Culture

An Elegant Dark Forces For A More Civilized Age

While Unreal Engine remakes of classic games are everywhere you look these days, this 2020 take on Dark Forces—still the best Star Wars game—has a refreshingly narrow scope, seeking not to overhaul the entire game, but just wonder what it’d look like with a more modern user interface/experience. Arvydas Brazdeikis—who has done something similar with…

Get A Load Of Crocky And Other Ridiculous Pokémon That Didn’t Make The Final Cut

YouTuber Dr. Lava has been documenting cut content from Nintendo games for years on his websiteand YouTube channel. More recently, his Twitter account has become a treasure trove of creatures cut from Pokémon games. Every day, Dr. Lava posts a tweet with his Lost Pokémon of the Day. He’s been doing this since at least…

Escape From Tarkov, A 2-Year-Old War Game, Is Suddenly The Biggest Thing On Twitch

Escape From Tarkov is currently the third largest category on Twitch, with over ninety thousand viewers as this article is published. This gritty shooter has a Twitch event to thank for its big glow up. Escape From Tarkov, a military shooter currently in open beta, is about as hardcore as it gets. It’s the kind…

New Gaming PC Comes With Built-In Xbox One or PS4

PC gaming or console gaming? Why not both? Today at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, custom system builder Origin PC launched the Big O, a gaming rig that starts at $2,500 and comes with your choice of Xbox One S or PlayStation 4 Pro built into the case. Originally conceived as a gaming PC with…

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Bad Destiny 2 Guns

Behold my Tango-45 XK5094, a completely mediocre Destiny 2 gun that I’ve finally decided to embrace after weeks of keeping it at a distance because life is too short to keep holding out for the perfect weapon. Last night I finally decided to upgrade it to a masterwork, something I haven’t done since the game’s…

How To Watch Awesome Games Done Quick 2020

Awesome Games Done Quick is back for its 11th year and just in time for anyone who needs a little pick-me-up after the holidays or a timely distraction from everything else going on in the world. The weeklong speedrunning marathon kicked off yesterday on Twitch at noon with donations going to the Prevent Cancer Foundation.…

Track: Mashiro | Artist: Tricot | Album: Makkuro 

Japan Ended The Year With Some Excellent Cosplay

The winter Comic Market (Comiket) is over. It ran from December 28 to the last day of 2019. But our memories of the event will live on. Thank the internet for that! (And the photographers who are still uploading images to Twitter.) Let’s have a look at some, but not all, of the standout cosplays.

Welcome To Texas. Dallas, TX. By Brian Ashcraft. 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!

2019’s Last Big Cosplay Show Was A Christmas Treat

The cosplay calendar—at least as far as cons go—has a tradition of closing out just before Christmas, when Holiday Matsuri is held in Florida. With warm weather, pools and an Orlando resort on offer, it was the perfect place to get away from colder climates and spend a weekend dressing up. Below is a gallery…

Rick!

Christopher Cao is a character artist who has worked on games like Mass Effect Andromeda, Assassin’s Creed IV and Batman: Arkham Origins You can see more of Cao’s stuff at his ArtStation page

The Week In Games: Monster Hunters On Ice

After last week, this week seems like a flood of new games. Not too many big games, but the Monster Hunter: World expansion Iceborne is finally hitting PC this week. So if you are a Monster Hunter fan who plays on PC, get a winter coat and get ready. I already did a Week In…

Track: Stop| Artist: Spice Girls| Album: Spiceworld 

‘Shop Contest: National Bird Day

Birds! They are totally fine, I guess. I don’t know if they deserve a whole national holiday, but here whatever. Today is National Bird Day. I know, I was surprised too. Your challenge this week: Have some fun with video game birds! Any bird from any video game will work. Place them all together, add…

Sunday Comics: Baby?

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 Jan. 2. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Dec. 30. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: Baby Sonic, Winners!

Last week I asked you folks to create some images featuring the cute Baby Sonic. I also learned that some people get really angry when you call Baby Sonic, Baby Sonic. Apparently he’s too old to be a baby or something…? I don’t know. Moving on. Our winning image this week comes from MonoArtan who…

Remembering The Sad Sharks And Dolphins Of GTA San Andreas

When I was younger, about 14, I remember jumping into the waters of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, swimming around and exploring. I did this a lot. I had been playing San Andreas, at that point, for months. And then, I saw something strange. I thought I saw a shark. Digging around online for info…

Qwilfish Is A Fish That Sucks At Swimming

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 Qwilfish! Qwilfish Details Type: Water/Poison Average Height: 1′ 08″ Average Weight: 8.6 lbs. First Added In Generation II Sometimes…

100 Street Fighters Drop On To An Island…

Hello! This week we complain about the Switch’s crappy menu, get killed by a chair in Modern Warfare, see the creepiest commercial ever made, watch BB-8 in Battlefront II, learn what free games are coming to PS Plus this month and watch 100 Street Fighters go wild. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week The…

The Cost Of Being A Woman Who Covers Video Games

Now that it’s 2020, I keep thinking about how it felt to be a woman writing about gender in video games back in 2010. Ten years ago, the gender imbalance in the video game industry was not seen as a problem to be solved so much as a mundane and largely unquestioned reality. It wasn’t…