Like the Saints’ Bounty System, NFL Pro 2013 is Also a Pay-for-Performance Scandal

Unfortunately, this is not one of those App of the Day writeups where the selection is meritorious and the title is an honor. I’m here to dispense consumer advice about NFL Pro 2013, which provides a lot of enticement given the fact it’s free and it has NFL licensing. My advice is to walk around…

Watch CNBC Painfully Try to Make Angry Birds and Bad Piggies Jokes

Listen, CNBC, I understand that there’s a lot of complex data flying all over the global economics maps at any given time. And anything that a TV producer can do to make all that parsing and projection seem even a little bit fun or plugged into pop culture must feel almost like an obligation. But,…

The Strangest, Coolest Free iPhone Game You’ll Play All Day

I know, I know; another girl rides her haunted skateboard through the underworld game. Crafted dangerous close to my hidden base on the outskirts of Atlanta by Secret Library, Cool Pizza is a sweet little four-color (okay, three colors and black) game about a skateboarding girl beating the hell out of hell with her possessed…

Some More Assassin’s Creed III Footage And Gameplay Details

Maybe you’re getting sick of Assassin’s Creed III footage. Maybe you just want to play the new stealth-action-adventure game, which comes out in a month or so. That’s okay. I don’t blame you. But if your appetite for footage from the next Assassin’s Creed game has not yet been sated, check out last night’s episode…

EA Says The So-Called ‘Threatening’ Letter They Sent An Ex-Employee Was An Exception

A firmly-worded letter that made the rounds online a few days ago is not something that gaming giant EA sends to all its ex-employees and is certainly not part of standard operating procedure, a spokesperson for the company tells Kotaku. It was targeted at a specific ex-employee for a specific reason. The letter emerged on…

The Remnants of 38 Studios Will Be Up For Auction In October

The sad, sordid saga of the total collapse of 38 Studios has quieted, but the state of Rhode Island is now left holding the assets of the defunct game developer. Rhode Island, not generally needing a game development studio but definitely needing cash, will be auctioning off the assets next month. As Giant Bomb reported,…

Make Other Players Kill Any Character in Hitman: Absolution With the Game’s Contracts Mode

This sizable chunk of gameplay footage highlights Hitman: Absolution’s user-generated content feature. In the new Contracts Mode, players can craft and distribute specific missions for each other within the single-player levels. The walkthrough shows off a Contract mission and how to create one. With the ability to have nearly any character in the game, Contracts…

College Gaming 101: How I Kept Gaming While Getting A Degree

College was good for debauchery, “experimenting,” and surprisingly, video games. I guess I learned some things too, but, eh. Academics was the least interesting part of college for me. I graduated from a small liberal arts college this spring, where video games made regular appearances—but so did things like alcohol, drugs, and parties. This was…

The Ultimate Mobile Drift Racing Experience Skids Into the Sequel Lane

Drifting is the art of making cars do things cars should not do and spending a lot of money on tires. Ratrod Studios’ Drift Mania Championship 2 for iOS, Android and soon Windows 8 devices is a much cheaper alternative. The sequel to the wildly popular Drift Mania Championship is now available for play on…

Good Morning, Samus

The internet is drowning in Samus fan art, but this beautiful image, complete with subtle redesign, might just be my new favourite. It’s like a cross between a Nintendo game, a rock poster and early 80s anime. In other words, the perfect picture. Samus [Muju @ DeviantArt, via Copiously Geeky]

iOS hit Jetpack Joyride is now available on Android for the low, low price of free. Big fans of free.

Hyperdimension Neptunia‘s Creator Dreams of a Fighting Game

This year at the Tokyo Game Show, Kotaku had the pleasure of sitting down with Mizuno Naoko, the creator of Hyperdimension Neptunia (and both of its sequels), to talk about the past, present, and future of the series. As we sat 47 floors above the game show proper, she told me about the origins of…

This Is the Most Disgusting Japanese Snack I’ve Ever Eaten

Some call Japanese snacks “weird”. That’s not fair—the vast majority is rather pedestrian. There are some Japanese snacks that are, how should I say, peculiar? Many of them actually end up tasing great, first repelling you and then pulling you in with unique flavor sensations—or as I like to say, flavorsations. Chocolat de Tomato is…

In This Gundam Game, You Are Models

Here’s the trailer for Gundam Breaker, the upcoming Gundam game that uses Gundam models of various scale (both large and small). It’ll be out on the PS3 and PS Vita next year. Gundam Breaker Crashing onto PS3 and PS Vita [Siliconera] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking…

Jesus and Buddha Living in Tokyo, Sharing an Apartment and Heading to the Big Screen

In the manga Saint Young Men, Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha are on vacation in Japan, doing their best to understand modern society—as well as hide their own identities. Sometimes they just hang out at home, eat noodles and blog, while other days they do things like going to amusement parks. The hugely popular manga…

Sword Art Online Is the Smartest Anime I’ve Seen in Years (And It’s Only Half-Done)

Sword Art Online is an anime based on a series of light novels which has just hit the midway point of its TV run. Twelve episodes in, it is the smartest anime I have seen in years—even including the recent Lupin III. But before we get into why this is the case, let’s take a…

Android’s Big in North Korea? First Look at the Country’s New Tablet.

North Korea doesn’t exactly scream cutting edge or progress or freedom or delicious burgers or a whole bunch of things. However, it does have an Android powered tablet. Earlier this week in Pyongyang, Chosun Computer showed off its new tablet, which seems to be running Android. It’s not clear, however, where the tablet is actually…

How’d That Black Burger King Hamburger Taste? Let’s Find Out.

Well, I guess there technically are words, but man. Just. Look. At. That. Previously, Kotaku posted how Burger King Japan was unleashing a “Kuro Burger” (“kuro” means “black” in Japanese) with black ketchup, made from squid ink and garlic. Japanese website Gigazine took one for the team and ordered the meal. How did it taste?…

What People Came to See at the Tokyo Game Show

We at Kotaku have already reported at some length how long the line was to get into the Tokyo Game Show this year. And with about over 95,000 attendees on the first public day, it’s easy to see why. And since literally thousands of people were standing in line with nothing to do, I decided…

For $300, You Get Amazing Evangelion Poses

Japanese toy maker Medicom is releasing a new Neon Genesis Evangelion figure. It’s Unit 02 from Rebuild of Evangelion, and boy oh boy can it ever strike cool poses. As website Tomopop points out, the Unit 02 is about 12 inches tall and comes with blades, two rifles, an umbilical cable, a core to target,…