Culture

Twitch Is Making Ads Less Annoying

Twitch, like so many other platforms on the “free” internet, runs on ads. These ads are annoying as hell. They also represent a raw deal for the majority of streamers. Soon, however, both those things are going to change. As part of today’s TwitchCon opening ceremony, the company announced a slew of upcoming changes, including…

“There’s no reason why they shouldn’t have an accessibility tag, or an “a11y” tag—Twitter speak for accessibility. If Twitch is listening, please give us that tag. We’ve been asking for over a year now,” said streamer AccessibleGamer during TwitchCon’s “Streaming With Disabilities” panel. He added that most Twitch tags describe streams themselves—not streamers—but there are…

Twitchcon’s show floor is notably lacking in video games. This makes sense; game makers have far less to gain from being at a show where most people are here to see streamers, not play games. In previous years, that didn’t stop a fair number of video game companies from having presences. This year, however, it’s…

Your Destiny 2 To-Do List For This Weekend

We’re about to begin the final weekend before Destiny 2‘s big expansion, Shadowkeep, launches, and it’s understandable if you’re feeling a little listless. One of the nice things about Destiny is how it’s always endeavored to offer something for every style of play, and as a result, everyone plays at their own pace. In that…

Apple Arcade Seems Like The Future Of Gaming, For Better Or Worse

Apple Arcade offers up a ton of cool mobile games for only 5 bucks a month. The price seems more than fair from the player side, and it helps that these games aren’t packed with microtransactions, since they’re already funded by the subscription fee. But is that subscription model actually sustainable? And do we want…

Modern Warfare‘s 64-Player Mode Feels Like Call Of Duty, Just Bigger

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s recent cross-play beta brought platforms together for large-scale, 64-player multiplayer matches. While it feels quite different from Battlefield, the new style of gameplay worked quite well. The “Ground War” mode itself is not new, but in previous Call of Duty games it just meant a slightly increased player count of…

Rockstar Currently Has No Plans For Red Dead Redemption 2 Single-Player DLC

Rockstar Games has confirmed, in an interview with VG24/7, that they have no current plans to release DLC for Red Dead Redemption 2′s single-player mode. Rockstar will instead be working on expanding the game’s multiplayer mode, Red Dead Online. During an interview with Rockstar developers by VG24/7, lead online production associate Katie Pica explained that…

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