Culture

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for needing to buy gloves for a cold weather trip because you somehow don’t own gloves. Also, video games. I’m excited to play Below, even though I can already tell that everything being so tiny is going to be a strain on my old man eyes. I might also get back to…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: We Survived A Cult, But Our Marriage Didn’t

Hello all you gentlemen bastards of the Internet, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that helped tame the wild, wild west. This week, we’re tackling the challenges of marriage and long-term relationships. What do you do when you don’t work as a couple but you can’t leave your relationship? What…

Discord Thinks It Can Woo People With Yet Another PC Game Launcher

Last week, the store wars began, but now they’re really getting spicy. With Epic’s store up, running, and offering an 88 percent cut of earnings to developers (compared to Steam’s industry-standard 70 percent), Discord has fired back with an even more appealing offer: 90 percent. The revenue split will come to Discord’s game store in…

Forza Horizon 4‘s First Expansion Is Dull, At Least Right Now

Though I appreciate the rocky cliffs and craggy hills of Forza Horizon 4‘s new Northern Isles-inspired Fortune Island, I worry that once I finish all the expansion’s treasure hunts I’ll lose my appetite for brown emptiness. Fortune Island is Forza’s newest DLC. Located somewhere to the north of the main game’s English countryside, it’s a…

Track: She’s Lost Control (Live) | Artist: Joy Division | Album: Unknown Pleasures Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Lookin’ For Totoro

Atna Joy is an artist and illustrator from France. You can see more of Atna’s work at his ArtStation page

Gris Is Beautiful In Every Way

I don’t normally shed tears when a video game ends. I hardly ever pause in the middle of a playthrough to appreciate a clever game mechanic. I do stop to listen to game music, but it’s rare I spend minutes trying to get gameplay and soundtrack to sync in order to recreate a perfect moment.…

Ninja Addresses Fans Who Want The “Old Ninja” 

If you follow Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, you’re bound to come across those who like the “Old Ninja.” Last week, Ninja addressed the issue and, of course, he did it without profanity but rife with real talk. Besides these online laments, there are montages of “Old Ninja,” like this and this that showing Ninja’s previous streams…

Anyone For Some Gwent?

Lorenzo Mastroianni is an illustrator at CD Projekt Red, developers of The Witcher series. You can see more of Lorenzo’s work at his ArtStation page

Overwatch Map Pulled After Players Get Stuck In Spawn Rooms

Overwatch’s Blizzard World map has never been universally beloved, but shortly after Blizzard decked its halls with holiday cheer yesterday, the map apparently decided to go full Grinch. Teams found themselves beset on all sides by busted spawn rooms and glitched payloads. Now Blizzard World is shut down. In Overwatch, maps have spawn rooms that…

Dumb Kids Will Try Anything To Get Out Of An Xbox Live Ban

Back in the earlier days of Xbox Live, while the Xbox 360 was still in its prime, the platform’s support forums used to allow users to complain about bans they’d received, and Microsoft staff would actually reply. Even if the users were being racist little shits. It seems a universe away from how platforms are…

I Liked Hoverbike Racing Game Desert Child‘s Pitch More Than Its Execution

At E3, amid the booming explosions of big-budget game trailers and sterile setups for pricy gaming PCs, I stumbled upon a cute racing game called Desert Child. It looked like a western, cyberpunk racer and had some Cowboy Bebop flair, all rendered in chic pixel art, and immediately I was intrigued. Desert Child is a…

Show Us Your Smash Bros. Ultimate Controller Setup

Smash Bros. players are often as particular about the controllers they use as they are which characters they pick to go into battle. With the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Switch, there are more ways to control the game than ever. What’s your Smash Ultimate controller setup? Fine, we’ll share ours first.…

Pokémon Go Has Made Rhyperior Too Darn Small

Rhyperior, Rhyhorn’s final form, clocks in at 623.5 pounds and 7 feet ten inches tall. This is a big Pocket Monster. That is, except in Pokémon Go, where this Rock Pokémon is small. Here are the character’s official stats: Which are reflected in Pokémon Go: This is something fans have noticed and have been pointing…

Smalland is a survival game in which you’re mysteriously the size of a pebble. While games like Ark have you contending with dinosaurs, Smalland puts it all in perspective. Ants, squirrels, and even the weather are threats to your ramshackle shelters and tiny, hilariously breakable bones. It’s coming to early access “soon.”

Marvel Stuntmen Recreate Super Smash Bros.

Filmmaker Legend of Micah has teamed up with a range of professional stunt performers, who have worked on stuff like Avengers: Endgame, Avengers Infinity War and The Walking Dead, to pay tribute to Super Smash Bros I’m getting tired just watching these guys.

Overwatch Winter Update Brings Festive, Furry Skins, But Little Else

Overwatch’s annual Winter Wonderland event is back, which means snowball fights, festive cheer, and yetis or whatever, but mostly skins. This year, everyone is a furry, except for Mercy, who’s a World of Warcraft elf Here’s everybody in their new holiday duds: Personally, I’m a pretty big fan of Junkrat’s Krampus look, but everything else…

Atari’s Much-Hated E.T. Is A (Slightly) Better Game If You Read The Manual

Welcome back to Complete In Box, our video series that looks back at classic games through the lens of their boxes, manuals, and other cool stuff that came packaged with them. Today, we look at what is often called the “worst game ever”: Atari’s E.T. Listen, I don’t think E.T. is the worst game ever.…

Stupidity Escalates Exquisitely In Earth Defense Force 5

Just in time to help us mindlessly while away the winter holidays, Earth Defense Force 5 for the PS4 brings players back to the stupidest version of our planet possible. The giant insects no one calls insects are back, and this time they’ve brought 20 foot tall frogs that look “just like us.” I’m face-palming, but…

Track: The Mother We Share (Live) | Artist: Chvrches | Album: The Bones of What You Believe Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.