Culture

Track: Morning Starship | Artist: Morrissey | Album: California Son Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Pachinko Moon. Tokyo, Japan. By Davide Sasso | 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! 

Sony’s Kaz Hirai Is Finally Retiring 

In April 2018, Kaz Hirai stepped down as Sony CEO, taking on the role of Director and Chairman. Today, it was announced that Hirai will retire from those roles in June. Kenichiro Yoshida, Sony’s former CFO, took over the company after Hirai had brought it back from the brink. Previously, Hirai headed up Sony Computer…

Excellent space train death adventure Sunless Skies is getting a big update. It’s called Wayfarer, and it’s the first of “several.” This one aims to provide “more to see and do during voyages.” On the menu so far: multiple narrative additions and a rework of Albion. The update pulls up to the station on April…

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, As Told By Steam Reviews

“Wait, they only die twice?” said all the literal title interpreters in the Steam community upon seeing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s name. They’ve since been shocked—shocked, I say—to find themselves dying many more times than twice. Like Kotaku’s own Natalie Degraffinried, Steam reviewers mostly love Sekiro, the latest deliciously murderful brainchild of Dark Souls director…

A YouTuber Finds Wholesome, Heartbreaking Stories Behind Silly VRChat Avatars

In one of Syrmor Sherazee’s best videos, he asks a long-legged bird about what it was like to be homeless. The scene is the Onett stage from Super Smash Bros. Melee—one of the many video game realms repurposed in the sprawling, mutant multiverse of VRChat. Interspersed are clips of the bird holding court with an…

It’s Jarring To Play Earth Defense Force With A Hero I Made

Sandlot’s Earth Defense Force series is about generic soldiers fighting hordes of poorly animated insects. Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is about a player-customized character fighting hordes of poorly animated insects. Giving my EDF trooper a recognizable face changes things. Since I’m a longtime fan of the series, in-depth character creation was the last thing…

Urban Fauna. Porsgrunn, Norway. By Marcus Patai | 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! 

The Wolf Princess

Ignatius Tan is an artist working at League of Legends developers Riot Games, and this is one of the nicest pieces of Princess Mononoke art I have ever seen. You can see more of Tan’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Othercide is a horror-themed take on XCOM-like turn-based strategy. It focuses on “the sacrifices you must make to prevent reality from shattering”—so, you know, light, easygoing fare that’s only as serious as few heart attacks. There’ll be a system that lets you interrupt enemy attacks, which sounds interesting. It’s out later this year.  

What Europe’s New Copyright Law Means For Twitch And YouTube

If you live in the European Union, or if you’re an avid fan of European politics (and who isn’t?), you’ve probably heard about Article 13 in the past handful of months. And if you heard about Article 13 from someone on the internet, that person probably didn’t have kind things to say about it. Article…

Mega SG Is An Amazing HDMI Sega Genesis For The Hardcore Retro Nerd

The Sega Genesis has had by far the longest shelf life of any of the 16-bit systems. You could buy Sega’s final “Genesis 3″ model in stores until the early 2000s, and just a few years later, the AtGames released licensed plug-and-play machines, some with Genesis cartridge slots. For the last 30 years, you’d likely…

New Sci-Fi Shooter Generation Zero Is A Let Down

I expected Avalanche Studios’ new sci-fi sandbox shooter to win me over immediately. Set in Sweden in the ’80s after mysterious circumstances cause the nation’s robotic defense force to go haywire, Generation Zero’s setup seemed algorithmically designed to appeal directly to me. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. In the few hours I’ve spent…

Here’s April 2019’s Xbox Live Games With Gold Lineup

If you’ve been wanting to revisit 2005’s Star Wars Battlefront II, April’s Xbox Live Games with Gold has you covered. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription. (Correction 12:24pm- The top image for this article was initially an image from 2017’s Star Wars Battlefront II. We’ve updated the…

The Dreams Of A Man Asleep For Three Weeks

On March 22, 2018, I was rushed to the hospital for life-saving surgery. Due to complications with the procedure, I didn’t regain full, coherent consciousness until the second week in April. For three weeks I was stuck inside my own mind, subject to a seemingly unending series of dreams. Dreams covering on a variety of…

Track: Fast As You Can | Album: When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ‘fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You…

From Dusk to Nowhere. Águas de São Pedro, São Paulo, Brasil. By Lucas Rosalin 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! 

It’s Never Too Soon For Sekiro Fan Art

Toni Infante is a freelance illustrator from Spain who has worked for companies like DC and CD Projekt. You can see more of Toni’s stuff at his personal site and ArtStation page

What It’s Like To Start A Game Studio With No Bosses

After co-writing and designing Night In The Woods, Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry co-founded a new game studio with artist and musician Wren Farren, except this time, no one is the boss. The Glory Society is a worker co-operative, which means that its co-founders have a different workflow and creative process from other indie studios. During…

Baba Is You Is A Brilliant Puzzle Game

There’s a certain trick that smart game designers use to mess with their players. You’ll finish a level, all satisfied and cocky about it, and then the next stage will look exactly the same, with a twist. Maybe it’s missing the crate that was the lynchpin of your first strategy, or maybe there’s an extra…