Culture

Someone, Please Help Roald

Hello! This week we use Half-Life to teach math, watch the trailer for next big Animal Crossing update, shock ourselves while we play Smash, learn how Nintendo is helping healthcare workers fight the pandemic and trap poor Roald in a cage made of concrete walls. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week We have reached…

My BIG-Ass Enter Key Is Messing Up My Mechanical Keyboard Plans

This key cap is not like the others and I need help

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for…staying inside, I guess. At least there’s lots of video games! I’ve been really lax on keeping up with my Fortnite challenges, and I still really want that Meowscles skin. (Remember that? That feels like 100 years ago.) Some friends have been trying to get me to play Monster Hunter: World with…

Engineer Combines Smash Controller With A Taser Because Why Not

Recent advances in virtual reality have done wonders to make video games more immersive than ever. But certain persistent technical limitations still bedevil this developing technology, such as, say, its inability to shock the living hell out of players with agonizing bursts of electric current. It’s a problem. But one enterprising hacker sought to change…

Sony And Microsoft Put Out Vague Statements About How Covid-19 Will Affect Their Games

In a press release on its website, Sony announced that it doesn’t expect the game and network services part of its business to be impacted during the current fiscal year, which ends March 31. At the same time, the company didn’t rule out that things could change in the future. Sony and Microsoft both put…

Even Final Fantasy XIV Is Freezing House Evictions

Final Fantasy XIV has one of the most competitive housing markets in an online game. Buying a cozy digital home requires lots of money and the patience to fight with other players—including big guilds and bot owners—to place a bid on a home. If you don’t use it, you also lose it. In light of…

I’m Driving Myself Crazy Trying To Name My Animal Crossing Island

It is important, in these trying times, to take it easy on yourself. That self-critical voice constantly berating you in your head? Turn it down to a whisper. Unfortunately, I am a gigantic dummy incapable of following my own advice. Case in point: I’ve spent the better part of three days (and counting) trying to…

How Cory In The House DS Went From Bad, Forgotten Game To Hilarious Meme

A glass box, no bigger than the size of the Tesseract, stands atop two marble-colored obelisks. Inside the glass box is a copy of Cory in the House, the DS adaptation of the Disney Channel sitcom that lasted for two seasons between 2007 and 2008. Behind it is a regal poster for the namesake show.…

How’s It Going?: Friends Edition

It’s Friday! Welcome back to our daily open thread. It’s been a while since I’ve seen another person; maybe it’s been that way for you too. I had been doing some Google hangouts and other virtual stuff, but that’s been hard to schedule this week. (Weird how busy you can get even though you’re just…

Track: Murder Most Foul | Artist: Bob Dylan | Album: Murder Most Foul (single)

Tokyo Rainy Days. Tokyo, Japan. By Patrick Lehrmann | Flickr 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 

Track: Red Star Pt. 2 | Artist: King Buffalo | Album: Dead Star

Old Soldiers Never Die

Borislav Mitkov is a freelance artist based in Germany who has worked on stuff like Asssassin’s Creed You can see more of Borislav’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Dwarf Fortress Premium Shows Off Its, Uh, New Visuals

It is true that while Dwarf Fortress is an incredibly complex and rewarding game, it is also true that it has forever looked like ass. The upcoming Steam release, Dwarf Fortress Premium, is going to look a little better Co-creator Tarn Adams has shared some of the improvements they’ve made to the game’s visuals (earlier…

Half-Life: Alyx Players Are Using VR To Teach Math Classes, Kiss Headcrabs

Virtual reality means options. If you own a high-end VR headset like the Valve Index, you likely have money and, therefore, options that those less fortunate than you do not. Also, you can do funny things with headcrabs. Half-Life: Alyx players have embraced VR’s bold new frontier voraciously, testing the limits of the medium’s invisible…

Epic Is Going To Publish Games From The Makers Of Control, Limbo, And The Last Guardian

Today the studio behind Fortnite, Epic Games, announced a new publishing label called Epic Games Publishing that will be working with gaming studios making some of the best known console exclusives in recent memory to publish their upcoming projects. The studios are Playdead, makers of Limbo and Inside, gen DESIGN, makers of The Last Guardian,…

Capcom’s wonderful underwater 2D action-adventure Shinsekai: Into The Depths was just surprise-released for the Switch. We liked it a lot when it debuted on Apple Arcade last year, and it should please people looking for another Metroid-style game for Nintendo’s portable console.

How’s It Going?: Well It’s Something Edition

It’s Thursday! That means it’s almost Friday. Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’m having a tough morning. Lots of little things are frustrating me, and given the stress of the times they feel much bigger than they are. I’m having a hard time getting things done this week, and adjusting to having the…

BioShock, Borderlands, And XCOM Are Coming To Switch

A bunch of 2K games are coming to Switch on May 29 including XCOM 2, Borderlands 2, and BioShock Infinite The news is part of the surprise Nintendo Direct Mini that dropped earlier today confirming a number of ports that had previously been rumored. Here’s the full list of 2K games headed to the Nintendo…

Surprise Nintendo Direct Includes Updates On Xenoblade, Smash, Animal Crossing

Nintendo quietly dropped a surprise mini Direct on us this morning, announcing several games and updates coming to the Switch in the next few months, including Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, the BioShock collection, and Burnout Paradise Remastered along with updates for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Ring Fit Adventure and more. Fans…