Culture

Track: Truth Hurts | Artist: Lizzo | Album: Cuz I Love You 

‘Shop Contest: National Fried Chicken Day

Next weekend on July 6th, we all celebrate National Fried Chicken Day. Or at least we should. So instead of waiting until next weekend to do this contest, let’s get a jump on the festivities now! Your challenge this week: Give video game characters some fried chicken. In the past, when I’ve done National Holidays…

I Don’t Know Where To Put My Heroes

DOTA Underlords is Valve’s stab at the auto-battler genre. In Underlords, just like in Auto Chess and Teamfight Tactics, you place heroes you buy on a board and then they attack other heroes and creatures. And while I understand the basic rules and mechanics of the genre, I still have no idea where to place…

Sunday Comics: Tell Me A Joke

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 June 24. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published June 27. Read more of Corpse Run Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: Keanu Reeves, Winners!

I’m back, after taking a weekend off. I feel refreshed and ready to judge. Two weeks ago, you fine folks were tasked with creating images featuring the internet’s favorite actor, Keanu Reeves. I got a LOT of entries, so I’m sorry if your picture didn’t make it. This was a hard week. Our winning image…

Pachirisu Hides Food In Electrically Charged Furballs

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 Pachirisu! Pachirisu Details Type: Electric Average Height: 1‘ 04“ Average Weight: 8.6 lbs. First Added In Generation IV When…

Lance Armstrong As A Bunny-Human Hybrid Is Creepy

Hello! Today we meet drink some semen, sacrifice a pizza, learn about the future of Gears of War, talk about Farmville (?) and meet the animal version of Lance Armstrong. It’s Morning Checkpoint! Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week Like most weeks, Kotaku was filled with some great stories. Here are a few of…

Bernie Sanders’ New Twitch Channel Needs Fewer Campaign Ads, More Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders, America’s favorite curmudgeonly socialist grandpa who happens to be running for President, is now on Twitch. Last night, his channel aired its first two streams. Sadly, neither involved Sanders sitting in a chair that looks like it belongs in a race car and playing Fortnite as a means to demonstrate the ills of…

In case you missed our Super Mario Maker 2 stream earlier today, Tim and I smashed that boo button on a couple of levels and showed off a level Tim’s been working on. Follow us on Twitch!

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for cleaning the fan on the back of my fridge. Even I bored myself with that sentence. It’s also for playing video games! There’s been a lot of talk on the site about Outer Wilds this week, a game I was really excited for then kind of bounced off—metaphorically and literally—when I…

Street Fighter‘s Queer Stereotypes Kept Me In The Closet

Last year during Pride month, I wrote about my own queer reading of the Street Fighter V tutorial, which features Ken and Ryu fighting and, in my opinion, flirting. In the year since then, I’ve been thinking about the character Juri in Street Fighter, who is the closest the games get to having a canonical…

Track: You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Rock and Roll Circus) | Artist: The Rolling Stones | Album: The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

TETSUOOOOOOOO

Danar Worya is a concept artist currently working on The Last Of Us 2 We’ve actually featured some of his work before, but that was a long time ago, so it’s time for a refresh! You can see more of Danar’s stuff at his ArtStation page and Instagram

Valve Changes Steam Sale After Widespread Complaints From Developers And Players

After a period of stagnation, Valve has gone back to its well of Steam sale meta games—something users have enjoyed in the past, even though they’re ultimately just a means of incentivizing people to spend more money. This time, though, Valve may have taken things too far with a game that’s caused widespread confusion. After…

How To Get Into Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds may be the best game we’ve played this year, but it can be tough to get into—allow us to offer some tips on this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen We start off the episode with some ranting and raving about Outer Wilds before talking Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the Xbox Elite controller, and Bloodstained. Then…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: Should I Tell My Girlfriend She Didn’t Actually Take My Virginity?

Hello you radioactive orgasm otters, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that survived Second Impact. This week, we’re here to address the relationship problems you never expected to encounter. How do you tell your partner that she didn’t actually take your virginity? What about telling her that you actually lost…

Games Are Better With Double Jumps

Last night, after hours exploring Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, I unlocked the ability to double jump. It was such a simple thing—one jump, another jump—but I suddenly felt a rush of possibility hit me. That’s because of all the video game-y tricks, double jumps might just be the best. Whenever I think of game…

Track: Vilia (Take 3) | Artist: John Coltrane | Album: Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Star Wars: The Last Youngling

Jordan Lamarre-Wan is an artist at Respawn, where he’s currently working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order He’s also worked on games like Metal Gear Online and Epic Mickey. You can see more of Jordan’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Longtime Twitch Streamer Is Thrilled To Be Teamfight Tactics‘ Best Player

Rumay “Hafu” Wang’s record is nothing to sneeze at. She’s won multiple major World of Warcraft tournaments, and she’s dominated Hearthstone’s rankings month after month. Still, she feels as though people don’t hold her accomplishments in the same regard as those of some of her male peers. That’s why she was thrilled to close out…