The Final Week in Gaming Apps of 2012

It’s been a good run, but this is it: our final collection of worthwhile mobile games and Gaming Apps of the Day of the year. If this were a television show I’d cut to a montage right about now. Yep, still not a television show. Instead I’m stuck telling you about the games I’ve played…

The Perfect Game Follows These Eight Rules

Over the years, I’ve played a truckload of video games. Since my youth, when I fell in love for the first and only time—Metroid was what did it, on a chilly autumn night, me with my shirt off, thumbing the controller, over and over, until it hurt—I haven’t been able to recreate that feeling of…

How Do You Make a Zombie Apocalypse Kid-Friendly? Ice Cream, Of Course

A few years back I played a little Wii game called Cold Stone Creamery: Scoop It Up, and advertainment piece that involved assembling ice cream cones for random customers passing by a storefront. Thefty Jack’s Zombie I Scream is pretty much the same thing. Well, except your customers are undead and somehow the U.S. government…

A Very Cinematic, Very Deadly Race In Battlefield 3

This video might feel familiar. And it might be because you saw one like it here on Kotaku a while back. Well YouTube creator Kutkop345 is back with another episode of Death Race and it makes the game look just as stunning as the first video did. Take a look.

These Halo 4 Armor Abilities Didn’t Make The Cut

What didn’t make it into the latest Halo? According to the video above by TheHaloCouncil, which shows stuff found in the code of Halo 4, at least two armor abilities. These would be the “hacker” and “teleport” abilities. The former can undo the armor ability of your targeted victim. Say you deploy your hardlight shield:…

Xbox Live’s cloud storage is currently down. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update if they reply.

Ten Crazy JRPG Predictions For 2013

This is the last new Random Encounters you will ever read in 2012. Shed a tear. Okay. Now that you’re done crying, let’s talk new years. I imagine that 2013 will be an interesting year for JRPG fans in both good and bad ways. So I’ve drawn up ten JRPG-related predictions—some ridiculous, others not-so-ridiculous—for the…

I envy Android gamers playing Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery for the first time. It’s $1.99 on Google Play right now.

Tomb Raider Will Have Multiplayer, Studio Confirms

A recent retail listing in the UK indicated that Tomb Raider‘s 2013 reboot will have a multiplayer mode, with playable characters including “Lara’s Shipmates or Yamatai’s Scavengers.” In a Tweet today, an executive for Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics confirmed that the game would have multiplayer, and that details are forthcoming in the next Official…

Oh My God, Someone Is Actually Making A Persona 4 Musical

A fan-made Persona 4 musical. You knew it was going to happen. The popular role-playing game has already gotten a stage production, so it seemed only a matter of time before it also got a musical. Brother/sister writing team Jake and Gina Smith have recently unveiled their Persona 4 musical project, which they first undertook…

SimCity Social ‘In With the New Part 1’ Quests: Everything You Need to Know

To help ring in the new year, players in SimCity Social can now complete three different Parts in a large “In with the New” event in their cities. Similar to the Cool Yule Christmas event, this In with the New saga is timed, with quests being split into three different Acts or Parts. We’re here…

XCOM Enemy Unknown (PC) is $17.50 from Green Man Gaming, activates on Steam. It’s $33.49 on Steam’s own sale. [Dealzon]

If We Ever Get a New Legend of Zelda Cartoon, It Should Look Exactly Like This

The Legend of Zelda cartoon from the late 1980s gave us a seemingly immortal joke with its “Well! Excuuuuuuse me, Princess!” catchphrase but it didn’t feel a lot like the games it was based on. What I like about this short by animation studio Shamoozal is the fact that Link shows some of the fear…

Oh No, The Honey Boo Boo Folks Made a Reality Show About Geeks Dating [UPDATE]

The television network TLC—known for gems like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo—aired a couple of specials following speed dating last year. Not just any speed dating, mind, but speed dating at nerdy events like Comic-Con. The hope was that the episodes would do well enough to warrant a full show. The premise banks on the…

Your Pick For 2012’s Game Of The Year

We’re gearing up for our Kotaku-official game of the year nominations set to be ready for your eyes next week, but in the meantime we’d like to hear your thoughts. Maybe even give you all the opportunity to have an influence on our decisions. So let’s hear your best cases for the absolute best game…

The Game Savers: How A Tiny Company Gives Neglected Japanese Games New Life In America

Every Friday afternoon, the staff of Xseed Games have a meeting. They sit in a conference room, break out the booze, and talk about video games. They talk about what games might be fun to make, what games might be fun to play, and what sort of strange Japanese titles they should work on next.…

You’re* Pen is a Mighty Sword in The Grading Game

If your like me, you hate being corrected. Readers know how fast I loose my temper when mistake’s are pointed out. Its not that I think I’m always right, I just hate someone telling me when I’m wrong. The Grading Game, for iOS (iPad recommended), turn’s the tables by letting you vent all that nitpicky…

TegraZone Looks So Much Sexier in Windows RT

I’m so used to writing about Tegra-powered Android devices that I’d completely overlooked Windows tablets and laptops powered by Nvidia’s game-enhancing mobile processor. The blocky Windows RT TegraZone app is here to remind me. Along with adopting Microsoft’s deep abiding love for squares and rectangles, the TegraZone app of Windows RT collects a number of…

Last day for the Kickstarter for Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden‘s sequel. At $1.2 million they’ll buy a Super Bowl ad.

I’m Only a Dog Person When the Dogs Are Solving Crimes

I’ve always favored cats over dogs. Cats clean themselves. Cats do not require action on my part in order to use the bathroom. Cats have an intelligent look about them, so when they do stupid things it’s even more hilarious. I feel cats are superior to dogs in all ways but one—dogs make better detectives.…