Culture

Mandibuzz Wears The Bones Of Its Dead Victims

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 Mandizbuzz! Mandibuzz Details Type: Dark/Flying Average Height: 3′ 11″ Average Weight: 87.1 lbs. First Added In Generation V Bones.…

The N64 Controller Is Very Useful At Parties

Hello! This week we piss on Conan O’Brien’s house, think about the end of the world, get ready for the Pokemon DLC, watch a weird Nicolas Cage GIF, learn more about video game credits and open a beer with an N64 controller. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week A deep dive into something most…

Pa’lante, Kotaku

There are a lot of reasons to not write about video games. For most of my career, I’ve written for mainstream publications unconcerned with the games industry. I was offered a job at Kotaku because I had figured out a way to do games criticism outside of the sphere of games journalism. I rarely had…

Goodbye From Josh and Gita

Today, Joshua Rivera and Gita Jackson are both leaving Kotaku. They sat down to talk about what they love about this place, as well as the state of games journalism and its diversity, worker solidarity and herbs. Joshua Rivera: There’s not a lot of opportunities for this.There’s a good reason for that. We’re not supposed…

First-Party Xbox Series X Games Won’t Be Exclusive For A While, Microsoft Says

First-party Xbox Series X games won’t be exclusive for at least the first year or two, if a new interview with the head of Xbox Game Studios is to be believed. Speaking to the website MCVUK, Xbox’s Matt Booty confirmed what many have been assuming—that Microsoft’s games will be both forwards and backwards compatible. “As…

BioShock Speedrunner Fakes Catastrophic Crash During AGDQ Run

BioShock is an especially harrowing game to watch people speedrun, largely because of all the small things that can go wrong. Unpredictable framerate and physics glitches can send otherwise flawless runs careening off the rails, and this instability makes it easy to screw up crucial skips. Speedrunner BloodThunder knows this better than anybody, and last…

Adding Squirrel Girl To Marvel’s Contest Of Champions Doesn’t Seem Fair

 Marvel’s Contest of Champions is a competitive mobile fighting game in which Marvel comics heroes and villains compete for dominance on a universal scale. With the extraordinary power to kick butts and eat nuts, Doreen Green is the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. There is no reason to play Contest of Champions on iOS or Android anymore.…

Track: Uneventful Days (St. Vincent Remix / Audio) | Artist: Beck, St. Vincent | Album: N/A

Track: Disappointed | Artist: Stormzy

The Gang’s All Here

Anton Lavrushkin is an artist from Russia. You can see more of Anton’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Our Best Cosplay Footage From 2019

Across timezones and continents, our cosplay photographer Mineralblu went everywhere capturing shots and video from events big and small in 2019. Here, to help kickstart 2020, is a look back at the best of it. This 15-minute video covers 25 shows, from Comic Con to Star Wars Celebration to BlizzCon and everything in between. And,…

The Internet Reacts To The Pokémon With A Gun

Nintendo dropped a bunch of news about Pokémon Sword and Shield in a Direct this morning, including the addition of 200 more Pokémon to the games. They also added new Gigantamax forms for existing Pokémon, one of whom can now use a gun, apparently. The livestream revealed that Inteleon is getting a Gigantamax form as…

How Game Companies Use Credits To Reward, Or Punish, Developers

It takes a team to make a video game. Unfortunately, given the state of video game staff credits, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to know who was actually on that team. Hundreds of people can toil for years to make a single game, often putting in 80-hour workweeks or more. And unless you’re…

Our Video Game Predictions For 2020

What will 2020 bring to the world of video games? Here at Kotaku Splitscreen, we have answers. Well… we have guesses. Same thing, right? On this week’s episode of the show, we talk about some of the games we’re playing (Control! Resident Evil 2! The Witcher 3!) and some of the movies we’ve been watching…

I Finally Queued Up With A Stranger In Borderlands 3 And I Wish I’d Done It Sooner

I’ve been stuck on Borderlands 3’s Katagawa Ball boss for weeks, but yesterday I finally beat it in the best way possible, thanks to the help of a random stranger. Vengeance, it turns out, is a dish best served with company. Katagawa Ball, a giant robotic orb reminiscent of a Dungeons & Dragons Beholder, has…

Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansions Add Over 200 Existing Pokémon

Unlike previous games in the series, Pokémon Sword and Shield won’t be getting a new version of the game a year later with an extra adjective. Instead, Pokémon Sword Expansion Pass and Shield Expansion Pass, DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield, will allow you to play new stories in Galar using the save data—and pocket…

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team Remake Coming To Switch In March

2006 Pokémon roguelikes for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team Blue and Red, are getting a snazzy makeover for the Nintendo Switch. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX arrives on Switch March 6, with a demo available later today. One of the best entries in Spike Chunsoft’s longrunning Mystery…

Track: Under Control | Artist: The Strokes | Album: Room on Fire

The Origins Of Aloy

Louis van Baarle is a character artist from the Netherlands who has worked on stuff like Horizon Zero Dawn You can see more of Lois’ stuff at her personal site, Patreon and ArtStation page

Nintendo’s President Explains Its Reluctance To Fund Smash Bros. Tournament Prizes

During a recent interview with Japanese business journal Nikkei, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked a variety of questions concerning the publisher’s future, one of which concerned Nintendo’s support for Super Smash Bros. competitions, in particular its reluctance to support Smash tournaments with prize money. “Esports, in which players compete on stage for prize money…