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The Biggest Change To Grand Theft Auto V May Well Be Musical

Grand Theft Auto has always been a singularly musical series. From classic rock blaring over a helicopter sunset to cool jazz simmering on a rainy city night, GTA‘s many in-game radio stations, coupled with Rockstar’s seemingly infallible song-selection, makes each game’s soundtrack as good as the last one. With the recent info-drop on Grand Theft…

Double Fine’s Superheroic Smartphone Game Has Its Own Origin Story

It’s been a little while since we last saw or heard anything about Middle Manager of Justice, Double Fine’s foray into free-to-play smartphone gaming. I gave the game a go back when Double Fine first announced it, and it looks like a fun, suitably goofy take on the whole smartphone time-management sim deal. After accidentally…

How Has Assassin’s Creed III Disappointed Me? Let Me Count The Ways.

I thought I was going to love Assassin’s Creed III. From everything I’d seen, it seemed like Ubisoft was doing everything in their not-inconsiderable power to push their flagship series into brave new territory. Except… well, they didn’t manage to pull it off. Rather than taking the Assassin’s Creed series forward in some bold new…

Don’t Get Your Hopes Up for a Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Wii U Re-Release

The well regarded Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars of 2010 was probably Capcom’s least-complained-about fighting game of the past three years, probably because the Wii was absolutely useless as a DLC-delivery device. While you may still play the game on the Wii U, which has backwards compatibility with the Wii’s controllers and games library, don’t…

7 Navy SEALS Disciplined For Sharing Secrets While Consulting On Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Throughout the lead-up to its launch, Medal of Honor: Warfighter touted its authenticity as a modern-day military shooter. Over the course of its production, it consulted heavily with real-life Navy SEALs, in order to make missions more realistic. The authenticity, unfortunately, didn’t help the game, and now it turns out its hurting the SEALs too.…

World of Warcraft to Sell Virtual Kittens to Raise Money for Sandy Relief

Okay. I may not love playing World of Warcraft, but I am happy to give credit where credit is due: this is both cute and awesome. World of Warcraft is adding a new pet to their pet store. First, it’s a kitten, which is just great on general principles. Second, it’s on fire, which is…

Did LeBron James Kill NBA 2K13‘s Competitive Balance?

It’s a year-round best seller and by all rights has never been better, but Ben Sin, writing for Kill Screen Daily, says NBA 2K13‘s competitive balance—online anyway—is completely thrown out of whack by the superteams that make the real league such a compelling story for basketball fans. “Whereas the Chicago Bulls, despite having only one…

Luke, Han, and Leia Could Be Back in Star Wars Sequel Penned By Toy Story 3 Writer

If the Hollywood rumor mill is to be trusted, Star Wars: Episode VII may already have its writer. Vulture reports that Michael Arndt has already written a 40-50 page script treatment for the film and is ” likely to be at least one of the writers” for the movie, which is expected to start shooting…

The Amazing J.S. Joust And Three Other Indie Sports Games Need Your $150,000 To Make It to PS3 and Computers

Have you heard people rave about the graphics-less multiplayer game Johann Sebastian Joust but never been able to play it? Have you noticed that it is played with PlayStation Move controllers and wondered why in the world Sony hasn’t greenlit it for an official PlayStation 3 release? Yes? No? J.S. Joust is a clever 21st…

My New Favorite Tablet Stand Gently Cups My Thigh

Since taking up duties as Kotaku’s official mobile gaming guy, I’ve started spending a large amount of time sitting outside on my patio, trying to look busy while playing games on my iPad or my Transformer Prime. The PadPivot is my constant companion, resting reassuringly upon my thigh andkeeping my tablet safe and secure. The…

Soak In The Lovely World Map Of New Super Mario Bros. U

Ahh, world maps. I love world maps. And I love world maps in Mario games. This particular map comes from New Super Mario Bros. U, the Wii U Mario game that will launch alongside Nintendo’s new console on November 18. It’s sort of reminiscent of Super Mario World—check out that ghost ship!—and it’s really interesting.…

People Magazine Thinks This Is Christina Aguilera Dressed Up As Zelda

Uhhhhhh. Oh, boy. Either People magazine got some really bad information on Christina Aguilera’s Halloween costume this year, or Christina Aguilera herself doesn’t know who or what Zelda is. Either way, according to this issue of People—and caught by Gamervescent—depicted above (and in full below) is “game heroine Princess Zelda, and beau Matt Rutler suited…

Barack Obama Would Probably Beat Mitt Romney in Letterpress, Too

The thing I like about Letterpress is how it makes a field of letters turn into a vicious battleground, with two players vying to control more territory than the other via clever word-forming. Sounds a lot like something important that happened this week, no? (Image by Dave Wiskus, via Twitter)

Rockstar Says Grand Theft Auto V Is Bigger Than Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas, and GTAIV Combined

The digital issue of December’s Game Informer is out now, and with it comes a boatload of new information on Grand Theft Auto V, including the fact that its world will be bigger than the worlds of Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV combined (at least according to Rockstar). Holy crap.…

Stormfall: Age of War Makes Me Wish I Were a Better Empire Builder

Launched earlier this week on Facebook by Plarium, Stormfall: Age of War is an incredibly polished social empire builder with tons of depth, sharp production values (voice overs!) and plenty of opportunities to interact with your Facebook friends both positively and negatively. If only I had the patience. Empire building is one of my gaming…

Father Hacks Zelda For His Daughter, Makes Link A Girl

Maybe Link doesn’t need to be a young boy. The father of one little girl decided he’d change the gender of one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters so he hacked The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. While playing the 2003 Gamecube title with his daughter Maya, Mike Hoye had been reading the game’s text to…

There’s a My Little Pony Party in My Pocket and You’re All Invited

Hot and cold running My Little Pony hit iTunes today (with Android coming soon). Hot because the obvious love for fans of the show, and cold for the city-building gameplay that I likely wouldn’t bother with if not for the prevailing ponitude of it all. I’ve been excited about the My Little Pony mobile game…

Go Tell The Guy Who Runs Mass Effect What You Want To See In The Next One

Hey Casey Hudson, executive producer of Mass Effect, what are you up to nowadays? Ooh, cool. Thanks, Casey. So what do you guys want to see in the next Mass Effect? And when do you think they should start changing the ending?

The Real Reason We Hate Easy Achievements

You know the ones. Sometimes you start a new game, and a few minutes in—before you even do anything—and ping! Achievement Unlocked. Congrats, you earned that achievement by, um, existing? It’s achievements like that, the gamer community at large seems to have decided, that give achievements a bad name. Developers give them out willy-nilly, and…

The delightful perspective puzzles of Pixel Twist (aka Coign of Vantage) are now on Android. For free. Get them