Stephen Totilo

The next Picross game, Picross S2, is out on Switch next week. It’s already the second of these picture-creating puzzle games on Switch. Help, some of us are so far behind in our Picross! But… this one has some sort of “story” mode. More details at the game’s official site

A Fun Example Of Video Game Logic

In the treacherous world of Super Mario Bros., it’s useful, if not realistic for platforms to hover and fireballs to bounce. There’s no logic to why things are that way. They just are. That’s fine, but I enjoy when a game’s designers find a way to justify the weird rules of their game, as the…

The Many Reasons I’ve Taken More Than 1,000 Screenshots On My Switch

I’ve had a Nintendo Switch since its early 2017 launch and have taken 1,052 screenshots on it since then. I guess I can’t resist that wonderful camera sound that happens each time I press the screenshot button. That’s can’t be all of it, though. Why am I really doing this? I take shots whenever I…

I’m Okay With 419,826th Place In Mario Odyssey’s Jump Rope Challenge

Every day, we make decisions about the games we will play and the things we will try to do in them. These days, I’m trying to make choices that are smarter, which I hope is the correct way to classify my decision to only try the jump-rope challenge in Super Mario Odyssey once. I only…

The Makers Of Nintendo’s Latest Hidden Gem Worry People Missed It

“I really only know about what people are saying online,” Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe recently told me over e-mail while discussing how people were responding to his newest game. “What I see personally is that many people are not aware that this game has been released, and I want more people to play this game.”…

Ubisoft’s Clever Division 2 Promotion Has Me Playing More Of The First Division

The makers of The Division at Ubisoft are doing some unusual things to tie their first game into its upcoming sequel. So far, I’m into it. The original Division—a third-person, cover-based, sometimes-multiplayer shooter set in a wrecked, wintery New York City—came out back in early 2016 and was heavily patched and expanded consistently until late…

An update on our colleague Mike Fahey: Mike is now home and acclimating to a future of having to use a wheelchair. He’s exploring options for a van he could ride in or even drive with hand controls. They’re expensive, so we’re inviting people to contribute to his family’s GoFundMe to help get him back…

Confession: I Always Unlock Ubisoft Club Rewards First

When I start a new Ubisoft game for the first time, I don’t immediately play it. No, I find the Ubisoft Club option in the game’s menu, load it up and start unlocking rewards. The rewards are rarely good and they sometimes imbalance my game, but I can’t help myself. What’d I do when I…

Nintendo Switch Exclusive Daemon X Machina Is Made For People Who Like To Take Machines Apart

When game developer Kenichiro Tsukuda was a kid, he took apart his Famicom, the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System. He was annoyed that the cable that connected it to the TV was too short. “I wondered if there was anything I could do about that,” he told me recently. “And my parents got…

A new patch for Hollow Knight on Switch fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which players—especially charming, wonderful players—who killed Brooding Mawlek at the same time he killed them wouldn’t get the mask shard the mini-boss drops. Thanks to the patch, the shard can now be claimed retroactively.

The first day of this month’s Overwatch League finals will be broadcast on ESPN, with finals highlights airing on ABC. That’s part of a multi-year deal announced by ESPN/Disney today that’ll put other finals games on Disney XD and ESPN2/3 as well. OWL’s Twitch deal remains intact, according to the report.

The WWE 2K Series Is Skipping The Switch This Year

Exactly one year ago, publisher Take Two announced that WWE 2K18 would be coming to the Switch, the first WWE game on a Nintendo platform since 2012’s WWE 13 for the Wii. The return was as disastrous as it was brief. WWE 2K19 won’t be on Nintendo’s console. “The game will not be available on…

Just an idle thought about Nintendo’s offerings for the rest of the year: The company has released new handheld models, consoles or retro consoles in North America every year since 2009, with the exception of 2014. So far, they’ve announced none for 2018. Make your predictions accordingly.

The Brief Agony Of A Video Game Boss Who Isn’t As Dead As You Think

“Got him!” I exclaimed in a text message to my colleague Kirk Hamilton at 2:33pm on Friday of last week. I’d been fighting a tough boss in the difficult 2D exploration and combat game Hollow Knight. One minute later, horrified, I was sending a follow-up text: “Oh no. Didn’t get him.” Soul Master had been…

What’s So Great About Banjo-Kazooie

People poured money into a Kickstarter for a spiritual successor to the 1998 Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie. Why? Because Banjo-Kazooie was a wonderful game and no mere Mario 64 me-too, as some detractors claim. This post originally appeared 5/11/15. We’ve bumped it up for the 20th anniversary of Banjo-Kazooie. To properly appreciate the greatness of…

Here Is Pixar’s Dory Fighting Crime

I had many possible topics in mind for today’s Kotaku Game Diary: The slew of wonderful Metroid-like games I’ve been playing on the Switch. An analysis of a vexing Nioh boss. A meditation on the lack of playable denouements in video games. All will be covered in due time. Today? I am too short on…

Smash Bros., Ghost of Tsushima And 27 Other Mostly-Interesting Games I Saw At E3

E3, a show in which the future of gaming pretends to be in the present, is in the past. Those demos that may or may not represent the final quality of the games they preview? All locked up. The previews and round-ups by writers who hit reasonable deadlines? Published. And then there’s me, straggling along.…

The Upcoming Painting Platformer Concrete Genie Comes From A Different Kind Of PlayStation Studio

As with most games shown at E3 a couple of weeks ago, it’s too soon to say if Concrete Genie will be what its demo hints that it can be. But it’s clear that it’ll be an easy game to root for. There’s the good: It’s a magical-looking game featuring a boy named Ash who…

The rumored, leaked and teased nightclub management expansion to Grand Theft Auto Online is coming out some time in July. In a post today, development studio Rockstar noted players can “[r]un your nightclub business from setup, design, staffing and promotion.” More details to come.

Breath of the Wild’s Champions’ Ballad Expansion Is Better After A Long Zelda Break

Like most things with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the game’s Champions’ Ballad expansion did not immediately thrill me. It took some time. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it’s now what I need. The Champions’ Ballad has been available for Breath of the Wild since December, nine months after the main…