This Week In The Business: Free-To-Play Failure

QUOTE | “It will start to tail off because the people who play the games will recognize when they’re about to be nickled and dimed, and stop playing them.” – MMO pioneer Richard Bartle, arguing that free-to-play games have a “half-life” and will soon start to fail Elsewhere in the business of video games this…

I Didn’t Know Ellie From The Last of Us Could Play Violin

I really liked The Last of Us, but if you ask me, it could’ve used a couple more elaborate musical numbers to lighten the mood. What if, for example, Ellie had been able to play violin? Violinist Taylor Davis agrees, and she’s put together this musical rendition of Gustavo Santaolalla’s unforgettable theme. Dance, Ellie! Dance…

I Can’t Get Enough of Jim Ross’ Wrestling Commentary On Video Games

Fact: Wrestling legend Jim Ross improves everything. But in case the last video that mashed up video games with wrestling commentarydidn’t convince you of it, here’s another excellent clip. This time, my favorite bit in the video by TheBlueOwlPlays has to be both the water temple bit, and the Resident Evil segment. Too good. If…

​What’s Inside Your Gaming PC?

Gaming PCs are like snowflakes: Sometimes they melt. Also, no two are exactly the same. We already know that our readers generally prefer Nvidia graphics cards to AMD, but I’m curious about more specifics. Also, I just built a new PC, so I’ve got parts on the brain. My rig isn’t as super-powered as the…

Two Of The Top Men Behind The PS4 Talk About The Future Of PlayStation

Nothing like listening to a couple of original gamers reminisce and talk shop. Andrew House and Mark Cerny, two key players who helped bring the PS4 into existence with their respective expertise, sat down for a chat about all things PlayStation recently at the industry-focused Develop conference. You can watch the whole thing in the…

Here’s Our First Good Look At Final Fantasy Explorers

Square Enix’s newly-announced action-RPG might get some Monster Hunter comparisons, but really, it looks a lot more like Phantasy Star Online. It looks good, too. Via GameXplain, here’s some new footage from Final Fantasy Explorers, which is out for 3DS this fall in Japan. This segment was posted during a Japan-only Nintendo Direct this morning.…

I Have No Idea What’s Happening In This Shooter, But I Don’t Mind

If games like Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Splatoon are any indication, this generation of shooters is going to be a whacky one. Sony just fleshed out its newest entry in this emerging category of insane-looking projectile simulators with a trailer for VizionEck, a monochromatic shooter I do not understand in the slightest: Can…

Let’s Talk About Chrono Trigger

Welcome to the Summer of Old JRPGs, where we’re playing classic role-playing games and talking about them every week. Check out the full schedule here Alright, folks—you’ve had two weeks to spend some time with Chrono Trigger, a video game about a time-traveling frog. Did you get a chance to play it? What’d you think?…

Deals: A Crazy PS4 Bundle, Even More Preorder Discounts, Humble Weekly

Every once in a while you can grab a ridiculous gaming deal from Dell, and today is one of those days. Get a Playstation 4, 3 month Plus subscription, copy of inFamous: Second Son, and $100 gift card for $450. Gift card shows in cart. You can even switch out inFamous for MLB 14: The…

You Can Dress Up Pokémon In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Oh My God

And now for the cutest thing I’ve seen all week: scans of Japanese magazine CoroCororeveal that the upcoming Pokémon remakes will have some form of dress-up, presumably for the contests feature included in the original games. While you’ll have to visit Pokémon news website Serebii to see the scans, they show an adorable Pikachu dressed…

448 Minutes Of Transformers Movies Contain 19 Minutes Of Robot Combat

Watching a Michael Bay Transformers movie is a serious investment. When you add up the running time of the original trilogy, it clocks in just shy of 7.5 hours. That’s practically a work day! Thank god they’re all chock full of eye-melting robot-on-robot action. Or so I thought. Then someone had to go and make…

Mazes Are Getting Pretty Highbrow

It was only two years ago that the Museum of Modern Art put its seal of approval on Pac-Man by adding the game to its permanent collection. Many saw this as a pivotal moment for video games; one of the most prestigious museums in the world was adding a little yellow blob’s maze-lurking, ghost-eating adventures…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: SnackTAYku International Vs: Venezuela • SnackTAYku International Vs: Trinidad • Back in the TAY: Guilty Gear • Trainime – Summer Season 2014 Impressions Part 4! TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.