Culture

Some Hilarious Zelda Talk I Overheard At The Rock Climbing Gym

When your job involves talking about video games all day, you get pretty attuned to hearing people mention them when you’re outside of work. While eavesdropping can be a way to learn what games people are playing and thinking about, it can also provide neat insight into how those games fit into their lives. I’ve…

The Nintendo Switch Lite Is Getting A Lovely Pokémon Sword and Shield Edition

If you’re able to hold off a few weeks on buying the new Nintendo Switch Lite when it releases September 20, you’ll have the chance to get a pretty slick version of Nintendo’s latest Switch: the Pokémon Sword and Shield-themed Zacian and Zamazenta edition. As you can see, it’s an elegant light gray with cyan…

The Nintendo Switch Lite Will Be Released On September 20

The Nintendo Switch Lite is a smaller handheld-only portable that will be released this fall. It is being described as a Nintendo Switch for those who just want to play on the go. The Lite will come in three colors: yellow, gray, and turquoise. Priced at $199.99, the Switch Lite is cheaper than the standard-issue…

Track: Movin’ On Without You (Live) | Artist: Utada Hikaru | Album: First Love  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Morning Walk. Kyoto, Japan. By Brian Ashcraft | Twitter 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!

Desperados

Natali Kayurova is an artist from Poland. You can see more of Natali’s stuff at her ArtStation page

Switch’s NES Games Get A Rewind Feature This Month

Nintendo’s growing collection of 8-bit NES games available through its Switch Online service are going to get a popular feature that’s been seen in other retro collections: Rewind. Screw up in Super Mario Bros. and die on the first Goomba? Redemption is just a button press away. Hold down the ZL and ZR buttons and…

Why Pokémon Fans Are So Mad About Sword And Shield

For a game series as long running as Pokémon, which debuted in 1996, it’s surprising how much goodwill many fans of the franchise still have as they enter their 30s and 40s. Nintendo and Game Freak continue to appeal to children new to the series as well. But after a harsh and sustained negative reaction…

This Year’s Steam Summer Sale Was A Mess, Game Developers Say

This year’s Grand Prix-themed Steam summer sale was a bumpy ride, to say the least. Two weeks ago, Valve apologized and altered the sale’s meta game—in which players join teams and “race” against each other for prizes—after players found it unbalanced and confusing, and developers suffered a bloodbath of sudden wishlist deletions. Now, with the…

Provocative Jeopardy Champ Says HQ Trivia Owes Him $20,000 In Winnings

If you play HQ, a trivia app that supposedly doles out cash prizes, this kind of story might be familiar to you: someone won money from the game but can’t cash out and have access to it. The “someone” in this case is controversial Jeopardy player Alex Jacob, who has been trying to get his…

Wind Waker Speedrunners Finally Pull Off Legendary ‘Barrier Skip’ Trick On GameCube

For years, the “Barrier Skip” was the holy grail of speedrunning tricks. The trick, which would allow passage through a seemingly impenetrable barrier in The Wind Waker, became a reality in the HD version in 2017. Meanwhile, the trick still couldn’t be performed in the original GameCube “SD” version. A new glitch has finally made…

I Can’t Stop Being A Reckless Moron In Fire Emblem: Awakening

I have spent most of the last week feeling incredibly hyped for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, one of a handful of games I’m most excited to play this summer. Whenever I’m feeling pumped for a new game, one thing I tend to do is go back and play or replay old games in the same…

Assassin’s Creed’s Original Director Is Back With A Weird Game About Human Evolution

I was sitting in an interview room asking the ever-cheerful Patrice Désilets about the controls in his first new game since 2010’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and he lit up. He imagined an Xbox controller and rattled through the button assignments. “‘A’ is all about the reflexes,” he said. “‘B’ is about the communication, ‘X’ is…

Cuphead Is Getting An Animated Netflix Series

And so the hit hand-drawn animated video game spawns a hand-drawn animated Netflix series. Called The Cuphead Show, the series will chronicle Cuphead and Mugman’s adventures on Inkwell Isle, expanding on that bizarre 1930s animation wonderland. Though the official announcement gives scant details on the plot of the upcoming series, in an interview with IGN,…

There’s A New Turok Game Coming Out This Month, And It’s Super Cute

Coming to Steam on July 25, Turok: Escape From Lost Valley looks very different from thefirst-person dinosaur-hunting games of old, but the idea is the same. Turok and his brother Andar are trapped in a valley full of dinosaurs. Hunting ensues. Adorable hunting. While it seems to have come out of nowhere, Turok: Escape From…

Track: Mr. Brightside | Artist: The Killers | Album: Hot Fuss  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Fans Can’t Get Enough Of Pokémon Shield‘s Spooky New Gym Leader

All of the new gym leader character designs for Pokémon Sword and Shield are great. One recently revealed trainer in particular has been racking up the fan art. Say hello to Allister. Here is the character’s official description: Allister is a talented Trainer of Ghost-type Pokémon who has taken on the mantle of the Ghost-type…

Folsom Nights. California, USA. By Trent O’Dell. 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!

Look At This Spider-Man Cosplayer’s Mechanical Eyes

You see a lot of good Spider-Man cosplay, because it’s an easy one to do well. What’s not easy to do is get the character’s newer designs 1:1, since they’ve got fancy moving eyes, but Hong Kong cosplayer Cavin Creations has gone and done just that. What you’re seeing here is an incredible feat of…

Miyamoto Still Wants To Reinvent The Controller

While the standard buttons-and-joystick video game controller has made a fairly decisive return to Nintendo’s games on the Switch, that doesn’t mean Nintendo is done trying to reinvent the way we interact with video games. At the company’s annual meeting of shareholders late last month, one attendee asked the panel of Nintendo executives about the…