Culture

Disney Shuts Down Club Penguin Private Servers Due To Hate Speech, Sexual Content

Disney is going after unauthorized Club Penguin private servers, as a BBC investigation found one of the most popular fan-run versions of the kid-friendly social game was filled with racist, homophobic, anti-semetic, and sexual messages. From its launch in October of 2005 to its closure in March of 2017, Disney’s Club Penguin was an online…

The Many Things We’ve Learned About Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

From the moment it was announced, I had a lot of questions about Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. So when I recently spoke to the game’s creative director, Ashraf Ismail, I packed a lot in. I wanted to know about quests, controls, and colonization. I wanted to know about learning lessons from Assassin’s Creed Origins’ artificial intelligence…

After Grinding All Weekend, Destiny 2 Players Find Quest-Breaking Bug [Update]

The latest turn in the ongoing saga around Destiny 2’s Felwinter’s Lie quest is a tragic one, as players encounter a progress-halting bug. Introduced in last week’s reset, “The Lie” is a multi-step quest, the first part of which required players to collectively grind through this season’s Seraph Tower public events on earth, IO, and…

How’s It Going?: Normalcy Edition

It’s Monday—they’re still making those, I guess. Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’ve been rewatching The Leftovers, because people keep talking about doing that on Twitter. I watched it a couple years ago, but it’s a pretty different experience given everything that’s going on in the world. Our current context has made the…

The Week In Games: Get Ready To Jump The Shark

Become a shark and eat anything that gets in your way in Maneater, releasing later this week for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. I’ve written about how there just aren’t enough games that let you play as an animal. One of my favorites came out years ago, back on the PS2. Jaws Unleashed was a…

Track: Try | Artist: Neil Young | Album: Homegrown

It Appears You Have A Bug Problem

Peter Lee is an artist at Blizzard where he’s worked on games like StarCraft II, Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm You can see of Lee’s stuff at his ArtStation page

‘Shop Contest: Tony Hawk

A new Tony Hawk game means a new digital recreation of the world’s most famous skater. Let’s have some fun with this new model. Your challenge this week: Add Mr. Tony Hawk to video games, movies, TV shows, etc. I pre-cut a Tony just for you folks to use how you see fit. I also…

How’s It Going?: Harley Quinn Edition

Welcome back to another wonderful open thread. Come chat with us about…well anything! I’ve tweeted about the animated Harley Quinn show a few times over the last few months, but I seriously love this damn show. The writing is great. The cast is great. All of it is great. The show feels like an adult…

The Blacklist Season 7 Finale Looks Like A PS2 Game

The Blacklist, a TV show on NBC, aired its season 7 finale on Friday night. Due to COVID-19, the final episode wasn’t finished and the production team had to use animation to complete the final episode. The results are both impressive and silly. The episode looks like a forgotten PS2 game. After only four days…

Sunday Comics: Sign Me Up

Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published May 14. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published May 11. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: GTA Online Aliens, Winners!

A war between green and purple aliens is happening right now in the virtual world of GTA Online. This war is growing and last week I asked you fine folks to expand the war to other games. Our winning image this week comes from MonoArtan who technically didn’t add the alien to a game, but…

Hope You Have Insurance!

This week on Snapshots cool spears, goo explosions a lot of fire, battles in many different eras, and Spider-Man destroys a car. “We need to exchange information. I’m Pe-…Spider-Man.” Kotaku Snapshots is a weekly look at some of the best, funniest and coolest screenshots players have taken in their favorite games. If you have a…

Ubisoft Sues Google And Apple Over Rainbow Six Siege Clone [Update]

Ubisoft isn’t happy about Area F2, a free-to-play shooter on the Google Play and Apple App Store that appears to be a clone of their successful game, Rainbow Six Siege. Ubisoft is now suing to remove the game from the popular mobile app marketplaces. Bloomberg reportsthat in a complaint filed in a federal court in…

Froslass Freezes Handsome Men And Stores Them In Her Collection

Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Froslass! Froslass Details Type: Ice/Ghost Average Height: 4′ 03″ Average Weight: 58.6 lbs First Added In Generation IV I…

How’s It Going?: Final Fantasy VII Edition

Welcome everyone to another wonderful open thread! Come on in and chat and stuff! SPOILER WARNING- Folks are going to probably be talking about FFVII Remake spoilers down in the comments. Just a heads up! It took me longer than most folks, but I finally finished Final Fantasy VII Remake earlier this week. I mostly…

Cookie Monster Is The Ultimate Predator

Hello! This week we learn how Twitch plans to protect streamers from harassment, think about how long it has been since the last new Donkey Kong game, hang out with Tony Hawk and meet Cookie Monster, a deadly ambush predator. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week The new Crusader Kings sounds very good. Twitch…

Five Classic Tracks Won’t Be In The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Remasters

The first two Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games were defined as much by their soundtracks as their skating mechanics. So when Activision announced the remasters earlier this week, fans were immediately curious about the status of the iconic tracklist. In speaking with Activision, Kotaku has nailed down the songs you’ll hear in the halfpipe and…

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Remasters Will Feature Aged Skaters

Just as those of us who played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater as kids have matured into adults, the professional skaters we controlled 20 years ago have become old fogeys. Thanks to new scans by Activision and Vicarious Visions, the upcoming remaster will feature the original pros in all their middle-aged glory. Every skateboarder who appeared…

Steam’s New ‘Play Next’ Recommendation Feature Mostly Sticks To Hits

Steam’s latest new feature is undeniably useful: The “Play Next” library widget generates a list of games already in your possession that you might be interested in trying. As someone who has a miniature existential crisis every time I finish a game, it’s perfect for me. This week, Play Next graduated from Valve’s experimental Steam…