Shadow Complex Is Your XBLA Deal Of The Week

Missed out on Xbox Live Arcade smash Shadow Complex? One of my favorite downloadable games of the year and recent Spike TV VGA award winner is now just 800 Microsoft Points, a deal that lasts only this week. Hurry!

What Is This, A Movie Site?

To: Brian From: Stephen Re: What Is This, A Chain Gang? Poor Luke, sweating through his attempts to act out a real life version of Harvest Moon (minus the dating…. there’s dating in Harvest Moon, right? Married Mr. Plunkett doesn’t need that). What’s the most video-game-like activity you’ve ever done? I think mine is riding…

I have compiled a list of the missing stories: – No nipples on the batsuit in Arkham Asylum. I understand a lot of folks were cut up about that. – The Super Guide in NSMB Wii. Games being hard is SRS BSNSS! – Da Vinci wasn’t Q to Ezio’s James Bond. Get out of here,…

Take-Two Sells Off Jack Of All Games, Goes All In On Publishing

What would make Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive revise its yearly earnings downward by an impressive $290 million for the year, just four days after previous guidance? The selling of its distribution business, Jack of All Games. The company announced today that it was selling off its distribution company to SYNNEX for $43.25 million,…

Missouri Man Serving 10 in the Can for Xbox Live Hookup

A 27-year-old man met a 15-year-old girl over Xbox Live, then drove 30 hours to Central California to have sex with her, and now is looking at 10 years in the federal slammer. The man, from Richmond Heights, Mo., “developed a relationship in April 2008,” with the girl, from Sanger, Calif., writes the Associated Press.…

Crackdown 2 Blows Up First Half of 2010

You’re already likely well aware that 2010 should be a better year for Xbox 360 games and exclusives, but did you know that one of those, Crackdown 2, may be coming sooner than you had expected? On the most recent episode of Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s podcast, Microsoft man Aaron Greenberg listed the Ruffian Games-developed…

EGM Relaunches In March 2010

Magazine racks will be falling over with joy next March when video game print publication Electronic Gaming Monthly officially returns to bookstores and beyond. The all-new but still familiar EGM has inked a deal with Time/Warner to handle marketing and sales. Announced last year, the new Electronic Gaming Monthly will be lead by publisher Steve…

2009 In Review: The Controversies

Looking back on 2009’s many kerfuffles and foofaraws, it may not have been the most contentious year the gaming industry has ever seen. But it certainly was among the most entertaining. Kicking off Kotaku’s review of 2009 are the headlines that generated the most heat, if not light, from the preceding year. The conflicts fracture…

Bayonetta Sneaks Out Early At Retail For Some

Sega’s official street date for the PlatinumGames-developed action game Bayonetta isn’t until January for North America and Europe, but some gamers have found the game already sitting on store shelves. We’ve heard from tipsters here in the U.S. and in Europe—Switzerland, specifically—that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game have already shipped…

Happy Holidays From Fallen Earth

There might not be any snow in the post-apocalyptic world of the MMO Fallen Earth, but that won’t stop the Wastelanders from building Dirtmen while waiting for the Seasonal Arctic Network of Toy-based Altruism to arrive. The Archivist Coalition has finally determined the date for the New Year, and they’re sponsoring a First Night festival…

Kotaku Tekken Contest Winners Announced Right Here

Earlier this month we announced a Tekken cosplay/haiku contest, and readers did not disappoint with their submissions. We have winners to announce! The lucky five need to send me their contact info. Details below. The three winners of the PS3 part of the contest are: Arex, posing as Jin Kazama Bigbadpenguinmaster, also posing as Jin…

Fat Princess Gets Fifth Finger, Release Date For Japan

After suffering a short delay, it appears that PlayStation Network game Fat Princess will be released in Japan on Christmas Day. And the reason for that delay? Previous speculation about a lack of fingers may have been accurate. In newly released artwork for the PlayStation 3 game, the Fat Princess cast is now playing with…

5th Cell’s Jeremiah Slaczka Draws Your Questions During This Week’s Podcast

The very creative creative director behind Scribblenauts and the Drawn to Life is hanging with our own Stephen Totilo this week, taking your calls and answering your queries with a vocabulary of more than 22,800 individual words. Mr. Slaczka will help us ring in the holidays with discussion on 5th Cell‘s line of creative and…

One Man’s Year Making Assassin’s Creed II

If you made Assassin’s Creed II this year, it was a good year — even if you had to trim the game, even if things didn’t click until August, even if, for five minutes, you had to suppress your accent. Patrice Desilets, creative director of Assassin’s Creed II at Ubisoft Montreal, believes that “2009 was…

Final Fantasy XIII Gives PS3 Its Biggest Week In Japan, Passes 1.5 Million

Looks like Square Enix‘s newest numbered Final Fantasy is off to a good start, giving the PlayStation 3 a not-too-surprising surge in sales in Japan, according to early figures from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain. Enterbrain puts Final Fantasy XIII sales at over 1.5 million over the course of the game’s first four days on Japanese store…

Create Your Army Of Two: The 40th Day Mask Online Right Now

Why wait until the 12th to design your mask and armor for Army of Two: The 40th Day, when you can create them right now via EA’s online Army of Two mask and armor creator? Salem and Rios don’t go anywhere without their masks, so they need top-quality designs in order to make sure the…

Divinity II Demo Out Now

Between now and Friday, I’m loading up on every free or borrowed video game-related thing I can to keep me from going out and buying anything before Christmas. The Divinity II demo fills the bill nicely. The demo of Divinity II: Ego Draconis is on Xbox Live and out for PC download today. It gives…

Demon’s Souls’ Pure White Christmas Starts Today

Adventuring in the kingdom of Boletaria is going to be just a little bit easier this week, as PlayStation 3 role-playing game Demon’s Souls switches to “Pure White World Tendency” today in recognition of the Winter Solstice. Wuzzat, you say? Well, if you play Demon’s Souls casually, oblivious or indifferent to the game world’s “tendency,”…

GOG.com Puts Good Old Games On Sale For The Holidays

DRM-free classic PC game store GOG.com is rolling out deals for the holiday season, with up to 40% off 171 titles, including Duke Nukem 3D, Freespace 2, Fallout, and Beyond Good & Evil, with free Tex Murphy for everyone. That’s right, the post-apocalyptic detective adventures of Access Games’ Tex Murphy 1 & 2 are free…

The 2009 Video Game Year In Review Starts Here… Now

Don’t get dizzy now, but fresh off of previewing Gaming In 2010, Kotaku will spend much of this week looking back at Gaming in 2009. How will you remember 2009? We’ve got some plans to reminisce of our own. Throughout the week on Kotaku, you’ll find posts that cover the biggest trends — good and…