A First Look at the Characters and Cityscapes of Shadowrun Returns

Back in April a bunch of gamers and role-players got together to give Jordan Weisman and Harebrained Schemes more that $1.8 million to create the definitive Shadowrun game. The development team has been hunkered down in development since the Kickstarter ended, and now we get our first look at what your money has wrought. Gear…

If you’re upset that NCSoft is closing down City of Heroes here’s a petition against it. It has 5,000 signatures so far.

Alleged Domestic Terrorists Said to be Inspired by the Next Rainbow 6 Game

A video game that hasn’t even been released is said to be the inspiration for a group of soldiers charged with murder and accused of plotting terrorist acts, including the assassination of the president. Prosecutors in Long County, Ga., part of the larger community surrounding Fort Stewart, home of the Army’s Third Infantry Division, said…

This Week in the Business: ‘Consumers No Longer Want to Pay $40 for Nintendo Games.’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “Consumers no longer want to pay $40 for Nintendo games.”—T. Scott Edwards, PlayMG Corp Founding Partner, talking about why their MG Android-based portable is a better gaming value than the Nintendo 3DS STAT | 8—Number of Zynga execs that have left…

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Has Screens and a Video It’d Like to Share, Too

If thought yesterday’s news of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was all you were going to hear out of this series as it celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend, well, you’re wrong. Square Enix this morning uncrated another 17 images—nine of them screenshots, the rest concept art—plus that new trailer showing gameplay, for its rebooted…

See The International Dota 2 Championships Live Here, or Watch them Via Steam

The livestream for The International Dota 2 Championships is included in our roundup of feeds coming out of (or nearby) PAX 2012, but we’re highlighting it here for you with a reminder that competition resumes at 12:30 p.m. EDT today with the semifinal rounds of the double-elimination tournament. Valve, maker of the game and sponsor…

The Moneysaver: Heed the Call

The Labor Day weekend brings us pre-order savings on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and NHL 13, plus half-off savings on Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes—but only for the DS. If you’re still looking to get in on Guild Wars 2 the standard edition isn’t seeing any discounts currently but the digital deluxe…

Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII, Literally

Oh come on, you know you were thinking it “I kept waiting for it to get good, but it never did. I guess I’ll take store credit.”

The Best of Kotaku, This Week

This week ends the summer for most people in school and for those who follow the rules regarding wearing white pants. But it’s not really over for gamers, since PAX is in full swing over in Seattle and the terrific rush of games for the fall hasn’t begun yet. As ever, it was a week…

A Brand-New Final Fantasy XIII Means Exciting New Creatures to Kill

Fears of a new chapter in the Final Fantasy XIII saga bringing another 40-80 hours of battling the same old beasts were put to rest this evening, as art director Isamu Kamikokuryo showed off a series of decidedly different mythical beasts for Lightning Returns, from gigantic dragons to decaying undead. While I rather enjoyed Final…

Soak in The Beauty of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII‘s Concept Art

Final Fantasy XIII heroine returns with, well, Lighting Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. The game is set in the world of Nobus Partus, 13 days from its demise. Here is a first look—a first good look—at the game’s stunning concept art. The urban setting of Luxerion looks very intriguing. Check it out in the gallery above.…

Here’s Square Enix Talking About The Next Final Fantasy

Check out these four videos to see Square Enix’s design team talking about Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, announced tonight both here and Japan for release next year on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Square Enix promises more details on September 4

She’s Just Running With The Wolves, Man

David Semsei, take a bow. Your fan art isn’t just the knees, it’s the bees knees, a pair of knees so tiny and specialised they’re worth taking a closer look at. Just like this art! Resident Evil, Dark Souls, Metal Gear, even Deadly Premonition, there’s a variety of inspirations and a variety of awesome images…

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Makes Major Changes to the Series’ Formula, Ends Trilogy

Final Fantasy XIII heroine Lightning will be back in a new game, Square-Enix announced today. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. This one is going to be a very different Final Fantasy Series director Motomu Toriyama began a presentation in Tokyo by showing an image of a rose, saying roses have many meanings. He then said…

Double Your Final Fantasy XIII Pleasure with This Limited Edition Pack

Over in Hong Kong, PlayStation’s Asia branch just announced a limited edition Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 pack. The bundle includes both games (with English and traditional Chinese subtitles and the original Japanese voices) as well as eight eight post cards. It’ll be out September 13 in Hong Kong for HK$558 or US$72.…

A Closer Look At Borderlands 2‘s Spritely Robot-Summoner, The Mechromancer

At PAX 2012, attendees who braved the massive line at the Borderlands 2 booth were treated to a first look at the fifth character class for the game, the Mechromancer, which will now be given free to everyone who pre-orders the game. The character is a trendy, pixie-looking girl in metal armor who summons a…

The Cosplay Of PAX: Day One

The Seattle Convention Center was covered in video game characters today for the first day of the Penny Arcade Expo. We saw all manner of costumes—the elaborate, the humble, the humorous, the bizarre. Tina, Jason and I captured as many as we could for our first gallery. Up top, three ladies re-create three famous Zelda…

Surprise Ending of The World Ends With You Remake Teases Sequel

Looks like we might be getting a sequel to The World Ends With You after all. A new teaser image at the end of the iOS version, sent in by Kotaku reader Michael, hints that the franchise could continue soon, and translator Brian Gray confirmed its legitimacy on his Twitter account today The past few…

Backhanded Box Quotes: Cursing Madden

Welcome back to “Backhanded Box Quotes,” a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic, Amazon and elsewhere. This week’s Backhanded Box Quotes concern a game that needs no introduction: Madden NFL 13, which has somehow managed to sell a zillion copies the past eight years despite not having anything good said…

You’ll Get Final Fantasy Versus XIII, When It’s Good and Ready

Square Enix is being tight lipped about Final Fantasy Versus. And from the sound of it, that game could still be a while off. According to Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada, who recently spoke at a Final Fantasy anniversary event in Tokyo, said that Square Enix was “diligently making Final Fantasy Versus XIII“, but added,…