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 packed full of stories for us to report and write. Plus we had some opinions we needed to share. (As well as some images, including the great one up top snapped by Borderlands studio chief Randy Pitchford.)

What follows is what we think is the best of our work. But, first, one of the best comments from our readers.

The Best Comment From The Community

Our favorite comment of this week comes to you from Ventriloq, who joined in on a spontaneous Kotaku Reader Poetry Jam:

https://lastchance.cc/a-superior-way-to-play-video-games-for-free-5939082%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Thine article struck me at the core-

Reminded me what this site is for-

And the humor is an added perk

When stuck for hours at my work!

17 Things About Resident Evil 6 That You Should Know

https://lastchance.cc/17-things-about-resident-evil-6-that-you-should-know-5938032%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Stephen Totilo was initially unimpressed with Resident Evil 6, but changed his mind after playing for six hours. More »

In a Shocking Twist, This Game Stars Normal-Looking People. Some Of Them Are Even Old.

https://lastchance.cc/in-a-shocking-twist-this-game-stars-normal-looking-peo-5938177%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Stephen talks to Chris Hecker about the very normal-looking people featured in Spy Party. More »

That’s partly because jumping was impossible in Guild Wars 1. More »

https://lastchance.cc/its-a-guild-wars-2-launch-night-dance-party-5938339%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Getting Very Close To Halo 4’s Master Chief (And Friends)

https://lastchance.cc/getting-very-close-to-halo-4s-master-chief-and-friends-5938393%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Luke Plunkett takes a look at some Halo 4 vehicles and figures. More »

One Man’s Journey From Warehouse Worker to Nintendo Legend

https://lastchance.cc/one-mans-journey-from-warehouse-worker-to-nintendo-lege-5938371%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Luke tells a Nintendo Legend’s tale of starting out as a warehouse worker. More »

The Live Action Rurouni Kenshin Movie is a Nearly Perfect Film Adaptation

https://lastchance.cc/the-live-action-rurouni-kenshin-movie-is-a-nearly-perfe-5938365%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Richard Eisenbeis reviews Rurouni Kenshin, the historical fiction live-action adaptation of the popular manga and anime series. More »

This Hacked Nintendo Game Turned Me Into a White Guy and Asked Me to Kill N***ers

https://lastchance.cc/this-hacked-nintendo-game-turned-me-into-a-white-guy-an-5938491%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Evan Narcisse played an incredibly, intentionally racist game. More »

A Team Of Seven Is Making A Game That ‘Shouldn’t Be Possible’

https://lastchance.cc/a-team-of-seven-is-making-a-game-that-shouldnt-be-possi-5938305%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Jason Schreier tells us about the small team making Natural Selection 2, with a big helping hand from the community. More »

Mass Effect 3: Leviathan: The Kotaku Review

https://lastchance.cc/mass-effect-3-leviathan-the-kotaku-review-30780371%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Stephen finds Shepard’s journey exhausted in this new DLC. More »

Steam Greenlight Is A Good Idea, But Makes Its Buried Treasures Very Hard To Find

https://lastchance.cc/steam-greenlight-is-a-good-idea-but-makes-its-buried-t-5939616%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

After one day of poking around Steam Greenlight, Kate feels like she has seen this all before. And then she realizes: in a way, Steam’s suddenly going all Kickstarter. More »

Digital Storm’s Budget Gaming PC Doesn’t Sacrifice Power for a Reasonable Price

https://lastchance.cc/digital-storms-budget-gaming-pc-doesnt-sacrifice-power-5938973%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Fahey finds this affordable PC quite capable. More »

Guild Wars 2, Log One: I Cannot Rest Until I Have Explored All The Things.

https://lastchance.cc/guild-wars-2-log-one-i-cannot-rest-until-i-have-explo-5938688%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Kate’s first log with Guild Wars 2 finds her obsessively exploring the land. More »

Here’s a Piece of Adventure Time Dialogue Pen Ward Wrote Two Nights Ago

https://lastchance.cc/here-s-a-piece-of-adventure-time-dialogue-pen-ward-wrot-5938533%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Tina Amini’s got a piece of Adventure Time dialogue read off by Pen Ward himself. More »

White Actress Will Voice Assassin’s Creed‘s Black Heroine

https://lastchance.cc/white-actress-will-voice-assassins-creeds-black-heroine-5939009%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Evan discusses the advantages of mirroring voice actors with their in-game characters. More »

You Are Getting Old. Street Fighter Just Turned 25.

https://lastchance.cc/you-are-getting-old-street-fighter-just-turned-25-5939119%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Luke reminds us that on August 30, 1987, the very first Street Fighter game was released by Capcom. Making today the series’ 25th birthday. My God. How depressing.

