Culture

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Gets The Anime Right, Down To The Unbalanced Showdowns

In the original Dragon Ball Z anime, fights are not balanced. Goku and his pals often end up in situations where they are outmatched by a far stronger and more experienced opponent. The series has had frequent fighting game adaptations, most recently Dragon Ball FighterZ, in which all of the characters must be balanced for…

Twitch Sues Trolls Who Turned Artifact‘s Page Into A Porn-Riddled Disaster

Late last month, the Twitch game category section dedicated to embattled Valve card game Artifact briefly rocketed back into relevance. That was almost entirely thanks to the concerted efforts of trolls, who created dummy channels and violated the heck out of Twitch’s terms of service with broadcasts that included anime, porn, and anime porn. Twitch…

The Outer Worlds Is An RPG About Controlling The Narrative

If you fall into the category of people who believe that 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas was the best game in the series, then The Outer Worlds might be for you. Last week at E3, I spoke to the game’s co-director, Leonard Boyarsky, for a bonus episode of Kotaku Splitscreen digging deep into this cyberpunky role-playing…

Why I Left Breath of the Wild Unfinished

Some time before I actually finished The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I stopped playing. It wasn’t because I got carried away by other games, and it wasn’t because I was tired of it. I just stopped. New Zelda games are rare things that only come once or twice a console generation, and…

Luigi’s Mansion 3 Developers Promise Better Bosses And More Puzzles

Preventing one of the biggest shortcomings of the second Luigi’s Mansion from making it into the third is a high priority, the game’s top producers from Nintendo told Kotaku during an E3 interview in Los Angeles last week. Both Yoshihito Ikebata and his boss, Kensuke Tanabe, said that they’ve worked with Vancouver-based Next Level Games…

The Week In Games: If You Ain’t Outta Control, You Ain’t-A Bandicoot

Crash Bandicoot and his crew are racing on to consoles soon when Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled releases later this week. Just remember: Speed kills, but you can always respawn. So when do we see a new Crash Bandicoot game? Not a remake of older games, but a brand new platformer using the new art style…

Our Favorite Cosplay From MCM London Comic Con 2019

Twice a year, London plays host to one of the biggest nerd shows in all of Europe, as well over 100,000 fans cram into the ExCel convention centre in the British capital for panels, merch, parties and of course cosplay. Our previous coverage of the show has relied on the kindness of local photographers, but…

Track: Tiny Dancer| Artist: Elton John | Album: Madman Across The Water After watching Rocketman this weekend, I can’t get Elton John songs out of my head. Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

‘Shop Contest: Keanu Reeves

This isn’t the most surprising contest, I know. But look, what else was I going to do? The internet loves Keanu Reeves and he just appeared at E3 this past week. Let’s honor Mr. Theodore Wick Neo himself and add him to more video games. The world needs more Keanu. Your challenge this week: Put…

Sunday Comics: I’m Just Looking

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 May 26. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published June 13. Read more of Corpse Run Clueless Hero by Luis…

‘Shop Contest: E3 2019, Winners!

Last week was E3 2019 and to celebrate that giant convention of trailers and teasers I asked you wonderful people to create some E3 announcements of your own. Things got a bit…strange. Our winning image this week comes from Mrichston who creates the perfect alternative to E3, E Tree. I’d be down for a week…

Telling Lies Is An Eerie Virtual Invasion of Privacy

Telling Lies is an upcoming narrative-driven game that’s the successor to Her Story from creator Sam Barlow. Much like its predecessor, you’ll dig through hours of footage to piece together the mystery of why these four characters’ video conversations have been recorded by the NSA. Check out the video above to see what I thought…

Vespiquen Makes Its Kids Do All The Work

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 Vespiquen! Lampent Details Type: Bug/Flying Average Height: 3‘11“ Average Weight: 84.9 lbs. First Added In Generation IV Back in…

Have You Called A Plumber To Your Home Lately?

Hello! Today we meet Andre 3000, finally get our canvas bags, look at some bad wigs and play 20 questions with Jonathan Frakes. 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 my favorites! Heather is such a great…

Nation Weeps As Animal Crossing‘s Mr. Resetti Loses His Job

If ever you need proof that there’s no justice in this cruel society of ours, witness the plight of one Mr. Sonny Resetti, a mole who’s selflessly dedicated the past 18 years to the admirable service of reminding Animal Crossing players to save their games and screaming at them if they forget. As of today,…

The New Lego Star Wars Is Impressive And Surprisingly Different

If a hands-off theater demo of a new video game can over-deliver E3, then Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga sure did. The amount of changes I was shown to the 20-year-old Lego video game formula was startling. I checked out the game as E3 was winding down on Thursday, taking a front row seat…

Phantom Brigade Is A Mech Strategy Game Where You Can See Into The Future, And I Love It

In Phantom Brigade’s very first encounter, I immediately found myself severely outnumbered—just two mechs against an enemy force of one mech and seven tanks. And yet, I emerged from this mechanized showdown with barely a scratch on either of my big stompy boys. It was over in seconds, but I had all the time in…

We Checked Out Ubisoft’s E3 Booth

Tim Rogers checked out the Ubisoft booth at E3, and shenanigans ensued. Watch the video for a look at Watch Dogs: Legion, a very intense staring contest, and the one question that has surely been on everyone’s minds: What, exactly, is a Ghost Recon Breakpoint?

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for no more E3. The hype demons have been placated for another year. We did it, everyone. I recently started taking kickboxing classes, which are really intimidating and fun! (I also may or may not have tweaked a muscle in my leg shouting “Press conferences!” and kicking a bag way too hard…

25 Years Ago, The Super Game Boy Reinvented Donkey Kong

25 years ago, Nintendo released the Super Game Boy, allowing the Super Nintendo to play an expansive library of Game Boy titles. Beyond letting gamers play years of portable classics on their televisions, the Super Game Boy housed extra functionality that would enable certain games to achieve a level of presentation that the original Game…