Last week, we started playing L.A. Noire on Kotaku's Twitch channel. It's a 2011 detective game with a lot of cases to solve. Recently, we finished the cases for the traffic detective desk. It's a good introduction to the game that also has a few problems.

There's a range of games available on Xbox Live Games with Gold this month. As always, these games are only "free" if you have an active Xbox Live Games with Gold subscription.

There's a range of games in July's Xbox Live Games with Gold lineup, from the adorable Grow Up to the gritty Kane & Lynch 2. As ever, these games are only "free" if you have an active Xbox Live subscription.

Remember Microsoft's Avatars, those wobbly caricatures that danced around the Xbox 360's dashboard? They have been sidelined ever since the release of the Xbox One, but that doesn't mean the company has given up on them.

Backward compatibility is a big draw for console gamers nostalgic for older titles, but new data shows that Xbox One players don't spend much time revisiting backward-compatible Xbox 360 games.

June's Xbox Live Games with Gold has a solid lineup, including Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed III. In addition to the usual four games, subscribers can also get multiplayer DLC for last week's Phantom Dust.

Red Dead Redemption released seven years ago today and remains a triumph. The tale of John Marston's failure might be Rockstar's finest story.

The makers of the horror game Alan Wake said today that they're pulling the game from Steam and Xbox Live Monday because of a music licensing issue. Although you can keep the game if you own it, you won't be able to buy Alan Wake again as of May 15.

You can go several hours in Grand Theft Auto IV before you get a gun. Soon after that, you're blasting your way through shootouts with SWAT teams. But for those first few hours, you're just some guy in Brooklyn, trying to make a new life.

When a company like Bethesda is trying to debug a massive game like Skyrim, where do they even start? Skyrim lead programmer Brett Douville tackled that question (and much more) on this week's episode of Kotaku Splitscreen.

Here's a blast from the past — behind-the-scenes motion capture footage for Silent Hill 2 from almost 20 years ago. It focuses on the perhaps the most critical revelation in the game's narrative, so consider this your one and only spoiler warning! For everyone else, enjoy this rare peek behind the curtain.

I'm betting that a lot of people who played Far Cry 2 didn't finish it. It's a chaotic, gruelling game, and it's at least five hours too long. If you made it to the end, you got a finale just as flawed, ambitious, and bleak as the game preceding it. Spoilers will follow, of course!

May's Xbox Live Games with Gold lineup features a couple of Star Wars games and some Lara Croft. Remember, these games are only "free" if you have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription.

If you haven't caught up on Season Two of Telltale's The Walking Dead or missed Assassin's Creed Revelations, Xbox Live's Games with Gold has you covered for April. Paying subscribers to Xbox Live can grab these four games for "free" if they have an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

In the throes of cancer treatment, one Destiny player finally got the help that he needed to make it to the Lighthouse. After his death, the community came together for his family in an amazing way.

Coming this autumn to the Xbox One, the Xbox Game Pass will give console owners access to over 100 Xbox One and backwards compatible games for $10.95 a month.

If you missed out on Borderlands 2 or have always been a little curious about Evolve, Xbox Live's Games with Gold will look pretty good to you for March. Paying subscribers to Xbox Live can grab these four games for "free"if they have an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

At this point you probably don't have a need for an Xbox 360, but you might.

And maybe you want to buy one for a gift, I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.

But what I do know: this is a really good deal. Hopefully it's useful to someone out there.

There's a mix of newer and older games in Xbox Live's Games with Gold this month. Paying subscribers to Xbox Live can grab these four games for "free" if they have an Xbox Live Gold subscription.