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Xbox Survey Wonders If You’d Trade In Your Digital Games For Store Credit

Refunds notwithstanding, digital video game purchases are normally a one-way street, but what if they weren’t? A question from a recent Xbox survey asks gamers if they’d part with their digital acquisitions for 10 percent store credit. The image belowpopped up on Reddit yesterday, and the hypothetical it presents is interesting. Trading in a $60…

The Canceled Superman Game That Killed A Beloved Game Studio

In 2008, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron developer Factor 5 teamed with up-and-coming publisher Brash Entertainment to create an ambitious open-world game based on DC Comics’ Man of Steel. By May of 2009 Factor 5 was no more. Thanks, Superman. In the latest video from the folks atDidYouKnowGaming, Unseen64 video game historian Liam Robertson explores development…

Happy 10th Birthday To My Favorite Elder Scrolls Game 

“These are the closing days of the third era, and the final hours of my life.” So spoke Sir Patrick Stewart as King Uriel Septim VII in the opening moments of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, foretelling the end of his adventure and the beginning of a million others. That powerful opening monologue, with its…

Darth Vader In Fallout 4 Is More Powerful Than You Could Possibly Imagine

Apologies to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who famously uttered the phrase in the first Star Wars film, but becoming a translucent blue bit of heroic motivation has nothing on what Vader does to the rebel forces in this modded Fallout battle. Not content to simply recreate everyone’s favorite little podracer in Fallout 4, YouTube’s Cosmic Contrarian staged…

Is anyone else hearing the Final Fantasy victory tune in this trailer for Disney Crossy Road, which is a real thing that’s happening? Just checking.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Pokken In The UFC: The Winners! 

And so a last-minute idea results in one of the best Kotaku ‘Shop Contests ever, with so many excellent entries there was no way I could pick one for the top. So I picked three. Is it a cop-out? Yes, yes it is. But it’s really the fault of our Photoshop-savvy readers, so blame them.…

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice will be out for the 3DS on September 27. The release date was revealed at the SXSW 25th Anniversary Sonic the Hedgehog panel along with a special Sonic Live event in San Diego on July 22, where it’s likely a new game will be announced.

Here’s A Good Way To Farm Items And Phoenix Credits In The Division [Update]

For lo, when a new loot game is released, there shall quickly emerge new ways to farm that loot without putting in much effort. So it is written, so it shall forever be. And so it is with Tom Clancy’s The Division. Update 3/21: Ubisoft Massive is issuing a substantial new patch that will make…

LEGO Dimensions‘ Final Adventure World Is An Arcade Wonderland

LEGO Dimensions is a glorious mashup of entertainment properties, from cartoons to comic books to movies. The final free-roaming Adventure World for the game is an equally glorious mashup of classic arcade games. This past Tuesday saw the release of the next-to-last wave of LEGO Dimensions toys. We got Fun Packs (one character, one accessory)…

We Now Live In A World Full Of Virtual Reality Bird Games

Remember back when everyone was making cute third-person platformers? Or when everyone was making World War II shooters? Now we’ve got three different VR bird games, all showcased at this year’s Game Developers Conference. Up top is Birdly, a game we first saw in 2014. Not only can you fly as a bird, but you…

Marvel Heroes Is A Great Place To Work Out Your Post-Daredevil Season Two Frustrations

Season two of Netflix’s Daredevil is here, and oh now it’s gone. Those 13 episodes went fast. If you need a little more Matt Murdock in your life, free-to-play action MMO Marvel Heroes is giving out free Murdock all weekend long. Gazillion’s Diablo-meets-Marvel Comics joint has been one of my favorite download, play, delete, repeat…

Telephone Operator Game Uses Real 1927 Switchboard

One of the coolest things Kirk Hamilton and I saw at the 2016 Game Developers Conference was Mike Lazer-Walker’s game Hello, Operator, which uses a real switchboard that he bought on eBay and turned into a game. In the video here, Kirk plays Hello, Operator while Mike explains what’s going on. You can’t hear it…

The State of the Punisher

Frank Castle’s been around for more than 40 years and, like most comic-book characters, has evolved over the course of his publishing history. Originally published 3/16/16 When the second of season of Daredevil starts on Friday March 18, the Punisher will be the primary antagonist for the Man Without Fear. The two characters have a…

Agent 47 Could Learn A Thing Or Two From These Animal Assassins

I’ve been having a blast roleplaying as a slick assassin in the new Hitman. I’m especially looking forward to playing the new Escalations this weekend. But Agent 47’s elegance will never compare to that found in the wild. Subreddit /r/hitmanimals is full of nature’s own assassins putting the best of 47’s moves to shame. These…

That Time Marvel Comics Had An Awful Sex Demon

People talk about how bad the comics of the ‘90s were. But, after actually revisiting some of the storylines from two decades ago, they’re even worse than I remembered. Exhibit A: a crossover between Luke Cage, mercenary Silver Sable and an antihero who used other people’s body parts against a hellbeast with the power to…

Microsoft Says They Regret Holding GDC Party With School Girl Dancers [UPDATE]

Hours after hosting a “women in gaming” luncheon at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft threw a party with scantily clad dancers in school girl outfits. It wasn’t a good look, and the company has since apologized. The photos surfaced after a series of tweets by Tin Man Games editor Kamina Vincent brought…

The 200th episode of Highlight Reel is on hold until Monday. But we’re taking submissions! If you have a cool gaming moment, send it to [email protected]. And if you have a question about show works, send us an email with the subject “Highlight Reel Question” and we’ll answer it in our 200th episode Q&A!

First Player To Reach Level Cap In The Division Does It In 130 Hours

After 130 hours, The Division player Chaos 3SK is the first person to reach max level in both the general game and the Dark Zone, Ubisoft announced today. According to Eurogamer, Chaos 3SK has unveiled 99 as the level cap for the Dark Zone’s separate leveling system, which they achieved in addition to the max…

Sources: Sony Is Working On A ‘PlayStation 4.5’

Sony is currently planning a new version of the PS4 with increased graphical power and games running at 4K resolution, developer sources tell Kotaku. We don’t know whether current PS4 owners will be able to upgrade or if they’ll have to buy an entirely new device to benefit from this power boost, but from what…

The Tech Behind A PS4 Game’s Realistic Facial Expressions

Ninja Theory’s upcoming action game, Hellblade, has a protagonist with expressions that actually look, well, human. Here’s how they did it. Through the use of the Unreal Engine and a few other things, Ninja Theory can take the live performance of an actress and render it directly into the game, as it happens. “We could…