Culture

How Over 25 People Got Scammed Into Working At A Nonexistent Game Company

Brooke Holden had all but given up on breaking into the video game business. She had gone to university in the United Kingdom to study game development, but realized partway through her degree that she hated coding. Holden had also come across horror stories about labor conditions in the game industry, where employees regularly work…

Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros. Challenge Record Broken After 14 Years

The original Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros. has a few challenge modes for players to test their skills. These include a mini-game to break small targets and a movement challenge to touch special platforms in a stage. The world record time for completing Pikachu’s platform challenge has stood since 2005—but after over a decade, it’s…

The Internet Reacts To Hero In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Earlier this morning, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai took some time to show off the game’s latest character, the Hero from the popular Dragon Quest roleplaying series. The presentation detailed what Hero will bring to the table once he is added to the game, and so far, several top competitive Smash players seem…

Gears Of War 4 Headlines August’s Xbox Live Games With Gold

August’s Xbox Live Games with Gold are a nice mix of action and racing. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription. August’s Games With Gold are: Xbox One Gears of War 4 (August 1-31) Forza Motorsport 6 (August 16-September 15) Xbox 360 (compatible with Xbox One)…

Streamer Sparks Debate Over Whether Twitch Should Allow Breastfeeding

When a Twitch streamer breastfed her baby on stream last week, clips of the moment ended up getting removed from Twitch, and it sparked a debate about whether or not the practice violates Twitch’s terms of service, with some arguing that breastfeeding constitutes “sexual” content. Being a parent on Twitch isn’t easy. As independent contractors, parents…

It’s Awkward When Madden NFL 20 Characters Avoid Saying My Player’s Name

Madden 20’s new Face of the Franchise single-player mode lets you create a custom character and give them whatever name you want. I named my custom quarterback Madden Myers, because my actual name is Maddy Myers, and that’s the type of thing that I find funny. It was great to hear the in-game NFL commentators…

Sony Has Shipped 100 Million PS4s

The PS5 may be on the horizon, but the PS4 is far from dead. Sony reports that they have now shipped 100 million PS4s between the machine’s late 2013 launch and June 30 of this year. Sony’s most recent figure for the number of PS4s actually sold to customers is 91.6 million, through the end…

The Fortnite World Cup Was A Kids’ Paradise

The people who filled Queens, New York’s Arthur Ashe tennis stadium for this weekend’s Fortnite World Cup were people who love Fortnite, or at least those people and their parents. The bulk of the attendees I saw were young kids, swimming in soccer shorts and baggy Fortnite t-shirts. They performed the game’s emote dances. They…

Smash Ultimate Is Getting Its New Dragon Quest Fighter Today

Today, Smash daddy Masahiro Sakurai announced that Dragon Quest’s Hero fighter will arrive in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate today as part of the version 4.0 update. The Heroes, referred to as “Hero” in-game, are from Dragon Quest XI S, Dragon Quest III, Dragon Quest IV, and Dragon Quest VIII—each expressed as different skins for the base…

Track: Interzone | Artist: Joy Division | Album: ‘Unknown Pleasures: Reimagined  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Rain. Tokyo, Japan. By Benoit Perreault | Official Site 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!

Sonic Redesigned Evangelion

Brother Baston is an artist from Finland. You can see more of his work here, and also check out his Patreon here

Watchdog Slams Lead Grand Theft Auto Studio For Avoiding Corporate Taxes In The UK

Rockstar North has used tax programs and other crafty accounting to avoid paying corporate taxes in the UK for years, even while its most successful game Grand Theft Auto V has sold millions of copies and made billions of dollars. That situation is detailed in public tax filings for Rockstar North, Ltd. and highlighted in…

Wolfenstein: Youngblood‘s Microtransactions Aren’t Even Worth Getting Mad At

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a video game with microtransactions, which is another way of saying that there are some who will object to its existence out of principle. Some people became so angry about microtransactions in the new game that they harassed one of its lead level designers, Mitja Roskaric, on Twitter, causing him to have…

Two Years Later, Minecraft Still Doesn’t Have Its Xbox One X Graphics Enhancements

The Super Duper Graphics Pack for Minecraft was announced at E3 2017. Just over two years later, it’s still never been released, and there has been little news about the update’s progress. Back in 2017, the team sounded optimistic. “Today we’re revealing a new look for Minecraft that we’re super duper excited for you to…

Characters’ Watches In The New Call Of Duty Will Display Real-World Time

Today in tiny, hyper-specific details that might end up having grave ludonarrative consequences: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)’s multiplayer avatars can wear watches. These watches display whatever time it is where you are, opening the door to a grim future in which somebody can land a perfect headshot on you and, as your character’s…

The End Of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Is Finally Within My Reach

The developers of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey have been moving the game’s finish line farther out since October of last year, but I think I’m finally about to catch it. This sums up my gaming experience these days, perpetually racing toward a moving goal. At launch Odyssey was already a marathon, a game with not one…

The Week In Games: Are You Ready For Some Football?

Like taxes and death, we can never really escape the yearly Madden games. If you love football, then get ready. This week Madden NFL 20 releases for PS4, Xbox One and PC. I’ve never been a big fan of sports video games outside of Blitz and the dunk contests in some of the NBA games.…

Sekiro Mod Turns Toy Story‘s Woody Into A Killer

If there’s a snake in his boot, it died a long time ago. You would think that changing the main character into Woody, the friendly sheriff doll from Toy Story, voiced by the equally wholesome Tom Hanks, would turn Sekiro into a joke, but it can be downright disturbing. Woody’s blank look as he mercilessly…

Track: An Ending (Ascent) (Remastered 2019) | Artist: Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois and Roger Eno | Album: Apollo – Atmospheres & Soundtracks – Extended Edition