Culture

Hearthstone‘s New Battlegrounds Mode Isn’t Meant To Be Competitive, Designers Say

 Hearthstone’s always had a sense of playfulness; Tavern Brawls and wacky solo adventures change the rules and add bizarre new baddies. The game’s new auto-battler mode Battlegrounds follows in that vein, offering chaos and complexity that should appeal to both newbies and hardcore players. Battlegrounds, which was announced at Blizzcon earlier this month, adds a…

Starting Destiny 2 Late Spared Me A Lot Of Misery

Many video games these days improve with age and a big batch of patches, which is why it often helps to play them late. Ignore the hype, laugh off the social pressure, and play this year’s games next year. Can you do it? I keep doing it with Destiny games, and it’s been great. Destiny…

I Didn’t Realize How Much I Love Suspending Games Until The Outer Worlds Took That Away

The Outer Worlds begins with your character coming out of cryo-sleep. They’ve been out of commission for years as their colony ship traveled across the galaxy, but once awakened they’re able to pick up right where they left off. I’ve come to take it for granted this console generation that my games can do this…

Pokémon Sword And Shield Are Making Some TVs Shut Off [Update]

Over the weekend, some players sat down to play Pokémon Sword and Shield on their Roku TVs, only to have them get stuck frozen on the startup screen before rebooting. Roku said it’s currently working to fix the problem. “We are aware of an issue when using Nintendo Switch and the latest Pokémon game impacting…

Track: Where It’s At | Artist: Beck | Album: Paisley Park Sessions

Taking Photos Near Angkor Wat. Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia. By Vincent Boun. 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!

Capcom has announced Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, a bundle that includes almost everything released as part of both Street Fighter V and its Arcade Edition. That’s “40 characters, 34 stages and over 200 costumes.” It’s out in February 2020 for PS4 and Steam and will cost $30

An Australian Pokémon Game Would Be Amazing

We’ve had Hawaiian Pokémon, we’ve had British Pokémon, and after seeing this incredible fan art project by VivinkArt, I’m convinced it’s time for an Australian Pokémon next. It all began a few months back as a simple joke: (Yeahnah is incredibly common and mighty useful Australian slang that basically means yeah, I understand and/or empathize…

Using A Toy Lightsaber Seems Like The Best Way To Play Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Custom controller pioneer Rudeism is back with a very nice setup for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which involves a lightsaber, a glove, and what looks like some very gratifying force powers. The lightsaber is just a plastic toy version with motion sensors in it, while the glove also has motion sensors, with thumbsticks and buttons…

Unreleased Version Of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Found After Surviving Development Hell

Hidden Palace and The Cutting Room Floor have, with a little help, got hold of what must be one of the most interesting unreleased video games of all time: an early preview build of Sonic 3 that’s quite different from the Genesis game that was eventually released. As Hidden Palace remind us in their report of…

Red Dead Redemption 2 On Lowest Settings Looks Like It Came From The Early ’90s

Alone in the Dark, is that you? LowSpecGamer has done wonders with Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 now that it’s out on PC, going beyond simply sliding every visual option in the game to “lowest” to tinker with the game’s settings and messing with the way it loads its models. The results are a game…

The Week In Games: Shenmu3

The impossible is happening. After years and years and years of waiting, Shenmue III is finally, actually, for real coming out this week. Wild times we live in. I have zero interest in Shenmue III, but I am so happy that it will be released. The first and second games always seemed like important games…

Track: Same Drugs | Artist: Chance The Rapper | Album: Coloring Book 

‘Shop Contest: Sonic Returns

Will I ever get a break? Just when I thought we were done with Sonic for the year, we get a NEW trailer for that Sonic The Hedgehog film. At least this time the new Sonic looks less terrifying and more loveable. So let’s give this another shot. Your challenge this week: Add the new…

Sunday Comics: OW!

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 Nov. 14. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Nov. 11. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary, Winners!

Last week I asked you all to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the beloved educational TV show, Sesame Street! And we celebrate the only way we know-how around these parts, which is to shove non-video game characters into video games. We truly are an odd bunch, aren’t we? Our winning image this week was created…

15 Years Later, November 2004 Might Still Be One Of The Best Months In Video Game History

Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of Half-Life 2. A big game for sure, but it was just one of many huge and popular games that were all released in November 2004. Those weeks in late 2004 saw the release of World Of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Metroid Prime 2, Metal Gear Solid 3…

Mountain Dew Merry Mash-Up Is Like Christmas In A Can

We are only a few weeks into November, which means it’s time to start celebrating Christmas. For some reason. I’m not a big fan of Xmas and seeing Christmas trees and candy canes popping up in stores already makes me hiss like a cat. Really. And to help celebrate the holidays, Mountain Dew has released…

Polteageist Is Made Out Of Tea And You Shouldn’t Drink It

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 Polteageist! Polteageist Details Type: Ghost Average Height: 0′ 08″ Average Weight: 0.9 lbs. First Added In Generation VIII New…

Someone Call Mulder, I Got Aliens In My Attic

Hello! This week we learn the future of Anthem, figure out what is happening in Death Stranding, learn about the Star Wars and Fortnite crossover, watch a weird trailer for the new Jumanji game and meet some aliens. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week Yes, this game is a mess. But the weird class…