Culture

8BitDo’s Switch Lite-Inspired Controller Has Two (!) D-Pads

Styled after Nintendo’s new Switch Lite, the 8BitDo Lite is a controller so ultra-portable that it’s got two directional pads instead of analog sticks to keep it as thin as possible. The 8BitDo Lite features all the functionality of a full-sized Nintendo Switch controller, only instead of analog sticks, it has D-pads. That means these…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for visiting my parents, which has involved not an insignificant amount of putting away food they keep leaving out. It’s like a puzzle game, but with food poisoning. I’m really excited to play more of Hitman 2‘s new mission, which is full of exciting accidents to engineer that I’ve yet to try…

Borderlands 3 Update Gives Zane A Big Boost

Borderlands 3 players disappointed in Zane’s endgame performance, don’t give up your main yet: The Operative is about to get a pretty nice buff. On Friday, Borderlands 3 developer Gearbox Software released a hotfix update to the game with a wide-ranging set of buffs to general weapon performance and Zane’s abilities. If all runs as…

Finally Playing Judgment Again And Who The Heck Are Any Of These People

The end of the year is always busy here at Kotaku. For many of us, it means a string of reviews to write and games to cover. I’ve gone from Monster Hunter to Greedfall and beyond. Getting the time to circle back and play a game that you missed out on is a fun treat.…

Stonehenge. Salisbury, UK. By ShuYung Wu 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 Last Of Us Part II Will Not Include A Multiplayer Mode

For all its singleplayer focus and plaudits, The Last Of Us also shipped with a multiplayer mode. Its upcoming sequel will not. Developers Naughty Dog announced the news with a short statement yesterday, while suggesting that whatever had been cooking for the game’s multiplayer will be released at a later date, just “not as part…

We Get It, You Mustard Gas

Tatiana Tyukina is a freelance illustrator and concept artist from Russia who has worked on games like Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Life Is Fuedal You can see more of Tatiana’s workat her ArtStation page

Official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Tournament Bans Hero, Then Unbans Him

The controversy surrounding Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character Hero and his place in serious competition intensified recently when it was revealed that an official, Nintendo-sanctioned tournament in France had chosen to ban him from play. But now, just two days later, Nintendo has reversed that decision. Originally announced back in January, the European Team Cup…

I Wasn’t Expecting This New Fashion Game To Be So Political

For a while, I couldn’t open Instagram without getting an ad for Covet, a styling game similar to Love Nikki. Covet’s hook is that it features real fashion brands, and while it was tempting, I also suspected that it would be like taking a vacuum to my bank account. After Jezebel editor-in-chief Julianne Escobedo-Shepherd told…

Here’s October 2019’s Xbox Games With Gold Lineup

October’s Xbox Live Games with Gold are a mix of horror, action, and family-friendly. As always, they’re only “free” if you have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription. October’s Games with Gold are: Xbox One Tembo the Badass Elephant (October 1-31) Friday the 13th: The Game (October 16-November 15) Xbox 360 (compatible with Xbox One)…

Anthem’s limited-time Cataclysm event is sticking around. Scheduled to end this week, EA Community Lead Jesse Andersontweeted Wednesday night that a hotfix has gone live keeping the Cataclysm fully active and bringing back the seasonal store.  

Ninja Sings ‘Old Town Road’ In A Giant Ice Cream Costume For The Masked Singer Premiere

Have you heard of The Masked Singer? It’s a Fox competition show where a group of mysterious contestants dress up in outlandish costumes and sing for a panel of judges. Over the course of a season, each singer—referred to by their costume—gives clues as to who they really are (the competitors are all minor celebrities…

Track: Getting By | Artist: The Rentals | Album: Seven More Minutes 

The Birthplace of Henrik Ibsen. Skien, 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 Internet Reacts To That Goose, You Know The One

For most of our lives, we’ve all been ordinary people, content to live ordinary lives and maintain a functional social order. Then, last Friday, Untitled Goose Game came out. Now we are all the goose, a feathered hellion who believes property is theft, and theft of property is good as hell as long as the…

I played that Untitled Goose Game everybody’s been honkin’ around town about. Follow us on Twitch for more streams too!

Indie Game Offers Special Font For Dyslexic Players

Overland, the road-tripping survival game that Kotaku editor Riley MacLeodrecently described as an “indie rock XCOM,” is often unforgiving by design. During development, however, the developers realized it was also challenging in one way they hadn’t intended: the font was too difficult for players with dyslexia to read. At last year’s PAX East in Boston,…

Respawn Is Reviving Medal Of Honor… As An Oculus VR Exclusive

Electronic Arts’ Medal Of Honor series of military first-person shooters is back in action, although not in the way you might expect: It’s being reborn as a virtual reality game for the Oculus Rift, courtesy of Apex Legends and Titanfall developer Respawn, coming in 2020. Respawn and Oculus announced that they were working on a…

This Skies Of Arcadia Music Box Is Making My Heart Melt

I’ve enthusiastically expressed my love for role-playing game Skies of Arcadia in a variety of different ways since I started writing for Kotaku. I’ve gotten a tattooand reached out to producersalmost two decades after the game was released. Released in 2000 on the Dreamcast, Skies of Arcadia’s story of air pirates, heroes, and adventure ignited…

Mario Kart Tour Locks The Fastest Race Mode Behind A Paid Subscription

Mario Kart Tour is available today on iOS and Android, bringing some portable kart action to phones and other devices. If you want to enjoy tough races with a faster pace, though, it turns out you’ll need to shell out some money. Mario Kart games have always had different racing tiers. This usually means starting…