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No Random Encounters this week — sorry folks! Jason’s out in LA and had no time to put together a column this week.

In Europe, You Can Only Download Mature-Rated Wii U Games At Night

If you’d like to buy 18+ rated games on the Wii U’s European eShop, you’ll have to do it after the sun goes down. When the kids are tucked into bed, and no one can see you sin. The policy came to light after NeoGAFer Panajef2001a tried to access the Italian store during the day,…

Wii U’s Winter Gets A Little Brighter: Rayman Legends Out February 26th

With a “launch window” that appears to be of the floor-to-ceiling variety, there have been questions about when some Wii U titles would actually see the light of day. For one of the most anticipated titles, the wait for knowing how long you have to wait is over: Ubisoft’s gorgeous platformer Rayman Legends will be…

For those of you allergic to Facebook, Insomiac’s monster-collecting social game Outernauts is now on Kongregate

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate has a release date in NA: March 5th, 2013. Coming to the 3DS.

Far Cry 3 Patch Will Let Us Remove Annoying Pop-Ups

And the tigers wept, and the tapirs sang: Ubisoft has confirmed that they’re working on a patch for Far Cry 3 that will let players adjust or remove the game’s clutter-y user interface. In a statement sent to Kotaku: Based on feedback from both press and fans, the Far Cry 3 production team is working…

ZombiU’s Marketing Team: Sure, Why Not. Let’s Make An Ad With A Half-Naked Woman.

ZombiU’s got plenty going for it—it’s Demon Souls meets FPS, for one. That’s pretty great. You shoot zombies in it; people love that. Really, there’s no shortage of possible ways to sell this game. But why sell it on sex, something that literally has nothing to do with the game itself? It’s a common advertising…

CoasterVille Cheats & Tips: A Complete Guide to Building Roller Coasters

Zynga‘s CoasterVille focuses on more than just roller coasters, allowing players to build small rides, businesses and attractions. But one of the most interesting features within the game is definitely the ability to build roller coasters. From the game’s tutorial, you’re introduced to this feature, which sees you constructing each roller coaster piece by piece.…

Nine Signs That Video Games Grew Up a Bit in 2012

We hear all the time that video games are a young medium, that they’ve still got so much untapped potential to wow us in unique and meaningful ways. And while it may seem like it’s been just another 12 months of sequels, remakes and disappointment, there have been signs that video games are maturing. Some…

Twelve Things You Should Know About Metal Gear Rising

This week in Los Angeles, Konami threw a three-day event to show off Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the oddly-titled action game they’re developing in conjunction with Platinum Games, the folks behind Bayonetta and Vanquish Although Kotaku typically turns down these sort of publisher-paid press events, I happened to be in Los Angeles this week anyway,…

Think Hard About What You Want to Say In a Lovely Letter By Letter

My apologies to the guy I was playing this morning in Letter by Letter. You were assigned to me at random by the game’s server. You played “bole,” (a synonym for “trunk”) which was a very good choice. I didn’t have an S to tack onto the end of that and steal the whole thing.…

That BioShock Vita Game Still Doesn’t Exist

Here’s what we know about BioShock Vita: Ken Levine announced it was a thing during last year’s E3, and planned as an entirely new universe. Not a port, but they might need outside developer support on it What we don’t know if it’s actually going to be made. In the video above, you’ll see Irrational…

007 Legends Developer Let All Of Its Staff Go Today

In a sad turn of events for Eurocom—developer of those recent James Bond games—the company made the remaining 42 of its previously 150 staff members redundant after 25 years of development history, reports Eurogamer When you get through all the legal and business terms, it comes down to the UK-based developers not having enough money…

One of the Greatest Role-Playing Games of All-Time is Now on iPad

For the past week PC gamers have been enjoying the enhanced edition of Baldur’s Gate, a fourteen-year-old BioWare role-playing game that many consider to be the greatest Dungeons & Dragons video game ever made. Now it’s iPad owners’ turn to rediscover the magic. If you’re unclear on what Baldur’s Gate is, you should read Jason’s…

Witness The Janky Origins of the Wii U GamePad

In a roundtable discussion posted on Nintendo’s website last night, president Satoru Iwata and the team behind Nintendo Land revealed some interesting tidbits about the Wii U development process, as well as the hilariously constructed GamePad prototype you see above. Part of the ongoing Iwata Asks series, the talk quickly turned to the topic of…

(Possible) Wreck-It Ralph Sequel To (Maybe) Feature Mario

Fire up those warp pipes people, because the man behind Disney’s hit Wreck-It Ralph has designs on bringing everyone’s favorite mustachioed plumber to the potential sequel. Director and story writer Rich Moore has talked about a Wreck-It Ralph sequel since the film’s release last month, where it broke box office records for Walt Disney Animation…

You’ll Have to Wait a Little Longer for BioShock Infinite

First it was October 2012. Then it was February 2013. Now the release date for BioShock Infinite is March 26, 2013. Irrational Games’ next title already sounds it’ll be worth the wait. But, as announced by studio head Ken Levine, the delay is to make the game even better by fixing bugs. Eurogamer quotes Levine:…

It’s the Most Festive Struggle for Survival Against Killer Robots Ever

It might be the most hardcore game on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean Stomp Game’s mecha-Diablo Robot Rising is too cool to celebrate the holidays. It just celebrates in a hardcore fashion. Dressing up helper bots and the game’s sexy robot mascot in festive holiday hats is pretty cool. Adding snow and Christmas trees to…

Star Wars Collection “Appraised” At $120,000 Up For Sale

And you thought an $8000 action figure collection was impressive A man from Waco, Texas is selling an enormous lot of Star Wars merchandise on Craigslist, which he began collecting in 1977 and which he says has been valued at over $120,000 Included in the sale are a life-size statue of Han Solo frozen in…

I’ve Played 4 1/2 Hours of BioShock Infinite. I’m No Longer Worried About This Game

We’ve all waited a long time for a new BioShock, an even longer time for one overseen by Ken Levine, whose Irrational Games studio created the original 2007 sensation. On Thursday in Los Angeles, I didn’t have to wait any longer. I got to play BioShock Infinite, from the start, on a PlayStation 3. I…