Culture

Steam Economy In Chaos After Team Fortress 2 Glitch Guarantees Players Rare Items

Hats. It’s always been hats. Ever since Team Fortress 2 first added cosmetics back in 2009, which was (oh no) a decade ago, they’ve been equal parts a cornerstone of Valve’s oft-forgotten multiplayer shooter and a meme at the hat-obsessed game’s expense. Now, however, TF2‘s maddest hatters are laughing all the way to the bank.…

Young Women Are Reclaiming The Slur ‘Egirl’

Jayden “YourPrincess” Diaz is haunted by the term “egirl.” A League of Legends streamer competing among the top two percent of players, Diaz hasn’t been able to escape it for years—every day in Twitch chat, in League of Legends games and across social media. “I let it really hurt me,” Diaz, 20, told Kotaku of…

When Your Frustration At A Game Makes You Even Worse

Video games can be frustrating. Sometimes, that frustration can overpower your ability to play them well. There’s a term for that: In those moments, you’re “tilted.” On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, we had Kotaku’s newest staff writer Joshua Rivera join us to discuss the ways that games have tilted us and how we deal with…

Kingdom Hearts III, Six Months Later

Kingdom Hearts III had plenty of drama before launch thanks to a massive leak of physical copies that led director Tetsuya Nomura to ask fans not to share spoilers. Square Enix also delayed the game’s epilogue until after the game’s release. When release day finally came, Sora and his pals mostly ended up okay, save…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for going to the Fortnite World Cup, which means watching a lot of people play video games and not getting to play very many of them myself. If I can find the time, though, I’m really excited to dive into Wolfenstein: Youngblood. I’m a bit bummed not to have BJ Blazkowicz’s Thin…

I Finally Understand The Appeal Of Escaping Into A Video Game To Cope With Stress

For most of my life, I never quite understood escapism. I knew how powerful video games could be, how seductive and wonderful their worlds were, but I never quite understood the idea of wanting to melt through the screen and leave the real world behind. After I’ve had string of rotten luck and high stress,…

Looks Like The Original Doom Games Are Coming To Switch As Soon As Today [Update]

Earlier this morning listings for the original Doom, Doom II, and Doom III briefly appeared on the Nintendo eShop, suggesting the trilogy is set to come to Switch, potentially as early today. Spotted by Nintendo Life, the listings for the iconic first-person shooters appeared on the Nintendo UK Switch website. While none of the games…

Comic History: Why The First EarthBound Wasn’t Released Outside Japan

When Nintendo released it as Earthbound Beginnings on the Wii U, the innovative, beloved role-playing game Mother finally made it to the West. But back in the early 1990s, Nintendo had every intention of launching it for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System in America. It just didn’t work out. Nintendo of America planned to give…

Track: Once | Artist: Liam Gallagher | Album: Why Me? Why Not Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

JPEGMAFIA. Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago, IL. By Roberto Campos. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

If Horizon Zero Dawn’s Aloy Was In Overwatch

Ladislas Gueros is an artist based in Canada, and this is his idea on how Horizon Zero Dawn’s Aloy would look as a guest-starring Overwatch character. Like Hanzo, basically, only less annoying. You can see more of Gueros’ stuff at his ArtStation page

Twitch Streamer PaladinAmber Does Not Have Time For Your Shit, Internet Creeps

Make creepy comments in PaladinAmber’s Twitch chat at your own risk. “How much for a hug?” somebody asked during a stream a few days ago. In the blink of an eye, PaladinAmber switched over to an infomercial-style overlay, complete with a (fake) phone number and a list of payment options. “You wanna know how much…

Our Favorite Cosplay From San Diego Comic-Con 2019

There’s no bigger cosplay show on the planet than Comic-Con, which every year attracts thousands of cosplayers, from the biggest names to locals dressing up for a big, nerdy day out Mineralblu was there all weekend taking photos and video for us, and you can see the best of that stuff below (though as usual…

If You Want Fallout 76‘s Newest Items, It’ll Cost You $25

Some of Fallout 76’s most devoted players and biggest spenders appear to be drawing the line at a new $25 bundle of cosmetics up for sale in the game’s digital store. Conspicuous consumption is alive and well in Fallout 76’s wasteland thanks to the Atomic Shop, a clearing house for a range of character outfits,…

A Bittersweet Glimpse Of Defiant Development’s Unfinished Game

Earlier this week, Defiant Development shared the unfortunate news that the studio would be shuttering, citing the company’s supposed inability to adapt to “changes both big and small” in the larger gaming industry as the main impetus behind the closure. As a parting gift, Defiant has also provided a brief glimpse at what would have…

Study: Sexualization Of Women In Games Doesn’t Impact Women’s Body Image

Long-argued is the theory that embodying a lithe and thin Lara Croft in Tomb Raider might make women gamers feel worse about their own bodies. It’s an argument that women like me have used to justify the importance of adding more realistically-proportioned, less-sexualized characters to our favorite games. Yet according to a new study by…

Dota Underlords has received an update intended to turn Primordials into a little less of an unholy force to be reckoned with. Instead of disarming enemies—functionally stunning them—Primordial units now have a chance to slow enemies’ attacks. Arc Warden, meanwhile, has been overhauled. Where once his clone ability was mana-dependent and could go on indefinitely…

Today’s update to Rage 2 adds a New Game Plus and two new difficulty modes. They’ve also added a BJ Blaskowicz voice pack, in case you’re just that psyched for Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Having Someone To Pass The Controller To Makes Single-Player Games Better

I don’t play a ton of shooters, but after getting super obsessed with Apex Legends, I wanted to try Titanfall 2. I also wanted my boyfriend to try Titanfall 2, but I’d always rather play with someone sitting on the couch than online. Me and my boyfriend live about 10 minutes from each other—it would…

The Mother Series 30th Anniversary Event In Smash Bros. Ultimate Is Too Cruel

July 27 will mark 30 years since the original Mother came out in Japan on NES. To celebrate, Nintendo is running a Mother-themed Spirit Board event in Smash Bros. Ultimate, torturing fans who have been desperate to see the rest of the series localized in the West. Smash Ultimate’s Spirit Board is a single-player affair…