Culture

Finding The Metagame In Atlantic City

While visiting Atlantic City’s greige boardwalk last Sunday, I set foot in my very first casino, a come-as-you-are joint called Bally’s with years’ worth of cigarette smoke ground into its red carpet. It was Easter—not a great day to commune with sin—but a day off nonetheless. Passing the ringing slot machines, I sat down at…

Sekiro Speedrunners Are Using A Glitch To Swim Through The Air

Speedrunners use a variety of tricks to reduce Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice from a difficult combat gauntlet to a breeze. The fastest Any% runs now take less than 30 minutes, with the current world record at 24:37 at time of publication, held by Distortion2. Some tricks involve dying in the right place to avoid a…

The Fortnite World Cup Is Worth Watching, Despite Its Flaws

Over the last two weekends, I’ve obsessively watched the Fortnite World Cup tournaments. I turn on the long broadcasts while cleaning the house or cooking, certainly tormenting my neighbors with hours of esports shoutcasting. It’s introducing me to new players and techniques, and it’s inspiring me to get better at the game. Watching competitive Fortnite…

Track: Hurricane | Artist: Bob Dylan | Album: Desire  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Old Consoles Are Murderous Death Machines

Ah yes, the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation, machines we remember best for their ability to *checks notes* fire devastating plasma beams and railgun blasts out of their arms. These are the work of artist Gerald Gordge, and you can see more of his stuff at his personal site

Fallout Cosplay Video Brings The Series To Life

There’s some very good Fallout cosplay on show here, but the real star of this short video might be the location, a giant old furnace that looks like it fell straight out of Fallout 4 The video was done by Legend of Micah, while the cosplayers are credited at the end of the clip.

Twitch Removes ‘Joy Of Sex’ Category, Popular Streamer Heartbroken

Twitch’s rules largely state that sexual content is not allowed, with some “educational, scientific, artistic, newsworthy, or academic” exceptions aside. And yet, for years, the platform had its own category called “The Joy Of Sex.” Now it’s gone, and one popular streamer and his fans are in mourning. “The Joy Of Sex” category’s existence is…

I Tried To Defeat Water In Dwarf Fortress And Failed

Dwarf Fortress is full of hidden horrors, like Forgotten Beasts that breathe poison or giant metal Titans with impenetrable skin, or even just the regular old Goblin coming to kidnap one of your children. But these abominations pale in comparison to the challenge I tried to overcome a couple weeks ago, Dwarf Fortress’s first real…

The Week In Games: Get Over Here!!!

It’s time once again for decapitations, burning flesh and other grisly deaths. Mortal Kombat 11 is out this week. In the words of Scorpion “Get over here and play my game. Thank you.” I love me some Mortal Kombat. I’m not a huge fighting game guy and I’m not great at them, but I always…

Track: Wonderland | Artist: Iri | Album: Shade  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Kabukicho. Tokyo, Japan. By Bernard Spragg. NZ | Flickr 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! 

A New Mod Adds CJ And Big Smoke From GTA: San Andreas Into Resident Evil 2

The mod adds audio clips and character models ripped right out of the original San Andreas into RE2

‘Shop Contest: Easter Sunday 2019

It is that wonderful time of the year when bunnies lay eggs and Jesus did something. I think? I actually don’t know much about Easter and stopped celebrating it years ago. But I like the pretty colors and eggs! Your challenge this week: Help video game characters celebrate Easter! Agent 47 will celebrate any holiday…

‘Shop Contest: Models And Video Games, Winners!

Last week I asked you wonderful readers to add some more video games to a series of fashion photos and models. I didn’t know what to expect and as usual, you folks knocked it out of the park with some funny and creative creations. Our winning image this week was created by Bob The Rock…

Buzzwole Is An Alien That Communicates Exclusively In Body Building Poses

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 Buzzwole! This Pokemon was suggested by Kotaku reader Aeternus. Thanks! Buzzwole Details Type: Bug/Fighting Average Height: 7‘10“ Average Weight:…

A Sea Of Thieves Player Is Hiding On An Island And Waiting For You

Hello! Today we long to ride a motorcycle, discover the corn man, think about tricking pirates on a deserted island and ruin(?) Smash Bros. with dicks. 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! Humanity once…

Forager, Steam’s Latest Hit, Is All About The Grind

When I first started playing Forager, I nearly fell asleep. My little marshmallow man spawned on an abandoned island, and I was all alone, sans direction save for the option to build a furnace and hack at some trees to collect supplies. I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Then I leveled up,…

Steam Users Flood Assassin’s Creed Unity With Positive Reviews Following Ubisoft’s Notre-Dame Efforts

Typically, when thumbs-down ratings pour in and Steam’s chart-based review-bomb-detection alarms start ringing, it means a developer’s done something to earn users’ ire on a massive scale. Assassin’s Creed Unity, however, is experiencing the opposite: a positive review bomb. Earlier this week, Ubisoft contributed €500,000, or about $564,775, to the Notre-Dame restoration effort in the…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for repotting and trying to trim down my very leggy houseplant, which once looked lovely and is now a gangly monster. We’ll see how that goes. It’s also for playing video games! Keza’s impressions of Katana Zero got me really excited to check the game out. Also, watching the Fortnite World Cup Open…

I’m Cramming Old BoxBoy Games Before The Sequel Comes Out

About a year ago, I came to grips with my failure to keep up with some of my favorite game series. I’m about two Fire Emblems behind and still about a half-game short of being caught up on Mario & Luigi. I’ve learned that I should just skip and reset with the new one, but…