Culture

Watch The 2018 Game Awards Here

It’s that time again—the 2018 Game Awards. We’ll get lots of announcements, news, trailers, and also people getting trophies. Everyone likes trophies. The pre-show starts at 8:30 Eastern, and you can follow along at Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube, below.

Counter-Strike Adds Battle Royale Mode, Goes Free-To-Play

It’s a big day for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Valve’s tactical shooter mainstay has gone free-to-play, and it’s added a battle royale mode called “Danger Zone.” The change to free-to-play is pretty straightforward. The base game is now entirely free, giving players instant access to “all game modes, matchmaking, and a limited set of item drops…

Unreal Tournament Reboot No Longer ‘Actively’ In Development

The 2014 reboot of Epic’s beloved Unreal Tournament arena shooter series that was billed as a “collaboration” between a small team at Epic and the community is no longer officially being worked on, according to Epic. “Unreal Tournament remains available in the store but isn’t actively developed,” Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney told…

Katamari Damacy Never Fails To Roll Me Up Into A Ball Of Joy

While there’s no recapturing the weird and wonderful feeling of playing Katamari Damacy for the first time, this week’s remaster Katamari Damacy Reroll brings all of the joy of the original tumbling right back. For those of you who’ve not had the pleasure, Katamari Damacy was a 2004 game for the PlayStation 2 that introduced…

Track: Moanin’ (Live) | Artist: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers | Album: Moanin’ 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! 

The Guy Behind Steam Spy Has Been Working On Epic’s Store For Years

It’s one thing for a gaming company to announce a Steam competitor—and believe me, many have—but it’s something else entirely when the developer behind the world’s biggest game does it. Epic’s upcoming game store seems to have already gotten under Steam’s skin, but even before the announcement yesterday, one Epic employee spent countless long hours…

Valve has explained the Steam algorithm troubles that led to smaller games losing traffic. It started with an early October bug that made the “More Like This” section of pages go haywire in favor of “the most popular games on Steam,” and while Valve fixed that shortly after, it kept a change that factored in…

How To Beat A Tough Video Game Boss

Over the last few years, I’ve started playing more difficult video games. Unfortunately, tough video games tend to include tough boss fights, and I don’t really like tough boss fights. This piece originally appeared 6/27/18. From the blood-starved beast in Bloodborne, to the Valkyrie queen in God of War, to Diablos in Monster Hunter: World…

I’ll Finish Just Cause 4 Once The Balloon Grapple Stops Being Hilarious

How am I supposed to focus on freeing Just Cause 4‘s fictional South American country of Solis from the grip of the Black Hand mercenary syndicate when the aftermath of every skirmish looks like a birthday party gone horribly wrong? Just Cause 4 is an action adventure game with a story and everything, but the…

Fortnite Is Getting A Creative Mode

Fortnite will get a sandbox mode called Creative starting December 6, Epic announced today. The mode will be a standalone island where players can design map features and game modes. Epic described Creative Mode in their blog post as, “Design games, race around the island, battle your friends in new ways and build your dream…

Track: Ammæli (Birthday) | Artist: The Sugarcubes | Album: Einn Moli’ Á Mann (One Cube Per Head) 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! 

The Very Best Cosplay Of Tokyo Comic Con 2018

The Tokyo Comic Con might have wrapped up this weekend, but our cosplay memories live on. Here are some of the best getups of this year’s show.

Alien Cosplayer Having Trouble With A Vending Machine

Getting a vending machine soft drink while dressed as an Alien is not easy. Spotted at the recent Tokyo Comic Con, an Alien cosplayer appeared to have vending machine difficulties Or maybe the Alien is trying to pick up some uncollected change.

Track: Diamond Lightning | Artist: Minus The Bear | Album: Infinity Overhead Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

With Epic’s Store On The Way, Steam Is Finally Feeling The Heat

Over the years, people have pondered what a viable competitor to Steam’s dominance would look like. Who would pull it off? What would be their silver bullet, capable of hobbling even Valve’s game-slinging behemoth? Late last week, Valve announced that Steam will take a lesser cut of revenues from games that sell $10 and $50…

Our Favorite Cosplay Photos From Oni-Con 2018

Oni-Con is a show that takes place in Galveston, Texas. This year’s ran from November 9-11, and there was some great cosplay on show throughout the event. All photos and video by Mineralblu, while you’ll find each cosplayer’s Instagram on the images below.

A Strategy Game That Finally Made Me Take Stealth More Seriously

I’m not very good at stealth games. I like the idea of trying to sneak around undetected, but as soon as I get caught all hell breaks loose. In real life I’m happy to be a wallflower, but in games I often want to be at the center of the action, or violently creating it…

Indie Developers Don’t Like Steam’s New Revenue Sharing Policy [Update]

Steam is constantly evolving behind the scenes, but the latest reorganization of the storefront’s molecules has left some developers scratching their heads. Now, if a game makes $10 million, developers have to share less money with Valve. And if it hits $50 million, even less than that. Valve announced tweaks to Steam’s revenue sharing system…

Damn, It Feels Good To Be A Healer

Lately I’ve been playing a lot of violent games for work. In the last week, I’ve thrown knives and lit people on fire in Battlefield V, blasted people away with my revolver in Red Dead Online, and engaged in all sorts of wacky assassinations in Hitman 2. It’s often a lot of fun, but every…

The Week In Games: Just Throne Breakin’

As we approach the end of the year, the game releases get even more extreme. We’ve got Just Cause 4, the PlayStation Classic, Mutant Year Zero, and lots of other interesting stuff. I’m very interested in what it is going to be like to drive a car through the tornado. What can I say? I…