The Week in Games: Onward to August

Interceptor Entertainment’s revival of Rise of the Triad highlights this week as video games close out a slow July and look to a hotter August. Other releases include Cloudberry Kingdom and a collector’s edition for Terraria Tuesday • Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (PC) • Terraria: Collector’s Edition (360, PS3) • Cities in Motion…

You Only Threaten the Ones You Love …

Crime is a constant feature of video games writing. Somewhere, someone is doing something illicit with them—sometimes comically stupid, sometimes tragic. Games and consoles are currency, objects of dispute, sometimes even weapons themselves. Kotaku‘s Police Blotter is here to round up the latest in games crime. ‘Loud Xbox’ Creates a Domestic Disturbance SPRING HILL, Fla.—An…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Sharksassin

Shark Week returns next weekend, so to celebrate it, let’s goof on the obvious sharksploitation in the latest screenshots for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Either the image itself here offers something hilarious, or a well placed star, or well chosen still from Sharknado could help bring the funny, too. Snuffy the Seal dying a…

Dota 2 Players Add $1 Million to The International’s Prize Pool

The International, the world’s largest Dota 2 championship tournament, commences on Friday with group stage play. This year the field would be competing for a $1.6 million prize pool, but that’s been fattened by a million thanks to the sale of a virtual item to their fellow gamers, and the pot may increase. The Dota…

Sunday Comics: Extreme Makeover

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published July 22. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published July…

YOU GUYS! This is really important.

DARG BLARGIT!!

This is the first time I’ve seen anything remotely resembling a curse in-game. Needless to say I think this is amazing. In unrelated news, Clay’s fishing rod kinda looks like a stump arm.

Ingenious idea: turn your museum into a hotel!

My lazy villagers always make me feel less lazy by comparison, and then I remember that they are fictional, virtual people and I am a real person with a job and stuff. Damn it!

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Comic-Con Cosplay Extravaganza: The Winners

Well, now we know what was behind the curtain of XCOM’s kiddie show, and we know it was indeed extraterrestrial. A triptych of cosplayers from San Diego Comic-Con supplied the material for this week’s ‘Shop contest, and we have two rare double-finalists inside, including overall No. 1 and repeat all-star arniejolt! Rounding out the rest…

Self-published indie games may not be only for the Xbox One. The makers of Pinball Arcade say they’re clear to self-publish to Xbox Live Arcade beginning in August. That’s when Microsoft will have more to say about the program at Gamescom. We’ve reached out to an Xbox Live representative for comment. Update: We got the…

Big-League eSports Team Owner Among Those Charged in Huge Hacking Case

The owner of what was one of the largest teams in eSports is among several persons charged in what the United States government now calls “the largest hacking and data breach scheme ever prosecuted in the United States.” Dmitry Smilianets, who went by the handle ddd1ms, is among five charged with stealing millions of debit…

Here’s the Music LeBron James Chose for NBA 2K14

Sports video game soundtracks do matter—just spend 20 minutes in the menus of NCAA Football 14. 2K Sports has done a good job with theirs, even before bringing in Jay-Z last year to both “executive produce” the game and make that job into a verb. This year, cover star LeBron James got to pick NBA…

Twitter Blowup Leads to Sudden Cancellation of Fez II

Polytron, the studio behind the indie hit Fez, announced over its official Twitter that development on Fez II has been canceled. It appears to be related to a very heated Twitter argument between Polytron founder Phil Fish and an Internet personality who sharply criticized him today. Marcus Beer, who editorializes under the “Annoyed Gamer” brand…

Hackers Can Take Over Cars and Drive Them With a Nintendo Controller

A pair of security experts demonstrated to the BBC that some ordinary models of cars can be overridden—despite whatever the driver is doing behind the wheel—using a laptop, some software, and an old Nintendo Entertainment System gamepad. The hack—which Toyota, in response, says it doesn’t consider a “hack”—requires plugging into a vehicle’s electronic control unit…

The Navy’s Found a Use for Kinect: Stop Sexual Assault

Sailors are going to learn how to read another person’s verbal cues and body language with a Kinect training game meant to curb a sexual harrassment/assault issue that has become increasingly embarrassing to the armed services. Like all great things in the military, this game has a very literal and no-fun title: “Avatar Based Sexual…

Battlefield May Allow Stats Transfer Between Console Generations, Too

Earlier this week, both FIFA and Madden said their upcoming versions on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will be able to transfer their Ultimate Team rosters to Xbox One and PS4 once those titles launch. Their cousins over at Battlefield say they’re looking into doing something similar, too. That comes via Battlefield‘s official Twitter on…

This Week in the Business: Used Games Put Consumers in ‘Awkward Spot’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “We need to curb [used games] on the retail side. We’re putting the consumers in an awkward spot and we shouldn’t have to.”—Ready at Dawn boss Ru Weerasuriya, saying that GameStop and other outlets exploit developers and consumers QUOTE | “Publishers…

Watch VXG 2013 Streamed Live, Right Here

The biggest event in the fighting game genre has come and gone but that doesn’t mean that first-class competition in Street Fighter, Tekken or King of Fighters is done for the year. This weekend marks the start of the Video X Games, a tournament that takes place on the island of St. Maartens. There’s $30,000…

The Best of Kotaku, The Week of July 22nd

We got some more Xbox One news this week, right in time for our round-up refreshers of both next-gen PS4 and Xbox One consoles. You can check out those articles and the rest of our best content from the week over on Kotaku Selects, where I hand-pick stories to showcase for you. Otherwise, it’s been…

What Do You Think of Orange Is The New Black?

I spent the last week glued to Netflix, watching one thing: Jenji Kohan’s Orange Is The New Black. It’s a show about a well-educated and sheltered white woman named Piper Chapman who has to serve a little over a year in prison after transporting a suitcase full of drug money for a drug smuggler. Not…