Culture

After Years Of Confusion, I Finally Understand How To Play Bridge

This weekend I faced my oldest nemesis: the card game Bridge. I don’t remember the first time my mom tried to make me play Bridge with her. In my memory, this cursed card game has been the bane of my existence since I was old enough to hold cards in my hand. I’ve never been…

The Week In Games: Avengers And Everyone Else, Assemble!

The Avengers, their friends and some of their foes are hitting the Switch this week with the release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Pick your favorite hero and argue with your friends who is getting stuck playing with the right Joycon. I really loved that first Ultimate Alliance game. Played a lot of it back…

Fan-Made Smash Bros. Ultimate Level Features Dueling Snakes

Snake’s remote-controlled missiles are some of Smash Bros.’ most entertaining projectiles, and one player recently decided to make a Smash Bros. Ultimate stage that focuses entirely on guiding them through tiny labyrinths of death. Created by user xzAsiankidzx and shared on the game’s subreddit over the weekend, the stage is named Nikita Weave War, and…

Track: Not The News | Artist: Thom Yorke | Album: ANIMA Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Rays of Light. Zagreb, Croatia. By Denis Bučar.  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!

Survival Game Cosplay Won’t Last The Night

This is Finnish cosplayer Hapsu as Will Mackenzie, one of the two stars of The Long Dark’s story mode. If you’re going to cosplay as someone destined to freeze to death in an icy wilderness, Finland is as good a place as any to start. All photos by Neiti

Track: Japan | Artist: Tycho | Album: Weather Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Introducing The Spring/Summer 2039 Collection

Daniel Matthews is a concept artist at Trixter, and has worked on games like EVE Online and The Division You can see more of Daniel’s stuff at his ArtStation page

‘Shop Contest: Switch Lites For Everyone

The Switch Mini Lite was revealed and it looks sooooo good. I already own a Switch and never play it in portable mode, but I still want one of these brightly colored mini consoles. And I bet others do too. So… Your challenge this week: Send some Switch Lite consoles to various folks. They could…

Sunday Comics: My Finger Slipped!

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. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published July 8. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published July 11. Read more of Corpse Run Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: Freelancing After Making, Winners!

Construction work is hard work. So last week I asked you wonderful Kotaku readers to show me how the Mario Bros. make more money on the side. I got a whole bunch of…strange jobs. I’m not sure how well these pay, but I write about video games for a living. What do I know? Our…

After Playing GoldenEye On The N64, Valve Changed Half-Life

Today, developers have a huge variety of ways to create and manage enemy AI. However, back in the 90s it was much more difficult to create sophisticated enemy AI. It was even harder to do so on the N64 due to its limited power and resources. But Rare, the developers behind GoldenEye, pulled it off…

Luvdisc Have Giant Orgies That Turn The Ocean Pink

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 Luvdisc! Luvdisc Details Type: Water Average Height: 2′ 00″ Average Weight: 19.2 lbs. First Added In Generation III If…

Zelda Can’t Make This Jump In Wind Waker

Hello! This week we find a never released NES game, explore the history of the Air Bud franchise, figure out how screwed up that last Steam Summer Sale event was, build with friends, do some farming and watch Zelda fail. It’s Morning Checkpoint! Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week Like most weeks, Kotaku was…

Warframe‘s New Spaceships Are Powered By Portals

Adding fully-manned spaceships and space combat to a gargantuan online game like Warframe isn’t rocket science. It’s portal science. It’s also game development wizardry that makes my brain hurt. Warframe’s upcoming “Empyrean” update will include space combat that allows players to do things like run around inside their ship while somebody else is piloting and…

The Twitch Streamers Who Put People To Sleep (Literally)

I don’t know if I’ve ever been fully conscious for an entire David “Dog” Caero Twitch stream. The Hearthstone personality (and now inaugural Masters Tour champion) lives in Nevada, which means that when he hits the internet, it’s already twilight in my Brooklyn apartment. There’s nothing to blame but human chemistry; Hearthstone is a sedate…

Despite boasting the most followers, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is not the undisputed king of Twitch. Data from streaming utility company StreamElements shows that Turner “Tfue” Tenney had six million more hours watched from April through June. In general, Twitch’s top five is in flux, with others like Jaryd “Summit1g” Lazar posting strong numbers, as well.…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for going to a sensory deprivation tank, which will either awaken my latent superpowers or drive me mad. What better way to celebrate either outcome than with video games? I’m excited to check out Griftlands, the new game from Klei, developers of some of my favorite games like Mark of the Ninja…

A Noble Stranger Stayed By My Side While I Died In Fallout 76

You do not want me in your Nuclear Winter squad. I have a penchant for switching my drop location at the last second, landing on the map hundreds of meters away from my teammates. I’m never on mic. And I’m terrible at staying hidden. But none of this stopped another player, let’s call him Bill,…

Minecraft Earth Gameplay Looks Adorable

Minecraft Earth, an augmented reality mobile game based on the hugely popular series, is coming to a closed beta later this summer. To tide you over, Mojang released a short video yesterday on that shows off some gameplay. It’s incredibly charming. So far, all we’ve seen of Minecraft Earth is the admittedly impressive augmented reality…