Culture

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Who can play video games while Kotaku’s Riley MacLeod is off running his first half-marathon? I sure can. The weekend is for sitting comfortably inside a climate-controlled home playing video games while other people run. I won’t be running any time soon, but my virtual activity level will be high. This weekend I don tight…

Track: The Times They Are A-Changin’ | Artist: Bob Dylan | Album: The Times They Are A-Changin’

Omoide Yokocho. Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. By André Broa 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 

Oh Hell Yeah More Isometric Landscapes

Manuel Vormwald is a concept and background artist from Germany who has worked on games like The Pillars of the Earth and A Year of Rain You can see more of Manuel’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Dota Underlords Is Out Of Early Access And Better Than Ever

For a handful of weeks last year, Dota Underlords devoured my entire life. Then, abruptly, I stopped playing. At the time, Valve’s entry into the suddenly-crowded auto battler arena suffered from the same issue as its competition: Its bones, though they formed a sturdy spinal scaffolding, had no meat on them. Dota Underlords left early…

Greninja Voted Pokémon Of The Year, Somehow

Koffing was robbed. Despite my excellent case for Koffing’s status as the Best Pokémon, official results from Google’s Pokémon of the Year vote show that the world somehow believes otherwise. Greninja, the frog ninja that uses its own tongue as a scarf (ugh), dominated the poll with over 140,000 votes, followed by Lucario, Mimikyu, Charizard,…

Blizzard Made The Best Superman Game (Back In 1994)

Before Overwatch, StarCraft, Diablo, and even Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment and Sunsoft released the video game adaptation of DC Comics’ The Death and Return of Superman saga. While the 1994 Super Nintendo game and its 1995 Sega Genesis port are far from the best side-scrolling beat-em ups, they are the most fun I’ve had playing a…

Borderlands 3’s Next Major Expansion Coming March 26

Gearbox announced Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock, the second piece of post-release Borderlands 3 story content, at PAX East earlier today. It will launch on March 26. Guns, Love, and Tentacles will revolve around the wedding of Wainwright Jakobs and Sir Alistair Hammerlock, nuptials that were teased during the main game’s…

Microsoft Drops Out Of GDC, Too [Update: And Epic]

Following in the footsteps of several other major tech firms including Sony and Facebook, Microsoft and Epic both said today that they will no longer be attending this year’s Game Developers Conference due to the growing health risks posed by COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus. “After a close review of guidance by global health…

China Pulls Plague Inc. From App Store

The creators of the popular plague simulator say it was taken down by China’s Cyberspace Administration over “illegal” content. “We’ve just been informed that Plague Inc. ‘includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China’ and has been removed from the China App Store,” Ndemic Creations said in a…

The newest installment of the Major Nelson podcast breaks down some of the newly-announced Xbox Series X features. Among the intriguing details: the Series X doesn’t just let you suspend multiple games, but those suspensions can survive a system update. Pretty cool.

That’s One Monstrous Mythical Monkey, Pokémon Sword & Shield

After weeks of teasing, the Pokémon Company reveals Zarude, the rogue monkey Pokémon, the latest Mythical Pokémon for Pokémon Sword and Shield. Look at its claws. Check out its teeth. It’s amazing anyone in the Galar region is still alive. I was hoping the teasing silhouette posted on the official Pokémon Twitter account on February…

PopCap Soft Launches Plants Vs. Zombies 3

The third installment of PopCap’s legendary flower defense game series has gone live on iOS and Android devices in the Philippines, with more regions rolling out in the coming weeks. Plants Vs. Zombies 3 is vertical instead of horizontal and 3D instead of 2D, but the basic idea is the same. After fiddling around with…

Oh Hey, Granblue Fantasy Versus Is Coming To Steam March 13

Granblue Fantasy Versus, the gorgeous Arc System Works fighting game based on the popular mobile role-playing game, isn’t just for PlayStation 4 players anymore. Cygames has announced that a Steam version of the anime brawler is dropping March 13, a mere 10 days after its North American PS4 debut. Surprise? Announced in a post on…

Roasted Chestnuts. Kyoto, Japan. By Bobby Vu | Instagram 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 

Welcome To City 27

Josef Anton is a freelance concept artist who has worked on games like the Anno series and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 We actually featured one of his Anno 1800 pieces last year as the lead image in this Fine Art post, but tonight is just 100% Josef. You can see more at his ArtStation…

Diablo IV Will Let Players Use Controllers On PC And Rebind Practically Everything

Diablo IV will feature an array of expanded control options for PC users, Blizzard revealed today in the first of its new developer blogs. These will include the ability to use controllers on PC, as well as rebinding the primary skill from left mouse click to the keyboard. Blizzard first announced Diablo IV at BlizzCon…

Twitch Apologizes For Suspending Debate Streamers Over Fake Copyright Claims

Yesterday evening, Twitch suspended a slew of high-profile streamers who, whether occasionally or full-time, cover politics. Those caught up in the snare included speedrunner Mychal “Trihex” Jefferson, lefty podcasters Chapo Trap House, and political pundit David Pakman. This happened after an organization claiming to represent CBS issued copyright claims on streams involving last night’s Democratic…

GOG’s New Refund Policy Is Extremely Generous

PC marketplace Good Old Games announced a new refund policy today, and uh, it’s very kind. Maybe even too kind. Here’s the new policy, straight from GOG: “Starting now, you can get a full refund up to 30 days after purchasing a product, even if you downloaded, launched, and played it. That’s it.” That’s honestly…

Cosplayers Across America Are Fundraising For Bernie

Bernie Sanders isn’t running for president on the back of billionaires. He’s getting there via donations from supporters, and today, that’s a bunch of cosplayers. Earlier today, hyenasandgin started the Twitter hashtag #cosplayersforbernie. “My friends on the Ballin’ Out Super Podcast (number one leftist anime podcast) had recently raised $420 for Bernie and I was inspired…