Gaming News Message Board

#theelderscrolls If you've got any Dragonborn T-shirts, bumper stickers or other crap up on Cafe Press or Etsy, now might be the time to hold a clearance sale. ZeniMax Media just submitted a trademark application for that term, joining the recent filing it made for "Fus Ro Dah," presumably for the same purposes. More »

#diablo Diablo III's long-awaited release this week—and its unfortunate launch-day server problems—demonstrated that PC-only titles have not lost the ability to dominate all of video gaming's conversation. And this was in a week that saw the release of Max Payne 3, another title that fans had been looking to for a very long time. More »

#kotakushopcontest Pancake, the Official Weiner Dog of Borderlands 2, meet Cosplay Cat from Journey. You two look so adorable, we know you're going to have a great time together in this week's edition of the Kotaku 'Shop Contest. More »

#funnies Welcome to your Sunday read of the week's best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. More »

It seems that GameStop plans on offering AT&T data plans for mobile devices under a service called GameStop Mobile, according to information posted on their website. The information has since been pulled, but not before our friends at Engadget reported on it.

So, as long as GameStop Mobile continues to not be a reality, we will continue reporting the information we've yet to learn about the service. Hypothetically-speaking, GameStop Mobile would require AT&T-compatible or unlocked devices. The service would probably include pay-as-you-go five dollar plans and $55 monthly plans, which would include unlimited voice and text and 500MB of data, or 1GB of data for data-only device users.

The someday-news of GameStop Mobile would make more sense out of the company's recent addition of Android devices to their trade-in lists.GameStop offers, then removes AT&T mobile data plans

#kotakushopcontest Time magazine's ridiculous breast-feeding cover was all the talk last week. On Mother's Day, Kotaku's legion of photoshoppers smoothed the last shovelful of dirt on this ridiculously desperate concept. We have 20 smart 'shoppers inside, plus overall winner DarkStar! More »

#diablo Though we seem to be through the worst of Diablo III's humiliating server outages at launch this week, who knows when those things will need to be worked on again. Logging in to Battle.net and waiting for the credential verification to time out is a long and stupid way of being told you can't play the game. More »

Those dying to play Diablo 3 online don't need to sit by their PCs to see if the servers are up and running anymore. A Diablo 3 server-checking app, aptly named "Diablo 3 Server Checker," is now available for free (ad-supported) on Google Play for Android devices.

Developed by Eluamous, creator of other server-checking apps for games like World of Warcraft, the app pulls status messages from US.Battle.net to view updates from Diablo 3 servers in the US, Europe, and Asia. The app also includes a widget for use on the home screen of Android devices.

The app is in obvious response to the recent server issues Blizzard has been dealing with.

Way, way more Master System and Genesis games are on the way to PS3 and Xbox, including the long-awaited release of Monster World IV. Sega announced the next few "Vintage Collections," which will be sold individually on PSN and in bundles on XBLA.

For XBLA, the Monster World Collection brings together Wonder Boy in Monster Land (arcade) and Wonder Boy in Monster World and MWIV for Genesis on May 23. On May 30, Golden Axe's arcade original joins Golden Axe 2 & 3 on Genesis, concurrent with a three-volume Streets of Rage Collection. The collections sell for 800 MSP each.

Meanwhile, PSN will see all of those Wonder Boys, Super Hang-On (arcade), Revenge of Shinobi, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World on May 22, for $5 each.

Facebook went public yesterday, and its unexpectedly less-than-stellar performance on the trading floor has had powerful ramifications for its social soul sister Zynga, which finished the day's trading at a record low of $7.16 a share.

It's possible that Facebook's unimpressive IPO, closing out Friday at $38.23 a share - four dollars less than its $42.05 opening price - caused Zynga's value to drop in tandem, as the two platforms are inexorably intertwined in the public mindset. It's also possible that Zynga share holders jumped ship in favor of that new Facebook hotness, no longer having to settle for social second best.

Regardless, the severe downturn in value lead to two trading halts on Zynga shares over the course of the day; once after reaching $7.17 a share, and once again after a slight increase in market value. Despite this, share values eventually dropped to as little as $6.93 before finally settling at $7.16.

