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Tats of the Old Republic Winners
BioWare bossman Greg Zeschuk inked himself with Star Wars: The Old Republic during release week, showing his bodily commitment to the MMO. His original tat was a little wishy washy, so we decided to give him a few suggestions, other than laser removal. Twenty winners inside, including MustangSaggy! Leading off, lots of folks explored the…
By Owen Good Published December 24, 2011 -
Xbox Live Pries the Guns from Your Cold, Avatar Hands
This announcement oughta go over like a turd in a punchbowl. Seems that on Jan. 1, Xbox Live is taking guns away from all avatars. That is according to Epic Games’ community manager, who in a reminder to Gears of War fans said that if they don’t have the Lancer or Hammerburst avatar props, they…
By Owen Good Published December 24, 2011 -
Yule Love These Holiday Fireplace Apps for Gaming Consoles and Mobile Devices
In 1966, TV station WPIX filmed a a fireplace at New York’s Gracie Mansion, canceled $4,000 worth of advertising, and broadcast it for two hours on Christmas Day as a gift to viewers who had no fireplaces in their apartments. Its spirit lives on screens large and small to this day. You can give your…
By Owen Good Published December 24, 2011 -
‘Tis the Eve Before Christmas
Whether you’re making last minute shopping plans for a gamer on your list or eyeballing what you might be doing with gift certificates or Christmas money, The Moneysaver marches on with more than 60 deals on hardware, software, and digital downloads. GameStop has a buy two, get one free deal on used games through Wednesday;…
By Owen Good Published December 24, 2011 -
The Week in Unbelievably Gorgeous Screenshots
A couple weeks back I ran an enjoyable feature on Duncan Harris, the video game photographer behind the website DeadEndThrills. Harris takes some of the most evocative, beautiful video game screenshots I’ve ever seen, and we’ve been sharing some of his work each week here. This week has some good stuff. Let’s get into it,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 23, 2011 -
What Are You Playing This Holiday Weekend?
This is the weekend I finally get around to playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Funny thing about picking it up today. I go to GameStop in Springfield, Ore.’s Gateway Mall. I know everyone bags on GameStop and I’ve done my share of that, but I really do like the guys who work there. They…
By Owen Good Published December 23, 2011 -
VVVVVV on the 3DS! Get Your Codes for VVVVVV on the 3DS Here! Who’s Ready?
Alright gang, here we go with another wild download code giveaway over Twitter, and this one is extra super special because the codes are for a game that is not even available yet But if you’re lucky enough to snag one of six codes I’m giving out over Kotaku’s official Twitter in the next two…
By Owen Good Published December 23, 2011 -
A Live-Action Battlefield 4, Through the Eyes of YouTube’s FreddieW
After teaming up with EA to produce a Battlefield 3 commercial, Internet sensation Freddie Wong—best known for geeky, homemade film shorts that riff on Splinter Cell, Halo and Portal—stayed on set to create the video seen above. This one imagines what asynchronous co-op play might look like for that game’s inevitable sequel. “Battlefield 4” does…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 23, 2011 -
Make Your Own Black Ops Christmas Ornament
Treyarch’s 2011 Christmas card is also a neat little Call of Duty: Black Ops ornament, all ready to be hung in a tree. If you’re a big fan, feel free to print these out, trim the excess, tape them together and hang it in your own tree. Hey, where’s my Call of Duty: Modern Warfare…
By Brian Crecente Published December 23, 2011 -
Resistance‘s Official Site is Back Online After Seven-Week Outage
The official site for the Resistance series of games is back online, ending a seven-week outage and one of the strangest security breaches in a year that has seen quite enough of them. Insomniac Games, the game’s maker, tweeted that Sony Computer Entertainment “has restored all web service to MyResistance.net and the site is now…
By Owen Good Published December 23, 2011 -
BioWare’s Co-Founders Say The Old Republic Is “A Crash Course in Everything Star Wars“
Massively multiplayer games come into the world as wriggly things full of writhing paths of possibility. Things start changing as soon as those servers go live and players start interacting with each other and the content. Running beta tests can predict some exploits and behaviors, but the game’s also still being built while those betas…
By Evan Narcisse Published December 23, 2011 -
What Starts With Ducks and Ends With Cheese? It’s the Week in Gaming Apps
Merry Duckcheesemas, everybody! It’s that special time of year in which the Week in Gaming Apps celebrates all things rubber duck and cheese related, along with three other games that have absolutely nothing to do with this theme. The week began with iDuck and ended with Cheeseman, a pair of games that make up the…
By Mike Fahey Published December 23, 2011 -
A Slim Chance for a Free Copy of Mighty Switch Force, an Excellent Chance at the Soundtrack
Yesterday Wayforward Technologies unleashed the majesty of Mighty Switch Force upon the Nintendo 3DS eShop, and while I only have a grand total of three codes to give away for the game, the wonderfully funky soundtrack is now available as a free download. Game composer and sound designer Jake Kaufman dropped us a line earlier…
By Mike Fahey Published December 23, 2011 -
The Best Game Music of 2011: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is perhaps the most compelling argument yet for “Video Game as Concert Piece.” As a game, it is a smartly designed interlocking series of puzzles, an ever-more-complex world filled with hidden secrets and challenging combat that unfolds with a uniquely Zelda-y sense of joyous excavation. But as a concert…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 23, 2011 -
Portal 2 Teleports into Gamasutra‘s Hearts, Snags Their Game of the Year
The industry- and design-focused publication Gamasutra has released their list of the top ten games of the year, with Valve’s Portal 2 coming in at the top. “All that extra ‘stuff’ isn’t just superfluous,” writes editor-in-chief Kris Graft, “every new addition has a purpose, and has a meaning. They made Portal 2 better than the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published December 23, 2011 -
32 Nintendo Fans made these 8 Short Movies in 24 Hours
If Nintendo gave you 24 hours to make a short film about one of their games, what kind of YouTube classic would you create? The company behind Link, Samus and Waluigi gave 32 Los Angeles-based “Nintendo Brand Ambassadors” (fans!) the opportunity to make movies about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Super Mario…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2011 -
Copying Your Character and Following You Around is the Sincerest Form of Creepy Flattery
Commenter KingKellogg the Waffle Haggler encountered a Single White Female situation while playing online the other day, and wonders if you’ve ever had the pleasure of attracting creepy online dopplegangers in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. So here I was playing Halo when one of the people who added me as a friend requested I…
By Mike Fahey Published December 23, 2011 -
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Oh, how I dread Christmas weekend. Not because I’m some big grinch or anything, but mainly because it requires me traveling to the edges of hell and back over the course of 24 hours. It’s days like this that make me wish my DS wasn’t stolen. How do you put up with your family on…
By Chris Carolan Published December 23, 2011 -
Why 2011 was a ‘Historic’ Year for Video Games
Some of us think that 2011 was a good year for video games because Arkham City, Skyrim and the new Zelda weren’t half-bad. Michael Gallagher has other reasons to think 2011 was neat. He is the head of the Entertainment Software Association, the game-publisher-funded group in Washington that puts on E3 every year, lobbies the…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 23, 2011 -
Multi-Touch Not Worth the Hassle with this Meat Boy Clone
It was independent games development’s darling of 2010, and all who dared cross it risked the righteous anger of its creators and fans. But badass platformer Super Meat Boy still is not available on mobile gaming’s No. 1 platform. And I don’t think it’s because one of its creators got into a pissing contest with…
By Owen Good Published December 23, 2011