The first mobile game from the makers of Quantum Conundrum, PIXLD is now available on iTunes. Yum.

Gaming’s Most Impressive Storms

With most of New York City shut down—no trains, no buses, some evacuations—those of us at Kotaku who normally work in the main office are working from home. That’s me, Evan, Jason, Chris and Tina. So we’re home, looking out our windows as trees begin to bend, winds begin to howl and… is that rain…

You Can Help Bring About the Glorious Return of Arcade Racing

Last fall, eyeballs got seriously smacked by the neon-flecked awesome of Nitronic Rush, an arcade racer built by students at DigiPen. Some of those same developers are making a spiritual sequel to that game called Distance You can really see the beginnings of a stronger approach to the same gameplay idea in this pre-alpha trailer.…

Skylanders Gets More Mobile With Two New Games and a Bluetooth Portal

Building upon the success of last year’s Skylanders Cloud Patrol, Activision is preparing to unleash the full force of its toys-meets-video-games franchise on mobile devices, with two new titles due out next month, a mobile-friendly Portal of Power and a rejuvenation of Cloud Patrol courtesy of the Activate community service. We’ve already seen the first…

This Is The Official Launch Trailer For Assassin’s Creed III

Here’s the official launch trailer for Assassin’s Creed III, which comes out tomorrow for PS3 and Xbox 360. Meet Ratonhnhaké:ton, adopted name Connor. Meet George Washington. Muskets. Axes. Large ships. Bloody killings. All that jazz. I’ve never been a huge fan of Assassin’s Creed, but there’s something really appealing about this setting. I’m pretty psyched…

At Least One Member Of Anonymous Wants To Take Down Zynga

Some people don’t like Zynga very much. In the wake of news last week that the FarmVille makers laid off 5% of their worldwide staff (around 150 people), some people really don’t like Zynga very much. At least one person is channeling that hatred into a full-on threat, posting on the Anon-News forums that he…

Luke and Leia Use the Force in This First Taste of Angry Birds Star Wars

Now kiss! Rovio doesn’t deliver sibling smooching in this first gameplay teaser for Angry Birds Star Wars, but they do give us Lightsaber swinging and pink Force-pulling, so I’ll forgive them. Is it possible for a pair of cartoon birds to possess a smoldering sexual tension? You probably shouldn’t answer that. Just enjoy the strangeness…

Punch Quest, The Latest iPhone Game Everyone is Talking About, Is a Knockout

Whenever starting one of these App of the Day pieces, it’s sometimes good to have a lead sentence that eases the reader into the article. Not this time. I’ll get right to the point: Punch Quest might be one of the most enjoyable iOS games I’ve played all year. I guess the game would fall…

Nintendo and “Bohemian Rhapsody” Go Together A Lot Better Than You’d Think

Did you love the NES era? Sure you did. And even if you didn’t, you do now, because that’s how nostalgia works. But do you love it enough to rock out to it Queen-style? Because on a day like this, we could all use more singing cartridges and reminders that actually, a bunch of the…

Final Fantasy XIV‘s New ‘Grand Finale’ Will End This Sorry Era of Square’s Troubled MMO

Today brings news, in the form of an official Square-Enix press release, that Final Fantasy XIV‘s “grand finale,” which seems like an odd thing for a company to be announcing regarding their embarrassingly flawed, overly complex and just not very well-liked massively multiplayer online game. But when Square refers to a “grand finale”, they really…

Robert Downey Jr. Flies A Jet In This Call of Duty: Black Ops II Trailer

It’s called “Surprise” and it was directed by Guy Ritchie and it involves a lot of people blowing each other up, including Tony Stark. That’s about all you need to know. Black Ops II is out on November 13 for just about every platform you can think of. Now I need your help. I recognize…

Buddha Finger, a Mobile Martial Arts Rhythm Game Developed by Kick-Ass Moms

Anna Marsh and Sarah van Rompaey are a pair of video game industry veterans, having worked on big-budget titles including Tomb Raider Anniversary and Underworld. Together with graphic artist Gabriella Pavan they formed Lady Shotgun, a part-time game studio run by full-time moms. Here’s their first game. Buddha Finger is a rhythm game inspired by…

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Gets Sold Early in Slovakia

Charlie Intel—via callofduty.4players.de and N4G—reports that a PS3 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s Hardened Edition has broken cover several weeks early. It looks like the special edition of Activision’s hotly-anticipated military FPS was legitimately purchased ahead of time in Slovakia

Welcome to Russia, Where Most of Your Friends Are Video Game Pirates

Editor’s note: A couple of weeks ago, we published a story about people who pirate Halo 4. The game has not been officially released, but people were pirating it left and right. A former video game reporter and critic in Russia named Tim Seyfelmlyukov read that story and reached out to me. There was nothing…

Skyrim Will Be Getting a Premium Edition, According to Amazon Listing [Update: Europe Only]

Maybe you held off from getting and playing Skyrim last year, thanks to either the tingling of your wizardly instincts or an emptiness of wallet. Whether you waited or couldn’t get it a year ago, you can get a Premium edition of Bethesda’s hit action/RPG hybrid. According to Examiner.com, the enhanced release of The Elder…

What Facebook is Playing This Week: The Same Things It Was Playing Last Week

FarmVille 2‘s meteoric rise to fame slowly turns this week, as players realize they enjoy building restaurants, playing Scrabble and matching candy much more than they do farming. Actual numbers aside, the composition and positioning of the list as of this writing is exactly the same as last week’s. Things are a bit stagnant at…

For Those Tired of Modern Racing Games, Try Something a Little More Old-Fashioned

There’s a starving genre known as the top-down racer. It’s home to some of the all-time greats like Micro Machines, and some under-appreciated party games like Mashed (yes, totally serious, play with friends after/during beers). It’s also home, sort of, to Real World Racing, an indie title by Italian studio Playstos Entertainment. While it’s got…

Chinese Gamer’s Diet Causes Her To Get Stomach Cancer

Food safety has been a huge concern in China as of late. Ever since the melamine dairy scandal broke in 2008, Chinese people have been on the up and up on food safety, so much so that China has even rejected 6 brands of Korean made instant noodles due to allegations that the noodles have…

Pundit’s Big Prediction: No More Japanese Porn Censorship by 2050

If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you’ve probably seen porn at some point. If you’ve spent any time watching pornography, you’ve probably seen Japanese pornography. One thing that’s quickly noticeable is how Japanese adult videos are censored. Mosaics cover genitalia. In the future, says one pundit, that will change. The future being, oh,…

China Upset With Apple Because Siri Can Find Prostitutes

Apple’s artificially intelligent personal assistant software, Siri, has come under fire by Chinese critics recently over concerns that the program could be used to find “distasteful services”. Since Siri’s inception into the Chinese market with iOS 6 in August, Chinese netizens and prudes have complained that Siri has been too functional; now it appears they…