Culture

‘Shop Contest: National Mustard Day, Winners!

Happy National Mustard Day! Grab your bottles of mustard and start eating stuff covered in that spicy, yellow sauce. This magical day only comes once a year, so take advantage of it! To celebrate the holiday, I asked you wonderful folks to create some images featuring video games and mustard. Some of you decided to…

The Women Of The Fighting Game Community Have One Clear Request: ‘Listen’

Evo 2019 hosted a special panel titled “The Women of the FGC,” allowing female members of the community the opportunity to speak about their experiences within the competitive fighting game space. While the hour-long discussion would touch on a variety of topics, there was one clear through-line expressed by the women on stage: “Listen to…

The Weirdest Fighting Game Being Played At Evo This Weekend

I found the weirdest fighting game at Evo 2019. Its name is Ultra Fight Da! Kyanta 2 and it is beautiful. Ultra Fight Da! Kyanta 2 is the brain child of Japanese developer Suzuki Katsunari, known online as Haramaself. A prolific artist and musician, Haramaself has applied his talents over the last few years to…

E3 Expo Leaks The Personal Information Of Over 2,000 Journalists [Update]

A spreadsheet containing the contact information and personal addresses of over 2,000 games journalists, editors, and other content creators was recently found to have been published and publicly accessible on the website of the E3 Expo. The Entertainment Software Association, the organization that runs E3, has since removed the link to the file, as well…

Sharpedo Can Shoot Water Out Of Its Ass At 75 MPH

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 Sharpedo! Sharpedo Details Type: Water/Dark Average Height: 5‘ 11″ Average Weight: 195 lbs. First Added In Generation III If…

Dance Your Pain Away, Harry

Hello! This week we check out the new Call Of Duty, learn about the bizarre tale of the fake game studio, anger that annoying friend, get some new Nintendo VR action and dance away all our fears and suffering. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week Like most weeks, Kotaku was filled with some great…

Sigma’s New ‘Asylum’ Skin Raises Concerns About Overwatch‘s Handling Of Mental-Illness Tropes

Overwatch’s newest hero, Sigma, was introduced to the world on a gurney. Though the video was purposefully non-linear, Sigma had suffered a mental breakdown after attempting to harness the power of a black hole. He hollered half-coherently while being wheeled through what appeared to be a psychiatric facility: “Hold it together, hold it together!” Since…

A Stealth Game Where You Infiltrate A 1970s Cult

The Church in the Darkness is an indie stealth game out today for Xbox, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. In the game, you infiltrate a 1970s cult compound in South America, searching for your nephew. Your objectives, as well as the nature of the cult itself, change every time you play. I found the premise…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for getting a personal training consultation at my rock climbing gym. I am excited to get answers to all my rock climbing questions, like “Could I really climb that?” and “How?” Oxygen Not Included left early access this week, and I’m excited to tool around with Klei’s latest survival crafting game. Last…

Why Video Game Headshots Will Always Be Popular—And Unsettling

Like a lot of people who play video games, I have spent decades aiming at digital heads. I have also spent a considerable amount of time during those years feeling uncomfortable about it. “Headshots” as a concept are, as Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo wrote in a 2010 report, ghoulish to the outsider, and essential to the…

I Couldn’t Help Snooping On A Stranger’s Fire Emblem House On The Subway

Fire Emblem: Three Houses offers the agonizing decision over which group of students you want to teach and lead in battle. It’s a tricky choice that greatly affects the story you experience and the characters at your command. But it’s also a bit of a personality test, and I’m fascinated to know what house people…

No Man’s Sky Beyond Is Coming In Two Weeks

Interlopers, rejoice. No Man’s Sky Beyond is coming on August 14. No Man’s Sky fans have been anticipating the latest in a string of massive, free updates, titled Beyond since it was announced in March. Hello Games co-founder Sean Murray said at the time that the update would be “three major updates rolled into one…

The Outer Worlds Is Just As Screwed Up As Real Life

Before one of the designers of The Outer Worlds talked to me about the game he worked on, he commented on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer patch on the back of my denim vest. Brian Heins, senior designer at Obsidian Entertainment, liked the patch. We’re both big Buffy fans, it turned out. My mother and…

Track: Space Oddity (2019 Mix) | Artist: David Bowie | Album: David Bowie 

Kiyomizudera. Kyoto, Japan. 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!

Some Amazing Cosplay From Japan Expo 2019, Europe’s Biggest Anime Show

Japan Expo, held every year in Paris, is one of the biggest nerd shows on the planet. Indeed, it claims to be the biggest celebration of Japanese culture outside of Japan itself, with around 250,000 attendees heading to Paris-Nord Villepinte between July 4-7. Unsurprisingly, given the scale and important of the show, it attracted some…

Adidas’ Naruto Sneakers Are Looking Much Better

Because the Dragon Ball line was trash, and the first shoe revealed for the company’s Naruto tribute similarly gross, my hopes for the rest of that line weren’t great! So imagine my surprise to see this very nice Kakashi Hatake sneaker get announced today via Sneaker News A problem with the Dragon Ball shoes was…

Ooblets Is Epic Exclusive, Developer Puts Expected Backlash In Perspective

Ooblets is one of those games that just oozes effortless charm. It’s not even out yet, but the gooey, chewy mash up of Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and Pokémon has already earned its fair share of salivating admirers. Today, the game’s developers announced that, on PC, Ooblets will be an Epic Games Store exclusive. In…

Raiders Of The North Sea Is A Really Good Digital Board Game

As I’ve recently put on record here, I think Tokaido is the best digital board game. Its stay at the top might be short-lived, though, because Raiders of the North Sea, out this week on PC, Switch and mobile, is very good. I reviewed the board game last year, and loved it; it’s since become…

So There’s Trash Talk And Then There’s Casual Bigotry

How far is too far when it comes to gaming trash talk? And how do you go about confronting a friend, or a stranger, for some seriously uncool comments in chat? On this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, we brought in Kotaku senior reporter and trash talk aficionado Cecilia D’Anastasio to discuss gaming etiquette. First,…