Culture

This Week In The Business: Microsoft Tries To Crackdown On A Bad Habit

QUOTE | “I think in the past we have made the mistake of announcing some exclusives a little bit too early. We’re trying to learn from that mistake and do better, so we have a bit that’s in development now that we’re not talking about.” – Microsoft Studios Publishing GM Shannon Loftis points to the…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Weekends are for making up for last week’s lousy meal prep by toning down your learning to cook ambitions a little. Also, video games. I’ve had a lot of conversations about games I haven’t finished this week. There are so many excellent games I’ve yet to see the end of (including, I cannot believe I’m…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: How Can I Have More Casual Hookups?

Hello all you Twitternet meat hordes, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column whose pre-orders are only available at 1 AM. This week, it’s all about sex: who wants it, who doesn’t, where to find it and whether deciding to wait on it is a losing proposition when it comes to…

Why We Love Secret of Mana

Today’s announcement of a Secret of Mana remake (out February 15, 2018 for PS4, Vita, and Steam) was welcome news to at least two of us here at Kotaku. To explain why Square’s classic action-role-playing game is so special, we had an impromptu VGCHAT. Jason Schreier: This morning Square Enix announced a brand new, pipin’…

Seven Magnificent Cowboys

Erikas Perl is the boss of Goodname, a studio in Lithuania that does art for games, movies and animation. You can see more of Goodname’s work at their company site, and check out more of Perl’s stuffat his ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the…

Four Years Of Incredible New York Comic Con Cosplay

Photographer Andrew Boyle has been going to the New York Comic Con for years, and has decided to do something with the hundreds of images he’s taken of cosplayers over that time: put them in a very fancy coffee table book. It’s called Heroes & Villains, and while there are some snippets of text here…

Popular Battlegrounds Streamer Apologizes For Getting YouTubers’ Embarrassing Video Of Him Taken Down

For weeks, one of the most popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds streamers, Grimmmz, has been getting tormented not with guns or frying pans, but with car horns. Yesterday, some players gloated about “stream honking” him and posted a video as proof. Upon seeing this, Grimmmz lost his cool and got the video taken down. He quickly came…

Geralt’s Ass Is Chiseled

Today on Highlight Reel we have lucky shots, butts of stone, teleportation, lucky shots, bike flips and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! For…

Arby’s Celebrates Game of Thrones Finale With… Turkey Legs?

Starting Sunday, August 27 at limited locations across the U.S., Arby’s is going to be selling big honking turkey legs. Just handing meat-covered bones out the drive-through window. Here is your meat covered bone, sirrah. Now get thee hither to yon Game of Thrones finale. I am not opposed to seeing this Renaissance Faire staple…

Track: The Wassailing Song | Artist: Gold Frankincense And Blur | Album: The Wassailing Song single  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Escapists 2 Starts With Prison Breaks, Then Gets A Lot Weirder

The Escapists was a surprise Steam hit about breaking out of a variety of prisons, each with its own layout and routines. The Escapists 2 still has prisons, but they’re joined by a series of weirder, wackier locations and situations. Released earlier this week, The Escapists 2 has, like its predecessor, become a Steam hit.…

KFC Employee Training Game Is A Raw Chicken Escape Room

There are a lot of nightmarish things about KFC, including but not limited to mutant chickens and a sandwich where the bread is chicken filets. Now KFC is owning the darker, crispier parts of its brand with a new VR horror game that’s become a “bizarre initiation rite” for new employees, according to Eater. The…

We Played An Hour Of Dragon Ball FighterZ And Like It So Far

Dragon Ball FighterZ, the gorgeous DBZ fighting game from Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works, won’t be out until early 2018, but Compete contributor Ian Walker and I got to play a demo at an event in San Francisco last week. After (virtually) beating the snot out of each other, we talked about it. Nathan…

Track: The Goldberg Variations | Artist: J.S. Bach (played by Glenn Gould) | Album: June 3, 1964 CBC Broadcast Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Track: Threshold Guardian | Artist: R23X | Album: RE-GEN Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Six Years Later, Bethesda’s Brink Is Suddenly Free-To-Play

Brink was weird. It mashed together multiplayer gunplay with single-player narrative, then spiced up its chunky concoction with parkour and levels set on floating cities (because global warming). It’s also telling that I speak about it in the past tense, because while it continues to exist, you could be forgiven for assuming otherwise. The Bethesda-published,…

Don’t Stream And Tweet

Today on Highlight Reel we have keyboard malfunctions, tweeting, dancing cars, high-level Lúcioball play and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! Battlefield 1 –…

Game Of Thrones Recap Podcast: At Least Daenerys’s Coat Was Cool

Well, that was kind of a bummer. We’re back with a slightly belated special Game of Thrones episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, just in time to talk about the not-very-good sixth episode of season seven, “Beyond The Wall.” We spoil the episode in its entirety, and also occasionally talk about differences between the show and the…

Track: Say Goodbye Forever | Artist: The Rentals | Album: Seven More Minutes 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! 

Cough Drop Flavored Kit Kats Exist In Japan

Of course they do. Japan is famous for interesting Kit Kat flavors, and this latest one might be the most unusual one yet. Last year, for example, sake flavored Kit Kats were released in Japan. They were made with sake power and contained 0.8 percent alcohol. Starting this week and available for a limited time,…