Not for Capcom or Street Fighter, of course. More »

No Metal Gear Solid 5, But Here’s All of Last Night’s Big Metal Gear News

https://lastchance.cc/no-metal-gear-solid-5-but-heres-all-of-last-nights-big-5939181%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Brian rounds up all the week’s big Metal Gear news. Twenty five years! The time has just flown by.

If you were hoping for Metal Gear 5, you’re going to be disappointed. But there was other cool stuff.More »

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

https://lastchance.cc/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-makes-major-chang-5939779%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Final Fantasy XIII heroine Lightning will be back in a new game, and it’s a very different kind of Final Fantasy… More »

Fable: The Journey Might Be the Next Kinect Game Worth Caring About

https://lastchance.cc/fable-the-journey-might-be-the-next-kinect-game-worth-5938289%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Tina confesses: I’m not really anti-Kinect. It’s just that a lot of Kinect games really suck. But I absolutely love Dance Central and Fruit Ninja Kinect is always a hit with my non-gaming friends when they come over for after-partying.

But those hits are few and far between.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Fable: More »

Gold Vs. Plus: How Sony Is Making a Mockery Of Xbox Live

https://lastchance.cc/gold-vs-plus-how-sony-is-making-a-mockery-of-xbox-liv-5939245%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

You can pick your preference between PlayStation and Xbox. You can argue that Halo is better than KillZone or that Uncharted tops Gears of War

But it is becoming increasingly hard to argue that the Xbox 360’s online subscription service is superior to the PlayStation 3’s. More »

Double Fine’s Next Game Is For iPhone, And It’s About Superheroes

https://lastchance.cc/double-fines-next-game-is-for-iphone-and-its-about-sup-5939154%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Kirk confesses: Being a superhero is exciting, no doubt about it. You get to wear a cool costume, use cool powers, and fight crime! But what about the nitty gritty bureaucratic aspects of being a superhero-the paperwork, the scheduling, all the stuff behind the scenes? More »

Ron Gilbert’s Cave Is Deeper Than I Thought

https://lastchance.cc/ron-gilberts-cave-is-deeper-than-i-thought-5939603%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Kirk says there is a special type of anxiety that arises when you have to solve one of Ron Gilbert’s puzzles in front of him. This is the guy who made Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, for gosh’s sake. More »

We Love The World’s First Post-Apocalyptic Competitive Eating Card Game

https://lastchance.cc/we-love-the-worlds-first-post-apocalyptic-competitive-e-5939285%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

“The game is about eating and spewing and chewing and swallowing,” game designer Zach Gage says in this beginning of this 25-minute video that features me and Evan Narcisse playing Gage’s new card game Guts of Glory. More »

Three Reasons Most Video Game Movies Don’t Work, and One Why I Hope a Metal Gear Solid Movie Will

https://lastchance.cc/three-reasons-most-video-game-movies-dont-work-and-one-5939336%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Kate says that film adaptations of popular games are almost as inevitable as game adaptations of films-and often, just as terrible.

Early this morning, we learned that Konami once again have plans to take Metal Gear Solid to the silver screen. More »

https://lastchance.cc/metal-gear-is-going-hollywood-again-with-a-new-movie-5939151%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Let’s Help Hollywood Find the Perfect Snake for the Metal Gear Movie

https://lastchance.cc/lets-help-hollywood-find-the-perfect-snake-for-the-meta-5939517/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Hollywood is making a Metal Gear movie! Again! It sounds like production on the flick is just getting started (again). The project has a producer, but there’s no word of a director or screenwriter. More »