, we’ve seen proof that the Ouya exists, in an unboxing video seen last week. But that clip stopped just short of showing any actual games running on it. Well, now you can see software running on the Android-based hardware. The game above is Roasty Rooster, in development by Finnish studio Aptual. It looks just…

Creditors Call THQ’s Bankruptcy Deal Rigged, Want It Stopped

Creditors don’t expect to get everything they’re owed when a company enters any form of bankruptcy, but THQ’s say they’re getting screwed in the publisher’s arrangement to sell off its assets and start over. Three creditors have filed objections, reports Gamasutra, and so has the government trustee overseeing the bankruptcy The creditors allege THQ and…

Why Crusader Kings II Should Be Game Of The Year

It’s easy. Because it’s the only game on this list that’s about sex and politics. Most others are about killing. And don’t get me wrong, as head of a medieval dynasty, there will be the blood of thousands on your hands when your game is done. But in Crusader Kings II, unlike most other games—its…

TrainStation Hops the Rails From Facebook to Mobile

The best rail management simulation on Facebook is looking to become the best rail management sim on iOS and Android, as Pixel Federation prepares to send a freshly repainted TrainStation to iOS and Android in the first half of 2013. TrainStation lets players build stations, create and manage a fleet of locomotives and explore the…

For $30, BioShock Ultimate Rapture Edition Includes Two Full Games, All the DLC and New Unseen Artwork

Sad that this March’s BioShock Infinite won’t be set in Rapture? You’ll get a chance to re-visit the beautiful underwater city of the first two BioShock games with the newly announced Ultimate Rapture edition, which will boast an all-new Museum of Orphaned Concepts filled with concept art and character designs that weren’t used for Irrational’s…

This Guy “Hacks” The Human Body, Turning It Into An Involuntary Musical Instrument

This is Japanese artist Daito Manabe, who “uses electrical impulses as an artistic medium”. Translation: you’re about to see human bodies wired up and shocked, turning muscle movements into a weird kind of musical instrument. It’s equal parts gross and fascinating. The video itself is another in the excellent “Creators Project” series, an earlier episode…

There’s a Second “Surprisingly Unsexy” Commander Shepard Statue Coming

I was surprised back in September when a new entry in Kotobukiya’s line of “Bishoujo” figures—normally a little on the revealing side—played it demure when it came to Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard. Ditto for this second version of the piece, which changes weapons and haircuts. There’ll only be 2000 made available, and the front hand…

Sorry Buddy, This Horse Needs To Make A Quick Getaway

You’d think the horse stealing the car would be the funniest bit. But no. I like the dude’s obvious disappointment at the overall outcome at the very end. “aaww”. For more horse-in-Grand-Theft-Auto-IV madness, see here Horse [Premium Gifs]

Rumor: Pre-Owned Wii U Consoles Let You Download Someone Else’s Games For Free

It wasn’t until the Wii U launched that we found out accounts and information registered on that console would be staying on that console. Sounded bad at the time, but there might be a bright side to the whole mess. There obviously haven’t been too many people buying one of the machines pre-owned in its…

Princess Leia Is Now An X-Wing Fighter Pilot

There’s a short piece up on Wired about a new Star Wars comic book series. There’s something new in it: Leia is a pilot. Like, an X-Wing pilot, in the orange jumpsuit and everything. Series writer Brian Wood (of DMZ fame, and formerly of Rockstar Games) did a pretty good job of explaining how/why the…

Luke’s Top Ten Games Of 2012

I played a lot of games this year, and sadly, most of them were forgettable. It’s just been one of those years. Luckily, not everything landed between the ranges of “awful” and “mediocre”. Some games landed between “pretty good” and “fucking incredible”. Like these ten which, in no particular order, are my absolute favourite games…

This Hilarious New Year’s Eve Special Is A Class-Five Flaming Disaster

It’s okay to get a little bit sloppy on New Year’s Eve, but this goes above and beyond. At the end of 2012, the Los Angeles station KDOC aired the special above, featuring Jamie Kennedy, Shannon Elizabeth, a totally lit Macy Gray, and a list of additional stars so scattered that it feels like parody.…

The WarZ’s Servers Were Attacked, Game Brought Down

Zombie survival rip-off The WarZ which, outside of a bizarrely fanatical fanbase hasn’t exactly endeared itself to the wider community, has for the past few days been the subject of attacks on the game’s servers. That’s according to the game’s community manager Kwerk, who wrote earlier in the week “First we were hit with an…

Kirk’s Top 11 Games Of 2012

I played more games in 2012 than any other year of my life. It was a weird—but thoroughly wonderful—year, and one that upset a lot of my expectations. Games I’d assumed would be amazing fell short of the mark, while others came out of nowhere to become fast favorites. This being a time well-suited for…

Are We Being Unfair When We Say That Grinding Sucks?

I hate feeling like a cog in the machine—like my actions don’t matter, like I’m wading through tedium before I can get to the ‘meaningful’ part. Tedium exasperates me, makes me start thinking about depressing things like not reaching my true potential. This is true in both real life as well as in games. So…