#psa Whatever was bothering the Xbox Live Marketplace download of Max Payne 2, which some purchased to brush up on the series during Max Payne 3's release week, the problem is now over. Users report the title now downloads fully, which I just confirmed for myself. More »

#gamesindustryinternational What's happened in the business of video games this past week ... More »

#sonic Yesterday, Nike's football division—that would be football football, not American football—cranked up "My Time is Now," which looks like the big campaign it'll have going during UEFA Euro 2012 in about three weeks. It shows a soccer pitch, the locker room, a team dinner all overrun by ordinary joes. OK, I get all that. More »

#themoneysaver Fantasy RPG Game of Thrones and fantasy MMO TERA Online already are seeing modest discounts. The upcoming RPG from Capcom, Dragon's Dogma likewise is getting about $10 off from one retailer. These and another 50 discounts, credits and savings can be found in this week's Moneysaver below! More »

#professorlayton The Professor Layton games have long demanded a soundtrack a bit more sophisticated than the one they have—the plinky, "ooh boy, we have a mystery!" music is fine at first, but eventually I've found that it begins to grate. This is especially true of the first game that I played in the series, 2008's Professor Layton and the Curios Village. More »

Way, way more Master System and Genesis games are on the way to PS3 and Xbox, including the long-awaited release of Monster World IV. Sega announced the next few "Vintage Collections," which will be sold individually on PSN and in bundles on XBLA.

For XBLA, the Monster World Collection brings together Wonder Boy in Monster Land (arcade) and Wonder Boy in Monster World and MWIV for Genesis on May 23. On May 30, Golden Axe's arcade original joins Golden Axe 2 & 3 on Genesis, concurrent with a three-volume Streets of Rage Collection. The collections sell for 800 MSP each.

Meanwhile, PSN will see all of those Wonder Boys, Super Hang-On (arcade), Revenge of Shinobi, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World on May 22, for $5 each.

Double Fine's Ron Gilbert has revealed another character from his puzzling new title, this one called "the time traveler."

She is one of "three playable characters" that Gilbert has unveiled in three days on his personal gaming blog, Grumpy Gamer. Yesterday and the previous day Gilbert revealed the monk and the hillbilly.

The time traveler's silhouette is visible in the background of the puzzle Double Fine sent us earlier this month. We have to admit, she looks way cooler with glowing blue (we assume time-travel-inducing) accessories than as a vague, whispy shadow.

The plot, and the question, thickens: What do a hillbilly, a monk and a time traveler have in common?

#openthread What a long, wild week it's been. Hello, Kotaku and welcome to your Friday night open thread. More »

#diablo It's a tricky thing, choosing an online handle. You've gotta stick with it forever, so the dumb inside joke or ironically stupid insult you choose will be your name forevermore. More »

#theworstyear My worst year on earth may well have been 2005. I had gone from a blood-and-guts newspaper writer to headcount hire sitting in a cubicle with nothing to do for weeks on end. I'd once been the coolest guy at the cocktail party, now I was just another stiff with a badge around his neck in the cafeteria. I'd moved from a log cabin in North Carolina to an apartment underneath the flight path of San Jose's airport. I couldn't be in my apartment without headphones on, pumping white noise into my eardrums. I literally went into therapy. More »

#angermanagement Today I had to move my Xbox 360 console out of the way while I fooled with cables going through the back of my entertainment center. This happens frequently because of how I have to do video capture. As I grabbed the 360 and shifted it, I guess my thumb got within 5 millimeters of that motion-detecting stupid asshole eject button at the top of the machine, if it's standing upright like a tower. The slot came open, the console's Husqvarna fan cranked up, the disc dropped out, I banged my head into the cabinet and I was cursing the heritage of everyone in Redmond, Wash. More »

#38studios In a week filled with video-game related drama, one of the main stages has starred 38 Studios. The developer, based in Providence, Rhode Island, is evidently out of money, and can't repay their loans. Worse, the loan in question was from the state of Rhode Island, potentially leaving taxpayers footing the bill for incomplete MMO development. So with the situation changing almost hourly, here's everything we know about the saga of 38 Studios. More »

#ow The series "13 Ways to Die" just took up the subject of Sniper Elite v2 and, though we've seen exploding testicles and other grisly slow-motion demises already, they weren't presented in the form of a propaganda film from dubya-dubya-eye-eye, with a jaunty ragtime accompaniment. It's a cracking good morale booster for our boys over there. Pip pip. More »

#nba2k When I run my mouth about international soccer, I sound like a complete and total imbecile. When a Brit does the same thing about basketball, it is 100 percent comedy gold. More »

Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN's weekly show that attacks your funny bone for massive damage. Your guides this week will be Daemon Hatfield, Greg Miller, Anthony Gallegos, and Ryan Clements...

#theweekingamingapps Oh give us a break, it was the first time any of us got to cover the launch of a Diablo game. And hey, we did manage to spotlight five mobile games that have almost completely nothing in common with Blizzard's game. More »

#projectcopernicus While they may be having their share of financial problems lately, Kingdoms of Amalur creators 38 Studios have still been working on at least one new game. More »

#randomencounters We spend a lot of time watching video game characters talk. More »

Curt Schilling's 38 Studios, who have been mired in financial troubles lately, have successfully repaid $1.125 million of their $75 million debt to Rhode Island after withholding pay from employees. More »